Danette's Journey

Since I was 13 years old, I thought I'd move to Africa one day. In my mind, feeding the hungry children in Africa was what I was supposed to do. It was an impression God had laid on my heart, "One day, you'll feed children in Africa."

I remember thinking, "Cool! Does that mean I get to see Mother Theresa?" But Mother Theresa worked in India, and I knew clearly I was meant to go to Africa, so my teenage mind started going in all directions. How will I do what I sensed God was calling me to do? Who should I work with?

I started reading up as much as I could about various agencies, finding out who did what, and what percentage of funding actually made it to Africa. I was blessed to have a friend, Melinda Hutchings, who had just graduated from college and joined Food for the Hungry in Tanzania. Melinda was able to answer many of my questions, but knew that, ultimately, God would show me how, when and where I should get involved.

At age 16, I signed up with Compassion International's child sponsorship program, supporting a boy through my monthly contribution of $26. I realized, however, that this was just a drop in the bucket, and wanted to be able to do more.

I decided that if I really want to support kids, I'd have to have a job that made lots of money, and since I had a love for medicine, I decided to become a doctor. During my pre-med, undergraduate years, my impatience got the better of me and I concluded that being a doctor wouldn't have come as quickly as I wanted. So I moved home, changed my major and went to school to be a paramedic instead.

In the process of many other life journeys, my focus to reach Africa was placed on a shelf. Until now 23 yrs later.

Last fall, when New Covenant was doing Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life, the church hosted a missions Sunday, highlighting various ministries we could get involved in. I wanted to get plugged into His Hands, a medical mission in the community. Since there were many people at the table for His Hands Ministry, I started walking around, looking at other tables. At one of the tables there was no person at the time, but there was a computer with Chinese writing which caught my eye. I hit enter, and a video on Africa started playing. A lady walked up and said, "Hi, I'm Pat Rieck. Do you want to go to Africa?"

"You bet!" I replied. "When do we leave?"

I think Pat was a bit startled--she didn't really expect such a reply from me. She proceded to take my name and number and said she'll contact me. Then I rushed off to go to choir practice.

Not too long afterwards, we started planning to go to Uganda. Somehow, the plans fell through. This would typically frustrate me, but I had total peace about not going this summer after all. I knew that the timing was not good, that God would open the door at a later stage.

In July, I met Adele, Pat's friend from South Africa. She had just moved to Cedar Rapids and was to stay for just a few months before moving to Canada. Adele had just returned from Mozambique where she had taken a team on short-term missions, and during our early-morning walks, I asked Adele questions about missions in Africa. And on one such early morning, I told Adele that God had impressed on my heart that I'd be going to Africa within six months.

When did God tell me this? I had gone to Colorado for a weekend and on the flight home, I sensed God saying, "You need to get your passport immediately." I was reading, and didn't really want to pay attention to a seemingly absurd though. But I sensed the same impression again, and asked God, "When and where will I be going?" To Africa maybe?

The answer was clear. "You're going to go to Africa within six months."

So I told Adele about this during an early morning walk, and after stopping for breakfast, we decided to go to Pat and Adele's home for coffee. You can read Pat's story on my reaction when she told me that on that very morning God had told her that we'll be going to Africa over Thanksgiving.

As we're preparing to leave for Africa, I know that this mission is something that has long been part of God's plan for my life. And there's nothing more exciting than knowing you are actually living the purpose-driven life, the life that God had intended for you to live.

I don't know what's next, after this mission to Kenya and Uganda. I do believe, however, that this is the beginning of an ongoing experience which will include ministering to orphans and sharing Jesus' love with children especially in Africa.

I've heard from numerous people how excited they are about the possibility of joining future missions to Africa. If you dare, pray that God will show you if you, too, should join a future expedition of being Christ's hands and feet, serving His children in Africa.