New City

We have made it to Thies (pronounced chess).
I like it so far. When we came back to Dakar from the village, I realized I had forgotten how crazy and busy it was. Thies is a big city but has less hustle and bustle. There are no big highways and it has more space! So now we are in the middle of our two experiences from Dakar and the village.
We are staying in a place that is a school and community place. There is another group here from Boston, so that has been nice to see some familiar travelers. We are accompanied by our friends Eddie and Jean-Jacques, and we are working with Pastor Innocent (pronounced inno sont without the n and the t) and the church he has started here. They will have their first Sunday morning worship tomorrow. We are excited to help in anyway and be here for it. So far we have visited the neighborhood around the church and met the families there. We have also met the children of the church that we will help start a kids club program for so they can come to the church on a regular basis to play games and learn about Jesus of course and build our good ol Nazarene community :)!
This morning we went to the art market thing. It was so great. It is pretty much a place for tourists so we had a little fun seeing all of the stuff. Luckily our friends negotiated the price for us so we didn't pay too much for something. This evening we had activities with the children. It was sort of like a VBS time were we had games and songs and activities and a story at the end. They have been great kids so I think this week will be very fun with them.
We eat dinner at our friend Pastor Myga's house. His wife is an amazing cook. wow. It has all been so wonderful. There are two medical students from England staying at his house for a while, so it has been fun to talk with them about their experiences at the hospital so far. They are nice girls.
Thies is a great place for God's kingdom to grow grow grow. Please pray for God to reach them and encourage them!

Discussion

We talked about Luke 12 in one of our devotion times: the parable of the rich fool. In the book Crazy Love, Francis Chan talks about this passage like it is so simple. He compares the rich fool and his life to the definition of the American dream, and how we save up for retirement to relax and enjoy ourselves. Chan says, “We shouldn’t worry about our lives, what we’ll eat, buy, or wear. God says the American dream is absolute foolishness. It’s exactly what Christian are doing and defending. God could take your life at any time. Don’t conform to the patterns of this world.”
I know that not everyone who has saved for retirement is a fool or disobedient to God’s teaching, and I know that it means different things for different people, but this kind of rocks my world and everything I have known. I have been taught to save my money but why? Then I think about all the money I spent in the past on things for my self. Maybe this is simple. I must make sure I am “rich towards God” and I must have my faith in God in order to not worry about my needs. Verse 22 and 23 says, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.” As simply as that is put, I have serious issues with that. With my indecisive nature I can’t count how many times I have had serious trouble trying to find something to wear or eat. I will stand and look at the menu for ten minutes at taco bell and end up making someone else choose for me. The village was nice because it honestly didn’t matter. I didn’t have so many choices to make about what to wear or eat because we didn’t have a whole lot and it was great! I loved it. I wore the few clothes I had and ate what they gave me (fortunately it was soooo good. I love Senegalese food). So with all of that I just want to know what you think about it all. About the rich fool, the American dream, your thoughts and meditations on anything I have said and wondered about.

