Learning to fly and the beauty of Belgium!

Saturday, the day I learned to fly. Yes, I'm using a play on words. Not only did I fly on a plane but my heart flew as well. Through the tears of departure from my family my heart soared with mixed emotions I didn't know how to deal with. There I was, a 17 year old, sitting on a plane next to people I didn't know, flying to places I'd never been and for the first time in my life not having immediate contact with any of my family or friends. All of these things were heart wrenching, and I cried a lot of tears that day. But among the tears there was joy. There I was, a 17 year old, going to new places, meeting new friends, having the pleasure to hang out with their awesome kids, hearing God whisper "This is it. This is the first real day of the rest of your future. This is what I've planned for you daughter. This is where you belong." seeing stunning views that have taken my breath away, experienced several different cultures within a matter of 24 hours and finally feeling like I no longer need to just dream my dream but I need to start living it! Saturday was a big day for me, a day that will forever be etched into my mind as "the first day of the rest of my life!" Saturday's flights all went tremendously well and I met up with the wonderful Baskin family in Newark, NJ later that night. We then flew from NJ to Brussels, Belgium. The original plan, as some of you may have known, was to then meet up with the Willis family and take a flight from Belgium to Burundi. To put you at ease we did meet up with the Willis family, but we did not depart for Burundi. Our flight was cancelled because of birds, yes, birds. Saturday the plane we were supposed to fly in to Burundi hit a flock of birds and one of the engines was ruined. Therefore our flight was moved to tomorrow. The cool thing about this was that we got to explore some of Brussels! As you can see from some of the pictures it is a beautiful place! Even the view from the airplane was breathtaking! I was enchanted the whole evening by this magnificent city's culture, restaurants, architect and of course the many people walking around speaking French! In all honesty I hope to someday return to Belgium so that I can explore more! Just this one city has already captured my heart with its beauty! Tomorrow we take off for Burundi and then go on with the rest of the plan as it was before, except for this time a day later. Please continue to pray for us as we travel and keep in mind especially the children, we have an 8 and 1/2 hour flight and the time change is doing a number on us all! Thank you all so much for everything you have done for my group and I. I'm sorry that this update was so short, I've had a full day of exploring, 6 miles of walking and with only 3 full hours of sleep since Saturday morning! I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I did! As they say in Belgium! Bonsoir(Goodnight!)

Ready....Set.....Go!!

