Richard is an easy going guy, who is very attentive to all people. The very first night in Dubai wasn't a night that we talked a lot, but I was thankful to be his roommate. Why? He prayed aloud for us that night. He wasn't specifically praying about the trip, but for us to bond together as roommates and eventually lifelong friends. I remember that and it touched me in a way that I will never forget it. He is a stud that's for sure. Anyway as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light bulb, but the problem was I only got a few hours of sleep since we got up at 5 am the next morning because we needed to have enough time in order to catch our flight to Entebbe, Uganda. So, we headed back to the awe momentous Dubai airport, which is an amazing man made masterpiece in itself. And, as we were making our way to the gate, I was talking with Debbie M. and I told her that I was willing to give my life for the Gospel if necessary. If it came to that point, I would die for the sake of the Gospel. That is how much Jesus means to me. I don't really care how it happens or what happens. All I know is that I will be absent from this body and present with the Lord, which is my biggest dream ever. My biggest dream ever will ultimately become my reality and I can't wait to see my Jesus. One of my favorite songs is written by Jeremy Camp and it is called "There Will Be A Day". And some of these lyrics have hit me hard like a ton of bricks. Read them and let them saturate your soul..... "I try to hold on to this world with everything I have. But I feel the weight of what it brings and the hurt that it tries to grab. The many trials that seem to never end, His Word declares this truth, that we will enter in this rest with wonders anew. But I hold onto this hope and the promise that He brings. There will be a place with no more suffering. There will be a day with no more tears, no more pain, and no more fears. There will be a day when the burdens of this place will be no more, we'll see Jesus face to face. But until that day, we'll hold onto you always." These lyrics speak for themselves. We are not of this world and we are waiting anxiously and patiently for our King to take us Home to be with Him. And, if it was going to happen to me on the trip, there is no other beautiful way I would rather go than to lay down my life for my king on a missions trip. How appropriate!!! But, that did not happen and I am still here. I still have unfinished business in service to my King to attend to. It is no greater honor.
Anyway sorry for the rambling tangent. Where was I? Oh yeah, we are in the Dubai airport about to hop on the plane to Entebbe. So, we hopped on the plane. I was still thinking about virtually dying for Christ and reading this book Witness the Passion all at the same time. If you have never read that book, it goes into the horrors of Christ on the Cross from the eyewitness viewpoints of many people who were there to experience it from a distance or from afar. Pretty good book. Anyway, I was sitting on the plane next to Janice, my airplane buddy and it happened to be her birthday as well, for the entire four and half hour plane flight. And before we knew it, we landed in Entebbe, Uganda at around 1 pm Ugandan time ready to serve the Lord, which is about 10 hours ahead PT. Once we stepped out of the plane, it felt like Palm Springs, CA in the summer only with much more added humidity. It was hot, but thankfully we made it through customs with no problems and picked up our luggage from the baggage claim. And then, we headed toward the bus, the same 'ole bus that would be our one and only transportation source for the next two weeks--- a bus that at least did have air conditioning. Well, not very good air conditioning, but good enough to carry us through until the end of the trip......
Showing posts with label missions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label missions. Show all posts
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Friday, April 26, 2013
Uganda: Overnite in Dubai
When we landed in Dubai, I was overjoyed and dead tired, but in stunned amazement when I stepped out to catch my first glimpse of the airport. If not the fanciest airport in the world, it is up there among the fanciest. Everywhere you look this airport has it all.... rolex clocks, granite floors and walls, silver chrome pillars, etc. It is a more modern 21st century airport, but very fancy. Why they chose to spend so much money into building this airport? I have no idea. Though, it goes to show you how far man goes in order to boast about having the best airport. Of all things, the best airport??? Yeah, it beats me.
Anyway, we efficiently made our way through customs and security with no problems. There initially was a long line to get through customs, but Dave G. with his intuitive capabilities coaxed one of the security people to let our team pass through customs in a different line with no wait. Success!!! And then, we made our way to a bus, which drove us to our hotel for the night. As we walked into the hotel, a few things seemed a bit strange. One, a sign for the swimming pool actually read 'swimming poo'. I didn't even try to ask why. Second, most of the beds were one single queen bed. If you know our team and the conversations that started once we heard this, you would understand why this was a major problem especially with a couple guys (I will not name names). And third, we seemed a bit out of place in this hotel, which is why I didn't dare ask about the 'swimming poo'. It seemed like all eyes were staring at us from every which way in every direction. I knew God was with us, but I had a strange insensitive feeling. Other than that, we checked in with no problems and had dinner. I ate with Kevin as we talked about the upcoming mission. We knew God was going to do some amazing things in and through us as with each member of the team. We were stoked as ever. We even asked each other what our parents would think if we stayed longer. Our response was simple.... they would not be happy and wishing beyond a doubt we be home, but thankful in a sense that we were obedient to God's call. It didn't happen to either of us or anyone else on team because each person felt God's call to come back home for a variety of different reasons. I will share my reasons later as these posts continue to unfold.
