Next month I will be travelling to Peru to represent WBFJ on a Shoes For Orphans Souls mission trip with Buckner International. (www.buckner.org)

This will be my first mission trip as well as my first trip outside the USA requiring a Passport. So, I had to get a Passport. That was pretty easy to do after I called my mom to confirm her and my dad's birthplaces. Good thing I did, b/c I would have gotten my dad's wrong! He was born in Petersburg, Va--not Hopewell like I thought! I knew that mom was born in Buffalo, NY!

Well, I hear that South America is lovely--but there are some risks in going there.

YIKES! I don't want any colored fever and I needed my Tetnus/Diptheria booster, so I went to my Doctor's office for that. And the next day I headed to a place I just recently learned about--The Passport Health office.

Tonya, the Clinical Nurse Manager, talked to me about the various health risks of visiting the areas of Peru where I'll be travelling. She had a HUGE map in her office to help us visualize my trip.

Ultimately, I decided to cover the basics including Typhoid Fever, Flu and Hepatitis A&B. Here is a lineup of what I was about to face. Tonya was working on preparing the 3rd shot off camera. The biohazard bin kinda looks like a Red Hat in this pic. My mom is in a Red Hats group in Hopewell, VA! I think Tonya is a bit young for the average age of Red Hatters, anyway.

1,2, 3 sticks and then 3 bandages for my "boo-boos". My son Josh wondered why I didn't get "cool" bandages like he uses. Why, indeed, Tonya?! Perhaps those are reserved for minors.

(Not pictured: my 1 boo-boo on my right arm from the Tetnus/Dipth. shot I got the day before.)

In the bathroom after my shots, I reflected on my experience. No tears! Even though my hair was pretty flat. I'm growing it out to cut 10 inches of it off to give to Locks of Love. Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. They meet a unique need for children by using donated hair to create the highest quality hair prosthetics. Check out www.locksoflove.org

After all those shots, all that talk about SOUTH America and needing to learn some Spanish, and since it was so close to lunchtime, I decided I would jump on into some more trip prep-work by going "South of the border" to the nearby Taco Bell drive -through to get my lunch. (I didn't see ANY rats!) I only wonder if I can work my working lunch into my reinbursable expenses.

(I do not advise eating Tacos while driving. It is difficult and messy and unsafe--even though I was driving my hubby's car and didn't have to shift gears. Of course, being safety and CLEAN-conscious, I did most of my nibbling at the stop lights and back at the station.)

I will be blogging about my trip from Peru from time to time. So check back and see how things are going. And I'd appreciate your prayers for me, for the others making the trip, for my husband Joe and son Joshua and for the orphans we will be blessing and ministering to on this trip!

Rejoicing in grace and in the opportunity to share God's love in Peru,

Jennifer