I have approximately 1 day 1 hour 27 minutes and 35 seconds until I leave! The excitement is starting to overflow and emotions are on overdrive. Bags are packed, gifts are opened, hugs are given, goodbyes are said, last minute donations are brought over, letters are tearfully read and prayers are being prayed. Everyone has been so helpful and encouraging these past few months and I truthfully couldn't have done it without all of you! These last few days many people have shown me a different side of them. Their caring, loving, supporting, concerned and generous side. Many of you have stepped up to the plate and have donated, given words of wisdom, given gifts for me to take, thrown me a going away party, or simply have just surprised me and shown up places to say hello and wish me a wonderful trip! I will truly miss every single one of you but I know you will all be traveling with me while I'm away. These last few weeks many of you have asked questions so I will take the time to answer some of them right now. Where will I be staying? Well as far as I know the first night I arrive will be spent in the capital of Burundi. It is known as Bujumbura. I will stay with the wonderful Willis and Baskin families as well as the amazing Cropseys. We will stay in Bujumbura overnight and the next morning the women and I will travel to the market to stock up on food, internet airtime and phone minutes. We will then return to join the men and children and begin to pack up for our 2 and 1/2 hour ride to Kibuye. Kibuye is the village where we will stay during this trip. Upon arrival in Kibuye we will join the other families, I have been told that Monday night I will eat with the Cropseys and the Baskins and Tuesday night I will join Alyssa Pfister and the Willis family. The rest of my meals will most likely be with the Fader family as I will be staying with them in their apartment. I've been told that their girls are awaiting my arrival so I can read them some bedtime stories! What will I be doing there? The Tuesday after I arrive I will begin a VBS with the kids. In all there will be 18 kids all under the age of 10! I will not have every single one of them as the little ones will probably be napping at the time I put on VBS. I will have about 12 of them though! But have no fear, I will have help with crowd control! Many of the moms have offered to help and I will also have the help of a family friend from Burundi named Emelyne, whom I'm very excited to meet and speak French with. When do you leave? When do you get back? How long is your flight? I leave this Saturday from Cleveland airport at 2:40, from there I fly to Newark, NJ and meet up with the Baskin family. From there we all fly to Brussels, Belgium and meet up with the Willis family and from there fly to Bujumbura, Burundi, Africa. From the time I leave Cleveland to the time I touch down in Bujumbura is about 28 hours. I will then leave Bujumbura on the 27th with both the Willis and the Baskin family. We will all fly to Nairobi, Kenya then from there back to Brussels, Belgium. When arriving in Brussels we will say goodbye to the Willis family and the Baskins and myself will continue on our way to Washington, DC. While in Washington I will say farewell to the Baskin family and travel back home to Cleveland, Ohio. I should arrive back in Cleveland around 11:13 p.m. How will you talk to others back home? Can you text, call, email,,etc.? My main communication will probably be through email. My phone will not work while I'm in Africa so texting and calling is out of the question from my phone. I will be buying phone minutes though since the families there will have a phone for me to use to call home maybe once a week or so. I will also be able to communicate to everyone through my blog. If you haven't done so already, please look to the left of the screen where you will see "follow by email" enter your email and hit submit. After this please check your mail for a confirmation email (VERY IMPORTANT! please watch because it will not be from me, it will be from another address so you may find it in your spam if you don't find it in your mailbox. it is very important that you look for this email!) Once you have received and found the confirmation email hit the link emailed to you in order to activate your account. By doing this you have confirmed that you would like to receive an email every time I post a new update. This is very cool! Not only will I still be able to stay in contact with you this way, but you can also be sure you won't miss a single update! Which brings us to the next set of questions. Will you update your blog every day? Do you have a camera? Will you take a lot of pictures? Will you post those too? As some of you may or may not know, electricity and WiFi is not the greatest in Africa. So with that,as well as me being a busy girl sometimes, I may not get to update every single day. I promise to update as much as I can though! To answer the other questions, yes I have a camera and plan on taking a TON of pictures. Yes, I will post those as much as I can as well. This pretty much covers all of the questions you guys have been asking, if you have any others please let me know through email or through my facebook page which you can find and like here! Once again thank you all for your support and prayers! The next time I speak with all of you I will be in Burundi, Africa! I leave you all with some words I learned in Kirundi (the language they speak in Burundi.) Genda n'amahoro! (Go be in peace!)

Ready.....set....WAIT! Don't go yet! You still have to pack!

My excitment grows stronger each day! With every sunrise I sit up and think of the journey ahead. Every time I step out into the cold weather of Ohio I close my eyes and think about the warm weather in Burundi. Every time I enter my room I see the huge suitcase sitting in the corner and think of all the things I still need to pack. There isn't a day that goes by without it being a part of my conversations with my mom. I've truely been eating, sleeping, speaking, and breathing Africa! As you can see from my pictures above, I've already started most of my packing. The suitcase has proved to be large enough. (So large, in fact, that we were able to fit both Anna May and Ella in it, zip it up, and wheel them around the living room!) I have all of my skirts and shirts ready. My Bible, devotionals, and new journal ready. As well as some packages that I'm delivering! Oh! I can't forget my handy flashlight is ready as well! Much has been done but there is still much to be done. I haven't even had time to stress about any of it yet! God has been so gracious towards me with this trip, I have amazing friends and family who have helped me so much with packing, shopping, supplies, medicine, and many, many tips! Many people have been extremely supportive and have given me a lot of confirmation that this is what I need to be doing in my life! I've come in contact with many missionaires over the past few months that have encouraged me and given me great advice for my trip. I have started this blog as well as a new facebook page to get the word out! I've noticed lately that I've been so busy preparing for MY trip that I've forgotten to add Gods trip in as well. Today I took some time alone to just sit and listen and man have I been doing to much talking over God lately! I've decided to not only start sharing my journey with people, but also spread awareness of missions in third world countries. This happened a few weeks ago when I thought of starting a facebook page, but decided to ignore that feeling and move on. Today my mom was commenting on a picture I created and made a comment such as "well if you were to make a facebook page you could use it for that." Well, there was nothing else left to do but to create the page. While creating it one of the boxes asked for the purpose of the facebook page. Once again my amazing mother came up with the idea that it's purpose was to spread awareness of missions in third world countries. It's amazing how many signs God gives us! Not just to us but also through others to us as well! God is so good all the time! Well dear friends, I will write again soon! I plan on doing one or two more posts before I head off to Africa. Then of course try to write as much as I can while I'm there! Thank you everyone for your support! God Bless! IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP ME SPREAD AWARENESS OF MISSIONS IN THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES OR SIMPLY WANT TO "LIKE" MY PAGE YOU CAN FIND IT here!!!

