Let the countdown begin...

The countdown has officially begun...just 268 days until I leave on an international mission trip to Haiti. I am super excited and very nervous but looking forward to the trip.

I went on my first mission trip last summer to Oklahoma City with the Genesis Youth Group from First United Methodist Church in Joshua. I knew I wanted to continue working on youth mission teams in the future; it is such a blessed and blissful experience. In 2011, CTCYM will be working along the Gulf coast in Texas and Louisiana. The junior high youth will be working closer to home in the Central Texas Conference. Wherever they go, I want to be a part of the team changing lives and being changed within.

A couple of weeks ago, my pastor and friend, Rev. L., returned from a mission trip to Haiti. You can read more about their trip and mission here. I was most moved of L's trip when she returned to Joshua and shared with the congregation the pictures of smiling, grateful Haitians among the ruin and destruction they call home. In the community of Thor - just outside the city of Port-a-Prince, L and her team helped clean debris around a building that houses the area's district superintendent, a local church pastor, and visiting mission teams. They cleared the debris one five-gallon bucket at a time. Talk about WORK! 

The most touching - and closest moment to Christ for me - was L's story at the Sunday worship service at a small white chapel in Thor at the United Methodist Church. From the outside, it was just another damaged building that had been repaired well enough to host to weekly worship services. But inside, oh it was alive! Contrary to many, the church is not a building. Rather, it is the people! Singing songs of grace and hope and love, L and her mission team, along with their Haitian friends, blended their voices of English and French-Creole into a sweet, sweet melody. At one point in the worship service, an older woman holding her granddaughter handed the small baby to L. For the next two hours, L cradled the child in her arms. No doubt, there is new meaning to holding Haiti in your heart.

I hope you, too, will hold the people of Haiti in your heart and daily prayers. And, I ask you keep me in your prayers as I prepare for this mission trip. The team from First UMC Joshua will leave Wednesday, August 3, 2011.

Here I Am, Lord

I, the Lord of sea and sky, I have heard My people cry.

All who dwell in dark and sin, My hand will save.

I who made the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright.

Who will bear My light to them? Whom shall I send?

Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord? I have heard You calling in the night.

I will go Lord, if You lead me. I will hold Your people in my heart.

I, the Lord of snow and rain, I have born my peoples pain.

I have wept for love of them, They turn away.

I will break their hearts of stone, Give them hearts for love alone.

I will speak My word to them, Whom shall I send?

Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord? I have heard You calling in the night.

I will go Lord, if You lead me. I will hold Your people in my heart.

I, the Lord of wind and flame, I will tend the poor and lame.

I will set a feast for them, My hand will save.

Finest bread I will provide, Till their hearts be satisfied.

I will give My life to them, Whom shall I send?

Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord? I have heard You calling in the night.

I will go Lord, if You lead me. I will hold Your people in my heart.