After dinner, it was time for debrief and prayer in Dave G. and Frankie's room (though I think in Dubai it was in Sam and Erin's room). No matter what, debriefing for any mission trip is basically sharing our highs and lows of the day. It is a time to share whatever God has placed upon our hearts that day.... good or bad. It is a definite intimate time within the group. I personally loved these moments because it was a time to just let God be God for us after a grueling day serving with all our heart on the mission field. We are tired, we are exhausted, we are cranky, we are worn down..... but God knows what is best for us in that particular time. And, we all would just let Him be God for us by comforting us, strengthening us, loving us, preparing us for what lies ahead in the next day... just the next day. Because, by day 8, my strength was literally on empty. I was only running on God's strength by then. It taught me how to let God be God for me in a time when I needed Him most. And, He kept pushing me forward. He never turned His back on me. He was completely faithful in it all. But, that is a story for later on. The debrief process for the Dubai overnite stay was pretty basic in a sense because most people had the same highs and lows. I said most people. The high for me was the anticipation of the trip and what God was/is going to do through us, while the low for me was not enough sleep on the plane. I had jet lag and was dead tired. Sleep could not come soon enough. After debrief, we had a time of prayer. That was very touching though. Our team can pray and knows how to pray. It was awesome to see us continue to unite through prayer as we prayed for what lies ahead for us in Uganda. Great time!!! Then finally, off to bed. I will start talking about my roommate soon. He is the best person I could have ever roomed with because we had some deep intense conversations late into the night almost every night even though he would go to sleep when I was in the middle of talking sometimes. I love him. His name is Richard.... Rico.... But most importantly, I call him Buddy. *big yawn* I am about to doze off. Sorry buddy.... I will talk about you in the next post segment. :D
Anyway, we efficiently made our way through customs and security with no problems. There initially was a long line to get through customs, but Dave G. with his intuitive capabilities coaxed one of the security people to let our team pass through customs in a different line with no wait. Success!!! And then, we made our way to a bus, which drove us to our hotel for the night. As we walked into the hotel, a few things seemed a bit strange. One, a sign for the swimming pool actually read 'swimming poo'. I didn't even try to ask why. Second, most of the beds were one single queen bed. If you know our team and the conversations that started once we heard this, you would understand why this was a major problem especially with a couple guys (I will not name names). And third, we seemed a bit out of place in this hotel, which is why I didn't dare ask about the 'swimming poo'. It seemed like all eyes were staring at us from every which way in every direction. I knew God was with us, but I had a strange insensitive feeling. Other than that, we checked in with no problems and had dinner. I ate with Kevin as we talked about the upcoming mission. We knew God was going to do some amazing things in and through us as with each member of the team. We were stoked as ever. We even asked each other what our parents would think if we stayed longer. Our response was simple.... they would not be happy and wishing beyond a doubt we be home, but thankful in a sense that we were obedient to God's call. It didn't happen to either of us or anyone else on team because each person felt God's call to come back home for a variety of different reasons. I will share my reasons later as these posts continue to unfold.
After dinner, it was time for debrief and prayer in Dave G. and Frankie's room (though I think in Dubai it was in Sam and Erin's room). No matter what, debriefing for any mission trip is basically sharing our highs and lows of the day. It is a time to share whatever God has placed upon our hearts that day.... good or bad. It is a definite intimate time within the group. I personally loved these moments because it was a time to just let God be God for us after a grueling day serving with all our heart on the mission field. We are tired, we are exhausted, we are cranky, we are worn down..... but God knows what is best for us in that particular time. And, we all would just let Him be God for us by comforting us, strengthening us, loving us, preparing us for what lies ahead in the next day... just the next day. Because, by day 8, my strength was literally on empty. I was only running on God's strength by then. It taught me how to let God be God for me in a time when I needed Him most. And, He kept pushing me forward. He never turned His back on me. He was completely faithful in it all. But, that is a story for later on. The debrief process for the Dubai overnite stay was pretty basic in a sense because most people had the same highs and lows. I said most people. The high for me was the anticipation of the trip and what God was/is going to do through us, while the low for me was not enough sleep on the plane. I had jet lag and was dead tired. Sleep could not come soon enough. After debrief, we had a time of prayer. That was very touching though. Our team can pray and knows how to pray. It was awesome to see us continue to unite through prayer as we prayed for what lies ahead for us in Uganda. Great time!!! Then finally, off to bed. I will start talking about my roommate soon. He is the best person I could have ever roomed with because we had some deep intense conversations late into the night almost every night even though he would go to sleep when I was in the middle of talking sometimes. I love him. His name is Richard.... Rico.... But most importantly, I call him Buddy. *big yawn* I am about to doze off. Sorry buddy.... I will talk about you in the next post segment. :D
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Uganda: Flight from LAX to Dubai
It has been a long time, but I am back stronger than ever. I recently came home a few days ago from a two week long mission trip to Uganda that was particularly amazing in a sense that God did tremendous things yet even more particularly cautious in the sense that I saw, heard, and experienced some pretty gnarly things. I will dive more into those things as I share little by little of what happened in distinct post segments. As you can see, today is about our flight from LAX to Dubai, which was uneventful and uncharacteristically awful in my opinion. Why? Because as the anticipation for the trip mounted, the 17 hour long trip felt like 34 hours altogether... double the amount of time. Not what I was hoping for, but the feeling transformed into joyful abandon once we landed in Dubai. Now, I will head into the specifics of the trip from my perspective (and I will only give the first name of my team members to respect their privacy..... we have three Dave's so I will give the first letter of their last name).
