Getting Ready for Two Weeks in Rus Rus

As many of you already know, I will be heading to the jungle on February 15th to see our new mission's hospital there.  My goals are to see what life in the jungle of Rus Rus, Honduras is like, to see and gain understanding of the present hospital there, see how an experienced annual medical team functions on a short-term missions trip, and just get to know our missionaries there and the people we serve with Missionary Air Group.

MAG's jungle hospital in Rus Rus, Honduras

Getting ready to go to Rus Rus has been a bit like going through labor (you know, like having a baby). Strange comparison you say? Sometimes spiritual analogies are best made in your areas of greatest knowledge. Let me explain.

When it was decided at our first MAG strategy meeting that I would go to Rus Rus so I could observe and learn while a medical team was there to run a clinic in the jungle hospital I was excited! Just like it's exciting to learn you are expecting a baby. But, it is also fear inducing to think about labor and delivery! As I moved into the 'labor' of actually preparing for the trip I have battled with fear. I have traveled out of the good ol U.S. of A. only twice. Never alone and never to a country where I did not speak the language.... let alone a jungle! But despite my fears, 'labor' had started and I was determined there was no going back.

I give God praise because that 'labor' is giving birth to faith, trust and peace in what God has called me to do. God has used many 'instruments' to impart that peace. I've talked with others who have taken this trip before. I know another of our MAG staff will be meeting me at the airport, I've talked with the missionaries who live in Rus Rus who will be flying me in and out of the jungle and hosting me while there. I've gathered information about traveling, purchased tickets and am gathering all I need to make this trip successfully as far as I know. Many of you are already praying for me and God is answering. It is a blessing to have the prayers of fellow believers!

I am looking forward with excitement to the delivery of this trip and know I will surely have stories to tell, pictures to share and memories of God's faithfulness as I encounter for the first time the full picture of Missionary Air Group's work in Honduras of taking hope and help to the Moskito people in Rus Rus, Honduras.

Please pray as I prepare to go:

• For good health

• For courage and excitement to enjoy this new journey God has me on

• That I would think clearly in preparation for this trip even in the midst of all the transition we are in

• That I would be an encouragement to the missionaries in Rus Rus, a help to the medical team as they run the clinic, and a clear witness of the Lord to all whose lives I will encounter.