Chances Are

If you decide to do missions:

Chances are you will ride to the airport with two of your closest friends and have a last min jam session.

Chances are your check in bag will be exactly 50 lbs. then you will do a dance and say "Alabanza!"

Chances are you will be surrounded by family and friends that you might as well consider family. They will take 1000 pictures of you and you will feel loved. You will have a group prayer and will feel the prayers of many being lifted to God and you'll know it's going  to be ok.  After saying quick goodbyes to all of them, you will embrace your mom. However, she won't do a quick good bye. She will hold you and cry and tell you how proud she is of you and that she commends you for following your heart. Then you will cry but it will be ok. 

Chances are you will go through security and they will discover you have scissors in your bag. They will take you aside and the lady will ask for your life story in which you will tell her you're a nurse who likes to be creative. She will the examine the scissors and let go. 

Chances are you will get on the plane and be that "one guy" whose carry on doesn't quite fit in the overhead compartment and you'll have to rearrange stuff awkwardly while everyone is trying to get by you. In the end you will take half the stuff out your bags and hide them beside your seat. 

Chances are you will all of a sudden come down with a sore throat and ear ache and be forced to drink copious amounts of water like a camel to try and flush your system. Then you'll be forced to use the restroom... A lot 

Chances are, when you get to your next stop, you will have 5 hours until the next plane in new jersey and will be able to enjoy your last meal in the states: Qdoba. You will also discover Jamba Juice, a place alluded by your Californian friends as the best ever. You will try it and it will be incredible. Next thing you know, "Jamba Juice is the new bae and bae is life" 

Chances are, you will talk to about 5 or more ppl before getting on the plane again. When you get on the plane you just might be delayed for another 3 hours because the airline is low on water and the hose that normally fills it is frozen, but not like the movie because there is no let it go. 

Chances are, you will have "that one toddler" who is very bad at flying and throws 3 temper tantrums before we even leave the gate and you realize, this is Goin to be a long 15 hours ride. (Throughout the flight the child will try everything from trying to climb over the seat to kicking the seat to screaming and crying because she can't move freely. She will also have "that one very obnoxious cry" that reminds you of that one real life doll who never stopped crying and made you want to send it back or kick it across the yard when no one was looking) However, there will be a space between you and the older gentleman in your row and you will have plenty of space for your legs. 

Chances are, once they fix the water problem, an announcement will be made that by law the crew currently on duty cannot work more than 17 hours straight and due to the delay and 15 hour flight, they will have to be switched in order to not break protocol. So they will call in another crew... From like Hawaii!!!! Which further delays the flight. Then you will leave. 

Chances are you will see such a wide selection of movies on your screen but only watch like two of them: Gravity, pretty much a movie where you spend the whole time thinking, "this mess was done all on green screen" And you get tired of seeing Sandra bullock almost die on many occasion and spin around in space. And The Hundred-Foot Journey, a movie that follows the lives of an Indian family that leaves there indian home and establishes a restaurant in France, right across the street from another high class restaurant. A MUST SEE. 

Chances are you will disturb the man on the aisle seat about 10 times to use the restroom and stretch your legs because you're pretty much a giant tree fighting off a very convenient sudden cold -___-

Chances are once you actually get to Mumbai india, you will walk down miles and miles of never ending terminal just to have your passport and ticket checked like 6 times. No joke. Then you will have to take a shuttle to the domestic airport and then have your ticket and passport checked another 3 times before entering the actual airport. Then you will be in the last security check point and realize you smell like a dead horse cause you've been sweating in this polar fleece jacket that is not appropriate when it's 80 degrees outside. You will go through security and be stopped for attempted murder, it seems, for having two pairs of scissors in the carry on. They will confiscate them and ask you questions. But you won't go to jail. Alabanza. Then you will awkwardly change into a different light weight jacket out in the open because you're scared to go to the bathroom. You somehow manage not to expose yourself to all the Indians staring at you cause they can tell you arent from these parts. Then you remember, you're black, 6 foot, and wearing white glasses.

Chances are you will get on a shuttle and go back to the big airport you just left in order to board your last plane to Kolkata, and will be confused cause you could have sworn you just left this place. Your ticket will be checked another 17 times... Then you will cry tears of joy when you get in your seat that you thought was an aisle seat but no one shows up in the others. These tears will then turn into tears of pain when a third shuttle of ppl show up and you are definitely not sitting by yourself which makes your victory seat picture you took 5 min ago, obsolete. Then obnoxious baby number 2 will reveal himself and you will experience real struggle once again. Then you will ride to Kolkata and wish your parents didn't make you tall.

Chances are you will be the awkward guy retrieving his luggage from baggage claim and id greeted by a white woman with fiery red hair (my director's daughter). She will then take you by taxi in which every second of your life seems in danger because you dont have a seatbelt, there is smog everywhere and driving in india is completely wild. you will pull into one of the most beautiful schools ever and feel the presence of God there. you will then shower out of a bucket which is incredibly refreshing and a blessing. and you will be officially in India. Almost at your new home. 

Chances are this wont be your experience. But its mine and I love it. :)

Hobey Ho and Here I Go India

P.S. chances are all the kids at the school will sing praises to Jesus in loud booming voices to start the day, which will make your heart happy :D

white girl pose with the besties

that fanny pack though

family makes it easier

Supplies

            I have begun to wonder if I am truly ready for India. I mean can you really actually be fully ready to serve the Lord? I got a windbreaker, a head lamp, and my medical book in the mail yesterday. The weekend prior to this one, I got some tools and clothes from my fantastic aunt. “Like this mess is real,” I thought. Felt pretty ready. But am I really? I tell myself that I am going to India to serve. Have I left myself to be served as well?

            Often times, as missionaries, we journey into the “darkness” of the world, or so we call it, in hopes that we will completely shake things up with our theology and way of life. In actuality, sometimes it is our hearts and out minds that are changed for the better. We think differently, we act differently, and we see life through a different kaleidoscope.

            On the subject of being ready with supplies, its incredible to me how we can be “ready” and still be in for a surprise. I discovered that when I sat for my NCLEX in a really sketch part of town. I went in ready: prepared to be there three hours max, answer 75 questions, the test shuts off, and then keep it moving. That’s not what happened. For those who know the mysteries that are Boards understand the struggle. I didn’t walk out confident. I didn’t walk out ready. I didn’t walk out complete. I walked out very incomplete and very broken. Very sick to my stomach and like a failure. Oh SNAP… what if I didn’t pass?!! To be here another month and a half?! I’s die! Dramatic I know.

            And yet, I was swarmed with so many overwhelming texts and calls of reassurance. The nice thing was that they weren’t all “Kameron, I’s sure you passed” but “God’s will be done” “Have faith in the Lord’s plans” and “keep your head up.” One of my friends, Jan, put faith in this scenario like this: “its easy to have faith when everything is certain! Buuuttt our faith is really tested in times like these. DON’T GET DISCOURAGED!! Claim God’s promises!! (enter “ok” sign).

            And so, I’m looking into repacking my suitcase. Instead of clothes, toiletries and shoes, I’m packing, faith, trust, and the promises of God. I think those will take me a little farther. A little deeper. A little closer to God. And in the end, that’s what we should want right? It’s true that you can never be ready. But with God, His plans, and His supplies, I’ll be ready when He receives us. Glory.

Ala.Ban.Za.