Getting Ready to Go.....

FIRST POST!!

I have to be completely honest. I have never been a big fan of blogs, and I vowed never to write one because.....
1. I am a horrible writer
2. Any deep inspirational thoughts people usually write in their blogs probably wouldnt make sense anyways.
3. I have probably already told everyone in my life anything I would write in a blog...

HOWEVER. Somebody suggested to me this might be a good way to keep people up to date on my trip to Africa, and I have to agree! So please bear with my horrible writing skills, lack of internet connection, and unexpected happenings as I try to keep you in touch with our experiences in Cameroon.

OK. So to begin with, let me fill all of you in on what exactly this trip is all about, and what we will be doing over the next 6 weeks.

The CMDA (Christian Medical and Dental Association) started a hospital in the little mountain town of Banso, Cameroon
(http://www.cmda.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=PAACS&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=4915)
This hospital is staffed by teams of doctors, RNs, and medstudents from the US, and is also used as a teaching hospital for the Cameroonian doctors. I am part of one of these teams. We will be living at the hospital compound for 6 weeks, working at the hospital assisting Dr Snell, the surgeon who is leading our team. I am looking forward to seeing what capacity I will be serving in the hospital as well.

I am especially excited that one of my best friends from college, Jeremiah Matson, is going as well. We went through the whole pre-med program at Cedarville University together, and he has been living out in Mammoth California working as a phlebotomist and a ski instructor (his lifelong dream fulfilled haha :) A special thanks to him for making this trip even possible for me.

Please pray for our team as well as the rest of the volunteers at the hospital as we try to serve the people of Cameroon through medicine. As Jeremiah just said to me recently, we are all very excited about what we will experience and get to help with medically, but more importantly, we are excited to show people the love of Christ through medicine. That is our goal. And I hope I can give you at least a little picture of how we are doing that as I try to post in this blog.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support as I have prepared to go on this trip. I cannot wait to see how the Lord will use us there, and how He will use Cameroon to shape our lives as well.


Love you all,
Rachel