Up to now, I haven't felt very confident about this trip to Africa. But today is packing day, and as I put all my stuff together it seems more real to me. The trip is finally here!  And I am excited today, really for the first time.  I am so excited to be used by God, to feel Him flowing through me. I want to feel that again. It's harder in America with all the materilaism. At home it's so easy to retreat into my safety bubble. But in Malawi and Mozambique they don't have anything--- not even enough food to live on, never mind an empty water bottle or a scrap of paper. I am going to be out of my comfort zone, and when I don't have anything to cling to but God, I find that I am safer and more alive than I have ever been before.

I have four skirts and shirts to bring. Which should be plenty for two weeks. I had 2 outfits in India that I swapped every day, and I lived that way for a month. And I'll have an opportunity to wash clothes in Malawi. There's even a shower. I don't think there's hot water, but a shower sure beats bathing out of a bucket. And I have plenty of power-bars in case there is no food in the villages. And a waterbottle purifier. (Those things are amazing! You stick this pen in your water bottle of, say, swamp water, it zaps it with some ultraviolet light, and you can drink it.) My goal is to not have to put anything into my suitcase except a sheet and a pillow-case. I have a backpack and a purse, which should fit everything I have packed. Suitcases to Malawi get lost, and sometimes you don't get them back, either.

Next Saturday I leave. That's exactly one week.

Life is a journey. It leads to heaven. Or hell, depending on if you know Jesus. Many things happen on this journey. Some things are good, some things are bad. When you are a Christian, God is with you wherever you are, helping you on your journey, even when it doesn't seem like it. Sometimes you make mistakes and sin, and this leads to destruction eventually. He never leaves you, but it's as if you turn your back on Him. Instead of Him guiding your steps, you are choosing your own way. And though it may seem easier at first, it never turns out easy later on. But God is always there, ready to take you back and fill you with His grace. Sometimes your path crosses the path of others on this journey of life. Then you have a chance to tell others where they are going in the end---hell. And you can share Jesus with them. And if this happens, they have a chance to change the destination of their journey. You are setting them on a new journey, to heaven. And God will guide them just like He is guiding you.

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