Up, Up, and Away

Our trip began by meeting at Grace Church and loading our things and the 12 of us into a van and an SUV. We then made the 9 hour drive to Ft. Pierce, FL where we would crash for the night and get up and head to MFI for our flight to Eleuthera the next morning.

Saturday morning we loaded the van and headed to the Hangar of MFI.

MFI, Missionary Flight International, serves many missions in the Caribbean giving them services in affordable flights for themselves and in attaining needed supplies.

With only 12 people on our flights, MFI was able to bring a load of personal items to the Dosters who we would be working with while there. They just moved there a few weeks before and were anxiously awaiting their belongings so they could begin to make themselves a home.

We flew over on a DC-3 that was built in 1942. MFI maintains and pretty much completely retro-fits and rebuilds each airplane.

the plane we returned on

It was the best flying experience I have ever had!

Since it was a private flight there were no lines or ridiculous security screenings.

We walked through the hangar and watched our plane pull out and then went to meet it on the tarmac and loaded from there.

the hangar

the team

Once on the plane we all settled in and the pilots gave us the run down for the flight. AND they told us we could check out things from the cockpit!

I waited a little while before going up, but once I did I was like a kid in a candy store. I don't even know why it was so thrilling to me to get to sit in the cockpit and wear the headphones and chit chat with the pilots, but it was. And I feel a little giddy just thinking and writing about it!

the cockpit

 

the island

After about an hour and a half, we safely landed on the small island of Eleuthera that hardly seems big enough to fit a runway. We got off the plane walked to the 'customs' line and waited a few minutes as the island folk seem to be in no sort of hurry. Once they arrived, we had our passports stamped and went to the other side of the gate and met the families we would be spending the week with.

Thus began our time on the beautiful island that I think may shape the years of life to come more than I am currently aware.

More to come in later posts!

We Have Returned

The part of the adventure when we are outside of the every day; when we were soaking up new and different and beautiful things; when we were serving and learning and enjoying being part of a fabulous team; is over.

But.

It seems the journey with many more adventures to come may be just beginning.

What adventures will these be? I don't know yet. And maybe I am incorrect in thinking this, but I seem to feel it deep down that something big, maybe not soon, is going to come of this particular adventure.

To say that the trip was fantastic and wonderful feels like a gross understatement.

To say that I felt like I was floating the whole time seems rather accurate.

To say that I would return there tomorrow if the opportunity presented itself and take on 100 more no-see-um bites is not an exaggeration.

To say that I am 100% confident that it was the right choice to go on this trip with these people rather than wait until April would be correct.

It was one of those adventures that you can't quite nail down. Why was it so great? How was it that different than any other trip? There are many reasons I can think of, but there are also no words that come to mind for some of the wonderment of the trip. It just was.

And I am so very glad that I was a part of it.

The last sunset.

The first team photo.

 

More details will be coming over the next week or two, but for now I just want to rest in the joy of letting the goodness of the trip remain before it wears off when I get back into the full swing of life around here.

Twas the Night Before...

Christmas? no.

Christmas doesn't have the same affect on me as it did in the years of my childhood. There is no rushing to sneak a peak at the presents anymore. No more laying awake with Sara and being frustrated with Maggie who could sleep until noon regardless of whether it was Christmas or not.

But.

There is a new thing in my life that causes me the excitement and anxious awaiting the night before it happens.

Traveling.

I love traveling.

I start mentally packing for a trip as soon as I know it is on the calendar.

Physical packing often starts the week before as I pack and repack and add and take away and put back things that I may or may not need.

Yesterday was one of my favorite and least favorite kind of days. Favorite and least favorite because it just doesn't go by quickly enough and at the same time there doesn't seem enough time to finish everything.

The day before a trip.

I used the morning to clean and organize my home so that I can come back to a neat and orderly environment. The afternoon and evening were spent getting last minute items and packing precisely what I think I will most likely need. It was also spent collecting traveling goodies for my trip. A letter of encouragement to open each day from Amanda. An adorable Travel Fun Book from the keiglets and some delicious puppy chow and granola from Lacey.

(It also included a best friend Valentine's date with my dear friend Ashley.)

I finished packing all that I could for the evening. The only thing left to do was sleep until the morning.

But that didn't quite seem to be what my mind wanted to do. So I hopped on my boss's treadmill at 10:30pm to work off some energy. Then came home and did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen.

Then at about midnight, I went to bed.

As usual, a small amount of sleep because I am much too excited to get real sleep.

The morning slowly crept in. At 5:30 I decided that was enough trying to sleep and got up to finish preparing for my trip in the most calculated way possible.

And now here I sit. The hour before the trip. To write and say, I am so very excited to be going on a short adventure out of my every day life!

* I will be out of touch electronically until we return Wednesday.

To Neverland Perhaps

I have always wished to fly off to the magical island of Neverland and it seems that a week from today I will be getting as close to that as ever I have before.

On Friday, I will be heading out to take a trip. (I might like to call this one a journey.)

This trip is one that is mostly about learning, growth, and serving. I don't want to call it a mission trip as Grace Church refers to it as a training camp. My favorite term for it is service learning. Because how better to learn about something than to serve?

It was a bit of a mental and spiritual journey to commit to the trip, but I will write more on that after I return. For now, I will just be informative of what we will be doing and the 'plan' as I know it.

We will head out from Greenville for Florida Friday morning.

After spending the night in FL, we will then fly to the island of Eleuthera, Bahamas early Saturday morning. Upon arriving we will begin some work projects ranging from working with kids to helping a new missionary family settle in and get their living quarters in ship shape. We will have the privilege of worshipping with a local church on the island. There will be some time for sight seeing, I'm sure. And a portion of each day will be filled with some required readings and group discussion times on what it means to live a missional life and how we are learning to best serve our neighbors both home and abroad.

Needless to say, I am super excited about this trip.

I love to travel, to fly, to see new things, to try new things, to meet new people...

And this trip covers all of those things I love!

 

The weather looks like a fabulous break from the pseudo-winter of SC. The scenery looks gorgeous beyond many things I have seen before. And the opportunity for growth is bursting with promise. I can hardly wait to see what God will teach me and how He will move through this trip!