The Time Has FINALLY Arrived...

To Love
To Serve
To Learn
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen , how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also." 1 John 4: 18-21

"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."--Mosiah 2:17

"Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning." --Proverbs 9:9

I leave for Africa in about 24 hours. My "to-do" list is still quite long and it has become a very obvious reality that I will not be able to sleep until I am on some aircraft because 1)sooo much to do and 2) soooo much to do.

I am incredibly excited and frantically preparing. My friend Rylee who is also going to be a volunteer with me this summer had a "Good-bye Party" last night and I was able to go and talk about Africa all night which only made me more excited.

My country directors are already there getting housing and contacts ready for us and my team and I are extremely ready to get there as well.

What a marvelous time to be alive and have opportunities to fly across the world and serve the people there.

I am however a little concerned about the weight of my luggage. My supply suitcase is getting quite heavy and my bank account quite light as I made last minute purchases thinking of what the children there might enjoy.

My duffel bag full of clothes for me, bug spray, soap, hand sanitizer, journal, camera, more bug spray, rain gear, shoes, bug spray, sunscreen, mosquito net, and a flea collar is also significantly heavier than the maximum weight of 50pounds. I'm not quite sure how I am going to get myself out of that problem. I need all of those things!

And last, but most importantly, I just wanted to say THANK YOU so much for your incredible support. I reached the goal amount of money I needed and it is because of your generous donations and kind support. The fundraised amount even went over what I was required and because of that those funds go directly into the Uganda, Africa project fund. This means that money goes directly to the projects and activities we will be doing there which is VERY VERY helpful because we are now able to do even more in Africa than we ever thought possible. Again, thank you for helping make this a reality for me and for caring about the people of Uganda.

I will try my very hardest to update this blog while I am there.
I will also be sending out a mass email. If you would like to be a part of that, email me your email address to toriruth6@gmail.com .

ALSO, please note on the right hand side I have our TEAM UGANDA MISSION STATEMENT as well as a link to our TEAM's blog. Please look at it! If this blog isn't updated that one should be for sure.

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR EVERYTHING.
LOVE,
TORI BLONQUIST