2 Days... Woah...

I am on the first leg of the journey!!

Yesterday, after my first full day of work, I filled up the gas tank and headed to Des Moines, IA. Spent today at a graduation party, and then tomorrow I'll hopefully be reuniting with my cousins and going through my suitcase one more time before I leave at around 6 AM on Monday morning. I'll be the first one to say it, I will NOT be coherent at that point of the day, and if I'm trying to pack last minute... Forget it. It's not happening.

Any way, as far as how I'm feeling, I'm feeling kind of tense and nervous, but also super excited. The thrill of packing, getting everything together, and preparing for the flight are all very exciting, but it's also nerve-wracking. I have to remember that, even if I forget something, I have access to shopping points, so everything will be ok.

As far as sitting still long enough to get over there and going through security... Oh man, just not really looking forward to that, I'll be honest.

But what I am looking forward to is seeing the kids, devotions with Pastor Reehl in the morning, waking up to a bright sun at 4 in the morning (not even kidding, really am looking forward to that...), person devos by the lake, home Latvian cooking, getting to see the Concordia University choir and all my friends who are in it, and getting to know the new people on the trip.

Actually, that leads me into a story I don't believe I've shared yet. There's a couple going with me on the trip, and they're from Gretna, which is one of the places I went to speak about last year's trip. They found out about the Russia trip through me, and now they're going.

Isn't that amazing? Now, I've shared my story and two new people are coming on the trip. Who knows, perhaps next year, they'll share their trip, and each of them will bring two more people along. Isn't it amazing how it continues to grow?! I'm so excited to watch this mission spread. I'm not sure if I'll ever be going back to Russia or not, but to see that God uses me after I come back to the States is both exciting and encouraging for me as I go on this trip!!

Any way, that's about all the excitement I have to share!! It's possible that the next time I blog will be from the Omaha airport as we wait to take off, or from Chicago as we wait to fly internationally!!! Can't wait to share this experience with you guys.

Blessings on all that you do!