some history for you

For the large amount of people who don't really know me well and aren't aware of the events that have culminated in me traveling to South Africa, I am going to attempt to fill you in. This is a difficult thing for me to do because if I filled you in as much as I would like to, then this entry would be ridiculously long. So, here is an attempt at a bullet/skeleton point summary:

• October 2006: My father is asked to be part of an investigative mission trip to South Africa to see if our church can be helpful in a region of the KwaZulu Natal province, in the north eastern corner of the country. He goes. He falls in love with South Africa. He comes home.
• October 2007: My father asks me if I want to be part of a mission team from Crossroads going back to South Africa (the investigative trip being successful). I accept without hesitation, forethought, or prayer. Pretty much, I'm not about to turn down an opportunity to travel to Africa. We go. I fall in love with South Africa. We come home.
• June 2008: Repeat cycle and insert my brother where my dad and me previously were. It's getting predictable, hmm? I go on this trip as well only after sending out tons of letters to help raise funds. We go. My brother falls in love with South Africa. We come home.
• After my first trip in October 2007, I spent almost an entire two years trying to convince my parents to let me go back by myself to visit our missionary friends and be helpful in whatever capacity that I could. They didn't immediately veto the idea of me traveling 36 hours by myself, internationally. I was shocked.
• End of May 2009: hopefully, I leave for South Africa. By. My. Self.
• Mid-June 2009: the short term team from Crossroads (led by my father on his fourth year back and containing my entire family--ha!) should arrive and meet up with me and the missionary family. Then we'll get on with some serious working. Then everyone will fall in love with South Africa and we'll all go reluctantly home.

Believe it, or not that was a skeleton summary. So, that should pretty much cover the basics for now because there is a lot more coming...