Ready For Take-off

So hello everyone! Wow, so I'm currently sitting at gate 23 at LAX about to board my plane. This trip has already been amazing just by the preparation I have had to work on this past summer. For those of you who don't know, I did reach my goal and over in my fundraising and never have I relied so much on God but he delivered when I trusted. I have been packing for the past couple days, yes it was a week long ordeal. I literally had to sit on my bag to close it multiple times when I kept finding things I forgot to put in it. I said bye to my family at 5am this morning and boy are they an interesting group to say bye to haha. Dad drove me to the airport and helped me check in (after we both aimlessly wondered for a couple minutes in confusion) and then he said "alright peace!" and hit the road, he does love me :)

It's kinda funny, people all summer have been asking me if I have been preparing and what I hope to get from this trip and I have been asking the same things to myself. To be honest I don't fully know why I haven't backed out of this trip. Let me explain... I'm a chicken and paranoid and have a lot of anxiety on a daily basis when I'm not flying across the country for 9 months, just the fact that I am here and not too afraid is nothing other than God's grace. It's beautiful. I don't fully know yet the purpose of this trip in my life but I have a feeling I will find out along the way and that's the beauty of it.... Airports are really loud. Just a side note. So ya, from here I fly to MN. and begin my journey on a 12 day retreat at a lake in Wisconsin and then train for another 3 weeks. During this time I will be put on a team, find out where I'm stationed and again take-off, to follow God physically and spiritually. Im chasing him and he's chasing me!

Well, I'm gonna board now but you are in my prayers and I hope I'm in yours. Thank you and God Bless You.

Peace and Love: Erika

My First Entry

Alright, well hi everyone!

Welcome to my blog! This is my first entry so this is where the journey begins. Well I guess I will share with you what exactly this blog is for, I'm going on a Mission Trip! (that's boring, don't bore your people- mom) My mom is in denial. But Let me explain more, last august I was talking to one of my god friends about how I felt so stagnant in my faith life, like I wasn't moving anywhere and was restless. He mentioned to me that he had a friend that did this amazing ministry called NET Ministries and was transformed! So I looked into it. NET is actually a Ministry of 135 young adults that travel around the U.S. for 9 months and put on retreats for the youth of our nation. I said to myself "well Erika, you love the youth, you are somewhat an interesting person, and your looking for more in your faith..." so I applied last November. A couple days later I got a call for an interview retreat in March; I went on the retreat and had got a glimpse into the life of a NET-ter and was hooked! 2 extremely long weeks later I got a letter in the mail saying that I was one of the 135 young adults chosen to serve a year with NET! And so, after prayer and discernment I accepted the invitation that same night! I am now raising $7,000 big ones f0or this adventure and its coming along with the help of God. And so, it is June 30th and I leave home for Minnesota (home-base) on August 14th for 9 months living out of a backpack on the road and sleeping on floors and couches of wonderful Host Homes. In all, I am actually really excited for this journey, I have so many people to thank for helping me get here and helping me believe that I can challenge myself this year for the Lord. All I can do now is pray, and ask for your prayers as well! thanks so much for reading I will be posting all year long! God Bless You.

If you would like to donate and be a part of this adventure God is leading me on please go to www.gofundme.com/am60q4 everything helps! Thank you.

Peace and Love: Erika