36 Hours in Maryland...

Hello, friends!

I'm writing this to you from beautiful Columbia, MO but I've only been back here for about 24 hours or so. The past few days were a whirlwind as I traveled to College Park, MD, to visit one of the staff who I'm coaching as part of my new role as Asian American Ministries Pilot Project Director. While I was there, I got to visit the campus (beautiful!), meet with the staff who is on the ground (gifted!), and do a quick training for the students who he is working with as part of the project (motivated!). It was a quick trip but one that was definitely worth it. Allow me to break down the timeline for you.

December 31: Buy tickets for Maryland visit set for the first weekend in February
January 28: Cancel tickets when it comes to light that the women are in the middle of sorority rush season and won't be able to meet
February 10: Begin trying to setup a new date for a visit
February 23: Come to the conclusion that the only date that's going to work is February 28. Proceed to purchase tickets, rental car, and hotel
February 27:
- 6am: Drive from CoMO to StL to catch my flight
- 4pm: Arrive in MD and get myself situated
- 9:30pm: Meet with the staff to go through the training I'll be leading
February 28:
- 11am: Ohana staff video conference
- 12pm: Prayer walking around the Maryland campus
- 3pm: Training prep
- 6pm: Meet the staff and his family for dinner
- 7:30pm: Pick up student number 1
- 8:30pm: Student 2 arrives and we do the training
- 10pm: Training finishes and we take folk hime
- 11pm: Debrief with the staff
March 1:
- 12:30am: Arrive back at the hotel, finish up a few things and pack before heading to the airport
- 3am: Arrive at the airport and take an hour nap before security opens
- 5:50am: Fly back to StL
- 9:15am: Arrive back in StL and drive to Jefferson City to staff at Lincoln
- 11:30am: Arrive at Lincoln and do my staff stuff there
- 4pm: Drive home from Jeff City
- 4:30pm: Back Home

That, my friends, is a ridiculous kind of trip but boy was it fun. There was something really beautiful about how quickly the trip came together and all the pieces worked. Of course, it would have been nice if the tickets had already been purchased so that part wasn't fun but the logistics of everything was the plan was put into motion was pretty great and more evidence that God is pretty great too.

Fortunately, this was my only visit for the year so I don't have to worry about doing something crazy like that again anytime soon. I'm also so thankful for Meg and her being OK watching Ezra for a few days without me so I could go on this trip. It was definitely good to go but certainly better to be back.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam