Mission Trip!

Yesterday, of course, we all went to church. Dad, Kezzi, and I went early to help with various stuff - Dad runs sound, Kezzi helps w/ 3rd grade boys, I help w/ 2nd grade girls (Hope usually comes to help w/ preschoolers but she was feeling sick). Anyway, after church we went out to eat with some friends from church then the rest of the family went to Sam's while Candace and I stayed in town buying time - and a few things from the mall - waiting for a missions meeting at 6:30 back at church.
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We both have been interested in going on a mission trip sometime but we've never really seriously looked into it so we thought we'd come to the meeting to check out what trips were available. Personally, I was very leery of the thought since I already have a lot going on this summer/spring what with starting the 4th book in the series of "Grandmother's Hope Chest", dancing, and a couple of trips already planned. But we went anyway. It turned out that we qualified to choose between 3 different places (the other 2 trips were guys only). As soon as the leader started describing what was involved in each of these trips, Candace and I knew which ones we wanted to choose. I didn't expect to really WANT to go on one of these trips because, as you may know, I'm not your typical missionary type girl. :) I like routine, comforts of home, and frankly I'm rather a spoiled brat at times. :) So when I found myself really wanting to go on this trip to Kenya, I was a little taken off guard.

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The trip is not necessarily a hard one. If I understood it right, we will be traveling around the area of Narok telling the gospel story using a "story cloth", which is a cloth with (I think) about 20 small Bible story pictures that tell the gospel in order. The leader said that there are usually about 50 Maasai people at each stop who gather to listen to the story and that about 10-12 want to accept Christ immediately after hearing the story. The Maasai are given time with the group afterward to ask questions and hand out their original chai tea. The group leaves a Bible story cloth behind with the leaders of the village who usually can repeat the story after only hearing it once.

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Candace was immediately interested in a trip to Madrid, Spain. It sounded perfect for her personality since her group would be walking around the city and initiating conversations with perfect strangers. Madrid is very non-responsive to "missionaries" so they'll be handing out free bottles of water along with Bibles, and DVDs that tell the story of Christ. They most likely won't see as many rewarding results as we would in Kenya, but they'll be planting seeds that will hopefully grow and spread.

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The trip for Kenya is planned for one week in September and Candace's trip to Spain would be in November. We're both still praying about it and seeking the Lord for His guidance. We know that it will be no small undertaking (together we'll need to raise 4,000.00) and we pray that doors would be closed if it's not His will. Nevertheless, we are both very excited and look forward to growing in the Lord through a brand new experience.