A winding, whirling vortex of suitcases, clothes, passports, gifts, teaching materials and power converters surround us. We're going back to Africa!

If you don't know anything about Namibia, don't feel bad - neither did I. Go to your movie store and rent the Disney film "A Far-Off Place." That will give you a feel for the desert part of the country. We will see some of that, but most of our time will be spent in towns, training in Planned Purity in the African country with the fifth highest occurrence of HIV/AIDS. 

I'm not feeling the sense of "overwhelmedness" that I have in the past, although that may come as July 1 nears. Maybe we're getting better at this. I think the thing I wish most is that this time we could go as a family, but the costs of the trip prevented that a long time ago. Just my eldest daughter and I will go this time, and the timing is good for us. It will be a great chance to bond (and drive each other crazy!). I recognize more and more the short time we may have left with our daughters.

If you would, be thinking of my husband and youngest daughter while we're gone (through July 17). We'll miss each other a lot. But we're always strengthened during these times, too. It's as though we're reminded that our connections are stronger than distance, that our prayers and love can cross oceans and continents.

And it is a big ocean that we will cross. 17 hours in the air will get us to Cape Town. On Sunday we were commissioned at church and they showed on the big screen a moving picture on a global map from Orlando to Windhoek. Wow! Never been that far from home before, and a couple of us will be crossing the ocean for the first time. 

Have you ever done something that seems so beyond yourself, so different from what you ever expected to do in your life? If you haven't, find a way to do a thing like that at least once. Your whole perspective changes. Your definition of "impossible" changes. And your thoughts of "what can one person really do?" DEFINITELY change.

We're looking forward not just to changing the world with AIDS prevention training—we're looking forward to being changed ourselves. And we're looking forward to the stories to tell when we get home. Be waiting for us, will you? We'll try not to show too many slides …