moving forward

The more I move forward in my journey, the more real it becomes. As I sit on a plane at the Chicago O'Hare airport on my way to Puerto Rico, I reflect on the events of this week.

As you know, I have been quite busy moving forward with my decision to serve overseas. It hasn't been an easy thing so far.

This week, I told my mom and my spiritual leader about my calling, and they weren't too thrilled about it. In the end, they both said "may the Father's will be done" but again, didn't seem too excited about the idea. The decision of leaving everything behind is not an easy one, and having two very important people in your life not be very supportive can be somewhat discouraging. I did take my spiritual leader's advice about asking our Father to "make it plain for me" - to let me know that this was truly the path that He wants me to take.

Yesterday, I went to a very good friend's wedding. It was a beautiful event, and I had a great time. I even had the honor to serve as an usher, and walk my friend's mom down the aisle. At some point in the evening, though, I couldn't help but feel a bit sad, as I realized that I would have to leave my friends behind for a very long time.

Like I said, it hasn't been easy. I have had to remind myself constantly of what the Son says about such things, in order to receive encouragement.

Today, He let me know that He is listening.

As as sat in my window seat waiting to depart on the plane from Dallas to Chicago, a certain girl sat next to me. As we talked and got acquainted, she told me she was on her way to Kenya to be with her family, who have been serving there for a very long time. This was an American girl, who has been living in Africa for most of her life, and the only reason she was in the US was for the school semester. To top it off, at some point I mentioned that I would be serving in Vietnam later this year. She asked me who would I be going with, and when I told her about it, she got excited and told me that she was planning to serve in North Africa with the same team next year! You can't tell me that meeting this girl was a coincidence. I had a very pleasant trip talking to her. It was refreshing to meet someone like her in such an unusual setting.

Needless to say, I feel very encouraged to continue to pursue the path set before me, and I thank our Father for what He has in store for me in this journey.