Pre-trip jitters???

I am nearing in on a week until my departure to South Africa. I must admit that it seems surreal that this moment of my life is actually coming. For any who know my story, I had times where I doubted that God would be taking me to South Africa at all. With the door to study abroad through APU’s South Africa Semester closing, the door to serve with Jabulani Africa Ministries opened. I met Gerhard Duvenhage, founder of JAM, in the summer of 2009 while working at Hume Lake Christian Camps. Throughout the course of the 2009-2010 school year I began to pray about and plan a mission trip to work with JAM this summer. I fly out of LAX on Saturday, May 22 at 11:40 pm. On May 24^th at noon I will step off of the airplane in Cape Town, South Africa. I feel prepared for this trip. God has worked so much in my heart to prepare me for the ministry that I will be walking into. I still do not know exactly what my role with JAM will be for this summer. When I ask, Gerhard simply replies by saying “a little bit of everything.” Earlier this week while on a brief road trip with some friends I was praying through the fact that the best year I’ve had at APU had just ended and that I was about to leave my closest friends and family to travel half way around the world. Somewhere on the road God blessed me with the contentment that I can leave my American life for two months without it being the end of the world. While I will greatly miss friends, family, sitting in this beautiful Cambrian coffee show where I write from, my mind and heart turns towards poverty, towards the shantytowns, towards the drunken masses that will follow the FIFA World Cup. John 15:13 reads, “Greater love has none than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” On another account Jesus tells the disciples, “If you love me, you will obey my commands.” Yet another time, “He who gives up his life for my name’s sake will find it.” I wait in great anticipation for the next two weeks, I have decided to take my laptop and do my best to blog on my time, as well as update facebook for all who will follow to see how God is working in South Africa and in me this summer. I look forward to thoroughly sharing God’s passion for South Africa with everyone when I return. Keep it real. Love God and love others.