ME!
….so December 1st marked my 25th Birthday….first birthday abroad and let me tell you…I dont think I will ever forget it. Here are a few pics from the wonderful event…
We traveled to a beautiful beach, while my teammate Alecia drove a car behind the van full of the rest of our team. This was one of the first times Alecia had ever driven on the left side of the road…but that was far from the most exciting part of the day’s adventures. When we were almost to the beach the van’s tire completely blew out, praise the Lord that we were protected and no one was hurt and the van was fine except for the tire. The team instantly snapped into rhythm as if we’d done this before, Kathleen and I wrestled with unbolting the spare tire from the undercarriage of the large (12 passenger) van, Alecia worked with getting the old tire off, and cranking the van up so we could put the new tire on. All in all it took about 20 min and we were all back in our vehicles and on to the beach!
We had an amazing time playing in the ocean and exploring the sand, as we were swimming I couldn’t help but think…”wow, I’m swimming in the ocean in DECEMBER, this is great!”
Once we were done with our time at the beach we loaded back up and headed to the Queensbay Mall, at the mall we had freedom to use internet and shop until meeting up for dinner at TGI Fridays…The food tasted just like home and after eating mystery meals for weeks on end I thought I was going to cry when I bit into my Bacon Cheeseburger 🙂 While at TGI my teammates told the staff it was my birthday so they put together quite a presentation. Every staff member working that night crowded around our table clapping, made me stand up on my chair and sing a song into the ketchup bottle, after that was complete they sang me two songs with my name in them, then told me to close my eyes and made a really long wish. When I opened my eyes they told me that because I had wished so long I now had to try to blow out the candle on my cake from the other side of the table. Long story short, we had an incredible time and fun was had by all.
My teammates truly went to great lengths to make me feel totally loved on this day and I feel so incredibly humbled and honored to be a part of their team and have the chance to lead them this month. There was one teammate in particular who went above and beyond the rest…NIKKI KILMER…she’s really an incredible woman of the Lord. I’ve had the most amazing time getting to know her as a person and hearing her heart for the world.
Something about Nikki that I LOVE is that she RoCks at birthdays…she has this incredibly creative spirit that overflows from her when talking about how to make someone feel loved (especially on their birthday!) Nikki organized a birthday book for me that put me in tears it was so amazing. She knows how to love people in such an inspiring way and I feel so honored to serve along side her! As much as Nikki helped make my birthday amazing and makes my Race more full of love….she needs my help…well actually she needs YOUR help. Nikki is short in her fundraising and we have been given a Dec. 15th deadline of 10,000. I believe with monthly pledges she is at about $9,000. I believe 100% that Nikki was called to come on The World Race and I honestly cannot imagine my team without her on it.
The very best birthday present that you could give me would be to help keep my teammate Nikki on The Race, every little bit helps! Here is the link to her blog: www.nikkikilmer.theworldrace.org
check it out, read her story and hear her heart for loving God and loving people then click on Support Me if you are able to help her financially. Even if you are not able to help out financially we would love your prayer support as well! THANK YOU!!!
