Namaste America!

It's here! Unbelievable. Tomorrow, I am hopping in the car with one of my teammates, Sarah, and heading to Kansas City! Official take off from America (<----crazy!) is 3:20 Sunday afternoon.

We have a lot in store for us tomorrow evening. We are having a mini-team-get-together to discuss an amazing book we read this semester in preparation for this summer. By Bruce Olsen and called "Bruchko," it's all about his journey to South America and how he lived with and change the lives of the Motoline Indians of Columbia and Venezuela by bringing to them the Truth of J.C. If you want a captivating book that will amaze you, inspire you, and possibly make you shed a few tears, READ IT! I'm super pumped to go over it again and hear great input from all my teammates. Afterward, we get to meet up with some of our friends who are still in the KC area for a send off party and some time in prayer for our summer. I can't tell you how excited I am to see all of my friends and teammates. To top it off, all of us gals are staying together at Mandy's house. This equals a night full of chatting and fun!

Here's a photo of our team at our last hangout before school ended!
Back Row L to R: Kyle, Phil, Brian, Kyle, Kasey
Front Row: Sara, Mandy, me, Sarah, Landon, Tracy, Maggie, Trent

Since school, well, I haven't been up to too much. Some highlights have included:

• morning runs with my sister's dog, Jasper. I really am going to miss him. My family happens to be huge animal lovers. Maybe my heart will grow fond for cows over in India?
• extended time in God's word studying the book of Philippians. We will be going over it as a team this summer and boy, it is jam-packed full of wealth and knowledge!
• doing a devotional with my dad over the Prodigal Son which was a story I'd heard but never studied. It was super growing for both him and I. 
• skyping with friends and family! What a great invention! It has been great to talk with people and stay connected, but to see them as well is even better.
• leading one of the evenings for my church's youth group, C3. There couldn't have been more enthusiasm and participation from the kids. I pulled some ideas from a message I heard this past semester over the IY Generation and how to overcome our weaknesses. I hope the students left knowing a little bit more about themselves, excited to conquer our generational flaws, and eager to become leaders among it!
• the birth of my 4th nephew, Hudson Michael Hawkins! My other 3 nephews live outside of Atlanta so I only get to see them a couple times a year if I am lucky. For the first time, I actually had one small sadness about going to India, as I thought about not getting to see him. Luckily, Hudson lives right here in Halstead, so I'll be able to spoil him all I want when I get back!

My brother and his wife are a lucky couple with this little, precious, joy right here.

Oh, and to top off all this goodness, I am fully support raised! The day before school ended, a member from our leadership team at church called and told me wonderful news. After a lot of praying, they voted and decided to support me $1000 dollars, the exact amount I needed to reach my needed total of $5700! God makes me laugh. He kept me hanging until the last minute! What a joy it was to re-tell this story to so many people. I remember during January, I first started praying for financial support. I was scared out of my mind but still confident that He would provide. And he has done so in the most creative, fun ways and shown me amazing sides of Himself and His children!

Well, I believe that is enough for the evening. I would love your prayers for our safe flight to India. We have stops in Chicago and London (!!!!) on the way. Oh! And that our bags make it ;)

Until next time....when I'm in INDIA,
Emma