The Village

Toubab!! Toubab!! (toobob)
This was our name for the week. It means white person in Wolof. Every time we passed through a village or by any children on our horse and cart they would yell it while running toward us and waving. I didn't know how to take it, so I just smiled and waved back.
For the past nine days we have been in a small town called Fissel. We stayed in a community center they have there. We did not have running water or toilets, so that was an experience, but a good one. Our YIM team was accompanied by our friends Salomon, Pastor Jean Beunoit, Moses, and Aida and her children. Eddie came for the last couple of days. Pastor Jean Beunoit goes to the Nazarene church in Boabob, but really invests in the ministry in the villages. Moses is from another village but knows Pastor Tim because he used to live in Dakar. I have never met someone that laughed so much at the same story. Him and Pastor JB talked about some policeman story the entire time. It was hilarious seeing how he thought it was so funny. Moses spoke good English so he was our connection to the rest of the group, but the comprehension/translation process was sometimes a little difficult. But we got through and learned a lot from our fellow teammates. Salomon is pretty good with English and we are starting to learn more French! Our new friend Aida is a wonderful lady that lives in Fissel and is studying to be a pastor. She knows the language of people in the villages, so she was translating the entire time from either French or Wolof to their language or from their language to ours. She was amazing with all of that. She is also learning English too. She has two children that were the cutest little things ever. They were so fun to play with and love on.
Throughout the week we went to four villages and did a VBS program. We rode on horse and cart as I mentioned earlier, which was fun and eventful. We got to name the horse and we picked Henry for some reason. Moses liked it I think. We went to the villages either in the morning or the evening because it is just too hot to be traveling during midday. The villages were so welcoming and friendly. They were thankful we were there to play with the kids and to fellowship. We would first greet all of the elders and adults that were present and then we would sing songs in their language. Sometimes dancing would break out and they laughed with us at our attempt to African dance. We learned silent skits so we would perform those and Aida would talk about them. After that it was game time. The children were split into four groups according to age and gender and we had a sport station, craft, story time, and an activity station. Sometimes this worked really well and sometimes it turned into mad chaos very quickly, but either way the main goal was that they had fun. We had all sorts of games like football (soccer, of course), we wrestled one time (wrestling is very popular in Senegal), steal the bacon, an intense version of duck duck goose, we played with a huge parachute that we brought (they loved that), and other various activities. In closing we would sing some more and Pastor Jean Beunoit would preach.
The lifestyle we had for the past week was definitely different than what we are used to, but we embraced it for the short amount of time we were there. Everything we saw and learned has made me think about things differently. In a good way, a challenging way.

Downtown! everything's waiting for YOU!

I'm starting to feel at home in this faraway land. It has been great to be here at the church and continue building friendships. The children of the neighborhood now know that we live here so they come around often to play. They love to dance and it is fun to watch. I think they have a dance for every song. They sometimes pinch me or touch my hair. I'm not sure if that is good or bad (haha). They are fun.
Thursday we painted the roof walls of the church all day. They use water based paint so it doesn't stain! I think that is great.
I'm continuing to love being here. Friday was our prayer day. That was so neat to see how they do things like that. We continue to go on prayer walks because that is one of the main things they do here. On Saturday we experienced downtown (hence the title, the song was in my head). It was so fun. There was one guy on my right trying to get me to buy and bag. On my left there was a guy who wanted me to buy sunglasses. And then walking towards me was a guy with cages of birds! Oh, it made me laugh all of the random things I saw that day. We had our first bus ride and taxi experience! They were both successful. Our first taxi driver was an absolute gem. He laughed at my french and had me name my price for the ride. He was very nice.
Pastor Danny spoke at church about the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. He made some great points and we had a translator so it was easy to follow. We knew some of the songs too. Today we went to the beach after church. There was so many people there, and the waves were crazy!
We have also been preparing for our trip to the village. We leave tomorrow and will be there for 8 or 9 days. We will travel to a few villages and do VBS. I'm excited for this experience, and I feel we are ready and prepared to take a step deeper in the culture. Only by the grace of God am I in such wonderful spirits. He has truly made this mission a blessing and privilege thus far. Prayer works miracles. Faith moves mountains. God Bless.

Turn Down the Music

This is an amazing song about listening to God and being sensitive to the world around us. There are sooooo many distractions in life that divert our attention from some of the most obvious needs of this world, our community, our family, and our friends.

If you were hungry would we give you food?
If you were thirsty would we give you drink?
If you were a stranger would we let you in?
What would be a song we’d sing to you when there in need?
Would it be an empty hallelujah to the king?

Turn down the music
Turn down the noise
Turn up your voice oh God and let us hear the sound
Of people broken, willing to love
Give us your heart oh God a new song rise in us

And if you were naked, would we give you clothes?
If you were an orphan would we give our home?
And if you were in prison, would we visit you?
What would be a song we’d sing to you when there in need?
Would it be an empty hallelujah to the king?

