getting started

So deciding I wanted to go to Africa was easy...how i was going to get there was the great unknown.  I went to an orientation meeting for Clean Water and met people who had been on previous missions to Rwanda.  My goal that night was to be able to say more than my name without bursting into tears! I was not very successful:) there was so much to learn, seriously, so much! I thought I would just pack a bag and grab passport and go...clearly I had much to learn, and many things would really stretch my levels of comfort (figuratively, literally and spiritually). The first lesson being that I was expected to ask for contributions to pay for my passage...couldn't I just write a check for myself? asking for money is so hard..so uncomfortable...so embarassing! i mean, really, in this economy? so I talked to people who had gone before me and they helped me to understand that this was a way of sharing what I was doing.  That casting a big net would  let everyone  participate...not just with contributions, but with prayers, encouragement and awareness of this global giant.  So I walked around for like a month with a file full of revision after revision of my contribution letter. I mean, you would have thought I was writing a thesis! but I wanted it to be perfect! not too much...not too vague..you know, just right. Finally,  I drove to my mom and dad's house and we made this a family project...sign...stuff...stamp...send!! we prayed over those blue envelopes..i mean...what would people think? what did I really think? funny, for the most part,I march to my own drummer not too worried about what others think..but on this one, asking for money, i kinda did. but that was because i was making it about me(hello) and not about the mission...
Well, checking the mail has taken on a whole new attitude!
deborah of africa