The Mission Season

I recently was approached by a man named Dennis Quick. He is from my church and leads a mission team to Italy; has been for the last 2 years I believe. When he spoke to me, he asked me if I could come to Italy on his team.. I wanted to so badly, but I told him that it was just going to be too hard with the Africa trip to make it work out. I mean, the Italy trip was going to cost around $2,500 on top of the $3,500 that I was already supposed to raise for Africa. I left him that day with the notion that if God wanted me on the rip the funding would come. I told him to start selling my chairs. If I could just sell some more chairs!! I might come up with the money that I need to make it a reality. a few days later I looked into what it was going to cost me to cancel my flight home and instead do a flight from Uganda to Rome, then Rome to Portland. It was looking like $3,000 dollars just to change my flight. I was very distraught. I sent Dennis an email telling him what I found out. He called me a day later and asked, "Why did you send me this terrible message? What do you mean you don't think you can do it?"

     I told him, "Dennis, my supporters are exhausted. I have already asked them for support for Africa, how can I ask them to also support a trip to Italy? Unless you have an order for around 20 chairs for me, I don't see how this is going to happen."

     "Don't worry about the money."
     "What do you mean don't worry about the money?!"
     "Its taken care of."
     "The plane ticket is taken care of?"
     "The money is taken care of."
     "....So, ...what does that mean? Do I not need to pay for my ticket?"
     "Just don't worry about it."
     "What about lodging and food? what do I need to fund?"
     "You need to bring enough money to pay for what you want to bring back."
     "Thats it?!"
     "Thats it."
... I didn't believe it. I have to say my reaction was probably not what he was expecting. I wasn't jumping up and down, I just stood there trying to understand what he just said. Looks like I am going to be doing two more mission trips to add onto my January trip this year! Later we started to talk more logistically about the details of the trip. It just so happens that the Africa trip ends a whole day before the Italy team starts. I found that it is cheaper for me to fly all the way home, hang out for a day, and then fly all the way back to Rome than it is to fly from Uganda to Rome. I can already tell that I am going to have an awesome day on the 21st of July. If I don't stay on Italy time, I am going to be a train wreck when I get back to Europe. So, the Italy trip will be in Naples, Italy and I will be there for 2 weeks. We are going to be working at an English speaking camp for college age people who are wanting to practice their English. I'm really stoked.