Allison Hosley ’98

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Allison Hosley '98

“A Gypsy Nomad Girl”

Hosley’s friend and former classmate Katie Besley Henderson ’99 says, “Ali’s work in God’s world has changed her idea of ‘home.’ She has changed her address in her mind and heart, and has challenged us as family and friends to do the same. … She lives where God has a need for her.”

But Hosley shifts the focus from her service to the way in which God has served her through these journeys. “People think this kind of work is sacrificial. But honestly, I can talk for hours about the ways that I am blessed through this, and all that I’ve learned — not just from the other staff members, but from the people I’m helping. Yes, they have needs, but in the midst of that they pour so much back into you.”

Her adventures have cost her — she knows that. Tears sting her eyes as she explains, “Sometimes I feel like I’m a gypsy nomad girl, living out of boxes, constantly sleeping in new beds, and feeling like a burden to family and friends when I’m home. I’m giving up nieces and nephews and family and my own home. I absolutely love what I’m doing 95 percent of the time, but then there’s that 5 percent when I cry myself to bed and scream, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’”

Things get tougher when other Christians respond by saying, “Don’t go and put your life at risk!” or “Don’t you want to get married?” “I know that they’re speaking out of love,” she says. “But it’s hard when other believers challenge what is truly a call on your life.”

She says she draws strength from the example of Jesus Christ: “Christ sacrificed in a lot of the same ways. He was constantly on the move. He was dependent on friends and family to care for his needs. He was bombarded by need everywhere he went. His was a life of uncertainty.”

And yet, Hosley is not interested in persuading people to follow her example. She explains it this way: “Frederick Buechner says that God’s call on your life is where your greatest gladness meets the world’s greatest need. I wouldn’t want people to look at my life and become a nurse in Darfur. There is nothing greater than understanding the call on your life, and walking toward it in obedience, whatever it looks like.”

–By Jeffrey Overstreet [jeffreyo@spu.edu]

–Photos by Medair and Jakob Swartz

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