The flight began at 4:45 pm PT from Los Angeles International Airport. I was on the right side of the plane squashed in the middle beside Janice and Sam. Sam had the perfect window seat and Janice had the aisle seat. I didn't really care because we were in this for the long run. Seventeen hours is a very long time. All I remember of the flight is I watched two movies.... Wreck it Ralph and The Hobbit, prayed a lot, slept for a few hours in half hour intervals here and there, ate Emirates airline food (really was not that bad), played Who wants to be a millionaire toward the ending of the flight, read my Bible, and listened to a few David Platt sermons from his Secret Church on the cross and suffering. And F-I-N-A-L-L-Y, we landed in Dubai at 7:55 pm Dubai time on Sunday April 7th, which would have been 8:55 am PT on the West Coast in America. Though, what really stood out during the entire airline flight that I will never forgot was a quote from one of the David Platt sermons I listened to!! It stuck out to me like gum stuck on the bottom of someone's shoe. I will end with it...
"The Cross of Christ is the key to understanding all suffering. Suffering was planned for Good Friday. The reason we have suffering in the world has everything to do with Good Friday. Everything in all history including suffering was planned for Good Friday and ultimately points to Good Friday. Everything before the cross points forward to it, everything since the cross points back to it, everything that will last was purchased on it, and everything that matters hinges on the cross. The cross is the key to understanding suffering."
~ David Platt
P.S. This will reign heavily true in the days ahead for me, which is why I have not forgotten it.
The flight began at 4:45 pm PT from Los Angeles International Airport. I was on the right side of the plane squashed in the middle beside Janice and Sam. Sam had the perfect window seat and Janice had the aisle seat. I didn't really care because we were in this for the long run. Seventeen hours is a very long time. All I remember of the flight is I watched two movies.... Wreck it Ralph and The Hobbit, prayed a lot, slept for a few hours in half hour intervals here and there, ate Emirates airline food (really was not that bad), played Who wants to be a millionaire toward the ending of the flight, read my Bible, and listened to a few David Platt sermons from his Secret Church on the cross and suffering. And F-I-N-A-L-L-Y, we landed in Dubai at 7:55 pm Dubai time on Sunday April 7th, which would have been 8:55 am PT on the West Coast in America. Though, what really stood out during the entire airline flight that I will never forgot was a quote from one of the David Platt sermons I listened to!! It stuck out to me like gum stuck on the bottom of someone's shoe. I will end with it...
"The Cross of Christ is the key to understanding all suffering. Suffering was planned for Good Friday. The reason we have suffering in the world has everything to do with Good Friday. Everything in all history including suffering was planned for Good Friday and ultimately points to Good Friday. Everything before the cross points forward to it, everything since the cross points back to it, everything that will last was purchased on it, and everything that matters hinges on the cross. The cross is the key to understanding suffering."
~ David Platt
P.S. This will reign heavily true in the days ahead for me, which is why I have not forgotten it.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
News On the Mission Front
I just received a call from the India lead team today. Yes, I applied for a missions trip to India. But, once I heard the news on if I made the team or not, my heart literally sank two feet. You probably know what happened. God has a different plan for me on the week of December 26th to January 8th and all I have to do is trust Him with my whole heart in that He knows what is best for me. It was not easy hearing the news, but a life lesson can be wrought out of all this. One of my family friends gave me much needed encouragement in a time like this. He said, "Josh, be patient. God will used you in a mighty way." I definitely needed that and God knew it. God is telling me to wait on Him to direct my life. Thanks Randy for that seed of encouragement.
