this is where it begins

well, you've managed to find yourself reading my thoughts written here...and so i consider you a friend. and since you are a friend, i guess you already know i am leaving for ecuador in 146 days. or at least, that i am leaving for ecuador. in any case, i'm glad you're here, and i'm glad to have someone to share my thoughts with. i want you to know that whatever happens on this adventure, this is a place where you will hear my real thoughts, whether they are thoughts of joy and hope, or thoughts of worry and fear, or thoughts of frustration and anger. this is where i will write them, and write them often. i hope you'll come along for the ride. and i hope you'll stick with me the whole way, even when it's hard. thank you for being a part of this.

so basically, i'm going to ecuador in june with a short-term mission team from church, like i have done the last three summers...i'll stay the two weeks with the team, doing all kinds of teamy sorts of things...and then when the team goes home, i will stay, and face the unknown. haha. i mean i guess it's not totally unknown...i was invited to work in this church in ecuador, specifically, to be in charge of the worship band. of course, i am sure i will be doing many other things in the church like working with kids and youth, helping with the drama ministry, maybe teaching sunday school, maybe doing some physical work in the church building...the list is endless, really...i'll probably do everything there is to possibly do. so that's what i mean about the unknown. and i'll be there for six months, and from there, i suppose, i'll find out what God wants me to do next.

so i'm super excited about actually being there. i mean i could go tomorrow and be thrilled. it's just the planning of it all is a little crazy. i'm kind of in a whirlwind of preparation at the moment. the trip is still a little over four months away, but you'd be surprised at how much there is to plan. or maybe you wouldn't, i don't really know. i was surprised, anyway. there's all kinds of technical stuff to plan, like buying a ticket and figuring out what kind of visa to enter the country with and registering my trip with the u.s. embassy in ecuador and all kinds of things like that... then there's the purpose of the trip itself which requires all kinds of preparation in order to achieve the goals i am setting for it, like learning a whole bunch of songs in spanish to be able to teach to the band over six months, and preparing a bunch of bible studies to teach in spanish during the weekly band practices that i hope to organize...and then there's the whole actually being a decent musician thing, which is the hardest thing for me right now 'cause it's not something i can plan. it's just a matter of practicing the piano every day (which i am slacking on) and learning to sing all the melodies of all the songs and, and, and... and then of course, which i should have mentioned first, because it's the most important, is preparing my heart for this. being disciplined, spending time with the Lord. my own time with Him. let's be honest, it's not always easy.

so that's where i am. super-excited, terrified, totally ready, and completely unprepared...all at once. :-) when have you felt that way?