17 hours 'til departure.

In 17 (and a half) hours, I will be leaving Los Angeles for Mexicali, Mexico. Not only am I leaving the United States for the first time (and going to Mexico for the first time), but I am embarking on my first missions trip ever. I'm a little anxious and nervous, yet excited at the same time. I'm heading into the unknown, and I have no idea what to expect there. It's probably a good thing I don't have any expectations though. It'll leave plenty of room for God to do whatever He wants in and through me.

Unfortunately, I have been pretty sick with some sort of flu virus for the past few weeks. Fortunately, I'm doing a lot better now than I have been. It makes me somewhat nervous that I'll be in another country in less-than-comforting conditions when I've been fighting sickness, but there's that part of me that won't worry about it. Why? Cause I know God will come through. He always does. And I figure it's pretty good to be in that place going into a missions trip. That place where you have to depend on God.

It wasn't until this summer that God called me to "go to the nations". Basically, He called me into mission work. Ironically, as I said before, I've never been on a missions trip before. And then, a few weeks ago at a choir performance, I discovered that I have a passion to work with youth. "Funny" enough, my team will be at a local church and putting on a VBS there. So in some ways, I guess I do have some expectations for this trip. I'm hoping that God will make some things clear as far as my future goes. We'll see.

Mexico... here I come!