Nikki

I am an elementary music teacher in the Annville-Cleona School District, where I teach general music to grades 1-3. I also enjoy the opportunity I have to work with and after school chorus of 3rd grade students, and prepare them for performances at local nursing homes. I recently got married, November 7, 2009, and have been enjoying these first few months of being a “newlywed”! My husband, Steve, and I live in Palmyra, not far from my mom Diane, who is also going on the trip! I have attended New Life Church (previously Hershey Brethren In Christ Church) since I was 5. I am on the church leadership team, and also enjoy serving on the worship team. Some of my hobbies include cross-stitching, scrapbooking, and card stamping, as well as cooking and baking.
I have wanted to go to Zambia since I was in high school. Growing up at HBIC, Rachel and Lazarus were members of our congregation, and I got to know Rachel as she taught us kids and helped plan special events. When they returned to the mission field in Zambia, I wanted to visit them in the worst way — but that was not a trip my mom and I were going to make on our own!!! I am very excited about this opportunity to see first-hand the work Lazarus and Rachel do, and to better understand how I can pray for and support them from the States. I am excited about the partnerships that will be built during our time in Zambia, and to see how our congregation may be able to become more involved in global missions.
As a teacher, I am most looking forward to the opportunity to work with the children at the orphanage and school. I am excited about the opportunities we have to help train some of their teachers, hopefully beginning programs that they will be able to use to teach and reach the children in a meaningful way. As a music educator, I am excited about the chance to see and experience music of a different culture, and to see the role music plays in African culture. As a worship leader and team member, I am anxious to have the opportunity to swap and share ideas with their worship teams, and to be able to make music and worship the Lord together.
I am most certain that the Lord is going to teach me more from my time in Zambia than any ideas or knowledge I am going to be able to share with the people we meet on our trip. As I said before, I look forward to gaining a better understanding of the work Lazarus and Rachel do, and being able to come home and support them better through that knowledge. I know that this trip will open my eyes to the poverty and disease that is so prevalent among so many peoples of our world. I pray that the Lord will soften my heart to know and understand my role in helping to meet the needs of these people in some way. Most of all, I look forward to the spiritual growth that the Lord will develop in me as I step out in faith on this journey. Only He knows where it will lead!