i know you are used to Fridays being the day of randomness from me, but because I have not been faithful to you the past few weeks (ok, months…) I figured I could surprise you a day early.
the last few months have been a total and complete whirlwind. ever wake up and think “what just happened?” That is how my whole life feels! some days i shake the sleep out of my eyes and my first thought is “what country am I in?” hard to find the beginning of where to share with you. the sum total of it all is just GOOD. there has been so much goodness the Lord has shown me that I am completely overwhelmed to try and explain it. there have surely been long, hard days, but they have all had GOODNESS at the core of them. let me give you a quick wrap up:
JULY
flew the first day of the month to the Dominican Republic. launched 76 new racers out into the World. they are wild.
returned home and kicked off training camp for 140 racers. everyone was wild. we sweat like crazy hanging out in the GA woods, i can tell you that! i taught multiple sessions on how to blog, how to prophesy and shared a bit of my story with them. all in all it was a great time. lots of hard work, but worth it!
we worshiped in the pouring rain while the sun shone down on us. it was one of the most beautiful moments in life.
AUGUST
dashed down to Panama City beach to see of my favorites tie the know. tried to enjoy a day or two at the beach while we were at it. beautiful ceremony and beautiful marriage. God is so faithful and good!
the rest of August was spent preparing for the Awakening in Ireland. We had over 300 people all in one place worshiping and praying and spending time together. i think i got a taste of wedding planning as we coordinated movement, hotels, flights, live streaming, debriefs, worship sessions, teachings, etc….complete whirlwind. completely worth it to see the smiles of the racers as they connected with each other (old and new racers) and had a few days of being poured into by leadership. incredibly good.
we spent time praying for our generation and the generations to come. Feel free to watch the videos of teaching from the Awakening here. They will challenge you, i promise!
SEPTEMEBER
i was home from Ireland for 4 days and hopped another plane to the Philippines. land that has stolen my heart. it still has my heart in case you were wondering. Many of you read the story of Jason and his healing! Operation Smile has recently picked up the story and will be using Jason’s story as one of their success stories with their supporters. so cool to be a part of God’s story in Jason’s life. Catch up on Jason here if you missed his story.
I saw so many old friends and hardly slept trying to keep up with it all. we taught 80 new racers the 5 things you need on the World Race. (limited emotional baggage, traveling companions, willingness to change, positive attitude, and presence of God).
OCTOBER
left the first day of the month for launch in Guatemala. once again one of my favorites.
racer’s first day on the field. i think they were all really jet-lagged and shell-shocked!
antigua continues to astound me with her beauty. this is a ruin just down the street from our hostel.
i came home from launch and went immediately to a few days of the Catalyst conference held right here in Atlanta. Some of the most popular Christian leaders gathered with 20,000 other young leaders and we had some fantastic teachings and PLENTY of opportunities to share about the World Race.
the team did a great job sharing about all things WORLD RACE to many young christian leaders.
a few days later I was back on a plane bound for Hawaii. i had been invited to teach at a YWAM School of Discipleship and flew there for 5 quick days of teaching about prophecy and hearing the voice of God. i could definitely be easily convinced to live and work in Hawaii. wow!
straight back to the largest training camp to date back in the woods of GA. we had over 200 new racers and i was completely overwhelmed in the best possible way. i taught a few sessions and went home to sleep!
this past weekend we had an AIM staff conference here at our headquarters. fantastic time to re-connect with World Race alumni and spend time worshiping with fellow staff members.
This is ALL WORLD RACE ALUMNI and STAFF. Absolutely incredible group of people that I do life with every single day. They definitely keep me excited to go to work every day and excited about what Jesus is doing through the WR!
This blog explains why i am behind on emails, phone call, snail mail and just life in general. I am really looking forward to this next season of re-connecting with all of you and spending some time doing “normal things”.
true confession time: i had to actually look at the ical to see where i had been, and when. haha! i am craving sleeping in the same bed for more than 4 nights, grocery shopping and running some errands. i can’t imagine a better life, but i am tired. this kingdom stuff is hard work. but, oh, so worth it!!!
As a side note: i am desperately behind on support raising. in-between dashing around training racers I have not been as committed to it as I should be. if you believe in the WR, if you believe in me, if you believe in this KINGDOM dream of sending out young people to minister to a broken world, please consider hitting THIS button and dropping in your spare change. every penny counts. i am so grateful.
