24 hours

Wow! I will be so extremely lucky if I get my mile and a half list crossed off today. There is alot to be done when you are leaving the country for two months. A little bit overwhelming. It seems I have run into a few bumps in the road, small task have turn into to big obstacles. But somehow, just like I always do, I will get it done. And as impossible as it seems I will be on that plane tomorrow at 11:30! I just keep thinking of one of my favorite verses in Romans chapter 12:1-2, Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God- this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is- HIS GOOD, PLEASING, AND PERFECT WILL!

I just keep telling myself, as frustrated as I get trying to be a perfectionist, I am completely and totally imperfect! But Christ, and his will for my life is perfect. And this chaos of checklist, phone calls, and errands, are just tasks that will get done, and if they don't, oh well!

Two weekends ago, prior to every GoNow trip, students have to go to an orientation. This weekend was time to meditate on the word and prepare our hearts as well as be informed on a load of information. After two days we had our commissioning service. I stood there in the pew like I have thousands of times before with my head bowed. But this time it felt very different. I was surrounded by hundreds of students around my age that were about to spread all around the globe carrying the good news. You could hear the fright in some of their voices, as well as the excitement. And then it hit me. I, Amy Parker, was one of those students about to go too! I thought back to all the Sunday schools, children's churches, "big" churches, revivals, GA camps, Super Summers, Disciple Nows, BSM retreats and all the conversations I had had throughout my life. This is what it was all for. Now I dont mean that just "this" trip is what God has been preparing me for, no he has been preparing me for a lifelong lifestyle that I will daily walk trying to imitate him. But I did have a feeling that all those hours of thinking, one day Ill be that missionary, had come true. As scared as I might be, I am equipped, only with the help of Jesus, but I am equipped.

I few weeks ago I was asked by my BSM director to go talk at a small baptist church. He asked me to give my testimony as well as discuss my trip. One of the things I felt led to talk about was what a missionary is. A missionary is not only one who gets on a plane and flys halfway around the world. Some of us are called to be those, but we are ALL called to be "missionaries" daily. The misconception I had in my mind all these years what that a missionary was only foreign. This is completely and utterly false.

Tomorrow I will get on a plane and fly half way across the world on a mission trip to Thailand which will last two months. And then I will get on a plane that will bring me home to oh so wonderful TEXAS and I will be on a mission trip that will last me the rest of my life. So what I am trying to say is, there is no secret divine power over there that makes it a mission trip. The Holy Ghost is there, here, and where you are as well.

I am so thrilled to have been given this opportunity. Some of can't go thousands of miles, but I can, thus I will. I am challenged to believe I can do this, but believe it or not, Im about to.

I ask for your prayers as I am saying goodbye to family and friends.