So this is good bye

Well hello there...

I guess this is goodbye for a bit. In less than 8 hours my team and I will be boarding a plane and on our way. We are off to Ireland where for the next two months we will be working with the Presbyterian church in to run vacation bible school and evening youth programming at different locations around Northern Ireland (part of the UK) and the Republic of Ireland. I am incredibly excited. Like beyond a normal level for humans to reach.

It's surreal to think that soon I'll be in a country I've never been to, surrounded by tons of people I do not know. Luckily, I have a great team who I'm pumped to get to know. You may be curious how I came into this crazy adventure. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure.

I really had no intention of going on Deputation when I first heard about it. It just wasn't even on my radar. Then, a week before applications were due, both the message at Bethany on Sunday and the Inn on Tuesday called me to the trip. I've never felt so compelled to do something before. All of a sudden, I had to go.

C.S. Lewis in The Pilgrim's Regress says to dive is not an action, but ceasing to hold yourself up..."to abandon all efforts at self-preservation." So I dove. I stopped planning my summer and I signed up for two months in a foreign country with people I didn't know. I was so excited to be assigned to Ireland and have loved getting to know my team. Looking back, I can see even more how God was working having me sign up for the trip. It will be good to get away and serve outside of my home church and the youth ministry I grew up in. While it is hard to leave, I can see how important it is for me to go. It all just makes me more confident that this is where God wants me to be.

That being said, I know God is going to work in fantastic ways this summer. I can't wait to update you all with stories. Thank you all for supporting me. I hope you'll continue praying for me and my team as we embark on this journey.

Be sure to check back here for updates and also check out www.theinnseattle.wordpress.com to see posts from my team and the other 7 teams serving around the world this summer.

To be honest, I'm not sure where I am headed or who I will meet or how this summer will turn out. But I know I don't have to worry about it because worrying could ruin everything. I have a mission, I have a team, I have a purpose. So while I wander, I am not lost...simply seeing where God will take me.