Let the adventure begin!

It's about 2:30AM in Edmonton, and I am heading to the International Airport in about two and a half hours from this moment. This feels very surreal to me. I shared with some close friends earlier this evening that it normally takes me about a day of actually being there to realize that I am in Asia, and so I don't know that I have fully recognized that I am going to be living in Thailand and China for about a third of 2011.

Perhaps it is all the preparation and hype about going for the last year or so that make it seem so far off still. Or maybe my slight tension regarding the reality that I am going alone rather than meeting up with a short term team. It could also be a coping mechanism I've developed called the art of avoidance.

I think maybe I'm making it sound like I don't want to go. Ha! I am so excited about being on the field in Southeast Asia. There is no other time I feel most alive and most complete than when I am living in a foreign land and culture. There is nothing I would rather be doing this spring. I have no doubts or anxieties about leaving or about going to a place a barely know. The only thing I am semi nervous about is my packing job. But I suppose whatever I have forgotten or missed along the way can always be purchased, right?

I am most excited about having the next 4 months dedicated to me and God. A good friend of mine who went on her missions internship last year referred to this experience as, "a little vacation just for the two of you." My most intimate experiences with Christ have been while I was overseas. He is faithful to continue the work in me, and I am expecting radical change through this experience.

I arrive in Bangkok on Wednesday, January 5th at 8:40PM, which is 6:40AM Edmonton time. My first few days on Thailand will be spent getting an introduction and orientation to Imagine Thailand in Bangkok. From there I will travel with my supervisors to Mae Sot, the border city I will be living in for the majority of my time.

Pray for safe travels, nausea and sickness free, and that God begins to transform my heart, my perspective, my mind and my love.