I’m in SHOCK!

Friends, God has answered one of my most consistent prayers and I’m so excited! But, He has answered my prayer in a way that is well, SHOCKING!

I’ll just spit it out…

I’M GOING TO HAWAII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so pick yourself up off the floor. And, don’t get too jealous yet…I’m going on a mission trip to Honolulu! So, it’s not a vacation or anything, LOL!! I want to tell you how this came about, though, because maybe it will be an encouragement to someone else…

I’ve had a heart for missions for as long as I can remember. I’ve told David a few times that I’d sell our house and move to Africa tomorrow if he felt that nudging. But, alas, that has not been God’s plan for us at this point…so I pray probably almost daily that God will bring opportunities my way where I can serve Him from here…be those short term trips, things in my own area, etc.

So, last night I receive a phone call from a lady in our church who I know, but not all that well. She starts describing this trip to me (without telling me the location upfront) and saying we will go to an area that has a lot of immigrants, and they have never had a VBS there before. They want a team of experienced teachers to go and put on a VBS for their kids, but also to train their church people on how to do a VBS. We will also be interacting with the needy children of that area by having some back-yard Bible club type activities in the mornings.

I’m thinking to myself, wow, this sounds right up my alley! I’ve done Bible school for as long as I can remember, I’m a teacher, I have a heart to do mission work. Perfect! Not to mention, the lady that called me said that the Lord had placed my name on her heart every time she began thinking of the last person they needed for their team to go on this trip.

Then, I asked her WHERE she was talking about going to on this trip. She paused for a minute and said kind of quietly, “Honolulu.” I think I might have screamed into the phone. Well, at least I screamed in my head! I know I must have said, “are you kidding me?” about 100 times! However, as soon as she said that, my immediate thought was, NO WAY. I can’t go to Hawaii in one month. It will be expensive. I can’t go for 10 days. It’s just not going to happen. (Now, she did tell me that the bulk of our trip would be around $500 which is not bad at all for a trip to Hawaii, our room and board is already covered!) I told her I would pray about it and hung up the phone.

David had been hearing my half of the conversation, but still wasn’t sure what was going on. So, I told him about what we’d be doing…and then dropped the bombshell. Honolulu. Hawaii. Leave in approximately 1 month. 10 days gone. Wow.

And my wonderful husband, who knows the desires of my heart and the prayers I have prayed said, “Well, isn’t this what you have been praying for? You should go!” He didn’t hesitate, he didn’t say we couldn’t afford it, he didn’t offer up any disagreement at all. And folks, not that I thought he’d be ugly about it at all, but I just didn’t expect to be able to go to Honolulu on a mission trip! Honestly, I’m still in shock and start laughing when I’m talking about it to someone else.

So…be excited with me! And PRAY. If there is one area of my spiritual life God has grown me over the past 1-2 years it is prayer. Prayer is vital. I covet your prayers and will share more details as I have time.

*Oh and do any of my readers live in Hawaii? Any tips for me?