we're ready

Last night we had a barbeque at Jared's house for the mission trip. It was really amazing.
I thought it was going to be more of a fun-and-games type thing, but it wasn't. After everyone finished eating, Jared went through the motions of telling us how we're gonna be used by God. I was starting to get nervous about the trip and everything (cause im like that), but then Jared was like, "K guys we're going to pray now," and we all bowed our heads and prayed popcorn-style for about 30 minutes. As we started praying, I was just like (to myself), " God, please help me to calm down and just realize that we're all going for You, and do the best we can for You." And I just felt better, like that.
It was one of the most amazing prayer-times I've ever had; I just started to get excited about the trip, and especially about doing stuff for God. And I just know that whatever obstacles come our way, we'll be able to draw strength from them and use them for God.

After the prayer, we went around in a circle and told everyone our names and how we got to be coming on this trip, and why we want to go. Some of the stories were really amazing.
I firmly believe that everyone going on this trip was truly hand-picked.

Oh, and we should have another post on the Portland blog sometime today. We're gonna be updating it while we're there, so you'll be able to see what we're doing.

See ya in 2 weeks!