Kenya 2018 – Can Ya Believe It?!?
Jacelyn has known since she was ten years old that she was going to be a missionary. I often say that I’ve known since I met her that I was going to be a missionary. Many of you may know that not long after we were married, we moved to China for 2 years to teach in an international school. What you might not know is that, in 2005, while on a trip to Cambodia, Jacelyn had a proverbial light bulb moment after bandaging up the cut foot of a little boy who’d been running around The Killing Fields. In the span of about ten seconds, she said the following:
“You know, someone could become a doctor and do a lot of good here……..Wait, I could become a doctor……..I’m going to become a doctor.”
It was that brief and it was that final. True to form, Jacelyn has never stopped advancing toward that goal since that day. She’s struggled and fought and even doubted, but she’s never backed down.
She’s gone through:
- 3 years of pre-med
- 1 year of waiting to be accepted into med school
- 4 years of med school
- 3 years of residency
- 3 adoptions
- 1 pregnancy
- 37 hours of labor
- 1 C-section
- 7 different apartments/homes
- 6 different cities
- 4 years of living out of suitcases
On September 13, she completed her last day of residency. Ironically, after all the aforementioned stepping stones and hurdles, her last day seemed a bit anti-climactic, basically culminating in an exasperated, “Well, it’s about stinkin’ time!”
Last year, Jacelyn decided that after all the pushing and striving, she’d like us to go on our first mission trip as a family before she embarked on her first year of medical practice. So, we reached out to one of our friends, Father Gabriel Waweru, whose father works in a hospital in Kenya, to see if we would be able to go there for a month or so for Jacelyn to help out. Thankfully, he was immediately on board.
So, here we are, 28 days away from loading the entire Davidson family—The Justice League—into a steel tube, taking two separate 8.5 hour flights, and spending a month outside of Nairobi, Kenya.
Throughout our entire 17 years of married life, we’ve learned over and over that God will always take care of us. Whether it’s guidance for a last-minute life decision, a surprise miracle pregnancy, or unexpected thousands of dollars to adopt three kids, He’s always provided exactly what we’ve needed at precisely the right time.
We are so crazily excited about this opportunity that it’s tough to find the words, which is saying something, considering how much I talk. We are thankful for all of your prayers and support over the past decade and we can’t believe we’re finally at this point. We want you all to know how the trip plays out and I plan on writing blog posts from Africa, in between the amazing experiences and what I’m sure will be frequent bouts of explosive diarrhea.
We do have a non-profit mission organization, we do have a donation button that will be made available, and we do have a high amount of expenditure for us to go. However, we don’t want anyone to give because of a sense of pressure or guilt, or because they’re worried that we won’t make it “there and back again”. God has never asked us to do something and then left us high and dry, so hakuna matata on that front.
At the same time, we are very excited about how many people care for and support our mission, and we would 100% absolutely love for you to be a part of the work God has called us all to! We named our non-profit FreelyGiven for a reason. In Matthew 10, Jesus tells His disciples, “Freely you have received, so freely give.” Jacelyn and I have been given so, so much in our lives and we are very excited to give ourselves back to Him. We encourage and welcome anyone and everyone who’d like to do so along with us!
Please share our posts and our pages with anyone who may be excited and encouraged in their faith due in some small part to where God is taking us. Let’s enjoy the ride!
As always, if you pray, when you pray, pray for us.