Here Am I Lord... Send Me.

So it's finally here! Its the night before I leave for training. The last night I will spend in my wonderful bed for the next two months. I finally finished packing about an hour ago. It wasn't very hard because there isn't a lot I can bring anyway. I have a duffle bag that I will check in at the airport but it only weighs about 24 lbs. It seems so surreal that I am actually going on this trip finally. I've been preparing for it for the past 4 months, praying about it for the last 7 months, and have felt called to this mission for the past 2 years. For those of y'all who I have not told a lot about this trip, here is the history.

Two years ago, my freshman year in college, I was looking on the International Mission Board website for a missions opportunity in the summer. I came across a trip called "Little Orphan Nanny" which involved going to Manila, Philippines and working in an orphanage for two months ministering to the children and helping out around the orphanage however you could. This sounded like a dream come true. I started researching the trip and I felt God call me and speak to me like never before. I told my parents about it but they encouraged me to start with a smaller international mission trip before I went away for two months. I figured that was wise, so I went to Lima, Peru for 2 weeks with Focus on the Family. It was great, but I knew I wanted to go deeper. To learn about people by living with them. To experience a different culture. To build relationships. To build trust. To stay for a longer amount of time. To get out of my comfort zone and learn what it is to truly rely on God for everything... So last October I started wondering what I was going to do over the summer again and the "little orphan nanny" trip came into my mind. I looked it up online to see if they had another team going this summer and they did! I was so excited and started my application without praying about it first. It took a while, but finally in January I had confirmation from God that this is where He wanted me this summer and I'm so happy to answer Gods call.

I'm excited about the months ahead. I'm going to be doing what I love doing best. Hanging around with children, playing with them, and loving on them with the love of Christ. There's something special about working with children. They are so receptive to the Word of God. So eager to learn. God calls us to have child-like faith. To call on God, worship Him, and come to him with our problems like a child goes to his father. Abba. Daddy. Protect us. Lead us. Show us Your ways. Show us Your heart for the poor and the needy, the orphans and widows. Teach us to love like You love us. Here I am, Lord. Send me.