Africa Here I Come!!

So it's official! I will be on my way to Africa in about 50 days! Thanks to all of my friends and family and even people I didn't know, I was able to pay in full for my trip! My flight was booked two nights ago and I couldn't be happier! The rest of the proceeds brought in now will go towards my trip to Haiti in August! Words can not describe how amazing God is! There have been so many signs from Him that this is exactly where I need to go and I cannot wait to see what He has planned for me there! Some of you have asked exactly when the trip is and what I will be doing there, now that it's getting closer I will explain the trip in as much detail as I can! I'm still not even sure what some of the plans are! Haha! Just trying to relax and go with the flow, so I'm not too worried about it! My trip is scheduled from April 5th-27th. I will fly out of Cleveland by myself and meet one of the U.S. families, there are two U.S families who are also traveling there, at a layover. We will all then proceed to fly to Brussels and from there to Burundi. When we arrive in Burundi I assume we will meet up with the other family as well as the missionary families (McCropders is the group name) we are all going to visit and stay with while there. Arrangements for housing have not been set in stone since one of the homes is going through some renovations. I do know that I will be rotating among the families. When we arrive there my job will mainly be with childcare, in all there will be 18 kids all 10 and under. My job will be to work with 12 of the kids with multiple things (a VBS, schoolwork, piano lessons..etc.) anything needed really. I'm planning for 10 days of a VBS and it's definitely been fun coming up with my own lessons! I have also been told that if one of the mothers is not helping when I have the whole group I will have some of the village girls helping me as well, they don't speak any English but they know the kids and can help with crowd control! There will be one of the girls there that speaks French so I will be able to communicate with her the best I can. I've only been taking french for about a month but I'm moving along quickly and hopefully will be able to have a good conversation with her now and then! I'm assuming the Mccropders will also show me around as well as show me some of the work they do at the hospital so that I kind of get a taste for what missionaries do out on the field! This is all the information I have about the trip, more will probably come in the future as I hear it. This blog will keep you all updated on everything that goes on but do not be dismayed if I do not post every single day. The wifi in Burundi is not the greatest and I will be a busy girl! Thank you everyone for your continued support! God Bless! -Nina

A Little Bit About Burundi

Some of you probably have no idea where Burundi, Africa is....besides in Africa of course! That's ok, I didn't know either until my mom pointed it out to me! So let me give you some information about where I'm going. As you can see on the map above Burundi is surrounded by Rwanda, Tanzania and Dem. Rep. of the Congo. It is located by Lake Tanganyika. The official language there is Kirundi which is based off of French. Burundi is very poor and is known for the many diseases it carries. I do not feel informed enough to give you much information but this wiki page will definintely teach you more about Burundi! While I'm there I will be staying with the wonderful McCropder families! (to check out there blog and learn about their mission work in Burundi visit this link here) I cannot wait for this trip and to meet the people of Africa! Thank you all so much for your support! I'm still sending out support letters so if you would like me to send you one please comment below! God Bless!!

