Youth in Mission, here I come!

To all:

This is the first of multiple emails I will be sending this summer to update you on my Youth in Mission trip. As most of you are aware, I will be heading to El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico for almost two months for a missions trip (If you don't know where that is, it's in the western part of Texas that kind of pokes into New Mexico).

Here are the basics, as I knew in January, of what I'm doing. I heard that things can change at any time, so you'll hear later if this is not what I'm actually doing:
~Partner with a Latin American YIM team
~Facilitate evangelism training and outreach
~Involvement with compassionate ministries (I wonder if I will see any banana boxes, School Pal-Paks, or Crisis Care Kits!)
~Participate in Work and Witness projects
~Assisting in leadership training for Nazarene leaders in Mexico
~Train, coordinate, and lead a short-term missions trip for Latin American youth (Maximum Mission) in Mexico

After a flurry of emails between our team and our site coordinators, I can also share this with you:
"We want this time for you to be different than what you're used to - we want you to be stetched - spiritually, socially, emotionally - etc. You will gain new things this summer. You will sacrifice things this summer. We want to come into this totally open to something new from God.
You will be asked to share your testimony (your journey with God); you will be asked to lead church services; you will be asked to integrate with the Hispanic community; you will be asked to LEAD teenagers in a deeper spiritual journey with God; you will be asked to do things you're good at and to do things you've never done before. You will asked to do things that are very mundane. You will be asked to do things that don't have a lot of direction/explanation. You will be asked to experience your journey with God in a whole new way."

I fly out Tuesday to Kansas City for my week of training camp with all the other YIM students. We will then disperse on the 3rd for our various sites around the world! I will be keeping a journal (those of you from my Belize/Guatemala trip know how I journal!) and taking plenty of photographs, so that you can get a glimpse of my experience.

Great news: All of my trip funds have been raised, and I will even be reimbursed for my airfare to and from Kansas City! It was awesome to see God provide all my funds, even if it all happened at the last minute!

Prayer requests:
~safety in general, as well as during travel
~keeping us healthy
~for God to enable our team to reflect Him to the people there by the border
~working in the hearts of those at our site

I'm wicked excited to see what God holds this summer for me, and will keep you all posted throughout the summer (possibly with pictures too)! I will have internet access every so often, so emails/messages will be muchly appreciated. :)

Thank you to all have supported me and my trip over the past few months, whether it was through financial contributions, sharing ideas, or by simply praying for me. I appreciate your generosity and prayers, and can't wait to see what happens this summer!

"So right here and now I am all in
'Cause I'm letting go of everything I am
And I'm holding on to everything You are
I'm letting go of everything I once was
I'm all in
I'm fallin' into Your arms again" (by TobyMac)