Today I had two interesting moments related to this trip.  Both moments were reminders of how God speaks to us in ways we don't always expect.

The first moment came before my voice lesson.  My voice teacher also happens to be my aunt, and she had just found out last night about my plans to go on this trip.  So we were talking about the trip.  She was in England a few years ago on a choir trip, so she was sharing about some of the things she observed about the culture and the spiritual climate of the country.  One comment she made particularly stuck out to me.  She talked about visiting the old cathedrals and hearing the tour guides give their spiels about why the cathedral was so special.  Every spiel revolved around saintly remains or other artifacts on the premises or the grand architecture and rich decorations of the building.  She talked about how she left every one of those buildings crying because the element that really makes those church buildings special-- Jesus Christ-- was missing.  After my voice lesson, as I was thinking back over the conversation, I remembered reading "Innocents Abroad" by Mark Twain in high school.  Much of the book talks about the contrast between the rich opulence of the cathedrals and the extreme poverty of the people.  I was so struck by Twain's description of the Church's obsession with wealth that I wound up discussing that in my paper on the book.  Is it possible God was preparing me even then for what I might experience on this trip?

The second moment came when I got back to work after my voice lesson.  I logged on to Facebook to find some contact info for a friend and noticed I had received a message.  The message was from another member the FYM-England team.  She shared with me how God had spoken to her through my second blog post (Why I'm Going).  She had been having doubts as to whether she should really be going on this trip, but somehow my story of seeking God's plan for my life helped to settle those doubts.  It was so encouraging to see how God is already working through me to encourage others-- even people I haven't met yet!

So ultimately I've discovered that God's voice can be heard in many things: the voice of a family member, the pages of a book, and even the ramblings of a 22-year-old on the Internet :).  I can't wait to see how else He chooses to work as this next year progresses.