Hello

I am beginning this blog three months prior to my departure because the journey begins long before that plane takes off over the Pacific. In one sense, it began the day I turned in my application for Worldwide Witness, but in another, it began on the spring day in October of 1994 when my family of six boarded a plane and left Auckland.

I always knew I would return.

It is an honor to go back in an attitude of service and thanksgiving to God for all He has done and all He's going to do, which is why I mailed off over fifty letters this week with prayers on each of them.

While I have been cautious about throwing my heart into this too early in the process, now I'm far enough in that I know I'll experience hurt if plans shift. So, if they do - and that's certainly still a possibility - I'll have a good cry, ask you for continued prayer and support from a different angle, and remember back to the many lessons God has been teaching me in the past few years about his faithfulness. His perspective is so much broader and wiser than mine.

Between now and mid-September, when I plan to drive down to Los Angeles with my sister for a direct flight from LAX to Auckland, I'll use this blog to keep you informed on my needs, spiritual and financial.

Feel free to shoot me any questions or thoughts via email (laelvanessa-at-gmail-dot-com) or through the comments section of this blog.