Where would you go?

If you could take a trip anywhere in the world, where would you go?  
Right now someplace warm and sunny sounds nice, but putting aside the seasonal realities of living in upstate New York, the world is a big place.

My family was asked this in a very real way one year ago.  The opportunity to take a family trip anywhere in the world: Where would we go?  There was only one stipulation - it couldn't be all about us.  Take a trip anywhere in the world; where you can help, encourage and do good.  A trip where the eyes of our children would be opened to what God is doing in the world and see first hand what it means to live in service to God.  More than a vacation, a trip with purpose.

Well, that didn't really narrow it down too much.  God is active everywhere in the world, and there are endless opportunities to to good.  What we could or could not call "a mission trip" provided almost no guidance - we needed something better to guide us.

We started with relationships.
From our time in Bolivia, involvement with churches, and family connections we had a great list to consider.

Mongolia  - Helping launch small businesses while reaching out with the news of Jesus with the Sucheys.
Spain - Connecting with the media based outreach to both southern Spain and northern Africa with the Walters.
Ethiopia -  It would  be great to reconnect with our friends the Fehls who started as missionaries in the bush, and now coordinate great ministries of health and education from the capital.
Cambodia - Rescuing children from sex-slavery, fear and poverty, and giving them hope and life with Judy.
Bolivia - Continuing our relationships with friends and ministries in South America where there is so much need and opportunity.
Kenya - We have sponsored a child in northern Kenya for close to a decade, we could visit him and participate in the work of Food for the Hungry again.
Or Niger, Nicaragua, Japan, Panama, Hungary, or Mexico were we have loose connections with ministries and or missionaries.

Well, in February we leave on our trip to: none of the above.  

We are leaving to a corner of the world we were unaware of two years ago, and would not have been even a consideration if God had not introduced us to an amazing man living a faithful life.  We are heading to the edge of Assam.

to be continued....