Adventures of a modern day pastor

[Austin Hughes (DELETED 8178)]

Austin's blog he keeps of his missions trip and other adventures

Nepal was our most recent mission. As with most of these missions I am never in the picture because most of the time I'm the one behind the camera or I run from it. Don't know why. Just do. Always have always will. This mission started off like most others, with one of the pastors (most of the time it's Mark or Tommy but this time it was Dallas) deciding it's time we gather for another trip to help our fellow citizens of the world and spread the love of God (we do these A LOT. Like I'm scarcely back from one trip for about a month or two before I'm on another. To be fair I tend to stay longer than most others do. Not complaining. I love to see the world). So Dallas throws out the idea for Nepal. I'd never been so I was quick to jump on this one (not that me being there before mattered but if it's new to me, it helps) Very quickly we gather a group of volunteers (some new ones that had never been on a trip before) and started to work on the fund raising and what not. My personal favorite are the bake sales and talent shows.



Tim got really close to the children of this village (I can't rememberthe name at this time) He is a bit of clown and can make almost anyone laugh. They followed him around everywhere. He liked it.

We were, of course, there to help build better facilities for the locals and help with whatever we could really (I have a picture somewhere of Mary helping at the hospital...I can't find it right now though...dang it.) One of the orphanages there had recently had a fire (no one was hurt, thank God.) It left the building in not good of shape, so we decided to help build them a new one. I didn't get to see it finished, sadly, as I had to go to another village but I was there long enough to get the walls and roof up so I know at least the rough layout of the place.



Catherine, helping to dig for the foundation. Muddy work. She throw a mud pie at me after this.

At One of the other villages we helped repair an old building. It was probably once a home but it seemed the family had just abandoned it. The building is being turned into a school now. Kassi and Derrick are going to help run it and find teacher I think. Their little girl loves it there. I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up staying long-term.



The children are so fun loving. They also love it when I'd take their picture. A lot of my pictures ended up staying there with them and their families.

I'll hopefully be back soonish, to see how things are going with everything and everyone that stayed behind. (Not sure when though. Things have come up that are keeping me planted here for the foreseeable future.Looking at you Jude but again not complaining. In face I'm rather happy with these new developments. Very happy indeed.



This plane was crazy. But the flight was breath taking (almost literally as I forgot to breath and clearly take better photos)

At the bottom are several pages of pictures from his trip, most with captions

[Austin Hughes (DELETED 8178)]

I know most of the time this is about my trips around the globe and the good that the church does for others but I want to take a moment of your time to talk about another of God's creations that does good each and every single day of their short lives.

Dogs!

More specifically my dog Jedidiah. Jedi for short.



Now I haven't had him since he was puppy but I wished I had. I found him and rescued him but he saved me.

Okay so from the beginning. I was Peru for a mission and though to others I seemed happy go lucky I was hurting inside. Like really hurting. I didn't know what to do with myself. Didn't know if I wanted to go back home, stay in Peru, run away or worse. Yes I'm saying I was having thoughts of suicide. I won't go into why but there were many reasons and life was just falling apart around me I felt like there was absolutely nothing that I could do to change things.

Well that brings us to the white puff ball that is my Jedi. Well he wasn't always so much of a puff ball or white.fir that matter. Now I see a lot of strays on my travels and if I could, I'd rescue every single one of them and bring them home with me (cats too). I'm an animal lover through and through and nothing is ever going to change that. To those of you who are saying "well what if you are attacked by a dog and hurt real bad? You want like them much then will you?" And you people I say SHUT UP! I was attacked by a dog when I was a child, still have the scares to prove it and again I say NOTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE THAT! People attack other people but I still like them and have hope. So anyway moving on. I was walking in the tiny little village and there was this dog, skin and bones. Covered in dirt and all sorts of other things, fur missing, just in all around bad shape. My heart broke even more as he ran from everyone, scared to even beg for the food he desperately needed. Well every day I tried to get the poor thing to come to me and he wouldn't. So I began to leave it food to eat. Slowly he would eat the food. Not much but some. Eventually he began to eat it all. Then one day he trusted me enough not to run away and then enough to let me touch him. Once I felt he way comfortable enough with me I grabbed him up and put him in the truck I was using while I was down there.

I quickly took him to the nearest animal hospital and hand him checked out. Money didn't matter to me. Only this dogs life. He spent almost a month in the hospital and in recovery. My missions trip was supposed to end long before that but I had to stay with him. The vet was kind enough to let me stay with him the whole time. I helped when I could. This dog had become my life. My child even. When he was able to leave the hospital I was so relieved. He was still going to need some help with trusting others and defiantly more love and attention so I did what I need to do to bring him home with me.

I didn't go any more missions trips for a while as I stayed at home him. Making sure he was comfortable and happy and I slowly would introduce him to others.

Fast forward now. He loves everyone and everything and is not afraid to show it. He's happy and healthy. He can be lazy. Okay he IS lazy but only because I spoil him so much. I know I saved his life and rescued him from a sad fate but he saved my life too. He gave me a reason to get up in the morning and a reason to celebrate life again.

So please do yourself a favor and do them a favor and go rescue a dog (or any animal really). You'll be happier, healthier and probably a better person and so will they.

Now me and Jedi are off on our next great adventure into the unknown.

There are several pictures of the dog Jedi and Austin and other people from around the world