Different Country, Same Purpose

The past year or so has been a great time for me to learn that my life rarely goes according to my plans.  The most recent lesson for me has been my assignment with the Peace Corps.  Shortly before finishing at eMi, a phone call came from Brian, my placement officer, notifying me that my trip to Honduras was cancelled.  Due to safety concerns in the region, all volunteers going to Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador were having their programs terminated.  Obviously, this was a bit of a shock for me.  This kind of thing was not supposed to happen, I had no backup plan.  I remember thinking, "God, what are you doing now?"  The only thing I could do was wait and see what would happen.

A couple weeks later I got another call from Brian telling me about some open positions.  This was exciting news, especially since they were also in water and sanitation programs.  The only problem was that I was given about 24 hours to decide if I wanted to take an assignment in Panama or Mali (in West Africa, for those like me who have never heard of Mali before).  Long story short, I decided on Panama due to a number of reasons.  The fact that learning Spanish was more doable for me than French was not the least important of those reasons.  More importantly though, it seems that God has been drawing me to Latin America in a number of different ways.  I'm hoping that this will in some way reveal more of God's plan for me.

As of a few days ago I have been officially accepted as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Environmental Health program in Panama.  On May 1 my training will start as I head to this small isthmus between two oceans.  My assignment will be primarily focusing on potable water and sanitation construction projects in my community and others nearby.  What goes along with that is of course education and other development efforts to make these projects sustainable and actually beneficial to the communities.  Lack of clean water and proper sanitation is a huge problem for rural areas of Panama.  I can only hope to have a small impact by helping people in poverty to improve their health.  At the same time I realize that the impact this will have on me will be a huge learning and growing experience.

...for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Philippians 2:13

Thinking about what lies ahead is very exciting and I can't wait to see what God will show me in Panama.  Unfortunately I will have to wait - about four months at that.  In the meantime I am looking for ways that I can serve God with my time and energy.  Only God knows what that will entail, but I know the more I give up control each day, the more He can use me for His good purpose.