Ready To Go

In a week, I will be leaving for Africa. I've lived in California for the last 29 years. This has been my home. This is the place that I know and yet, very soon, I will leave home to do something that I've dreamed of doing, to serve in Africa as a lay missionary.

I'm very excited for what lies ahead. I did all the research that I could do, studied what I was asked to study, raised the funds I needed to raise. And pretty soon, I should be done with my packing too. To say that I am only excited is an understatement though. My family has been concerned about the situation in Africa, my safety, and just the thought that I'll be in another continent unfamiliar to them and in many ways still, to me.

But I'm not afraid. In the email exchanges that I had with the people I will be with there, I know I will be in good hands. I think we all have this image of Africa in our heads because of what we see on TV or online but based on their stories, I have nothing to fear. Besides, that's the thing about life. You're never really sure about what's going to happen, but that's not an excuse to live in fear.

I thank God for the calling and my family for their full support and last but not least for my friends and co-parishioners at St. Francis De Sales for their prayers and generosity.

And so I'm going to this one big adventure.