Now, my next post on the seven cries will be tomorrow, so stay tuned. I know I mentioned that I would post every Sunday, but today has been a rather difficult day. In that case, a full post on one of the cries from the cross will infiltrate through to your blogging dashboard tomorrow.
Sola Deo Gloria!!!!!
Now, my next post on the seven cries will be tomorrow, so stay tuned. I know I mentioned that I would post every Sunday, but today has been a rather difficult day. In that case, a full post on one of the cries from the cross will infiltrate through to your blogging dashboard tomorrow.
Sola Deo Gloria!!!!!
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Update on Possible Missions Trip and Future Posts For The Glory of God
Steps 1, 2, and 3 are accomplished. Steps 4, 5, and beyond are upcoming, maybe. Nearly a month and a quarter ago, I completed Step 1 of the process about going on a missions trip by purchasing a passport. It made a hole in my wallet, but I can say the passport was well worth the purchase price. Step 2, which made no damage to my wallet, was in completing the application and turning it in by June 26th. Mission accomplished! And, Steps 2A and 2B have been working a little more, so that I would be prepared to pay the $500 down deposit once elected on the team. Done! Then, Step 3 consisted of being interviewed by one of the heads of the Missions department on July 15th (actually I ended up being interviewed by two people--- one of them is a leader on this trips team). With that said, I can fully assure you that Step 3 is now a distant memory. What's next? Whatever God wants to do! If that means I am on the team, so be it. If not, I know God has some other plan and purpose for my life during the specific time period of December 26th through January 8th. Why worry? God is in control. I will wait and see what God has in store for me. Step 4 will be finding out if I made the team and that should be sometime in August. I will fill you in on Step 4 when we reach that certain point.
Now, onto the rest of the summer for what posts I will write. For the rest of the summer on Sundays, I am going to begin a new seven part series. The last post will overlap into September, but it should not be a problem in completing the series because I am not taking any classes this Fall. I won't be bombarded with homework (kinda a good thing, yet I will miss school). So, that should not be a problem. What is this seven part series going to cover? *wide grin* I am not gonna tell ya since you will find out tomorrow (probably post it late tomorrow). Very few people read my blog these days (stats figures--- not too hard to tell *ahem* (my fault for not posting on a regular basis) :), so if you want to find out what the series is about you can at least read the title from your blogger dashboard or click on the post if you find it an interesting read.
Then on this upcoming Wednesday, I will finish the God's Power Made Perfect In Weakness series with Part 5, so stay tuned for that. On the next following two Wednesdays after this coming up Wednesday, I will complete The Most Inane Postmodern Humanist Notion Of All Time Part 2 with the remedy in two separate posts. And, on every following Wednesday after those three Wednesdays, I will post on a topic chosen by you, the readers, from a poll that I will post on my blog fairly soon. Finally, in between those posts, I will continue the Titus series. It seems like a lot and you all probably don't believe me, which is understandable, since I have not been the most consistent blogger in the world. However, I am choosing to change that. So, with all the knowledge that God has entrusted me with, I will use it to further His kingdom through the blogging world on a consistent basis. So help me God.
Sola Deo Gloria!!!!!
Now, onto the rest of the summer for what posts I will write. For the rest of the summer on Sundays, I am going to begin a new seven part series. The last post will overlap into September, but it should not be a problem in completing the series because I am not taking any classes this Fall. I won't be bombarded with homework (kinda a good thing, yet I will miss school). So, that should not be a problem. What is this seven part series going to cover? *wide grin* I am not gonna tell ya since you will find out tomorrow (probably post it late tomorrow). Very few people read my blog these days (stats figures--- not too hard to tell *ahem* (my fault for not posting on a regular basis) :), so if you want to find out what the series is about you can at least read the title from your blogger dashboard or click on the post if you find it an interesting read.
Then on this upcoming Wednesday, I will finish the God's Power Made Perfect In Weakness series with Part 5, so stay tuned for that. On the next following two Wednesdays after this coming up Wednesday, I will complete The Most Inane Postmodern Humanist Notion Of All Time Part 2 with the remedy in two separate posts. And, on every following Wednesday after those three Wednesdays, I will post on a topic chosen by you, the readers, from a poll that I will post on my blog fairly soon. Finally, in between those posts, I will continue the Titus series. It seems like a lot and you all probably don't believe me, which is understandable, since I have not been the most consistent blogger in the world. However, I am choosing to change that. So, with all the knowledge that God has entrusted me with, I will use it to further His kingdom through the blogging world on a consistent basis. So help me God.
Sola Deo Gloria!!!!!
Friday, June 10, 2011
Missions
My body is in America, but my heart is overseas for the people in desperate need of the Gospel. I may be going on a missions trip in December. More about the trip later......
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