Sunday, November 24, 2013

India on My Mind - The Adventure Begins

I can't seem to get my mind off India!  I know I left parts of my heart there,  and I guess, my mind too.

We have had a whirlwind of activity since we returned, and I'm only now getting a moment to begin sharing this amazing journey with you.


Let's start with the beginning (for this post...more to follow)

I'd like to introduce you to the spark that lit this fire for India in me... My sixteen year old son Sam.



He had a vivid dream when he was only 5 years old, that God was calling him to be a missionary to India.  He's never questioned that,  always responded to the "What do you want to be when you grow up question?" with   "A missionary to India." 

I don't know about how many 16 years you know, but I haven't met many that are so confident of God calling them to India.

When our church mentioned they were planning a mission trip to India - we went.  If you want to read more about that experience - check out this post.

After months of preparation,  including spiritual gift testing, ministry bios, cross-cultural preparation and team building - we were ready!

Oh, by the way - did I mention that I happened to find out I had breast cancer during this time?  Satan was not happy about our plan to go, and tried his best to derail God's plan.  (maybe another post about that fight will be coming soon...) 

But, God's plan won out!  We successfully raised our support in a matter of weeks,  helped support the team financially with a huge Consignment Sale (read about that here!) and kicked cancer's behind!

We were off to INDIA.... 

The morning we left, the team, our families and several friends came to pray us off...  This is one of my favorite pictures - my husband praying a blessing over Sam and I as we are about to leave.  (sniff, sniff - still get a choked up.)




















We tend to travel in a crowd.  Wonder who was taking care of the crew while I was gone?

Grandma came from MN (a cross cultural mission trip of her own)


Here are some of the most amazing WORLD CHANGERS - aka... Sam's friends!


Here we go - watch out world - we have passports and visas and we plan to use them! 


One of Sam's greatest fears about this trip wasn't the food, wasn't the being so far away in a completely new culture, wasn't even being seen with his mother!  It was flying.  He was truly scared stiff at the thought of getting on a plane.  I was so proud of him,  not only did he face his fear and overcome it, but he was an accomplished world traveler by the time we got off the 27 hours of travel to India.





India 2013 - NLC Team
About to embark on a life-changing adventure.

 
 


WE MADE IT!!   Our first picture in India!  A realization of a dream is happening...  my son has set foot on Indian soil - I'm not sure that either of us will ever be the same.
 
 
 
Stay tuned for more "India on My Mind", as our trip unfolds.

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