Hey Team! This is your first of many “hey team blogs.” It’s time for all of us to be communicating with each other regularly. Our numbers for this trip are growing by the day…we’re now up to 23 participants and of course, your 3 fearless leaders! This is exciting news! You guys are working hard to get all of your paperwork in and raising your money for your trip. Keep up the good work, we’re proud of you!!
I hope you’re getting excited about this trip! God has gone before us to plan it all out and we get the privilege of experiencing Him as He moves and works in our midst. Let me paint you a picture…an incredible thing is about to happen! On June 30th, 26 of us are going to gather in Gainesville, GA. We’ll be strangers and everyone will be a bit nervous about what’s about to happen…it’s really a beautiful combination of anxiousness and excitement. During the following 2 weeks as we journey together to an incredible island called Puerto Rico…we’re going to become family! We’re going to live together, eat together, play together, worship God together, brush our teeth together, love on people together, and encounter our living God together!! Two weeks may not seem like long enough to bond and become family, but you’ll be amazed at how quickly we mesh. God has brought us all individually together to do something corporately to advance His Kingdom…I personally can’t wait!
Now it’s time for all of us to focus on this team blog. The interaction here is our chance to begin to get to know each other. Some of you have already started commenting and chatting about pizza crusts, flavors of ice cream, and the sorts. But now I’d like all of us to lean in and get REAL with each other. Let’s talk about the things that make us who we are… our gifts and our struggles, our passions and our fears, the things that make our heart beat and the things that make our heart break. We, as your leaders, have been praying for you and preparing for this trip. We have come up with a few questions that we’re going to be posting on this blog starting today. EVERYONE, yep we mean everyone, is expected and required to respond to these questions. It’s not hard, you simply scroll down to the bottom of the page and add your comment. The only requirement is that you be honest and real with us. We want to get to know YOU! We, as your leaders, will be responding as well so you can get to know us.
So here we go. The first question that waits for 26 responses is:
What is the REAL reason you signed up for this trip?
First of al, Kayla- I loovvvee you, i’m so excited yoru my team leader again. =]
Now, the REAL reason I signed up for this trip was because I had been praying about trips to the Carribean and South America for a month, and looking into a few things extensivley. Then you (Kayla) emailed me saying God had laid me on your heart to come on this trip with you. I was so esctatic to have this oppurtunity and of course I said yes! I knew God was all over this trip, and now I’m even more stoked to go, sad it’s only two weeks, but glad to be going and working somewhere.
Like Kayla said….it is time for us to get REAL with each other so….
The REAL reason I signed up for this trip is because I am an adventurer! I didn’t want to be ‘safe’ any longer, and I wanted to be dangerous for God! When my brother was home for Christmas, we started talking about how we felt God calling us towards missions. He encouraged me to look into some summer mission trips. God took care of the rest, and the next thing I know I am planning to go to Puerto Rico : ) I cannot wait to serve God dangerously with all of you in Puerto Rico!
Ya I agree with Kait we definitely have the best leaders in the world!
In all seriousness, When Kayla emailed several of us the links to the two week mission trips I felt called to go on one. I went to God in prayer and felt strongly pulled to Puerto Rico. I know God has placed a passion for missions in my life since I was young enough to remember.
I just love traveling and experiencing new coulters, just getting to know different people and making friendships with people from all races, tribes and tongues. I love how God makes every minute new and exciting. To say the least God is awesome! and I can’t wait to see what He has in store for us and the people of Puerto Rico!
In his grip,
Macawe
I signed up for this trip because i LOVE missions, i love people and i love my GOD hes the best. I know that god wanted me to go to puerto rico because when i was in swazi money kept coming to my house and guess how much was there when i got home? $1000 exactly!!WOW God is amazing. i agree with you guys and am sad its only 2 weeks but that just means that were going to have to get out of our little bubbles and get to know each other faster! Cant wait to see yall
Kylie I think i have to side with you!
I love adventures, and forcing myself into an unfamiliar environment was a challenge I found very exciting, and quite attractive. I’ve never really taken a missions trip that I felt was too out of my comfort zone. Sure id been out of my state and town, but going out of the country to Puerto Rico, a whole different culture, was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. I want to impact people that need Gods love in places other than my town, city, or state, and I really felt a strong calling towards this trip in particular. Its amazing seeing God work his ways though my life even to this point, clearing up all the finer details.
