Initial Interests

Ever since I was a child I had a desire to visit or move to other cultures. The most dominating culture was Africa. So, when I graduated from college and was actually able to afford to the travel to other coutries I began by embarking on a Grace Brethern International Missions trip to Central African Republic to teach natives and missionaries basic computer skills. The trip was quite an adventure. I did not really know any of my team mates, I spoke absolutely nothing in the local language (there were a million different tribal languages so it wouldn't have mattered anyway), we taught computer to remote areas with little electrical power, I was a blonde white girl whom all the children followed after chanting "boongu" (I have no idea if that is the right spelling) which means "white person", I slept in basic areas with mosquito neets (which actually I really loved), and we traveled over the largest pot holes I have ever seen. And I loved every minute...my teammates were great and the people were absolutely beautiful.

After Africa, I went to Italy with two college friends on a tour of the entire northern Italy. We visited Rome, Venice, Como, etc. Again, I loved it. I had the best time saying "chow" and trying to communicate with the locals. I am sure they got annoyed with me but the trip was very nice. I didn't have to worry about my travel or lodging. I was dropped off in a town and told to meet everyone again at a certain time and then we were off to the next location. It was a great time to enjoy the country and my dear friend.s

Then I traveled to Turkey on a missions trip with Grace Community Church. We stayed with Turkish citizens for a week in Ankara and then visited Cappodocia the land of rock cities and rock churches. It was a stuning mixture of modern and traditional turkish cultures. The land was beautiful and I developed a thirst to explore more of this early church land. It was like a rich desert, with deep tradition, and many stories.

After Africa, Italy, and Turkey, I did not travel to another country for two years and I was beginning to develop an itch for the adventure of different cultures and people. I began exploring different places like Thailand, Isreal, Japan...basically the east and middle east. Then my friend Lynn found a website for Cross Cultural Solutions (CCS). It provided the opportunity to volunteer with local communities while visiting the culture. The focus was on developing more of a world wide cross cultural view. I loved the idea. It was not affiliated with any church or religious organization but was focused on allowing people to help develop various different. I was excited to see how others engaged in various different cultures without my religious background. CCS allows me to tell the my skills and interests and place me in a volunteer program that will benefit both me and the organization I am volunteering in. I decided that I would do this program. If Lynn wanted to go with me then I was going to India and if not I was going to Thailand. Well, Lynn decided to come so we are off to India. The trip is planned for June 2005 in Dharmasala, India which is in the Northwest corner of India nestled in the Himalayan Mountains.