I've arrived

I've made it. Travel really was as smooth as possible. I made all of my connections smoothly, and all my bags were there when I got there. So, God has answered all of your safe travel prayers for me.

Departing tomorrow

I have spent a delightful time in York visiting with old friends, and profesors, and generally just enjoying some time off and to myself before everything begins.

I depart tomorrow and I believe the enormity of what is happening has begun to sink in, but only just. My mind is so full of thinking about finishing out the day, doing some repacking, seeing a few more friends, and knowing what a long and tiring trip I have ahead of me that I can't think much beyond that right now.

People keep asking me how I'm feeling about it, and I haven't been very good at answering that question. I think the real answer to the question is realistic: I feel like I have very realistic expectations and ideas about what is to come. I know that arriving in Thailand will be exciting, overwhelming, and difficult. I know that many wonderful, interesting, new, beautiful, difficult, unfamiliar, strange, confusing, and delightful things and experiences await me. I know I will sometimes enjoy things and sometimes get frustrated with things; I know I will love people there fiercely, and at the same time miss others that I have left behind desperately. And I also know that through all these different things and experiences and feelings I will have that God will guide me through a step at a time, and grow me and mold me in amazing ways, and I know that it will be wonderous to get to be there and watch Him work.
I look upon my arrival in Thailand with excited anticipation; I am so ready to do and to learn and to talk. But that is also tempered by knowing that I will not find things wonderful and perfect at every turn, and it is sobering to think what an important task I am about to attempt.

So, that's how I'm feeling (to put it as briefly as possible).

Pray God's traveling mercies upon me the next few days as I venture forth.

"If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." Ps. 139:9-10

In York

God has delivered me safely to my destination once again as today I am in York NE. I drove up all day yesterday beginning at 6:30 am, and driving until 9:00pm. 14 and 1/2 hours is a very long time to be in one's own company, but I managed to mostly keep my mind busy with music and thinking and praying (and I am very surprised and proud of my car for making it).

Prayer

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for my safe travel and for my visa paperwork to come through smoothly! God has answered all our prayers!

Prayer items:

Thanks that my visa has come through.

Thanks that I have made it safely as far as Stephenville TX, and am enjoying being with my brother, sister-in-law, and niece.

Request for a safe journey to York NE tomorrow.

Be With Me Lord (hymn of the day for me)

This morning as I was heading out to Dallas, I began to pray that God would see me through the day, keep me safe, and let it be that getting my visa would go smoothly. But as I prayed I felt guilty for asking God for things once again as He has been soo good and soo faithful to me of late I could hardly bear it. I felt bad for asking for more since I had already been blessed soo much, but then I thought to myself that I didn't dare not pray and ask for God to lead me on; I didn't dare to try and take one step without God. And that thought brought to my mind the hymn Be With Me Lord, which has been something of my hymn and prayer for the day:

Be with me Lord-- I cannot live without Thee,
I dare not try to take one step alone,
I cannot bear the loads of life unaided,
I need Thy strength to lean myself upon.

Be with me, Lord! No other gift or blessing
Thou couldst bestow could with this one compare--
A constant sense of Thy abiding presence,
Where'er I am, to feel that Thou art near.

The visa has come through! I went to Dallas today and got it finished. Thank God. I tried to also go by the LST offices in Bedford (which is somewhat on the way between Dallas and Stephenville), but my directions were not sufficient and after an hour and a half of driving up and down Airport Freeway without finding the office, I headed back to my brother and sister-in-law's house.

Looking back on the passed couple of days I'm kind of impressed with myself; there are lots of things I can do I didn't know I could, like:
Take care of a car (I put water in my radiator cause I was overheating, added a quart of oil cause I was low, and added air to my tires which were only at half the air pressure they were supposed to be at (yikes)).
Drive in big city, rush hour traffic when I don't even know where I'm going (which I did through Dallas twice and through which I discovered that intense classical music helps me drive).
I can go to a city I don't know all by myself and figure out where and how to get important documents processed (which is what I did with my visa today).
Not to say that these things were not accomplished without pointers from other people and lots of help from God, but it's still neat to find out that I have it in me to do all those things, and I thank God for having equiped me with the knowledge and gumption to do them; it is truly amazing how God makes you ready and then leads you through everything he puts before you to face.

There have been many snags with my visa, but God has been faithful, and each one has been overcome in time. It has worked out for me to be able to complete my visa paperwork in Dallas, and it has worked out that I don't need the medical form, which it would have taken me so long to obtain (I called the Dallas office and asked to make sure I really did need it, and it turned out that I didn't since I had an American passport and I had never been to a third world country), also there was part of my paperwork that was supposed to arrive to me by mail on wednesday so I could leave thursday and complete my visa at the Dallas office friday, but the papers did not arrive when I had expected; I didn't know where they were, but they turned up saturday (yesterday) and today (sunday) I am on my way to Dallas.

And so I am on my way to Dallas, my journey begins, and it is thrilling to be on the move once more with God going before me and the loving support of so many friends behind me.

Praise God for being so faithful and bringing me and blessing through this passed week during all my preparations to leave Searcy.

There is so much more to tell about this passed week, but time is short and I must hit the highway and so I shall leave it here.