Its only a bonus that Im part Puerto Rican, and would like to learn about my culture =D
I REALLY signed up for this mission trip because I want to know wheter or not this is what God really wants me to do. I know he gave me a passion for traveling and helping other people, but hopefully I found what God wants me to do. I also wanted to go to see what Peurto Rico is like and see how God is going to use me (and everyone else)for his ministry.
Also, when I signed up for this trip I was in a very close relationship with God, but for some reason know I feel like I’m drifting away some, but Im trying to get back before I go on this trip. Im sure some of you guys know what Im talking about. Anyway, it would be great if you guys could pray for me.
Thanks 🙂
I wanted to go on this mission trip because i have never experienced serving Christ in this way before and i was curious about how it would be. I recently have been feeling an emptiness and I’ve decided i need to be closer to God to feel more complete and satisfied and i feel serving others is the way to accomplish this.
And Brooke, i’ll keep ya in my prayers!
Wow, it’s exciting for me to hear more of each of your hearts! For me, I signed up to help lead this trip because I had two amazing experiences on AIM trips while I was in college. I wanted more, and was so excited to hear that AIM’s need for leaders intersected with my desire to further pursue missions. (I love those times when I see that God is working and He invites me to join Him!) And I must admit I agree with those of you who were drawn by the adventure of it all…what an exciting opportunity to travel and experience new cultures and people! I’ll be in prayer for those of you feeling a bit distant from the Lord right now, we have all been through those times. Can’t wait to hear more from you all!
I signed up for this trip because I want to follow the plans God has for my life. I have never served God in this way before and am totally excited for it!! Like Kylie said, I am also pumped about the adventure! I can’t wait to learn about the culture and lifestyle of the people! I want to see how God is going to work in my life, as well as others! I want to get closer to Him than ever before and I hope that each and everyone of us are spiritually changed through this experience!
Thanks for jumping in and engaging guys! It’s great to hear more of your hearts here and encouraging to hear how God has called you out for this trip. He has BIG things in store for each of us and I can’t wait until we’re all together here in GA!
Now for my response…I signed up for this trip because I love to walk alongside young people as they are awakened to who they are in the Lord. The excitment and passion that you guys bring to the table is contageous and I just love experiencing the Lord with you. I also share the same love for adventure and fun as most of you have stated here. God is continuing to challenge me and teach me more about His incredible love for me as well as who He is and my identity in Him. I’m growing into my skin of being the Beloved and it’s an exciting journey!
The Real reason I signed up for this trip was because my mission trip to Mexico got cancelled = (
Even though I was very sad about that trip being cancelled, I think I was able to be a part of this one for a reason. I believe it will be an incredible experience and I will get to interact with people that I have a passion for and share my love for God with them.
The Real reason I signed up for this trip was to tell people of how God helped me and to push my relationship with him to new levels. I also love taking adventures and meeting new people so this was the perfect way to do it =)
To be honest I actually didn’t sign up for this trip and didn’t find out I was going until yesterday. I was part of the Swaziland one month team and for reasons I will share with everyone later, I was unable to continue on the team. I geuss I can tell you guys why I decided to agree on participating with this team. I was broken hearted that I was unable to continue with my Swaziland team (they became like my family and all 20 of us cried and talked for about an hour when I broke the news and we all hugged for literally 45 minutes and then because we are odd we had a dance party), but anyways Don Rock gave me the option of participating with this team. I wasn’t sure if that was God’s will at first but that night I walked around AIM camp for about 2 hours praying and asking God if Puerto Rico is where he wanted me to be. I listened to Krystal Myers song “It’s in Your Hands” and I used listening prayer, which is a concept you will learn with AIM and I heard God telling me “yes”. I’m excited and can’t wait to meet you guys! 🙂
I think the main reason why I wanted to go, other than my love for missions, is I want to get closer to God. People view me as someone who has a close relationship with God, but I want to be even closer with Him. I feel that although I have alot of biblical knowledge.. I need to be reminded of essentials to our faith. I feel that i’m going nowhere just sitting here at home not serving Him. But at the same time it’s silly of me to say that because I know you don’t need to go out of the country to serve Him. I know that if you give a cup of water to a small child in Jesus’ name, then you are serving Him (Mark 9:41)&(Matt. 10:42). However, I did feel called to go out of the country. I want to be God’s servant. I know that in James it says “faith without deeds is dead.” I want my faith to go hand in hand with my actions, in my service to Him. I want my relationship with God to grow on this trip.
“Always tell of God’s love, if necessary use words.”-St. Francis of Assisi. This quote kind of makes you rethink ministry doesn’t it?