The Beginning

Here I sit writing the first entry for my new blog. There's excitement in the air here as I plan for my new trips coming up rather soon! That, dear friends, is why this blog was created! Hopefully throughout the next months, and the next year or two, you come back and read about the many adventures God is taking me on! Even at the age of 17 I have already been blessed with the possibility of going on two trips this year! The first trip will be to Burundi, Africa where I will be for three weeks. While there I will be providing childcare for two U.S. families and several missionary families stationed there indefinitely. There will be 18 children that I will be caring for all under the age of 10. This experience will not only strength my love for children but will also give me some experience as to what missionaries do out in the field. My other trip will be with a youth group from Michigan that I used to attend while Mia was in the hospital. This trip will be to Haiti for one week. We will be helping out a children's organization there! Both of these trips will help me to prepare for after graduation when I hope to go to Haiti and work at an orphanage known as God's Littlest Angels. Some of you know about these trips, and others are probably extremely confused by all of this mission work talk, well let me ease your mind and explain some things to you. The best way to start this is at the beginning, so just sit back, relax, read and travel back in time with me! I think we all started out with a dream when we were little, whether we wanted to be a princess, or a football player, or a superstar. We all had a dream. Mine was to be a missionary. I grew up hearing about my cousin's aunt traveling to Africa as well as many other missionary stories. At a young age, I decided that was what I wanted to do! Well of course as we get older things change and dreams fade, maybe not forever, but they are replaced with more realistic or mature ones. So just like everyone else my dream changed, I wanted to be a singer, then a cosmetologist, then back to a singer and then one day I stumbled upon a Facebook post. One of my friends from Michigan had taken a trip to Haiti and worked at an orphanage there called Gods Littlest Angels(GLA), well if you know me you know that I LOVE kids! So it was natural that I had to read all about this trip. The next thing I know I'm on the orphanages website and soon after that communicating with my friend! Even after one conversation with her I knew that's where I wanted to go. There was no doubt in my mind that was where I planned on going after graduation. (And as of now it is still in my plans and I feel it is my calling. But of course that is God's decision and not mine!) So after we looked into GLA more we all thought it was a great plan and started asking more questions about it. Well just in the past two months or so my parents decided that before I just up and leave to another country I should get some experience. I have never been farther than Kenmore when it comes to mission work. I had two options, I could go to Burundi, Africa with my friend and stay with several missionary families or I could go to Haiti with the Michigan youth group. After contacting my friend about Burundi, we came to the conclusion that she couldn't go so we crossed that one off of our option list and proceeded to fill out forms and contact people about the Haiti trip. About a week later, my mom emailed the missionary family from Africa wondering if there was anything I could do. And you will never believe what happened next! The McCropders emailed my mother saying that they had been praying for someone to come help! They're having two U.S. families come to Africa this April to get information on moving there and they were in desperate need of help with the children! With all of the adults in meetings and giving medical care, the children needed to be cared for. My mom got chills as soon as she read the email! I was so shocked! Not only did God answer our prayers for experience but He blessed me with two trips to hopefully go on and answered the prayers of the other families across the globe! 　 Now I'm busy making a ton of preparations for both trips, everything for Haiti is in place I will just need to attend a few meetings, get some shots and possibly have a talk with the youth pastor. As for Africa...not as much is done....I have to get immunizations and malaria pills, a visa, a plane schedule, clothing so I can match their culture and the list goes on! I will need to raise money for both of these trips so I am also busy writing my sponsor letters and sending them off to friends and family. Though the preparations can be stressful my mom is always here to remind me that if God truly wants me to attend both of these trips it will be done! I am so excited for both of these trips and I cannot wait to see what God has in store for me! You're prayers and support are much appreciated and I hope through this blog I can communicate to you the amazing experiences I will have! I leave you now with a joyous heart and one of my favorite bible verses, have a blessed day! -Nina Isaiah 6:8 "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send Me!"