Turn down the music
Turn down the noise
Turn up your voice oh God and let us hear the sound
Of people broken, willing to love
Give us your heart oh God a new song rise in us

Let it be our worth shared
Let it be our true religion
In this world but not of
Holding on to our confessions
Let it be our worth shared
Let it be our true religion
In this world but not of
Holding on to our confessions

Turn down the music
Turn down the noise
Turn up your voice oh God and let us hear the sound
Of people broken, willing to love
Give us your heart oh God a new song rise in
A new song rise in
A new song rise in us

Shane & Shane

Wednesday

Today was busy. Whoooo It was great though. We have really become close with our African friends. We laugh a lot and even though speaking is difficult sometimes we are all patient and understanding. They have an amazing joy about themselves. They are also very helpful in teaching us about their culture. They show us the good food that you can buy right on the street, and they take us anywhere we want to go. What fun people!!

Today we had our French class where we learned many questions and phrases. Jean-Jaques (pronounced john jack, I think I misspelled it last time) is very helpful with translation. Lunch is usually around 1:00 or 1:30. We have been going to the same place all week and they serve a different dish everyday, which is usually some kind of fish. It is about a dollar a plate to eat and I am always full. The dish for today was interesting. I think I liked the others better. Then pastor Tim got us some mini ice cream cones on the street. It tasted like strawberries and cream. Needless to say it was very good. It was very sweet which is unlike normal Senegalese food. Usually they don’t like really sweet things. The people here prefer sour or spicy tastes. Jean-Jaques thought we should taste a fruit that they have here called mad (pronounced mod). It has a hard outer shell and then the inside has the texture of a mango and seeds that are the size of acorns. The fruit is very sour so you add sugar and it kind of taste like sour skittles. I liked this. We also tried these things called coconut cakes. They handed one to me and Pastor Tim told me that they were baby cockroach balls. I didn’t want to be rude so I did not freak out because I am up for tasting anything really, but as you know I am NOT fond of these creatures. No not at all, but how often are you in Africa? The joke was one me. I never know when to take him serious or not. They could definitely pass for baby cockroach balls by the looks of it because the coconut was discolored probably because of the sweet stuff on it, but these were wonderful as well!

We tried to do a little planning in the midst of our food tasting. We talked about going to the village next week and Tim laid down all of the very important things about their culture. They explained that greeting people and saying goodbye is extremely important. It is rude if you do not acknowledge people. Hospitality is to the max here. In the U.S. we sometimes just forget to offer drinks, but they don’t have AC many places, therefore it is hot and people are usually thirsty. Makes sense huh.

After our culture lesson we got to help with the kids club they have here twice a week. The kids were so fun. They were kind of crazy, and more on the tough side. You could tell they had to hold their own or they would be left out. We sang many songs and they had tons of awesome dances. We played some games and we got to give out children’s boxes that had been sent in from different places. This was such a fun time.

For the evening we played some soccer and volleyball on the roof of the church and then we decided to walk to the beach. Our friends Salomon, Etenne (pronounced eh chin), and Eddie accompanied us. Eddie is in the youth group. He is so fun to be around and does not speak much English, but we still can have fun. The beach was nice. On the way we would stop for peanuts and talk. We would sing songs or they would show us some of their favorite songs on their phone. They would break out in really neato dances. They are so full of laughter and life. On they way back we realized we didn’t have dinner (around 11pm), so we got some fatiyas. That is not the right spelling, but it rhymes with papaya. I don’t know what I ate, but it was very good. It was kind of like Chinese food in a toco beuno muchacho shell. So anyway today was full of Senegalese culture and just a great time!!

Tuesday

Being here is a whirlwind of activities and emotions. When I sit here and think about what has happened or what I have done, all I can think about it how God is carrying me. I would be nothing without His strength.

