To briefly introduce this series of posts...I recently went on a mission trip to Nepal for 2 1/2 weeks. I haven't used this blog in almost a year, but I decided to write as much as I could about what we did and what the experience was like. I'm not sure how many posts that'll be, but hopefully it's interesting!
We flew out on a Wednesday evening, the day after Christmas. I was feeling really good about what the trip would bring; as soon as it was announced, I felt God tell me, "You're going to that." I didn't know why, and I didn't have time to decide whether I wanted to; God said I was going, so I signed up. The money came in without much effort, and I was able to get the time off work - everything lined up as we prepared, and I knew that it was the right choice. I knew God had me on the team for a reason.
We assembled at the airport and prayed with our church's pastor (Tom Alexander) before we left. The couple leading our team was already in Nepal, so the nine of us prepared to leave on the same flight. Besides me, the team was:
- Robert and Debbie, a middle-aged married couple who had been on several mission trips before
- Melissa, a married woman in her 40s (I knew her son in my role as a youth group leader at the church); she was a missionary kid and grow up in Asia, along with Brazil, Portugal, and other countries
- Lauren, mid 20s, from our church's young adult group - she had also been on previous mission trips to Namibia and South Africa
- Myriah, 21, first time out of the country
- Kelly, mid 20s, also first time out of the country
- James and Kristen, 32 and 22, a married couple- James had been on mission trips before; Kristen had been to Europe, but this was her first mission trip
Some of our group I knew, others I had only seen around church, with minimal contact until we started preparing for the trip. I certainly knew them all a lot better by the end of it...
I knew Jesus was readying me for this trip as it approached. A bunch of people had come with me to drop me off at the airport; one of them, Stephen (who I had just met a few days before) encouraged me that God had already given me the grace to accomplish whatever I needed on the journey. I believed that; I felt His strength in me.
The first flight was a short one, barely over an hour on a puddle jumper to L.A. After a few hours of layover, we prepared to board for the 15 hour flight to Hong Kong. We were instructed to avoid mentioning "mission trip" on the flights over, since a lot of Asian countries are not welcoming to those kind of travelers; they might not let us in if it got back to the visa office. It was exciting to go to a place where we had to worry about that! It felt like we were going behind enemy lines, but I felt no fear about it.
I have a ton to write about this trip; I want to cover as much detail as possible, so it'll probably end up being quite a few posts. I'll try to keep them short and somewhat focused (I know most people get bored with long blog posts), so if you're interested, keep checking - I'll keep writing them as often as I can!
We flew out on a Wednesday evening, the day after Christmas. I was feeling really good about what the trip would bring; as soon as it was announced, I felt God tell me, "You're going to that." I didn't know why, and I didn't have time to decide whether I wanted to; God said I was going, so I signed up. The money came in without much effort, and I was able to get the time off work - everything lined up as we prepared, and I knew that it was the right choice. I knew God had me on the team for a reason.
We assembled at the airport and prayed with our church's pastor (Tom Alexander) before we left. The couple leading our team was already in Nepal, so the nine of us prepared to leave on the same flight. Besides me, the team was:
- Robert and Debbie, a middle-aged married couple who had been on several mission trips before
- Melissa, a married woman in her 40s (I knew her son in my role as a youth group leader at the church); she was a missionary kid and grow up in Asia, along with Brazil, Portugal, and other countries
- Lauren, mid 20s, from our church's young adult group - she had also been on previous mission trips to Namibia and South Africa
- Myriah, 21, first time out of the country
- Kelly, mid 20s, also first time out of the country
- James and Kristen, 32 and 22, a married couple- James had been on mission trips before; Kristen had been to Europe, but this was her first mission trip
Some of our group I knew, others I had only seen around church, with minimal contact until we started preparing for the trip. I certainly knew them all a lot better by the end of it...
I knew Jesus was readying me for this trip as it approached. A bunch of people had come with me to drop me off at the airport; one of them, Stephen (who I had just met a few days before) encouraged me that God had already given me the grace to accomplish whatever I needed on the journey. I believed that; I felt His strength in me.
The first flight was a short one, barely over an hour on a puddle jumper to L.A. After a few hours of layover, we prepared to board for the 15 hour flight to Hong Kong. We were instructed to avoid mentioning "mission trip" on the flights over, since a lot of Asian countries are not welcoming to those kind of travelers; they might not let us in if it got back to the visa office. It was exciting to go to a place where we had to worry about that! It felt like we were going behind enemy lines, but I felt no fear about it.
I have a ton to write about this trip; I want to cover as much detail as possible, so it'll probably end up being quite a few posts. I'll try to keep them short and somewhat focused (I know most people get bored with long blog posts), so if you're interested, keep checking - I'll keep writing them as often as I can!
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