Can you believe it has already been a year?

                    A year ago I sat in the sanctuary as I read a bulletin insert and heard a woman speaking of a mission to Lesotho. I had never heard of the country of Lesotho, she said it was in Africa, but where in Africa...no clue. Hmmmmmmm..... The wheels started to turn. If you know me well then you know I am full of  ideas and "kicks" as Nathan calls them. So assuming this was just another kick, when I mentioned going on that mission trip, Nathan rolled his eyes (more like smiled and nodded "ok sure"..which is his version of the eye roll). I mentioned it to my mom and dad..they did their versions of the eye roll as well. No one seemed to take me seriously when I said I wanted to join a group of strangers and travel across oceans to an unheard of country and share the gospel with its people. Honestly, I probably would have rolled my eyes as well. But God wasn't laughing....this wasn't a crazy head in the clouds Arianna scheme to Him. This was real and this was His calling in my life.  And boy, what a calling it was!
              I met with the team and quickly became part of it. We prepared, we prayed, we grew closer as a team. I fell in love with this group of once strangers. To have a close knit circle of friends that shared my love for Christ and shared my commitment to answering God's call, it meant more to me than I thought possible.
In the past year, these people have become some of the dearest friends I have. I was honored with the opportunity to see God work through them on that mountain in February. I saw love flow through them as the spoke to and prayed with the Basotho people, played with and loved on the children. They had such passion for the gospel. We worked LONG days and everyone returned with a smile on their face, we got little sleep and everyone woke up with a smile on their face and fire in their heart. It was incredible to see. It is impossible to describe but I'm blessed to have witnessed it.
                 I said this when we came home and will say it again. If for no other reason, God brought me all the way to Lesotho Africa in February 2013 to watch these people and what it means to truly live for God. And that alone was worth every penny spent and every mile traveled. They played such a crucial role in my personal journey.

               And by God's grace alone, I have the opportunity to serve with this group again. Some won't be joining this year and we have a few new members but I can already see God working in this team as we begin to prepare for our Journey to Lesotho.

I will update this blog feed as we prepare over the next three months. I encourage you to come back and see what God is doing in and through this amazing group of people.

 Lesotho team Feb 2013