Holy crap, 22 days!!!!!!

I just returned from an informational meeting for my South Africa trip and man am I excited. We got a breakdown of our daily schedule and went over all of the legal aspects of the trip, insurance, liability (actually, non-liability)and stuff like that. Still not 100% where we will be staying, but on mission trips, you just have "go with the flow", to quote John Candy from Planes, Trains and Automobiles, one of the best movies of all time. The group got to know each other, a little bit, and they all seem like a fun bunch. A good sense of humor, which you know I live for. One lady had even been warned about Chad and I, so I see our reputations proceed us. She is apparently friends with Kristi, who Chad and I go to Mexico with every year and knows us both all to well. She would be fun to have with us in Africa. I'm glad when the discussion came to money, I didn't have to worry about how I was going to come up with mine. Thanks to all of you, I'm ready to go, no deadlines, no kidney sales. That might not be the case soon, seeing as how our air conditioner at home is dead and the repair seems to be almost as much as a new one, so we are having that quoted tomorrow. Sucks to have to pay 2 companies to come out and look at your broken piece of junk, then pay again to get the damn thing fix or replaced. I digress. I received my flight schedule and the layover in Atlanta is only 4 hours instead of the 8 we were expecting, much better. They also gave us three books, Called - which gets you prepared for a mission trip. Challenged - which I'm sure this trip will do that to us, and Changed - which I KNOW this trip will do. I'm no rookie when it comes to mission trips, but they all change you in one way or another. Even Juarez, which I've done 4 years plus this last year in El Paso, changes me every year. This trip will be a complete shock to what I know and find comfortable. Chad and I were emailing today, and I told him that I want to really focus on where I am and what I'm there to do. I don't want to waste one minute of my time there, seeing as how I may never get the chance to go back. Usually on mission trips, you get to focus, on the job and on God. Why has he sent me here? What am I suppose to learn from this? What am I supposed to bring home? A friend told me something, years ago, when I cam back from a mission trip. I was feeling lost, depressed and guilty, actually. I have so much and they have so little. Why am I so privileged and they are not? I'm certainly not better than them. I'm lucky, pure and simple. Lucky I was born in the US. Lucky I was born into a family who isn't rich, but is by no means poor. I look at my house, then the ones we build in Mexico, then at where people live in parts Mexico and parts Jamaica, I'm rich beyond some of their wildest dreams. So when I told this friend how I was feeling, wishing I could go back and live there full time, even though that wasn't what God was telling me, my wise friend said, "God is using you here. God wants you physically here, but your heart is with the people you served." It was and is. You can't go on a trip like this and come back the same, it isn't possible. I was depressed for several months after my first trip to Mexico. Over the years, it has gotten easier, but it's still there. I've read a few books about Africa and I'm in the middle of a large one, but I still have no idea what I'm in for. I'm thankful I get to be a part of this wonderful ministry and hope that I make a difference in some peoples lives. I know when we hand over the keys to the houses we build in Mexico, I get a feeling inside me that I can't explain, but when you get it, you crave it. You know God has sent you to do something, you listened and obeyed and then you get to see the result. Now, I get to give this gift to a bunch of kids that have had a really crappy hand in life dealt to them. How lucky am I to make a change for them? I can tell them that I was sent there by God, because he loves them regardless. There was a long stretch of my life when I never thought I would be able to say that, to anyone let alone myself. Sounds like we may be able to meet the kids that will be living in the homes. I can't imagine a better end to the trip, pray that happens, but I just may explode if it does.