Project: Packing

If there was anything I learned from my trip to Greece a couple years back, it's that PACKING IS PARAMOUNT! Particularly, smart and EFFICIENT packing!


(Sidenote: Would you believe that I actually threw away my carry-on suitcase in the middle of my Greece trip?? Talk about inefficient packing--if I could fit my carry-on stuff into my big suitcase. Add to THAT...one of the leaders of the trip asked me to take some BOOKS back home for him since he was continuing to travel with his wife after our trip was over! Sheesh. I vow to be more efficient this time!)


And what do I do when I need to learn how to do something? I "google it up"--a phrase that is popular in the Bauer household. My searching turned up this article, which had a few helpful suggestions. 


And this site has an "interactive packing list," which is cool. All you have to do is pick from their list of all the items you'll need (and you can add up to 10 more that they don't include), then hit print--and, BOOM, you've got a personalized packing check list to help keep you organized! (We have a packing list from the group, but this personalized one is uber-detailed. Aaand if you bring it with you, you have a list of what you had in case your luggage gets lost, which won't really be a problem with this trip but would be helpful when flying!)

Now, this mission trip is only a week long, and we'll be doing mainly construction work, so I'm not too worried about choosing color coordinated outfits, like that first article mentioned. But I AM mentally preparing myself for the possibility that some things may need to be thrown away before packing to come home if they're ruined beyond saving--even a favorite old t-shirt (*sniff, sniff*).

SO, even though the trip is 10 days away (and I'm totally a last minute kind of person!), and since thinking things through seems to be step one of packing efficiently, I started packing today.  


See?

Yeah, I know it's not much ... but it's a start, right? I've picked a suitcase, dug out my trusty Tevas (for shower shoes), found my only set of twin sheets (Rugrats from my college dorm room!), and added the PINK tape measure my sister got me for my birthday and the mini-lantern someone at the church gave me, also for my birthday.

Look! The lantern even flashes red! (In case I get lost in the church looking for the bathroom in the middle of the night, I guess!)


Other things I need to acquire for the trip include some steel toe work boots (ordered online!) and EAR PLUGS! Not so much because I plan on running loud equipment all day long, but mainly because I have a feeling there's going to be a whole lot of snoring going on in the dorm rooms. (Yes, including me.) Although, I HAVE run a saw a time or two in my life ... in shop class ... in seventh grade ...18 years ago ... yikes. 


At any rate, I was talking with another member of the "Frankfort Five" the other day about a training regimen for the trip. We concluded that the most important preparation for this trip just may be getting on an "early to bed, early to rise" sleeping schedule.  Other things I need to work on include sleeping with the ONE pillow that will got to TN with me and sleeping with the ear plugs in!


Based on what I have written today, apparently I am more concerned about being well-rested than I am about the fact that I have relatively little construction experience! Which, as I reflect, is probably a good thing. I imagine there are those who wanted to go on this trip but aren't because they worried about being useless at the work site. But I am convinced that   God will gift me with what I need and use me as He needs me. And I am convinced that God will do this for others on the trip as well.