The visas arrived last week and now the countdown for our mission's trip begins. We leave Friday for the Cities and then fly out the next day. I haven't packed yet but yesterday I bought food/snacks for the trip and I think I came home with the whole store. :) We have to bring all the food for ourselves so each of us will be responsible for 2 meals and the rest we'll eat granola bars and stuff like that. There is a grocery store to get bottled water but we'll try not to buy much other than that. I guess they have the best pineapples at the market so I hope we get some. Our leader is already there waiting for us and says to be ready for HOT weather. :) Even though I usually don't like it too warm at this point I will be more than happy to feel hot for once. It is still below freezing here even though the snow is starting to melt so it can be a long time before we can go without a jacket.
It still feels very unreal to me that I am going to Liberia. Probably because I didn't have time for it to sink in but it is just hard to believe I'll be going to Africa in a few days. The kids are not sure what to think of my trip. They know how it is going to Slovakia so I think to them it seems like the same thing. The flight is a bit longer than going to Slovakia but I am actually looking forward to some quiet and uninterrupted time, not to mention being responsible only for myself without worrying about the kids being comfortable and able to sleep on the plane. :)
Subbing has been really busy the last 3 weeks or so. All of a sudden I am called in to sub every day, either at the Elementary school or High school. I am typing this as I'm about to start subbing for an English highschool teacher. I'm really glad I get to work every day but it does push a lot of things aside at home. Last week I was subbing every day despite having a cold because I didn't want to say I can't come in so by the time I got home I was exhausted. So I am hoping I won't get called in this Thursday so I can have one day at home for putting the house in order before I leave. I still really enjoy it and getting to know different classes. Highschool is not my favorite because it's too boring there and the other teachers don't seem very nice either so there's nobody to talk to during my lunch break. But they keep calling me (probably because they know I'll say yes) so I'll have to just get used to it. Elementary school is just a lot more fun because I get to do everything with the kids and when there's time left I pick things for us to do but at the highschool it's just supervising the kids with very little directions. Today I actually have a really long list of things to do with the kids so I hope it goes well and they listen. That's the thing about highschool, when there are things they need to be working on it is impossible to make them do it if they don't want to. Most of them just play games on the laptops and don't care that they didn't finish the assignment. But I guess it's not my problem to worry about, I am just a messenger. :)
If you could please pray for me, Stacy and pastor Bruce as we are getting ready to leave and during our 10 days being gone. We pray for safe travels and no problems with flights, for the work we get to do there, for being efficient with the little time we have there, for the relationships that our church is building over there, for God to be present in all of it. I feel very humbled that I get to go because even though we're going there to give to others, I know that I will receive so much more from the people there. It is exciting to be part of this mission and I am so thankful to all the friends and family for all their support. I'm grateful too for a husband that didn't hesitate to let me go and be on his own while I'm gone, which I know a lot of husbands would have a hard time with.
Well, the class is about to start so off I go. I'm hoping to take lots of pictures in Liberia so after my trip I will post them on here.
