Youth Hostel Missions: Team from day one

This photo marks our first day as a team. Yes, you might recommend me sleep or pack at this point, seeing as I am 15 or so hours from departure to Europe. But oftentimes our best thoughts dawn on us in these wee hours of the morning.

Youth Hostel Missions team announcement day in Nov.

My team is the best. Obviously I’m biased, but for good reason! These beautiful people became a family from the get go. From this moment in this conference room, they began their journey. And somehow with the many personalities and differences, they have loved. They have already sacrificed for one another and we haven’t even left the country. I never imagined having such a wonderful group of students to travel Europe with and I couldn’t be more proud and excited.

There is a lot of work still to be done. Sure: packing, flying, train going, and walking all included. But the kind of work I’m talking about is the kind that happens internally. Learning, experiencing, growing, and listening. There is all that to do. Let’s be real though, that isn’t truly “work,” that is ADVENTURE. I can even say I’m excited for the difficult times, because even those times will bring wisdom and insight to another future moment.

God is good. Can I get an AMEN?! Pause for response… But really, He is, and it’s a glorious privilege to serve Him. Our time in Europe is not to pack God in a bag and bring Him with us, it’s to shine a light on an already existing beautiful God. It’s to reveal hope to the searching heart. Now pardon me for a moment while I quote a song I wrote (no judgment please):

“We are trying to find our place, like a grain of sand, as it falls through the hourglass. Searching hearts will follow anything, if we promise truth, if we promise grace.”

This lyric was absolutely God-breathed. And it is the human heart. We have all been searching, sometimes still searching even when we’ve been offered the living water. We just want a place, love, and a little grace sprinkled on top. I hope my team embodies that “sprinkle of grace.” An ear to hear, a hand to help, a love to heal.

It’s time to go… Ok not literally, but at this point, there’s no turning back. Please pray for safe and smooth travels for our teams as they depart and continue to pray for the opportunities we will have in Europe to meet people and build relationships. This is the trip of a lifetime with the greatest team of my lifetime (no offense to all you other teams out there), and few words can really express my joy other than: I AM PUMPED. Thanks for reading and praying and being a part of our team stateside.

Much love,

Kristen