well we're at LAX. i'm on my way to Fiji in a few hrs. but i'm not sure that i'm there mentally yet. it's been a whirlwind of a month and i feel like i haven't really had the time to finish one thing before the next is beginning. i'm literally ripping off one flight tag to replace it with the next. i love that i've had the opportunity to go and do so much lately, but i want to be fully present with what i'm doing and not have my foot in one place and my mind in another. that is one of my main prayers for this trip. i hope that by the time we meet the rest of the team and i sit on the plane for 11 hrs. that somewhere over the ocean it will all sink in. i've never been on another mission trip outside of building houses for families in Juarez so i'm excited about the opportunity to serve in a whole different way. i'm excited to help others in a way that doesn't involve dirt, concrete and shovels. i'm excited to do it all in such a beautiful country and to see a part of the world that i've never seen before. honestly i feel a little guilty about the places that we will be staying and where we will be working. somehow in my mind serving God doesn't seem like it can be done in a place that doesn't feel like a sacrifice but more like an opportunity. i'm also excited to be serving God and not having to sleep in a cot and being in a poverty stricken desert all day. i have a feeling this is going to be a huge learning and growing experience for me. i hope so.

i'm not sure what kind of computer access we will have or how much i will update this while we are away. i want to take this time to pour myself fully into this experience and the work that we are doing and the families we will be working with and not feel the pull to the world of technology and America, so we'll see how much this actually gets updated. there are a few other ways to keep up with what we are doing.

- while we are away the organization we are working with (www.givecleanwater.org) is going to be keeping an up to date blog of our work and updates from us. there is a link to that on the left side of this page and here (http://gcwjuly2009.wordpress.com/). feel free to check that for updates as it will probably be the most up to date.

- i'm traveling with 3 other people from my church and we are meeting up with a team of about 20 others. one of the guys from our group (Steve) has his own blog. i'm not sure how much he'll update it while we're there but he's pretty good about that stuff. it is also linked on the left side of the page as well as below and will have info probably more specific to our el paso team.
http://www.jollyshouse.com/.

here's the link to where we'll be staying during the week while we are installing the filters.
Mon. July 27th - Fri. July 31st
www.tanoawaterfront-fiji.com

here's where we're staying the last couple days before we leave. it looks like we'll have a day or two to play once we are done installing the filters throughout the week.
Fri. July 31st - Sun. Aug. 2nd
www.rafflesgateway.com

it's a lot of info i know. so read what you want and my mom will read the rest :)

thanks for being a part of this opportunity with me!