History

I will now give you a short history of my testimony and explain how I ended up in Uganda and then show you where I believe God is leading me in the future.

I was not called to be a missionary as a child. I was born into the Catholic faith, but my mother, who was widowed twice, stopped going to church after I had my Holy Communion. I was reintroduced to God in a Baptist church at the age of 10. However, during my teenage years, I went the way of the world and rebelled. I got involved in the culture of "drugs, sex and rock & roll". This continued until I was arrested at the age of 20. God used those few hours in jail to get my attention. I promised Him that if He would get me out of this mess, I would follow Him. Fortunately, He kept His end of my bargain and I kept mine.

I became a registered nurse at the age of 18 after graduating from high school a year early. This was another blessing that God propelled me through high school while my friends were failing. God then helped me to keep my nursing license after my arrest. Later, I finished both Bachelor's and Master's degrees in nursing at the University of South Florida. God altered my course from wanting to make more money as a Nurse Practitioner to a calling to care for the poor. The Christian Medical and Dental Association (CMDA - www.cmdahome.org) was very influential in this and in my maturing as a Christian. After graduating from college, I worked in a public health department in Ft. Myers for a few years, primarily in the sexually transmitted disease clinic. I then moved to Sarasota where I worked in an HIV clinic for three years. In both places, I was able to show the love of God to suffering individuals and families.

It was during a CMDA ski conference in 1996 that I first had a vision to do short term missionary work outside of the United States. In 1997, I attended YWAM’s (Youth With A Mission) Relief and Development Discipleship Training School (DTS) in Harpenden, England. My outreach for this 6 month Mission’s training school was with a YWAM HIV prevention ministry in Uganda. Since that time I have worked in Uganda in several different places. Please see attached resume’.

Vision

HIV Seminars

In 1996, when God was calling me to Africa, the original vision was that I would not be working in one place but would be doing HIV seminars in different places for short terms of service of approximately 3 months at a time. I have done this on a small scale in the past in Uganda, Botswana and in Zimbabwe. I have recently traveled to Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo to do HIV seminars and hope to go to Burundi in 2009 to train about 100 pastors there about HIV/AIDS. I would like to train a team of Ugandans to work with me to do these seminars. God has changed my vision of short term work to full-time work and it is difficult to do long term work without having a reliable vehicle and possibly also a driver, so one of my immediate needs is to raise finances to purchase a vehicle so I will not have to take public transport as I have always done in the past.

Karamoja
            My long-term vision has been to reach areas that are unreached or have been isolated due to war. I have an interest in an area in Northeastern Uganda where there is a nomadic people group called the Karamajong. The Karamajong are cattle herders and very few are Christians. I have a friend there, Reverend Samuel Ngorok, whom I have known since 1998 when I first visited Karamoja after having an interest in this people group during my DTS outreach in 1997. We have kept in touch during the years and I hope to be able to do some work with his church in Iriiri, Uganda and with the churches, most of which are meeting under trees, that Rev. Sam has started since 1996.

Mentoring

I am interested in discipleship training in the Word as well as preventative health ministry.  In whatever work I do, I try to incorporate a message about the love of God. I like to use scriptures when teaching about health. I would like to train interested individuals in the churches to incorporate their faith in ministering to and teaching their neighbors about health along with being able to minister to them in prayer.

God has also been using me to encourage many people, ministers, missionaries, and leaders in Uganda and in other countries as well. Because I have moved around so much, I have built strong relationships with many Ugandans as well as people who are working in Botswana, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). God continues to use me in networking and to encourage people. I see my ministry somewhat like that of Paul. I am not gifted as an evangelist but I have been used of God as a teacher and an encourager. I would like to continue in this role with occasional visits to these places as well as through email contact. Africa is a relationship based culture. It is not task oriented and I have fit well into this culture though it is challenging to balance relationships with tasks.

School Scholarships

Another great need that I have been involved with on the mission field since 2005 is in sponsoring students at the level of secondary school and in university. I am currently sponsoring/mentoring 2 students in Uganda with whom I had relationship before the sponsorship. I would like add 2 new students and continue this ministry within my budget on a small scale.

I do see how God has led me through all of my training and my different experiences in Uganda and in life. I know He will continue to prepare me for the future. Jesus is my husband, provider and protector. He has taken good care of me for many years even during difficult times. I trust him to continue to be there for me and also to lead and guide me.