The stankiest part of traveling is that it gets lonesome. Don't get me wrong; I love traveling the world every summer. I love that I've already visited so many countries, while lots of my friends haven't even been outside of the United States. But at the same time, I get to miss people. I see the wonders of the world and wish that I had someone special next to me to see it with. Half of my memories of San Marco square are with my mom and siblings as we discussed the impending divorce that happened the summer before last, and the other half are from studying abroad there, feeling oddly distant from the students around me, wishing and willing my good friends to join me there. Sure, you make friends with whoever you travel with, but nothing beats the people you see during the week and then on weekends, just 'cause you can't get enough of them.
Fortunately, mission trips aren't much like that. They're much more purposeful, and with such a focus on God, it drowns the other stuff out. And it always feels, more than anything else I've ever done, as if it's what I'm supposed to be doing. And to be honest, I usually feel kinda distant from God on mission trips. I tend to feel like it's harder to hear from Him in such a new environment, but when the need is great, it drives you to push on.
What's going to make this summer tricky is that I'll be spending four weeks on a mission trip in Uganda followed by one week of traveling in Europe. European travel might be as difficult in some ways as Uganda, 'cause while one will be fun and exciting and new, it won't have the same focus as the other.
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