Here we finally are! The motherly month of May! April has come and passed and I just have to share with ya'll some big events that have presented themselves to me this past month.
First off, last summer. For those of you who don't know my story, I'll have my mission stories book published soon that ya'll can get a copy of for a small contribution to my mission work with Maranatha. But last summer I ran into some problems coming back from Ecuador in the country of Colombia and came out with a $300 flight voucher that expires this July. Over the past two months, I've been worrying about how to spend the flight voucher and where to go. Mid-April, I had a music friend from Texas invite me via Facebook to a Youth Rally his church is hosting on the weekend of May 14-16. I jokingly juggled the thought of flying out to Texas that weekend for I really knew there was no way I would make it. It wasn't until the next day that I thought about my flight voucher going towards the flight if I were to go to Texas! I asked the two friends I have that go to that church in Texas if I could stay at one of their houses if I were in fact to fly over that weekend and one gladly expressed a very hospitable invitation. The reason, however, wasn't just to go to Texas for the heck of it for a couple of months more down the road, I would be a staff member/leader on the upcoming Ultimate Workout 20 Mission trip in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico. I looked at this opportunity in Garland, Texas as training grounds for my staff role this summer, almost like an internship to help prepare to be the best leader I can be for others, but most of all God. Plus, a free flight and a free stay! Why NOT go? The event will be a good out-of-my-box activity for just like in the Ultimate Workout this July, I will be leading and interacting with people I have never met before in an environment I am not accustomed to. So I made plans with my friends over there at the Garland SDA Church where I can stay at and things were under way for me to attend the "Change" Youth Rally in Texas. My friends, also youth & praise leaders, also asked me to play with their praise band.
I believe it was a day or two after I booked and made plans for the Youth Rally trip that a close and dear friend of mine contacted me while I was still in one of my evening classes. It turned out that she asked me to her Senior High School prom. Being an amazing friend that she is, I was at the time happy, excited, and delighted to be her date to her prom. She told me it was going to be at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California on Saturday night, May 15th. I was excited. I told her although I'm pretty sure I'm free that day, I would have to go home and just clear it with my parents.
It wasn't until the next night that I realized that May 15th was the weekend I would be in Texas for the Youth Rally I looked at as a training activity. I felt bad. REAL bad. And still do! But I just couldn't go to her prom! Going to Texas is something I really want to do. It's something I wouldn't ordinarily do and it would be the biggest training weekend I could have before my almost month-long mission trip this summer! I broke the bad news to her that night that I couldn't make it to her prom.
A week or so later, Steve Case, the mission trip coordinator for the Ultimate Workout called me to give me a summary of what's been going on in the planning stages of the mission trip. He fills me in on the details and let's me know what site I will be staffing at. He gave me the contact of the site coordinator for my site that I will be working at and just stuff that got me even more pumped for this coming summer's festivities. I have the day I need fly into Mexico, and the day I will be flying out. All that's left now is to book the flights. However, it's now that I realize how much airfare can spike at any given random day of the week. Just last Monday I looked up flights and for my roundtrip it would cost anywhere from $790 to $918 depending on the flight I chose. I check three days later and the price skyrocketed to $1,015 to $1,120. I haven't booked my flight yet hoping the price will go down here in the next couple of days or so.
But this is all what happened in my month of April and where I stand now.
Until next time, be safe and may God bless you all.
-AaronNak
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