The Journey Begins!

Well, the Christian Music Awards went great. They will be airing in a few weeks on TBN. I was totally blessed to be a part of Shabaglian's band, we did pre-show worship and lead worship the day before in a chapel service. I had the chance to spend an afternoon in the recording studio as indie artists came in. It was so fun! The awards themselves were AMAZING, I cant wait to see a recording of the TBN broadcast. It was so great to connect with some great artists and industry folk, and especially to reconnect with my bro Phil Stacey. God is doing some sweet things through that bro and his voice; I was totally ministered to! Well, with the weekend coming to an end, it marked the end of one season in my life and the beginning of another! I'll miss my guys: Jon, LB, Gaylon, Jonas, and Ed. What an amazing crew to minister the gospel with the last several years! I look forward to more work with them when I return, Lord willing.

Sunday morning I flew out from Nashville at 5:45am, landed in Denver at 7:45am, and got picked up by Aaron from Journey Corps! It was so great to meet him, it really was beginning to feel like this mission is actually happening! Because I got in so early, he took me to drop off my things at WorldVenture's HQ (here in Littleton) and then took me to 1st service at Mission Hills Church down the street. Church was great and then I had a nice relaxing walk back to HQ. I hadn't slept the night before, so I hung out with Aaron a bit more and then passed out into sweet bliss for a couple hours. I was awoken to the sound of Naomi, Devin, and Chazz at the door. More journeyers, awesome! We had a few fun hours exploring the grounds and waiting for the rest of the Journey Corps missionaries to arrive, which they did a few hours later. In all there are of 10 of us leaving this Thursday, they are: Myself, Naomi, Chazz, Devin, Steph, Caitlin, Holly, Heidi, Jaime, and Alyssa. They are all solid brothers and sisters in the Lord, and God is already giving us a total spirit of unity! We all got to meet Jessica Sveen yesterday too, as we all were getting settled in. It was a good night, and I was ready to begin training in the morning at 8am.

So that takes me to today! This morning we started training by getting a guided tour of the facilities and meeting all of the WorldVenture staff that work out of Littleton. Man this organization is way bigger and more awesome than I expected! I'm really pumped to be a part of such an amazing organization, shining God's light in the darkness all over the world!

During training we spent some time getting to know each other, including going over our DISC personality test results. That test was fairly accurate, and I learned a lot about myself and my compatriots! We then spent several hours learning about cultural norms in Cote d'Ivoire, which was really interesting! Here are a few things I need to really keep in mind:

• At road blocks, it's better to give soldiers tea bags or tracts instead of money
• It's offensive to use your left hand for things, it's considered dirty
• To show respect, shake hands while grabbing your arm, or shake with 2 hands. Also show respect to people, but it's offensive to show respect to "lower" status people.
• Don't give money to begging kids with tomato cans, all the money goes to the Imam. An Imam is like a Muslim pastor, and they take bad care of these kids. Instead of money, give the kids ice cream or something that the Imam won't take.
• It's common to pay a kid to guard your car for you. I like this!
• Girls/girls can hold hands/hug. Guys/guys can too. It's a sign of friendship! However, if a guy/girl hold hands or especially hug, it means they can't wait to get into the bedroom. I guess I'll have to be careful then, because I'm a hugger!
• African culture is very relationship based and event based, not time based. It's almost expected that you will be late to most things!

Anyways, there is a lot more I learned too, I hope you enjoy these few facts. The day has been great, I'm learning a lot, and the reality of the situation is beginning to set in! Please keep me in your prayers! Also a huge THANKS(!) to all those supporting me financially! Without God compelling you to give, this mission would not be possible for me. God is going to be doing some amazing thing through YOUR giving, so be excited! I can't wait to give you all updates on how I'm doing, and on the things God is teaching me and doing in and through the whole Journey Corps team.