Hawai'i

So, in about twelve hours I will board a plane that will make stops in Houston and Orange County before finally landing in Maui, where I will sleep for the night and then head over to the island of Lanai. And I haven't even started packing. That's nothing new though...every time I did Summer Staff I'm pretty sure I started packing like the night before, so this will get done. Right now, the biggest decision to make is if I'll attempt to sleep tonight or not. I want to be good and tired when I get on the plane so that I will find it easier to sleep, but then again I never can sleep on planes and I almost always wind up watching the wing to see if it catches fire. Only this time, it'll catch fire over the ocean and a shark will jump up and grab us or something. Who knows.

But, the reason I'm so excited is that this is my first mission trip. I've almost gotten to go on a few but they just haven't worked out, so it's pretty cool that I finally get to go. Lanai is a small island near Maui and it used to be a pineapple plantation. We're going to go in and do a music camp and maybe a Bible school for the week. My tasks include running a sound board and teaching kids to play "Come Thou Fount" on the ukulele. I have never operated a sound board and before yesterday couldn't have told you how to play a G chord on a ukulele (oddly enough it's the exact same shape as a D chord on a guitar which is fairly easy to remember). So I'm really looking forward to that.

Seeing as this is my first mission trip, though, I really don't know what to expect. I am just trying to go into this with an open heart and an open mind for whatever God has in store for the kids I am going to get to meet and for me. So, as I start to pack and get psyched up for the 13 hour flight out there, I'm just going to try to pray and really seek what the Father is saying about this trip. But, if it's anything like the rest of my life, He'll just reveal bits and pieces as we go along. Which is fine with me.

Besides, I've always felt like I'd fit in pretty well as a Hawaiian. So, here goes nothing, and hang ten, y'all.
<3 chanchan