Our team has moved to the church/district center here in Boabob (the name of the neighborhood) where we are on our own comfortably residing in a one room apartment with bunk beds and a little kitchen. I killed two cockroaches today (sorry to all of you bug lovers. I am not one of those people). It made me want to cry, but only for a second. I overcame my fear with success. We are not completely on our own. There are two guys that work at the church that are upstairs. They are our guides for most of the time that we will be here. It has been so fun getting to know them. There names are Salomon and Eh-chin (not sure how to spell that). Salomon grew up in the south of Senegal and he moved here to go to school. He is now studying theology. Saloman loves to laugh and he loves music (but not country music haha). Eh-chin is going to art school. He plays many instruments and loves volleyball and soccer.

Over the past two days we have moved in and started our french classes with our friend John-Jacque. He knows English very well and is so fun to be around. We are trying to learn enough French so we can get around the city and just know the basics. We have been introduced to some popular Senegalese dishes. Poisson is fish. We have a lot of that with rice and onions. It is difficult to explain. Only a picture could do it justice. That has been fun. We have also gotten to explore the neighborhood. There is a soccer field and basketball court that we played volleyball and babyfoot (Foosball) at the other afternoon. It was fun to interact with the kids. Today we went to an orphanage type thing where they have school and they are provided with food and clean clothes. The lady that ran is was a joy. She was so happy. Everything makes me smile here.

Tonight we learned a few songs in Wolof and French so we can sing them on Sunday. They are so fun. I will copy what a wrote down as the words or sounds I guess you would say to the tune of "Awesome God": Ya la, a jee kaw waee gee mow de. soo noo by mome breck. la new woo loo die toe poe toe so peh-ee. Of course that is not the real language, but just the sounds to remember it by. Then Pastor Danny, the Pastor here at Boabob did his bible study with the singles of the church. It was about three hours long and mostly in french, but I learned so much. I learned about their culture and they learned about ours. It was so interesting to see some different perspectives and then to talk about them. The main verse was Genesis 2:24 which talks about leaving your family to be one with your spouse. I never knew that this same verse is mentioned three other times in the bible. Must mean it is important.

At night we took a walk. They do prayer walks a lot where they just walk around and talk like on a normal walk, but you also pray for the church, the neighborhood, the community, the people. There is so much power in prayer and they take it seriously here. To be frank, spiritual darkness surrounds this place, but we must take heart for "You're is the God of this city." Keep praying for the hearts of these people.

A missionary's verse to live by

The second day after our arrival in Dakar, we had a meeting time with Tim to talk about what is currently going on with the church and area and to also talk about the plans for the summer. He gave us some insight into the missionary world. He told us that Romans 12 needs to be our theme for the next several weeks. He said we needed to meditate on this daily. Funny thing is, God had gone before him. At training camp they gave us a list of verses to look at during our prayer walk. I didn't finish looking at all of them then, so I was continuing them with Romans 12 that very morning. I am so thankful that God goes before me in all I do.
I'm also thankful that even though everything around me if different, God is still the same big, powerful, amazing God.

Romans 12

1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his[b]faith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
Love
9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[c] Do not be conceited.

17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"[d]says the Lord. 20On the contrary:
"If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."[e] 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.


Today I experienced a lot of firsts. Worship by dancing and singing in a different language. A baptismal service on the beach and in the Atlantic. A Brazilian restaurant, and the men of the church playing soccer (on the beach). What a day. :)

Acclimation!

Hello all!
Oh, how I wish I would have kept up my french from high school. I was thinking about it and I can't even remember my french teacher's name. Sad. These past three days have been wonderful! Our site coordinator graciously gave us two days to rest and acclimate ourselves to the time zone and this new country. It is only five hours difference, but I still find myself tired around the times that I am tired in the U.S. It is getting better though! The weather here is perfect! The rain has not started yet, so it is still dry, cool, and vacant of mosquitoes (which I'm very happy for). I think it is in the 80s with a nice breeze, but it will gradually get hotter and hotter. The skies are hazy and unclear because of the hammattan. This was the huge wind that comes from the Sahara bringing with it feet of sand. They do their best to keep the street and sidewalks semi clean of the tons of sand that this wind carries. After the first wind the sky will be clearer.

