Hey everyone.  On Saturday I will be leaving with my youth group for Costa Rica and I'll be there until the end of the month.  I won't be updating during that time, but please keep us in your prayers.  I am so excited to see what God will do in and through us in Costa Rica.  There are about 96 people going, so pray for safety and unity. 

On another note...exactly two months from today we will be arriving in Georgia for training camp.  I was thinking about it last night and it's crazy how fast everything has been happening.  It really hit me, though, how much I'm going to miss people.  I've been telling myself that I'll just be gone three months and then I'll be home for Christmas break.  That's not so bad, right?  The more I think about it the more I realize how different it will be.  I won't be able to call up my best friend everytime I need advice or want to talk.  I won't be able go into my room to just relax and get away.  Life is going to change.  And as much as I would like to believe otherwise, life will still go on here without me.  People will celebrate birthdays and will go to the movies.  And as I thought about all of that last night, I started to feel a little bit sad.  But then the truth hit me.  The best place I can possibly be is right in the middle of God's will.  I will never be more satisfied.  God's will is the perfect place for me to be.  We weren't promised an easy life when we follow Jesus, but we
were promised a full, abundant life.  So, even though I worry about what I'm going to miss out on and even though I realize it will be hard to be away from my best friend and my family and even though I know it will be difficult at first to adjust, I trust that I will be secure in God's will; maybe not safe, but secure.  And I can't think of any place I'd rather be...