Preparation

We're closing in on our upcoming trip to China.... with just a little over a week to go until we get up at an ungodly hour on Thursday morning and depart from the hotel to the RDU airport to board our plane. I think everyone who has ever gone on an international trip where you will be gone for more than two weeks knows that feeling that hits you when you're about a week out..... It's one that is full of panic and excitement. I sat down with a close friend who will be my roommate on the trip yesterday and we went over our packing lists and that feeling of "dear Lord there is SO MUCH to do" washed over me.

For anyone who might not know, I went to China in January of 2016 with my mom and worked alongside some ladies from MPBC in an orphanage for two weeks. It was a life changing trip and on the plane ride home I was already trying to work out in my head when I could go back. I just knew I wanted to go back sometime when it wasn't in the winter months. I nearly froze to death. ;) I love China and I love Chinese children. I happen to have two of them for siblings. It was one of the most meaningful trips I've been on. ICC (International China Concern) is the organization we partnered with and they were awesome. Such a great group of Jesus loving and people loving individuals. I am so excited to go back and be partnered with ICC again. 

In 2016 we went to Hengyang, China. This year we will be going to Sanmenxia. It will be a completely different orphanage with different kids. I hate that I won't get to see the ones I built a relationship with last year, but I know that most of them have probably been adopted by now or are in the process of finding their forever families. It will be exciting to meet new kids and build new relationships. So, there's a little of the backstory...

Along with this trip being in the summer (average temps are supposed to be in the upper 90s to low 100s) it will be different than the last trip in the fact that we will get to do a little touring in Beijing before we head to Sanmenxia. I'm super excited about this. China is such a unique and culturually different country. It's always fun to get to do a little touring and site seeing along the way. I am hoping to be able to get some wifi here and there and share pictures and updates. Hopefully the hotel wifi will be stronger than the wifi we had last year. It worked two times for about five minutes out of the whole time we were there.... That drove me crazy because I love to post stuff when I'm on trips. Guess I'm too used to the free and lighting fast American wifi. ;) 

I think the big thing with a trip like this is just the mental and emotional preparation that has to come along with it.... We will see and hear about heartbreaking situations and there will be times when the overwhelming feeling to cry or just scoop a certain child up and put them in our suitcase will overcome us. It happened to me a few times on the last trip. Each of the 11 people on our team will leave a little piece of their heart in China. I had a lump in my throat the whole way home last year. It's so hard to leave. I think about how that must be how God feels when He looks at us. His helpless children who need love and guidance. He wants to scoop us up and take us home and make the pain and suffering of this life end, but there is more time on the clock and there is more work to be done, but one day it won't have to be that way anymore. All of the orphans and helpless will have a home and a Father. That's a really spectacluar thought. And for two weeks we will do everything in our power to scoop those children up and love them like Jesus loves us.

I was recently talking to one of the ladies who will be going on the trip and she was sharing about how she was feeling a lot of anxiety and like Satan was trying to attack her with doubts. Before every mission trip that I have ever gone on that has happened to me... It might come in the form of sickness striking close to the departure date or problems with a background check or a grandparent taking ill or just in the form of doubts... Satan will throw something at us and cause us to break down in fear and question why we're even doing this. He wants to do everything in his power to stop the impending work that will take place in that orphanage in China. Even though we aren't allowed to share Jesus with our mouths I believe he will shine through our actions and love. And Satan, of course, hates that. So, I'm asking all of you who took the time to read this post to please pray for us. Pray for us in these upcoming days of preparation. Pray that on the days that will be hot and tiring and full of mentally exhausting circumstances and situations we will feel supernatural strength. Pray that our stomachs will be strong and that our bodies adjust to the time change. Pray that we will put our focus on why each of us chose to go on this trip and let Jesus work through our actions. Pray for me because I won't have my Mama with me this time and that makes me a wee bit nervous. ;) Just pray for us. I can't wait to see what happens over those 16 days. I thank you in advance for your prayers and for partnering with us in this amazing work. I'll be sure to post a lengthy blog when I get back. I know there will be tons to tell. 

"But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted. You consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless." ~Psalm 10:14