We have been meeting people, getting to know the Eby's (Tim, our cite coordinator and his family), exploring Dakar, learning about the culture in terms of money, religion, and etiquette, and planning the next six and a half weeks.
Today we helped Tim at the church. He is furnishing an apartment for their church /district center, so we were able to help him deliver things and begin to fix it up. Our team (me, Katie Schuman, and Talitha Edwards) will actually be moving in there in a few days to be there for about a week.

Driving around the city is the most fascinating thing. Sometimes it takes an hour to get to a place that is normally 20 minutes away because of the crazy traffic. While we drive we ask Tim many questions and really learn about how the Senegalese people live. We see all kind of transportation: mainly taxis, buses, shorter buses called car rapids (that's not the correct term at all.. it's in french and I forgot it. French class starts on Monday!), and motorcycles as well as horse and buggy. There are people everywhere, and the traffic is unbelievable. There are no lines on the roads. There are no signals or stop lights or stop signs. People are driving in and all around the entire road. It is amazing.

For lunch we had our first Senegalese food on the street. It was a chawarmer. It was like a chicken taco with fries in it. It was good. I love this new stuff. I am definitely in the fascination stage of culture shock.

Later in the afternoon we went back to the church and met some of the youth group. It is mostly a lively group of guys that loved to laugh and joke all in the name of Jesus. We sang songs in French, English, and Wolof. It was so fun. I couldn't help but have a huge ridiculous smile on my face the entire time as I watched them praise the Lord in song in the midst of this Muslim atmosphere. It is Friday, which is the day that everyone goes to the mosques to pray their five prayers. We can here the call to prayers almost anywhere in the city and you can see mostly all the men driving or walking with their mats. So anyway, it was a wonderful encouragement to here such love and heartfelt praise to God almighty.

This evening we had fellowship with another missionary family that is from Ghana. We ate and played Wii games and board games. It was a very fun time, and it is so interesting to see the missionary lifestyle. It is awesome.

Being here for these short three days has already opened my eyes so much and I am so thankful. I'm so glad that I have 6 and a half more weeks here. They will be filled with much more fascination, excitement, and challenges. I want to thank everyone for their prayers. I see God working here in my team and this mission here all the time. This would not go on without them. love love

There is no one like our God.

This has been my favorite song recently and I just wanted to share the powerful words.

You're the God of this City
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are

You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless
You are

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God


For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City

World Feast

"World Feast" that sounds kind of fun, doesn't it? I thought it might be a night of different cuisines and culture. Or just a different way of fellowship and feasting. Well, it wasn't at all.

God is doing some serious breakage in me, and my heart will never be the same. Yesterday we talked about poverty and cultural conduct. We got to have a time of solitude. We had a birthday party. Just a variety of activities. Some were celebratory or enlightening, some were disturbing.

Last night at dinner time we were ushered into the cafeteria and told where to sit. There were four options. The first one was a nice table with pretty candles, nice silverware and dishes. It was done in a restaurant style with three fancy courses being served. Table number two was a normal table, probably your average American family meal with plenty of food that was healthy and nourishing. Place number three was a shape on the floor marked by tape to sit at. There were some chairs and they were served rice, beans, and water, but no eating utensils. The last eating space was another odd shape taped on the floor crammed with at least 15 people that were served two bread rolls and a can of water that had cranberries in it. We ate. I was in section four where I ate a quarter size portion of bread and some drinks of water.

Some people eat like that every meal. Every day. People die just because they don't have any food, and I have every option of nourishment possible at my finger tips. I complain when Sodexo tastes weird or when sonic doesn't get my order right. I cannot make sense of this.

