Brazil: God's Hand

When my parents returned from Key West in January they mentioned that a group was going to the Amazon River in Brazil for a medical missions trip. My aunt and uncle (Julie and Fred) told them a little bit about it but it didn't seem very realistic that we would go. With curiosity and visions of what it could be like, we got more information. Julie, Fred, and the 3 of us went to the first meeting at Mountain Christian Church. The group going included many people that my mom had served with in India and the more we heard the more we were drawn to go. I honestly was very doubtful that I would be able to go. I had literally been hired at my first nursing job within days of learning about this trip and I figured that they would not let me take off for 9 days being so new to the job. I received the dates of the trip and compared them to my spring class schedule and when summer classes would begin...the dates for Brazil fit perfectly between the 2 semesters. I then emailed my new boss with the dates and some information about the trip. To my surprise, she said I could take off. She said that when someone is newly hired and they have dates that they will be out of town or have a vacation already planned that they try to honor those. So my work and school were both good to go. For a few weeks in March I pretty much forgot that I was going Brazil because of the stress of orienting as a new nurse full time and taking 2 classes.
The next obvious step was to start raising money since the trip would be in a few short months. So I sent out information on facebook and I was privately messaged a few minutes later by a woman from my home church saying that she would like to pay for my entire trip. $2000. I was overwhelmed. Speechless. What a blessing! She said that she wanted to use her family's tax return to sponsor me. How humbling. She could have easily invested this money into her home, cars, 3 daughters, or savings....but God spoke into her and her husband's hearts to share this with me. They were called to invest in His kingdom with the plenty that He provided, and I would be the vessel. How humbling. Such an incredible blessing that honestly changed me.
What an answer to prayer. I prayed that if I was suppose to go to Brazil that my commitments of school and work would have to line up, and He answered. I had my last final and worked an evening shift on May 15th and then woke up early on May 16th to head to Brazil. How surreal. What a whirlwind.
As I prepared to leave, my family and I received overwhelming support and prayers from family and friends. People at church fervently prayed for us before and during our trip and I can say: their prayers were answered. I feel humbled to have been a part of something that was so clearly in God's hand. He orchestrated this trip in so many ways out of our control. I want to be nowhere other than in His hand forever.