Going with Grace

So in exactly five days I will be loading a van with 11 of my friends from my church and going to New Orleans on a spring break mission trip! I am excited, nervous, anxious, and ready to see what God is going to do through us on this trip! We are going in blindly. We only have an idea of the type of organizations we will be working with but have no idea which ones we will be helping. We do not know what type of things we will see or do but we are just having to be flexible and trust that the Lord will use us how He wants! This is nerve wrecking to me! I like to know exactly what we are doing beforehand so I can prepare. However, I feel like it will be helpful for me to not know and have to trust!

Going into this trip, I am going to be completely honest, I am very stressed. I have midterms this week and am trying to prepare for the trip! I know that it will all come together in the end but it is still hard to fully believe it! This last weekend was my church's womens retreat and it was absolutely amazing! The topic was If God is in Control, Why am I Such a Basketcase? I am trying not to be basketcase but to live an extraordinary life this week so that my mind, body and spirit are all prepared for the week ahead!

Mission trips are always fun. However, they also stretch you out of your comfort zone. This is always clear to me in the area of evangelism! I can talk to my friends all day about my relationship with the Lord but I get so nervous about talking to strangers about the Lord! I have no idea why! Another area I am going to be stretched is the fact that we will be on Bourbon street during St. Patricks Day! One of our possible missions sites is an AIDS/HIV hospice center. I am nervous beyond belief about that! I know that I can't get AIDS or HIV just from being around them but I am still nervous. I am not even sure if I will be going there so all I can do is pray!

We will be staying in a church a couple of blocks from Bourbon street and it is going to take us approximately 9 hours to get there without stops so it will probably take us 11!! We leave Sunday morning at 6 am and return Friday! I am excited to see what God will teach me while I am there and am super excited to get to experience a new culture!

I ask that you pray that God will use us to share the Gospel with everyone we come in contact with and that God will extend grace upon me in my insecurities and allow me to come out of my shell and be willing to be stretched! I also ask that you pray for protection and safety for us while we go, are there, and while we come back!! Thanks so much!! I will post a blog when I return to tell you all how it went!!

P.S. I will be 22 on the 13th!!!!!