So what can I say?
What can I do?
But offer this heart oh God
Completely to you.

The past couple of months I have thought. "I'm going on a mission trip." Today they informed us that we ARE missionaries. People going to serve in furthering the kingdom of God. Today, this is what I felt like. We were sent off on missions to find our way to a church of our choosing. We went to an Orthodox church, and it was a great experience. It was a lot of standing and talking about or hearing things I did not have a clue about, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was fun figuring our the bus routes with my team and getting to work with them. But most of all the people we met were so refreshing. They were so welcoming and kind. The do things very different in terms of religion, than I have ever seen. I am going to need to get used to everything different here real soon. I learn in about five hours and I am so excited. I'll try to update as much as I can.

Finally.

Packing was difficult. You know me, I like to be prepared. Well today at training I have learned some very important things. This summer I'm not always going to have exactly what I want. It's rarely going to be the ideal situation.

In talking to some of the leaders and my teammates, this is going to be difficult. We are going to have to be creative, innovative, accountable... the list goes on. So while taking in this overload of information today (which was just a half a day of training, half a day of travel) I couldn't help but be overwhelmed. I got up at 430am and it is 1230 central time.. Needless to say I should go to sleep, but I just wanted to share a few of my thoughts.

God is going to provide. He will be there and here for me always. I think that I need to be a certain type of person but He has made me just how I am supposed to be for this mission and in life. He has fashioned my team together to be effective in the way that He wants. How can I doubt?! We studied our strengths (top 5 strengths from Strengths Quest) and I realized that I am good at those five things because that is who God made me to be. I try to be this well-rounded person, but in the end that is ineffective. In trying to be well-rounded I would never reach my full potential. I must have missed this in life 101...

Training will be intense, but great. We have a full schedule for the next few days of team-building, culture and ministry learning and much more. I thank everyone for your prayers. They are getting me through. :) Anyway it has been a long day. A wonderful day of learning and contemplating and worrying, but it is the end and I cannot complain. I can't even say I am worried anymore. Lovely how God works that out. And how a shower can fix everything!

Here Goes

Okay, so I'm getting nervous just writing this. I'm going to Africa in one week and I haven't been nervous until this week (forgive me if my writing seems random and unorganized, it's because that is how I think, therefore: write). The distraction of school is gone and now this is all I have to think about. Oh Michelle Bowie how I love thee.

Back in October I couldn't decide what I was going to do for the summer. I thought about Youth In Mission, but I was also thinking about working at a camp. I just needed a sign. They were both good options I just needed someone to help cure me of my indecisive nature and tell me what to do (this is the solution I turn to in the midst of a decision pickle, which I'm frequently in, ask my peers). Michelle Bowie (my former academic adviser and professor) asked me what I was doing for the summer and I explained my dilemma. She said "Oh of course you should do Youth In Mission, that's a great opportunity." So I said "alright, I'm signing up tomorrow." She was a little concerned that my mother might have a different opinion and that I hadn't thought about it very much, but I didn't need to. I felt the peace of God overflow my heart when I made the final decision. Thanks for my sign Michelle!

So here I am. It's a week away and the mixture of emotions I feel makes my soul seem as if it might burst. I have been completely calm about this mission trip for nearly five months, and now I decide to become a little apprehensive? Fear is my own. Anxiety is my own. I must see through them and look to God. Aren't these little emotions so silly? I know that God is going to take care of me in these next two months (and all of life). So why worry? In the book Crazy Love, Francis Chan says that worry "implies that we don't quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what's happening in our lives." Who am I to worry that the God of the universe is not in control? This has been my focus this semester. To remember that God not only cares about me, but will help me in any situation, worry is nothing. It makes my heart jump with excitement to talk about My Father this way. "Oh how he love us."

I have learned a lot this semester about stress and turning to God. He has given me many situations in which I have practiced turning to Him in all times: trouble and praise. I'm soooooo excited for this summer. Here goes. Packing and praying time.