A Brief Synopsis of Me

If I had to describe myself in two words, I would have to choose “impassioned nomad”.
  I have moved 8 times in the past 2 ½ years and I'm planning to move again to Swaziland on the next few months!
  My life is ever-changing as I seek out how and where God wants to use me.
 I have been on staff with Adventures in Missions since January 2005, although I have just recently gotten clear direction as to what I am supposed to do in AIM.
 

I am an adventuresome, out-going, vision-oriented, philosophical, artistic missionary who still has a lot to learn.
 But I love the process of growth and this waiting period called “life”.
 My passion is to use art to work with young women and children in Africa and mobilize my peers and those younger than me to do the same… not just in Africa, but around the world!

The Long Version...
(for those who are really curious)

I was born in Virginia Beach, VA, but I only lived there for about six weeks of my life.
 I grew up in Philly, PA… yes, actually inside the city! So I consider myself a native Philadelphian.
  I went to an Episcopal church for much of my childhood, regularly attending church and Sunday school, but I had no idea what it meant to have a personal relationship with Christ.
  It wasn’t until I was 14 that I made the life-changing decision to follow Christ and make Him the center of my world!
 What a difference He has made!

I almost immediately found a passion for missions.
 Within a year of being a Christian, although not having any form of discipleship or church fellowship, I wanted to go on my first mission trip.
 That didn’t fly so much with my parents at first, but as a 2-year-old Christian I found myself on a plane to El Paso, TX to meet a group of complete strangers to go to Chihuahua, MX on a two-week mission trip with Christian Outreach International.
 My life was dramatically changed after this two-week experience.
 

The next summer, at the age of seventeen, I was on my way to Kenya on my first AIM trip!
  After a month in Africa, I returned to the camp where I first found Christ ( Camp Cherith in Pennsylvania) for a leadership training program.
 It was there that another milestone was set in my spiritual life.
 Sitting around the campfire, the camp director made an invitation to commit your life to ministry.
 At that moment, I felt the Lord saying clearly, “Stand for me now; and that is what I want you to do for the rest of your life.”
 It was then that I knew that God was calling me to a life of radical ministry.
  However, I was torn between passion and gifting.
  God had surfaced a gift in art in my life after I came to know Him.
  I perceived this as a gift from Him to use for Him.
  Feeling the need to choose between missions and art, I chose missions and began attending Palm Beach Atlantic University.

                When I was nineteen, I co-led a one-month trip to the Amazon Jungle with Adventures in Missions, and felt more specifically to be involved with discipleship in missions, although I was not sure if my future was with AIM.
 I went back to PBAU in the fall, as an RA of a freshman hall, but my semester was cut short by some demanding life circumstances.
 

                I moved in with a friend in Dayton, TN in November of 2004.
 I spent the next ten months working at Panera Bread Company in Cleveland, TN.
 This was one of the most trying times of my life.
 I was nothing in the eyes of the world: I had no identity but my identity in Him!
  I had no direction, but learned to be content in the moment.
 After several months of a soul-searching waiting period, God woke me up in the middle of the night and said, “Go to Kenya with the AIM First Year Missionary Program.”
 At that point, I didn’t even know that AIM had a program in Kenya, and it was honestly the last thing I wanted to do.
 I ignored Him and said, “No”.
  So for four days, I didn’t sleep.
 I couldn’t!
  Finally, I gave in and contacted someone at AIM.
 I applied that day and I slept that night.
 Within three days, I was accepted! How quickly life can change!

                My two semesters in Kenya were cut down to one at my leaders’ discretion and I found myself moving to Gainesville, GA to help at the AIM headquarters.
  Once again, I was humbled by my carnal impatience.
  I wanted to be overseas, serving in Africa.
 But it was not God’s timing!
  I learned the precious importance of waiting on Him.
  I worked in the office, assisting the coordinator of Real Life and Ambassador teams and leading a few College Break trips.

                It wasn’t until this past fall (2005) that I received clear direction and vision as to how God wanted to use the gifts He has given me on the mission field.
 I was on a sabbatical, living in a pottery studio on Lookout Mountain in Northwest GA.
 I had picked up my paintbrush after many nights of lying awake with vivid images of paintings based on what God had been revealing to me.
 I was afraid to materialize them because I had not done anything with art for almost a year and a half.
 Finally, I gave in.
  I created a painting based on Ezekiel’s vision of breathing life into dry bones.
 That is exactly what God was doing in my life; reviving dead areas and birthing new life and passion in me… first in my personal life and then to overflow into His ministry.
 

                I am now in Gainesville, GA, preparing to move to Swaziland.
  I have a vision to use art to work with women, young women and children.
 Art can be used as a means of therapy, to communicate feelings that are inexpressible in words, to relieve stress and tension, boost self-esteem, and even as a means of income.
 I also want to mobilize American students who are gifted (or have an interest) in art to use their gifts on the foreign mission field.
 I feel that so many talented, passionate, Christian artists feel that they have to make the same choice I did between art and missions.
 Art is such a powerful tool that is so often overlooked in modern missions!
 My prayer is that this would change with the next generation of world-changers that desire to serve God with the gifts He as given them!