i'm about to be on my way

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I fly to Jamaica on November 1, 2007 and won't return to the States until March 27, 2008 for a month-long break in April. I know that I will have very limited internet access while I'm there and after reading the travelblog of some friends who were travelling last winter, I figured it would be a simple way to share about my life on the island with everyone back home.
During September and October, I'll be bouncing around California, Minnesota and Illinois until I fly out of Chicago and it's pretty exciting.

Let me tell you, I have known since 2003 that this is what I needed to do. I couldn't get it out of my head or my heart: "Move to an orphanage in Jamaica for a year"...the goal was to do this by 2006.
Since 2005, I have attempted versions of that dream and told myself it was good enough to go for one month or one week . Once I learned that I truly had a support system through my family and through my Hume friends and family, I decided to just buckle down and go for a year. There is so much peace in knowing that I'll be making my home there. I can't even describe it and it's unlike anything I've ever known.

Since it will be difficult to get mail to me while I'm there, please, friends and family, leave comments on these blogs because I'm sure I'll be lonely for you all from time to time. I know this year will be a test to my friendships but also...it's only a year. I can't imagine what will happen after this and for the first time in my life, I'm not worried about my future. Again, there is such a peace in doing what the Lord laid on my heart to do. I'm not scared to live in Jamaica. It doesn't feel like I'm in a "third world" country when I'm there. It's just home. It's so much work but it's so comfortable...It's TIRING but rewarding. I may not have a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods or a gym or my own family or friends my own age in Jamaica, but I can't get enough of it. I'm so thankful and blown away that the Lord has put it in my heart and that I get to share daily life in this little children's home in the hills on this BEAUTIFUL island. Sometimes I feel like it's not real. But it is.

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[Jason Shields]

Have a good time
I hope you have a great time, enjoy it and change lives.