In Route for Ethiopia

Well I'm sitting here in the Dulles airport after a crazy morning. First of all, every time I go to the airport a couple hours before hand the check in is a breeze and I end up waiting in my terminal for hours- bored and wishing I hadn't gotten up THAT early. On the flip side, what happened this morning, is I get to the airport and hour- hour and half early thinking I then won't have to sit in the terminal for hours and low and behold the "check-in" is never fast. That's when the line to check-in winds around and around and around. Well needless to say, that was my morning. I arrived at the airport with plenty of time- or so I thought- to check in and board the plane with not a lot of wait time in the middle- well the good part about it, is there wasn't a lot of "wait" time at the gate. In fact I arrived at the gate just as they were boarding.

Thanks to Erica, we managed to check in my 3 huge 50+ lbs bags; I ended up having to leave the peanut butter and dried fruit with her, a measely 10lbs over and they were gonna charge an additional $100 on top of the $100 we just paid for the 3rd bag. Oh man...Well I was praying, Erica was praying, I know many of you have been and will continue to pray and I again saw God's blessing as He got me through the gate on time to board my plane and He even (in His goodness) encouraged me with a couple people waiting in line, letting me cut in front of them.

I think God in His goodness, just like a Father would, has put people in my path today to encourage me- from the guy who let me cut who "loves Ethiopia and the people there" (and I'm guessing Jesus too) to the guy I sat next to on the plane who was interested in learning about AGCI and expressing interest in this world we live in to a random brother and sister who asked me where I was heading as I loaded up my 3 huge bags onto the cart at baggage claim. If you are praying for the Lord to encourage me, He is definitely doing that and I praise Him for that and for answering your prayers.

The trip so far hasn't been "hiccup" free which is good for me to just roll with the changes. One of our mission gals had her first flight significantly delayed which ended up making her miss her connecting flight...but I just heard from her and all is well. I honestly and truly look forward to God amazing and surprising us all with His loving kindness as He leads this group and myself to bring glory to HIS name.

I pray that the conversations I've already had with a handful of people will bring glory to God's name. I pray they see HIM in me and long to know more about this God who has given me an inexplicable joy and confidence.

Thank you for your prayers. Please keep them up! I know He hears them and is so good to answer them. I know I am going to learn A LOT on this trip- already have learned so much. I feel like this is exactly where God wants me. Ultimately I know wherever we are we are to live intentionally to bring glory to God in whatever we're doing. I feel privileged to lead this team and excited to see God move and transform the whole group- including me!

I'll write again when I get the chance. Praise God for His goodness!