Leavin' On A Jet Plane

I'm about to board a plane and head to Cambodia. My mama heart is feeling a bit weepy tonight. Yesterday while I was packing and my sweet Ady realized that all of this talk about Cambodia meant mommy wouldn't be home. She completely melted down {all the while Avy was throwing stuff in my suitcase}. We had a little cuddle and cry time. Today they have both turned on the sappiness. Avy has been a little extra clingy and Ady has actually voiced her feelings, "Mama, I'm going to cry for you when you go to Cambodia." Yeah......they are making this super easy-not.

I figure I should get the sad feelings out of my system before I board the first plane. So, I decided to reminisce. 

I took my 1st mission trip when I was 14. It was actually a local one. A small portion of the youth group stayed in the dorms of a center-city outreach driven church. I learned about apart of town I never knew existed in the very city I was born and raised. It was life changing to see that level poverty in my own city {homes without running water, another home where a prostitute raised her children and serviced her clients without a bedroom door}. To this day I think about those kids. I pray for them. I wonder how they are doing and how old they are. They still have my heart.

When I was 15 I had the amazing privileged of attending a private Christian school that took an annual mission trip {with excused absences that didn't count against you!} to Acuna. Mexico.

 We went to neighborhoods like this. The homes where made of scrap wood, cinder blocks, and cardboard boxes. {Most of the houses were made of cardboard.}The water they drank was kept in a huge uncovered barrel outside the home. It was not the kind of water any of us would even want to water the yard with.

We got to play with these awesome kids. We handed out suckers and stickers. We prayed over them and invited them to church. I think about these kids all the time too. In this area alcoholism is a huge problem and there are a lot of single mamas.

I got to meet this cutie-pie cowboy at a church service way out in the country where the air actually smelt like....weed {as in marijuana}. Yep, you could smell it just walking down the street. After that trip I wanted to move to Mexico forever. I wanted to be a missionary.

I went again on the same trip when I was a 16. This time we worked mainly in the mission and not in the neighborhoods. We handed out food and took care of the kids that showed up throughout the day.

I met these sweet sisters. 

I also got strep-throat before even arriving {woke up in San Angelo with it}. Then while in Mexico I contracted an eye infection that lasted three months and was painful to say the least. My eye doctor had never seen anything like it and I had to have a culture done every week. Yes, every week they scraped my eye ball. After that trip I never wanted to go back. In my heart I did, but I just knew if I did I would get sick. Weird way of thinking....maybe...

Except....

Now I'm off to Cambodia and guess what? Every kid in my house is coughing, really bad coughing. The kind of coughing that gets me out of bed. So, I figure this short-term missionary stuff {even if it's been 11 years} is something the Lord really wants me to do. He provided ALL the funds for this trip in a matter of days. He paved a clear path for me and with the amazing support from my hubby I'm GOING! Because the devil can't win.

Today I prayed for a scripture. "Lord, almost all my kids are still suffering from this nasty cough. I'm going to miss my family like crazy. I'm coughing just a bit too. Can you give me a verse to cling to?" I read 1 Cor. 13. It is 13 verses long {you should read it}. It is the verses to the song my Brenly Bear danced to at her recital. The very last verse is my clinging verse. {We also got married on the 13th, so it's a number I like. Full of love not unluckiness.}

"But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love." 1 Cor. 13:13

Thank you Jesus for the sweet words! I can trust YOU! I can share your hope. My purpose for going on this trip is to LOVE your children.

So, I'll leave you with this....

This is from the 1st trip to Mexico. I really like goats.

Blessings,

~Hailey