The Gimbie Chronicles

So today marks 4 weeks until I take off on my mission trip and one month until I leave the country.  I am stopping in New York to visit a friend. I leave the country on August 14. I am so excited and can’t wait. Since my last blog I have definitely made progress. I got all my vaccinations including Yellow Fever (that one is required by Ethiopian law), got both my passport and visa, have bought several pairs of scrubs, got my plane tickets, got a water purifier, got my insurance, started fund raising, and much much more. I have thanked many of you but I would like to take this opportunity to thank all who have not only given me monetary donations but have also given me words of encouragement and kept me in your prayers.  Thank You!
The end (more like the beginning) is in sight. I cannot believe how smooth things have gone so far. The staff at both WWU and Gimbie Adventist Hospital have been very helpful and my different applications have gone through without any problems in a timely manner. God has blessed my plans and has blessed me with many kind people that are willing to help me.
I got a money belt, which I didn’t know even existed until last week. I am going to be carrying several thousand dollars in cash initially.
I am starting to form a plan of how I will document my trip. I am going to have a daily planner to remind myself of where I was each day and very briefly what I did. I will also keep a journal of what I did each day in more detail. I want to do interviews while I am over there too. I think it would be extremely interesting.
A few months ago I thought of a way to describe how I felt as time went on. It felt like there was a drum playing. At first it played very slowly. As time went on it went faster and faster, louder and louder. I suppose it will continue to do this until I get to the city that I am staying in.
After I got my visa I really felt like things were coming together and now that it is 4 weeks away it feels very close.
Both the hospital and man starting up the butterfly project want me to bring some supplies with me. I am happy to do this. Just from seeing pictures and talking to people that work there and have been there I know I want to help out the hospital in anyway I can. Bringing supplies will help them right off the bat.
Cassie, another student missionary going over there, and I have talked several times about are expectations. We came to the conclusion that it is better not to have any because what it will undoubtedly be a lot different then what we imagine. Of course I can’t help but to wonder what it will be like sometimes and I have had 2 dreams specifically about Gimbie. Both dreams were pretty unrealistic but if nothing else they reflected that I think about my mission a lot.
It feels like I have a lot to do. I think I do in fact. I need to get back to it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed hearing about my preparation. I will write my next blog the day before leave on August 10!