Silence broken.

Sorry for the 2 week silence. My mind has been all over the place with moving, going to Colorado, and flying back east to see my family. July 11th was my last day working for Hillside. I no longer receive a paycheck from them, but I am still partnering with them as one of their first home church missionaries!! What an exciting thought. I then traveled to beautiful Colorado Springs with our youth leaders and 20 kids from our youth group. WOW!! What a trip! I attended last year so I knew it would be awesome, but this year taking A LOT more kids with us was really fun. We spent a whole week attending seminars, worshipping Jesus, and meeting new people. I also got to catch up with some old friends and spent some time getting to know our students a little deeper. The LORD renewed my love for teenagers and refreshed my spirit. It was a GREAT trip.

When I returned to Napa this past Monday, I only had a day and a half to recover from the very long drive, with hardly any sleep, to prepare to leave for the east coast. I arrived here in Pennsylvania last night and am writing to you from my dad's office. Its exciting to know that I will be here for a few weeks to spend time with everyone before I head to my mom's in New Jersey. This will be the longest I have been in Pennsylvania since I moved to California. It was very hard to leave my friends and family in California, but I know they are all praying for me and missing me.

Pastor Alan is anticipating my arrival in Zimbabwe. The team is already praying for my arrival and looking forward to adding me to the team. I will have lots of work to do when I get there. I have almost met my financial goal, but keep praying for me cause I'm not quite there yet. Also, Pastor Steve has not purchased my plane ticket officially yet because he is waiting for prices to die down after peak season. You will be the first ones to know when my official leave date will be. No worries about the political upheaval there. We have already had teams take trips there this summer and none of them felt unsafe or threatened, so I will be fine. My trip is still on, but keep praying for peace and understanding to sweep the nation of Zimbabwe.

I CAN'T WAIT TO GET THERE!!!

Riding in the passenger seat,
Gina :)

Final preparations.

Well, this is it my friends. My last week at my church office job. My last week in youth group. My last week living full time in Napa, CA. I'm headed back east to see my family for a little over a month then I'm back to Napa for about a week before I fly to Zimbabwe. My destiny awaits me. My life begins the day I get on that plane. God's journey for my life starts the moment I step foot in Africa.

Paul, the apostle, writes in Acts 20:22-24, "And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace." I don't know that is going to happen to me in Zimbabwe, but I know that the Holy Spirit is compelling me to go and testify of God's grace. No matter what happens, I belong to Jesus..the author and perfecter of my faith...He is the one taking care of me. He is the one I look to to provide for my every need. My life is worth nothing to me if I don't obey Him and do what He wants for my life. His plan and purpose is better than anything I could plan.

Don't be concerned for me or worried about me, I am in God's hands. I go with a little sadness because I won't have you surrounding me everyday, but you will always be in my prayers. I love you!

Riding in the passenger seat,
Gina :)