Sometimes God calls us to a completely different path than the one we’re on, and it can be daunting to take the leap of faith. Professional nursing student Mika Yagi Kim ’25 followed her heart to pursue a career in nursing when she felt God calling her to help others in ways she couldn’t at her previous job.
Kim graduated from UC Irvine with a bachelor’s in social sciences specializing in cognitive science. She went on to receive her masters from the University of Southern California with a specialized degree in architecture with a focus on environmental science. Kim combined the two to get what she believed to be her dream job as an architectural consultant for sustainability but found herself searching for something more. As she began to question what her true calling was, she leaned into the spiritual aspect of her life. “That’s when I realized that to feel fulfilled in my career, there had to be an element of selfless service more than I was already doing,” Kim said. She knew that she was helping people in her job already, but she wanted to work with people firsthand and see the impact for herself.
Becoming a nurse became Kim’s aspiration, so she applied to multiple nursing programs. She was accepted into all of her top candidates, but Azusa Pacific University’s faith based mission and values aligned with her own, something she couldn’t find anywhere else. APU’s professional nursing program is a two year accelerated course perfect for those who already have a degree in another subject which Kim found fitting as well.
APU encourages professional nursing students to participate in global service trips where they can use their gifts to help people in need in other parts of the world. However, Tanzania was not one of the locations that APU offered. Kim was inspired to serve in Africa due to the nursing trips frequently organized by her current employer, Adventist Health, a non-profit faith-based hospital. Through Adventist Health, she came across a non-profit organization called the International Volunteer Headquarters. The organization planned to travel to Tanzania for three and a half weeks over the summer. They offer programs all over the world, not only in medical fields, but also in education, marine life, and general volunteering. Kim knew that she could make an impact in others’ lives in Tanzania while also growing in her own faith, so she committed to going.
Kim had never been to Africa before, so she didn’t know what to expect but kept an open mind and positive outlook. She was assigned to work in Levolosi Hospital, a 45-bed public healthcare facility in Arusha, where she volunteered in the acute inpatient ward treating those commonly diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, malaria, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, and mental health disorders. Working alongside Dr. Nathan, the Chief Medical Physician, her responsibilities included daily rounding with the medical team, performing assessments, developing a plan of care, completing treatments, and providing education to patients in a country where access to health care was limited.
A group of ten doctors and nurses, including Kim, also helped in a medical outreach clinic located in a more remote area where community members without direct access to healthcare could be treated. The team assessed the patients’ healthcare needs and provided treatment and medications. International Volunteer Headquarters also partnered with social workers in Tanzania to further participate in community outreach by putting together care packages of food for families in need.
While Kim signed up for the Tanzania trip to work in healthcare, she found the most emotionally impactful part of her trip to be teaching English to fifth graders at the Burka Primary School. “I came across a student named Grace who I knew was special,” she said. “Many of the girls in the school have barriers that prevent them from completing their education, but this one girl had such a strong desire to learn.” As Kim continued to interact with the little girl, she learned that her dream was to become a pilot, but her family was struggling financially since her father had passed away the year before.
Kim set up a meeting with the school’s principal and learned that she could help support Grace’s education and career dreams. “There’s a scholarship program between the government and public schools where you can sponsor a child,” she said. “It is a blessing that I can be of support to her and her family so that Grace will be able to continue her education. For her not to pursue her dream because of circumstances out of her control would be heartbreaking.“
Kim’s time in Tanzania also allowed her to experience and reflect on her faith. She spent a day with one of the local tribes. When she arrived, they were all wearing traditional attire and singing songs in their native language. Despite the language barrier, the Maasai tribe welcomed Kim with open arms into their celebration. “I came back from the trip having experienced God’s universal love,” she said. “Interacting with the community showed me that there was an underlying concept of love that I could only attribute to being God’s love. I’ve visited other countries where I’ve experienced the one love of God, but there was something so special and welcoming about the people I met in Tanzania.”
While Kim’s main goal is to become a nurse, she believes that there is something bigger than herself or her job that she is called to do. “Even non-believers can be nurses, so I think there may be more that I am called to do,” she said. “I will be focusing my PhD dissertation on spiritual care, and that’s something that could only be supported at APU. Over the last year, I’ve been contemplating the subject of God consciousness as a healing modality in health care. I hope to be able to make it a priority in nursing in the future.
Kim’s time at APU not only prepared her for the work she did in Tanzania, but has helped to transform her outward faith. “I have found a home in APU, and it’s because of the curriculum involving spiritual care that I see just how integrated it is to nursing,” she said. “I’ve come from institutions where speaking of God was not encouraged, so I never got to fully express my true self as a child of God. But here at APU, we’re encouraged to further our spiritual growth and share that with others. I’m so humbled and blessed by the opportunities I’ve had to strengthen my spiritual foundations alongside receiving my degree.”