Party of Five from TSC

A mission trip is always hard to process. What to talk about first? Am I able to talk about it or do I need more time? Words cannot describe the smells or sights or emotions that you experience. All the words just seem so inadequate when you try to describe everything that you've seen and done. But, I'll do the best I can and hopefully you'll understand at least some.

When Derek and I go on mission trips, we have an agreement to not communicate with each other. This arrangement isn't for everyone, but it works for us. It's better for me not to know what's going on in my world back home. We completely disengage from the world as we know it. For 10 days, I am not a wife, I am not a mom, I am not a preschool director, I don't have any responsibilities or cares...I am simply a girl willing to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

One of the reason I love mission trips is because I can discern the Lord's voice much more clearly...it's probably because I don't have facebook, tv, blogs to read, clothes to wash, a house to clean, meals to prepare, schedules to keep, etc. I love that I'm going to change someone's life in Africa and God changes mine in the process. I love that I leave with a couple of friends and come home with a family of Africans and Americans. I am richer because of the experience.

The first lesson to be learned...patience. Nothing much to do on a 15 hour flight except get to know your neighbors on the plane and rest. Prepare your heart for all that you're about to experience and set any agenda aside that I might have because I can pretty much guarantee that it's not God's agenda because His ways are not our ways.

When I went to Zambia in 2008, Brian was our papa duck. Jesse became our Papa Duck on this trip and he did a fabulous job. The shoes were hard to fill because Brian was funny and made me laugh so much in Zambia. Humor is a huge part of the trip because otherwise you can easily become depressed. Jesse did not disappoint. He's a silly boy with a heart of gold. He made me laugh and smile every single day.





We had to exercise patience at the Ethiopia airport when we waited in line for hours to get our visa. The Ethiopian workers don't get in a hurry. We were tired and it was late, but it was out of our hands. We stood in line and talked about Colossians 3...putting on patience and a heart of compassion. I heard some testimonies from the Birmingham group about their faith and their church. It was a sweet time of waiting and waiting some more.

Sumer, Angela and Tabby were great travel companions as well. The big phrase the whole trip was "chains are falling" because we realized we were attached to our American ways which included overuse of hand sanitizer, no bugs and staying on schedule and being on time. By the end of the trip, hand sanitizer just didn't seem so important and we were eating fruit and bread that had gnats and flies on it and we knew that "we're leaving at 10", really meant, "maybe we're leaving around 11". In the end, none of it matters, because God moved in mighty ways. He is a great big God and I realized that my faith needs to be stretched and increased.