Tressa Kanan

Member Bio

I graduated from college in May 2012 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and Pre-medicine. During my sophomore year of college I felt God begin to direct my heart toward the medical mission field. I had the opportunity to go to India on a short medical mission trip my senior year of college and fell in love with the people and what God was doing there. It was my dream to go to medical school and become an OB/GYN, however God led me to take a year off after I graduated and pursue missions. I was able to spend 6 months of my gap year working in southeastern India as an intern to a local ministry. I mainly worked with their child development center ministry and helped to establish the office procedures for the different centers and organize a fundraising campaign. I unfortunately did not have the chance to experience a lot of medical care during my internship, however the Lord continuously grew my desire to serve in India. Also, while I was overseas I began to feel the Lord redirect my heart away from medical school. I started to research other practitioner roles and decided to pursue nursing and become a nurse practitioner. I am currently in nursing school and will graduate this coming May 2015. I have currently applied to a nurse midwife program, which I am hoping to attend this coming fall. I hope to be able to return to India over the next few years as I study, however it is my desire to live for longer periods of time overseas after I finish my degree. I hope to bring medical care to rural areas of India as well as having a central woman's clinic in the city. I am not certain of God’s specific plan for my life overseas, but I believe that he has called me and I am open to where he leads.