The countdown is on!

I can't believe that this time next week I will have been in Honduras for about seven hours. It still has not hit me yet that I'm leaving the country in a week for about a week and still really have no idea what I am going to be doing. I mean I have a semi-itinerary of what we will be doing, but really there is no telling exactly how things will go until we get there.

Today several members of my group got together and went to finish buying supplies to take with us. We all get to take a bag/suitcase/plasitc container that weighs about 50 pounds with us of supplies that the church we are working with can use. Most of us have opted to get bags or plastic containers that we can just leave there in Honduras and the church can make better use of them than we can.

I did some pre-shopping Friday (on my first day off from work for the summer). I took over the job of buying soccer balls for the group. I got some pretty awesome looking balls...too bad I didn't take pictures. I also picked up a pump/air release. While I was at it I bought a big duffel bag to put all the supplies in since I didn't have any bags here in Birmingham that I could leave in Honduras. I also went to the Dollar Tree to stock up. They had some awesome stuff. I racked up on bubbles and frisbees and some other stuff.

So today when we went shopping as a group, we filled in the gaps. We made stops at the Dollar Tree again, Hobby Lobby, and then Walmart. I think we seriously cleaned Walmart out of travel toothpaste and the Dollar Tree out of crayons, toothbushes, and candy.

Post-shopping, the whole group gathered at Candace's house to pack the supplies up in various containers and bags. We took all the supplies that we had gotten today, along with supplies that other had brought, and our hundreds of Spanish New Testaments and started loading them into bags and suitcases and plastic trunks. My bag ended up with an assortment of stuff (coloring books, balls, bubbles, crayons, toys) and weighed in at a grand total of 47.3 pounds. I'm thinking that's good enough if I have to carry this thing around.

Anyway, I really way too excited about this to even focus on what could go wrong or things that I should be worried about. I think that's God working though. He's filled my heart with such joy and anticipation so that I won't worry about what might happen or what might go wrong because that's not what I need to be focused on. My focus should be revealing God's glory to the people groups that I'm going to interact with. Sure, I'm going to show love and help out people who are less fortunate than I am, and that's exactly how I've been describing my trip to everyone, but what I should have been saying is that God wants the heart of every person of every tongue in every nation to see his glory and we are the tools he is using for this specific mission.

If anyone even reads this, please pray that that is exactly what will happen. That these people will see God's glory revealed through what we do there. We aren't the only group going down there so this isn't just a feel-good trip to satisfy some urge in our minds to make us feel like we actually made an impact or something. We are one of many groups from my church, The Church at Brookhills, that is spending a week or more doing God's work in a country that may or may not get just a glimpse of Him once in a blue moon. However, we are joined by tons of other groups/churches doing the same thing.

I read the journal of my old youth minister who now works at Pinelake Baptist Church in Brandon, Miss., who just returned from a trip to the middle of Africa -- Nairobi to be exact, I believe. Throughout his journal, he talked about the many people that he worked with, some from his church, who had dropped their lives in the comfy U.S. of A to live in the jungle/desert of Africa and mission work as the response to God's call. He mentioned more than once, most in a prayer, that although he didn't feel that God was calling him to do just that, he prayed that if God were to call him to relocate to Africa this is answer would be a whole-hearted "yes". He said of course, right now he would say that he would definitely say yes, but when the time came, and if God called, would he really respond that way, no questions asked? That made me think. I do have a desire for the nations, in particular, Africa, but I really don't feel God calling me to relocate. But if he were, and I know I'm probably playing with fire right now (Ask and it shall be given right?), would I respond with a whole-hearted "Yes, Lord, I'll go!" My prayer is that I will.

So to sum things up, I can't wait for my upcoming trip. The stories I've heard from other people who have been to Honduras and Venezuala in the weeks before us just pump me up even more. And I've already decided...my next trip...Africa!

The group. 10 + 2 that aren't pictured from my singles class at the church.
I am the youngest.