Well folks, I’m plugging away at things. I am still behind in some of my classwork, but it will all get done. If they give me enough time! :P

I leave for London in 10 days, and I’ve almost gotten myself close to the point of getting ready. Funny, huh? Close, but not quite ready. :P Really, it’s more that I still have a lot of things to do before I can even concentrate on trip-prep. We (my cohort) have taken a couple of classes in prep for missions, but it has been frustrating in that the class has been essentially a rehash of the cross-culture-ministry classes. But one of my assignments for that class is to write a quick paper about our expectations of the trip. So, perhaps, I’ll share it here for y’all! J

In many ways, I’m approaching this trip as I approach most trips: I don’t often set up many expectations. I acknowledge that part of that is a deep-seated (or is it deep-seeded?) aversion to disappointment. But to a greater degree, it is rooted in an air of expectation. That is, I’m willing and open to whatever happens.

As free and easy-going as I can be, I have an acutely tight need to control. I often find myself wanting to change this or tweak that. I think I get that from my dad. (Mom, I know you’re gonna read this, so don’t rat me out to Dad. Unless, of course you think he’ll laugh.) And while I chafed under his control as a kid/teen, I find myself doing the same thing. I continually struggle with the tension of not being controlling, and yet doing things as best as I can. I can’t always tell where one ends and the other begins.

So, that puts me back at openness. Considering that I am responsible for next-to-nothing on this trip (details, logistics, etc), I can control very little. So I’m willing to go with whatever God wants to do.

I am expecting that we will learn a lot about what it means for a missions team to operate, function, grow and learn. I am expecting to learn ways to build meaningful relationships with a people group very different from me. I know very few Muslims, and neither have I interacted with many on a deeper level. I’m not really sure how much we will get to interact with the Muslims in London. For a people group that are relational, I can’t see a group of 25-30 American Christians sitting in on an “afternoon tea” with a missionary wife and a Muslim woman. I don’t know how much good we would do, anyways, with only 10 short days.

I’m thinking that we will probably get a chance to interact more with Muslim-converts-to-Christianity. I would love to hear about how God worked in their lives, in their relationships with Christians, to bring them to Him. I want to hear what things in their mindsets and worldviews changed, for them to “see the Light” that is Jesus Christ. Don’t hear me saying that I’m looking for the “magic bullet” that will change all Muslims into Christians. No. Rather, I’m hoping to see if there is an overall pattern, a matrix of ideas, that will give me insight into their lives, their culture, and their concept of God.

We recently had a school retreat at which our speaker was/is an expert in Islam and the growth of Islam in the US. What I found so frustrating, was his seemingly mocking tone and attitude towards the beliefs of Muslims. I felt that the overarching message was, “Muslims believe this. Can you believe how stupid they are? Morons!” I will admit that I have had my own moments regarding Scientology, Mormonism, etc. But let me assert right here and now, that even as dismissive as I have been (Tom Cruise comments?), and as much as I disagree with them, that I still believe that they are people, just like me. Broken. Fallen. But valuable. Precious. There are points of contact. There are needs that they have that Christ can meet. That Christianity can meet.

And that is what I needed, wanted, to hear from our speaker at that retreat. And since I got none of that, I am expecting to learn some of that in London.

I have some very practical expectations. I expect that we, as a cohort, will get very frustrated with each other. (Any ideas on how soon others will get frustrated with me? How soon till they start asking me if I’ve taken my meds? I vote 2 days.) I’m thinking that I will have to control myself to keep from rolling my eyes at one or the other of us. I think we are going to need a lot of prayer to remain as good of friends as we already are. Our cohort, overall, really enjoys each other. I hope that we are capable of maintaining that. Even with the humming.

I am expecting to be surprised by London. Surprised at how God does things without me (tongue-in-cheek, I promise!). At how He dresses His Bride in England; at how he woos people to Him in a culture that is so similar and yet so drastically different.