I hopped off the plane at LAX... Why am I still crying again?

This is a lot harder then I thought it would be, not gonna lie. Tears have come on and off all day, probably because I only got around 4 hours of sleep last night, and when I think about the awesome people I'm leaving behind. Including my great parents who drove me to the airport and my incredible mentor Hilda who surprised me and showed up at the airport at 5 am to see me off! I'm travelling by myself so I'm lonely. I keep starting to worry about whether I'm on the right flight, whether I have my boarding passes, and how I'm supposed to get to where I'm going. It's very humbling to always have to ask for directions ;) 

As I sit on the floor at LAX, questioning why on earth I'm leaving everyone and everything I love (except Alanna :) ) to go and serve for 6 months, my incredibly wise mother (who I've been messaging all day) raises the point that maybe this isn't about me leaving behind my awesome life in Canada, but maybe it's about seeing the awesome things that God can do through me and the rest of my dts. God is greater then I am, right? I have a tattoo of it, I should probably remember it. 

2 funny stories from today because I need to laugh to myself a little. 

1) on the flight from Minneapolis to LA, I overheard a conversation between two other guys on the plane. the first guy says something about how cold Minneapolis was. The second guy says "I'm from a city about 60 miles south of the Canadian border. We've had minus 35 degrees so far this winter. (in this case Fahrenheit and Celsius are roughly similar)" the other guy seems impressed by how tough this guy is with his -35 winters. What about us who have had multiple -50 Celsius (-60 f) days so far this winter, and for whom -35 is a normal winter day? I was so tempted to pipe in... But I refrained ;)

2) everywhere I go, people see the Canadian flag on my bags. So I was getting food for supper and the girl sees my flag on my backpack and she's like "you're canadian? What's it like?" I was thinking "seriously?" But I gave her my typical answer, "cold". She actually asked me to tell her more about Canada but then her boss called her away. So funny. 

Then I went to Starbucks because Starbucks makes me happy (I know Tyson, I know) and the guy was going to give me 3 cents change (because pennies are still a thing in the states) and I was like "I don't want those, I'm from Canada and we don't use them" and then the other barista pipes in, "that's cuz you're all ballin". Yep buddy that's it... 

Also my family is great. My youngest brother iMessaged me telling me he'd score me a goal, and my other brother is sending me a storm of hilarious pictures. My parents are still giving me important advice from home, and I miss them all (and dog cuddles) dearly. Also, I've been so sweaty all day... I have to say I miss the cold a little! Who knew? 

I think the thing that I'm the most scared of is being sick all the time. I feel sick when I'm tired, when I'm hungry, when I'm over full, when I'm in cars... Even sometimes in between all those too. Prayer for that would be beyond incredible. 

Here's the most updated list of prayer-items, for both myself and Alanna.

-Alanna gets really sick on airplanes coming down, so prayer for that would be awesome. 

-healing for my stomach (I'll post the whole story soon) 

-homesickness (especially for me) 

-lack of anxiety symptoms (upset stomach, excessive worry) 

-no carsickness 

-safety (for my family, for me, for all my fellow dts participants) 

-that settling in to community life in Wollongong would be smooth and easy

-that we'd be able to sleep on the planes! 

"Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough troubles of its own." 

(Matthew 6:34) 

"Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" 

(Matthew 6:27) 

"Now to Him, who is able to do immeasurably more then all we can ask or imagine, according to His mighty power at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen" 

(Ephesians 3:20-21) 

"But he said to me, "my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." 

(2 Corinthians 12:9) 

5 things on my mind- 

1) I wish I had somewhere to warm up my Starbucks 

2) I need to sleep so bad 

3) I brought a ridiculous amount of sleep-aid things 

4) there are a ridiculous amount of people around me right now with Australian accents... If everyone sounds like this I'm so pumped oh man 

5) I am admitting that I'm excited for Australia (see that mom?) even though I've been crying all day. I'm excited, I'm just tired and overwhelmed. 

And I guess this is my last post from North American soil, as it's 6:50 in LA and my plane boards in 2 hours. Thanks for all your support and prayers. 

To Him, the God of immeasurably more then all we can even think to dream of or imagine. That's who my next 6 months belong to. 

Blessings in our Lord, 

Cailey