this is real...

I got an email a few days ago concerning the summer and chicago and such, and it kinda began to sink in that it's actually SUMMER now and so the whole summer missions thing will be happening soon.
Well, today I received an even more real facebook message from Cody Lorance, my supervisor and the pastor of Trinity International Baptist Mission, the church I'll be working with this summer.
First off, some of you probably didn't even know that much about my summer, so I guess I should pause and give you a little info. If you want the long version, or just want to see for yourself, check out www.tibm.org. But if you just want a quick run-down:

This summer I'll be working with TIBM in Chicago. Cody Lorance is the pastor, and he's married to Katherine and they have, I believe, 3 adorable kids. I'll be working with 3 other folks- a guy from William Carey and two other girls I have yet to meet besides via facebook. I'll be staying either with the Lorance's or in an apartment with Sarah, one of the missionaries there. TIBM works with 3 main people groups in the Chicagoland area- the Tensae people from Ethiopia, the Karen people of Burma, and Nepali people (from Nepal..). Now, as of now I don't know a whole lot else, but I know that I'll be doing things with all of these people groups on a weekly basis- church services on Sunday, teaching English, playing with kids--basically whatever they tell me to do.

So- for the real point of this blog- (I need to learn to be more concise)
I got a FB message from Cody today telling us that we need to start heavy duty prepping for summer. See, Cody and the church are really big into this whole Lausanne Convention, Cape Town 2010 thing. I have no real way of explaining this except to tell you that it has a lot to do with the Church's stance on global evangelism and such. Anyway, apparently Cody's going to Cape Town for the convention, and the whole group there is really focusing on preparation for this, and...well...there's a lot I don't fully understand, but they're asking us to do some things to prepare. Basically these five things:
1. Read, Learn, Teach, Memorize the book of Ephesians
2. Pray for an unreached people group every day (and possibly memorize all of these)
3. Study the original Lausanne Covenant
4. Engage in the 6 critical issues of the congress
5. Develop a strategy for mobilization and prophetic leadership

So, guys, I'm admitting to you all- I'm highly intimidated.
But also excited. And planning to do my best to live up to the high expectations that have clearly been set for us. This summer is going to be a wild ride, and we've been assured we'll stay very busy. I'm not sure what that will mean, but I know that I'm going to be stretched in so many ways.
So...here I am. A little nervous. Less excited than I expected. More intimidated than I expected. Praying God will somehow use this broken vessel to glorify Him.