Departure Report

After waking this morning at what Kris described as "not a real time" ( somewhere around 3 a.m.) and fitting 8 people and all of their luggage into the suburban, driving across Orlando and paying its many tolls to get to the airport, being hassled by TSA agents, and waiting for 4 hours, our trip is about to begin!

A few days ago, as I was praying about our trip, I got to see a small glipse of how big God is and it is something we all know about, but it was still amazing to me. The fact that He has gone before us to prepare people and situations for our arrival, and is still over there, yet is here with us now and will be traveling with us today is wild to me. He obviously can be everywhere all of the time, but it is neat to see it in particular situations in your life.

It still seems a bit surreal that we are about to be doing something totally different than I have ever experienced before, and I don't expect it to become real until after we land. I travelled to Nicaragua last year and the culture and poverty there didn't strike me very hard, but I think some of the things I will see on this trip will be difficult for me to handle. Seeing women being exploited is something that enrages me, and though we will be doing things that hopefully will bring change in the future, during our time there we cannot do anything to stop it. A feeling of helplessness about injustices committed right in front of you is hard to accept.

I know that God will use us on this trip to further His kingdom and rescue these people, and I hope that it will come quickly. I am really not anxious about our safety there as God is completely in control of everything that will happen, regardless of what it is or how we see it. I appreciate everyone that is praying for us and the people over there, and I know that we will have many experiences to share when we return.

Love you all, Jon.