2011
The new year had come and we began planning the whole trip in our minds. Day after day of planning and praying. Hour after hour planning flights, prices, ground cost, people problems..lol...name it, we did it. If you know someone who plans mission trips for a group of people to a foreign land, hug them, they deserve it. We contacted the ones we needed to and planned the whole thing ourselves. It was a huge task, but it was a fun experience. The business part of me and Jen came out and took control of what needed to happen to make sure it was a great trip.
After months of planning I began feeling that feeling again that God was about to stir. I can remember sitting and reading some verses one night and thats when God spoke again. Swaziland was where He needed us. I wasn't shocked or surprised as my thoughts had been there for months. Jen came home from work and I asked her what her thoughts was. She said she felt like Swaziland was going to be home soon. I agreed.
We planned the trip with the thought of only being great host. We didn't want the trip to be about us searching out our new home.
The time came for us to go. October 2011 we headed for Swaziland again. We left Tulsa and headed to Atlanta to prepare for a 16 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. Its a long trip! We met with the whole group and us and 15 others left for Swaziland. Once we landed Jen and I was one of the first ones from the group off the plane. I can remember getting off the plane, walking up the ramp off the plane, we both looked at each other, and said..."this is home". It was the first thing in years that we felt like we was doing the right thing in our lives. It was the first time we felt like we was one with God. He led us here, through muck and mud, and we had finally agreed this felt like home.
We arrived on a Wednesday and on that Saturday night, the church had a praise and worship session. The whole time I felt like God was dealing with just me. We had already had some kid interaction, which we loved, but I wanted my alone time with God to talk. During this time I felt like He was talking just to me. The very last song He wrapped it up with the song..."This is Home". No extra words needed. Got the message. Jen and I just laughed and cried at the same time. We didn't even need to discuss it, pretty clear on what He was saying.
This trip to Swaziland was one of the best. We had an awesome team. We completed a long fence, painted a carepoint, painted pictures for the kids, painted logos, gave out shoes, clothes, VBS, and much more in just three days. The fence was needed done and had been taking almost two years to complete. We did it in two. When I say this team rocked, I mean they rock!
Swaziland is a tough. There is plenty of heartache, death, disease, poverty, rape, child trafficking, and much more starvation. Through the whole trip we saw a touch of each thing. We never met the children, but while there there had been at least 4 deaths that the missionaries experienced in just a 5 day span. The heart has to be prepared to spend life there.
Jen and I are home now and are planning our final days in the United States. The question we get asked a hundred times is, when are you coming home? Our answer: When God says so. I can't tell you when we'll return, but what I can tell you is we need your love and support to be able to do what we can. We don't get paid to be there it is only volunteer only, and have to raise our own funds. In February we will begin our training to soon start what we need to do. Our goal is to be there by spring of 2013. I'm sure there is going to be a few snags along the way, but if this is God's will, He has already taken care of those things.
Jen and I have come a long way from being your simple Oklahoma couple to world travelers to spread His word and plant seeds. I was thinking the other day, in all the countries whe have been in I bet we have touched or prayed well over 10,000 -15,000 people and children. It is so fun to be able to plant the seeds and watch them grow. I heard this not to long ago. That if a man gave you a million dollars and needed help moving a heavy box would you help him? You bet I would. So why is it when a man gave His whole life so we could have eternal life, we forget to repay Him. I don't wanna be that person. I want to repay Him for what he taught me on those Southern Steps in Jerusalem. There are so many stories I could write about our trips that it would take days to write them. I just wante you to get the jest of why we are headed down a new path. Its not a path we choose, its a path we obeyed to go down. Its gonna be rough, tought, depressing, stressful, and hard to leave everything behind. But its all in Gods hands now.
To complete this chapter for now is simple. Just following Him at this time to see what our next step is. So if you would like for us to visit you one on one for more questions contact us at justinjenny78@yahoo.com and we will be glad to answer any questions you may have. We'll keep updates on facebook as well. You can find us there and see all pictures of our trips that helped us make that decision to follow Jesus. I pray our light shines so bright that all may see His glory in our journey.
As Paul Harvey once said...now you know the rest of the story...good-day!
Email us for more info on how you can help, or tell us how you wanna help. We will know more after mid February after training. After that, we will post more on how you can help. God bless you for reading my rambles. I'm not the perfect typist or writer, but I felt like everyone should now where our hearts are and how we got there. It wasn't easy. Along the way we had some dark moments, that wasn't shared, and some we had some God moments.
For more questions contact us and we will be glad to share more with you. If your church, life group, SS class, or anyone you know would want to donate to our cause let us know and we can direct you on how you can do that. All for Him!
Justin and Jennifer Carson
....to be continued through 2012!
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