-2 days.

As I told in my last post, the next two weeks will be a time of reflecting on one of the biggest adventures i've experienced. A Youth Mission Trip to the National Forrest of Ocala, to be with the Rainbow Family.

You know what is funny, I was not planning on going at all.
Peter Wholer, Leader of the Source, was right from the beginning someone I really liked. He has something that makes me feel at home. We met him in early Oktober, and from that day it was like he was my uncle or so. He asked Josse and I to come with him to this missiontrip, to Florida. It would be good for us, he said. It would be new, different, exciting, good. Peter did not really tell details, it was just this vage idea he had, and wanted us to be involved in that, too. Josse was enthousiastic, and when we told our parents, they totaly loved the idea. THey thought too it would be a great experience.

Around this time, I was only being busy with Holland. I was allways thinking about it, about my friends, and about a way to get there again. I was saving money, babysitting as much as I could, and even friends on the other side of the ocean made plans in putting money together to get me back to Holland for a while. So when Peter told us the trip would cost 225 Dollar, I was not thinking about how to get the money, I was just thinking that if I would join the mission trip, I could not go to Holland anymore. So I said No. I had no idea what this missiontrip was, I didn't know what kind of people went with us.. I've never been on a missionstrip, and it sounded like this was not a easy one, just crafting with poor kids or building houses for homeless ones. Peter said something about Hippy's in the woods, homeless, drunk, we being a kitchen, and loving on them, and preaching our faith. THat didn't sound like anything I could do.
So i said no. No way, Holland is way to important, i'm not going to give my money away like that. Still, my parents kept talking to me about it. That it would be a unique chanche for me, nothing like this, AND they asked me this question: Is Holland really that important. We go back next year. Do you really want to give up such a experience to go back for what, to weeks?

It made me think. Henk, someone from our fellowship who was there at the time i had to make the decision, talked with me about it. He said something about a glass of water and wine. Let's say, I didn't feel good, I missed Holland like crazy, I did not liked America! Henk said, that that was the glass of water. I wanted it to become wine. I wanted my time in America to become sweet, and good, and refreshing. I wanted the water to become wine. But, Henk said, before you can recieve wine, you need to get rid of the water. By the water, he meant Holland. I knew what he wanted to say. If I wanted this year to be a good one, a year of growing with God, to preduce wine, I needed to let the past go. I needed to let the loning for comming back go. I wanted wine.

I decided to go to the missionstrip, and leave Holland behind.
I see now that THIS was the first step of letting go My thoughts and ideas, and making this year not into just a year abroad to have new experience, but that this would be a year of GOD and me, growing up together.

After I told them i wanted to join, there were a couple of meetings. First, to meet the rest of the crew. I didn't know any of them ( I knew Peter, Jeremy, Tim& Dana and Jen, but not longer than a month..) And they looked so much older. With my 17 years, I was the youngest one, and Josse, with 19 the next. Sam, Kyle, Ben& Teresa ( married) Jen, Tanner, Jeremy, Peter, Tim& Dana( married) Josse and me.
I had no idea what to expect.
I had no idea what to pack.

This day a year ago, two days before the big adventure..