Do they even know?

As I sit here planning all the details for the 2018 mission team to Cambodia, I can't help but wonder if they even have any idea how much work goes into this. I think about the flights and hotels and plans. I think about how to best to serve the children. I think about the packing.

I also think about the future.

Do they have any idea how much this trip is going to change their lives?

I don't think so. I think they know it'll be big. Huge, even. I think they know that it'll be fun and hard and beautiful all at once. I think they know that lives will change.

But I don't think they can even begin to imagine how much things will change.

Cambodia rocked my world. I'd go back and live there forever if the opportunity came up. No doubt. But it didn't end there.

God worked on me every day there. He taught me to see others through His eyes. He taught me love. He taught me sacrifice. He taught me courage and strength.

And my faith grew. I learned to lean on Him in all things. I learned that the people I began to love and care for who were part of a new world and culture to me were created by Him just like I was. They were his children and He loved them more deeply than I ever could.

It helped me love Cambodians more. It helped me love my family more. It helped me see others as His children, deeply loved and cherished. I learned to look for ways I could let that love of Jesus flow out of me and into the world.

I am so excited to see what God does for this mission team. He's already working in ways they never imagined. He's knitting every detail of this trip together to meet the needs we may not even know of yet. He's making marriages stronger and relationships better.

God's using this adventure to change the world one willing person at a time.

I. Can't. Wait.