2013 is off to a fast start - I celebrated my 45th birthday this week, and for me, birthdays are more enjoyable now only because my girls get more excitement out of them than me. As I look to the year ahead, I'm most excited about the family mission trip we will be going on with our church to Ensenada Mexico in June.
A number of years ago, several friends from our Sunday School class went on the first of what has been an annual mission trip to Mexico to serve with
Yugo ministries in building homes for families and running a vacation Bible school for the children. After seeing several videos and shared testimonies from fellow church members who have gone over the years, I told Cindy that once our girls reached an age where they could contribute and learn to appreciate this experience that we would be going on this trip - well, the time has come, and we're beginning to pray and talk more about it now that it's a mere 5 months away! Our plan is to fly to San Diego on the night of June 7th (fortunately we have enough Flex Perks points for 4 free airline tickets!) We'll have a full day to explore SD before departing on Sunday for the short drive to Mexico. We'll spend the week in Ensenada at Yugo's outreach center and return to San Diego on Friday (in time to catch a Padres game, I hope), and then return to Memphis on Saturday June 15th. Our team leaders for this trip, Jay and Ginna Tillman, have been on this mission trip multiple times with their 3 daughters, and I'm really looking forward to serving with them. By the way, Jay is a fellow Longhorn and he was the first Texas Ex I met when I moved to Memphis 19 years ago. (small world, huh?) I understand our first planning meeting will be soon, and I'm looking forward to seeing who else will be joining us on the trip. I hope to update my blog as I learn more about our upcoming experience, but here's a taste of what we can expect:
You Tube video - CUMC Mexico Mission trip 2012
In anticipation of our trip, I'm praying for Taylor and Nicole to begin looking forward to this trip and remove any fears they may have in traveling to a foreign country and being around children from another culture and way of life. I pray that this experience will bond our family tighter and create an experience they will remember for their lifetime. I'm praying that they will encounter God personally on this trip and He will begin to shape and mold their Christian worldview. I have no doubt that God will reveal Himself to our family -- and this is why I am so looking forward to this trip!
Recently I have been reflecting on how God revealed Himself to me in amazing and remarkable ways on my first mission trip 4 years ago. Since I haven't blogged about this experience, I'll revisit my journal and save these thoughts for a future post.
