About Me:

 

For those who may not know me well, my name is Aleksis and I am a 21-year-old nursing student from Ryerson University. I have been bouncing back and fourth between Toronto and my hometown, Thunder Bay, for nearly four years now. It wasn't until I left town for school that I came to really appreciate the beauty of Northwestern Ontario... and I am so thankful for many opportunities to explore the outdoors via activities like running, hiking and sailing. For my final semester in the program, however, I am heading even more north to complete my placement in a small community called Moose Factory. As of now I am not familiar with the story behind the name, but will be sure to entertain you with the details in a future blog :) I do know that it is about 850km north of Toronto and 700km north-east of Thunder Bay... long story short, it's far. But being the adventurer/explorer I am, I am more than excited to set off on what I anticipate to be one of my most unique journeys yet.

​

It was sometime during the summer of 2016 that I was speaking to my dear friend Meg (who lives in Moose Factory with her husband Jacob) that the idea was sparked for me to come up for consolidation in my final year. It was still 1.5 years from the time that I would be going, but God was initially so clear in His leading that I became very interested, very quickly. He put such a strong desire and excitement in my heart to go that I could not resist, even despite the extra work I knew would be involved and the waves of fear I experienced from time to time. My amazing third year preceptor, Alex, was especially supportive of me pursuing this placement... interestingly, she herself had gone to Fort Albany (on the James Bay coast just North-West from Moose Factory) for her nursing consolidation and had a very positive experience. So I was pleased to find out last spring that everything had been approved and finalized. I celebrated my last semester as an undergraduate student in Toronto with a half-marathon, beating my target of 2 hours. It was an excellent reminder that I can gladly welcome a challenge and attain the goals I set out for myself.

​

But I have learned that I cannot succeed in life without God - the One who created the heavens, the earth, and everything in it... and the One who designed every aspect of my personal being. Being His daughter is the most important piece of who I am. I wouldn't be where I am today - personality wise and even physically - without His love and faithfulness in pursuing my heart. Life has been incredibly exciting with Him in it and I am persuaded to continue pushing forward into the many other things He has planned for me!  I can sum up these thoughts in several verses from Hebrews 12:1-2 - "...let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith...". I hope that you are encouraged by my blogs to come and I look forward to sharing with you my journey in the true North :)

-Aleksis