Bye, Bye, Birdy

It’s my last night in Chicago, rather the United States, before my journey to Palestine officially begins. I thought a week of orientation would go quickly, but I found the exact opposite. While the speakers have presented interesting, relevant topics, I’m distracted by a mixture of excitement, nervousness, and a “what-were-you-thinking” voice in my head. We closed our group activities this evening by an open mic night. The Jerusalem girls created Discernment: The Musical. We adjusted a few popular Broadway songs to fit the Young Adults in Global Mission process from application to departure – the best part was seeing the creative juices work in my fellow volunteers, this is going to be a fun year.

We had an opportunity to speak with Marideth, a volunteer who just returned from a year of service in Bethlehem. For the first time, I could create an image of where I was going to be spending my time for the next year. My placement, roommates, and apartment location are still a mystery, but it hasn’t bothered me as much as I thought it would – in fact I’m looking forward to the surprises.

Tomorrow my group and I depart from LSTC at 11:30 for O’Hare. My flight for Frankfort leaves at 3:45 and arrives at 6:55am local time and then we depart for Tel-Aviv at 11:30ish. Your prayers during that time would be greatly appreciated.

Keep the comments coming – I appreciate them all!

Special Thanks to:

Logitech, for creating a webcam my parents can operate

Pastor Paula, for so generously offering a room in her house since apparently my room is rented out

Allison, for dealing with my last minute moving madness from Minneapolis