First post: Here I go.
I’m not much of a writer but I’ll try to keep you all drawn in as you
read. Good thing I’ll have interesting
content matter for the next 5 months abroad!
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I realized a
few things this past weekend. Now while it was Father’s Day, it was also our
Church’s annual outdoor baptism/potluck (my dad was NOT a fan of this decision
to have it on HIS day however). So after
the baptism we stayed to eat….against Dad’s better judgments. As a result, everyone I talked to began
asking me questions. As a
precursor, the vast majority of my
church members were given support letters with trip information already in
it. But the majority of the questions I received:
“So where are you going again?” “What
will you be doing over there?” “Did you
just come back?” (I was a little dumbfounded by that last question). I realized then that quite a few people can have
really poor memories (much as I do myself). But also that I need to keep people
informed and updated on my mission process a little better.
Let me
answer all those questions for you!
1) Where am I going?
Plainly put –
I’m going to Europe. Not-so-plainly
put - I’m not exactly sure where I’m
going. I know I’ll be traveling around
the Mediterranean countries of Europe, but not much beyond that.
My first
week will be in Rome, Italy where we will be attending a large Christian
conference. I’m really excited for this
week! This is the week I finally meet all my teammates as well as being able to
devote an entire week to focus on God and get a spiritual high before
journeying out to begin our mission centered outreaches. I imagine that whole week to be somewhat like
districts or Nationals (for all you who know what that is).
From Rome,
my team will travel to London, England for a few weeks to gain more training as
a team. I’m not sure what exactly we’ll
be doing but I’ll keep you posted. After
London, we go via big van from city to city, country to country for the glory
of God. Everything is essentially a
mystery right now, and it may be killing me not knowing where and what else I’ll
be doing – but I know God’s got it covered.
Regardless of knowing or not - I’m SUPER excited,
because if you know me at all, you know I LOVE to travel – and seeing Rome and
London in and of themselves is a dream come true. And what a better way to do it?
2) What am I doing?
Again,
nothing is definite as far as I know.
But I have read former team blogs and all other reading material
available to us and what I’ve gathered is that we’ll be doing…………everything. Yep, I said it. We’ll be doing lots of outreaches: skits,
youth camps, sport camps, orphanages, community projects, street ministry, and
more. We’ll be doing in-reaches to the
local churches: church projects, bible studies, church service opportunities,
etc. Again, these are all just
possibilities. But ohhhhhhhhhhhh the
possibilities are endless J
3) When am I going?
Easy answer: July 14th. I arrive in Rome late morning on the 15th
(if everything goes as planned). But I’m
only 3 WEEKS AWAY!!!! It’s very surreal.
Especially since I’m currently living in Chicago and I see planes come and
go every day. This just makes me smile knowing I’ll be on one in about 23
days.
Thanks for reading,
Ciao for now!
The first thing that has really hit me the past couple of days: I am INCREDIBLY thankful for being single. That's right! I said it! Ya - never hear that now do ya? I really COULD. NOT be doing what I'm about to do in my life with this mission trip and just in general if I were in a committed relationship with someone. God has a plan for me - and right now - it's focus on God time - not focus on a man time. Sorry guys.
