Mission Trip Craziness

At the beg of the year one of our goals was to have 3 mission trips to different cities before December. We decided to have them all the same week (this week) b/c its La Chinita, which is a local holiday - meaning students here dont have school, but they do in other cities, which is perfect b/c our students can travel to other cities to help out the movements on campuses there. It took us a long time to figure out which students to ask to go to which cities, figure out who would be the leader, and for us to decide where we were going to go. Once we decided all that, the servant team had to challenge the students, and by then they only had a couple weeks to decide/raise support, and its pretty expensive to go.

The crazy thing is that a lot of the students weren't allowed to go (remember they live w/their parents so its just like high school) at first, and then we only had a little bit of time to ask more students. So the teams kept switching...and more and more people kept telling us they couldn't go! Mine and kaitlin's team (to maracay) lost EVERYONE except one girl - so we thought about what we should do, and decided that i would go to san cristobal with chelsea and crystal (the caracas team doesn't have any staff), and the girl could come with us. Then she decided not to go (i'm not sure if she isnt allowed to or what), so basically we lost one whole team.

Then our team (my new team - san cristobal) went down to just TWO students - a guy and a girl. So we asked one guy who goes there often, and he is going, but he won't be part of the team b/c he's just paying instead of raising support. And our girl's dad wants to come by tomorrow to talk with us to make sure everything will be fine - sooo last minute! And the caracas team, which is just students, only has 3 girls (one of whom is like 15) and one guy - and the guy just called and said his grandma doesn't want him to go to caracas (it is unsafe), but he can go to San Cristobal.

That is exactly what andrew was originally was worried about, and asked about multiple times (asked if he would be allowed to go to caracas, cause we could have put him on the sc team).

Sooo now we have to decide what to do, b/c we can't send 3 girls to caracas (it's not safe, and thats a very small team), but we're limited on the # of people we can send to sc.

So i think andrew will be going to caracas tomorrow - but its CRAZY b/c he just found out tonight at like 10 and we're leaving tomorrow at 6:30 and will be gone until sunday morning!! Wow talk about having to make a fast decision! b/c there were looots of other options. So hopefully that is the right one. It really is sad because there is so much spiritual warfare and everything is falling apart. You can definitely be praying that today all the students will show up and be able to go, and that God will use our teams - even though they are small - to bring Him glory.

But i am still really excited about going to sc b/c i wanted to go there originally (i've heard its really nice - no one has actually been there from our team but it is similar to merida, which is another city in the mountains) but was put on the maracay team. i volunteered to go to sc, and think it will be very great for my perception of venezuela b/c i'll get to travel (granted it will be at night and i prob wont see much countryside) and see a REALLY PRETTY place - that won't be scorching hot!! i think it will really help me appreciate venezuela more as a whole. it will also be very refreshing, i think - b/c i could have stayed here, but i think it will actually be more refreshing for me to get out of the house b/c i really do like traveling and haven't traveled too much since i've been here. I'll also be away from the computer, which is scary haha but will be great for my quiet times and connecting with God - no distractions, and i'm hoping to read a lot.