I have finally completed my final recap video!!
I will warn you though it isn’t the coolest video, it doesn’t show lots of places I have been or the incredible scenery. This video and my intent behind it was to simply show you the faces of the individuals who I met along the way. Each of these people played a role in my life this past year. They showed me how to love, how to have peace, how to grieve, how to simply be joyful with very little. I even debated whether or not to put where each picture was taken but it really doesn’t matter. I want to tell you that this race gives ordinary people like me a unique opportunity to be apart of people’s lives even if in the smallest of ways around the world. I found an immense amount of joy in befriending these people…
These people are:
-the girls who like playing with my hair
-the camp kids
-the camp counselors
-the boy at camp without any friends
-the kitchen staff
-the gatekeeper
-the cancer patient who needed someone to harvest his berry patch
-the church ladies
-the single lady without any children
-the elderly couple that felt like grandparents
-the passionate missionary family
-the homeless man
-the poor gypsy family
-the boy who couldn’t speak
-the woman with dementia and her husband
-the lonely lady
-the farmers
-the single missionary man
-the elderly man at the grocery store
– the special needs children
-their foster mothers
-their elderly caregivers
-the corner chia tea man
-the roadside doctors
-the street children
– my boy
-babies without fathers
-the hardest working woman I have ever seen who never spoke
-the fishermen
-the grandma that wanted to know Jesus
-her baby granddaughter who she wanted a better life for
-all the school children
-the translators
-the teachers
-the university students striving to make a better life for their families back home
-the youth
-the worship band
-the prostitutes
-the dancers
-the pimps and promoters
-the shop owners
-the hospice patients and their families
-the children from the rough neighborhoods
………Just to name a few.
These are the people who matter. I could go through this and spend time telling you the story behind each person. Their stories have so much beauty.
The song I picked for this final video is called “Difference Maker” by NeedToBreathe. I picked this particular song because of the lyrics and for the meaning behind them. I have struggled since before the race began to fully believe that what I was going to do and what I did do for the past 11 months made any difference in the world. When I look back on my time on the World Race and I think about the hundreds of people I came in contact with and I say now I know without a shred of doubt in my mind that I made a difference.
Please don’t misunderstand my confidence for arrogance. I am not boastful on my own account but I am boasting about the God whom I serve. Going on the race my mission was to love people. I didn’t crawl into whatever form of bed I slept in from night to night and count my good deeds and pat myself on the back but I would feel God’s peace wash over me when I knew I loved His people well. It might have meant I spent extra time with my youth girls in the Philippines telling them about their Father who loves them, I may have stayed late to tuck in my boys in India, or I went to the kitchen to help our contact in Cambodia prepare our meals while we danced. Whatever it was I am incredibly thankful for God’s positioning that allowed me to pour out His love onto the people of these nations.
This journey was like no other. The people have left an incredible impact on my heart.
SO WHAT AM I DOING NOW… WHAT AM I DOING NEXT…??
Since being home I have been visiting family and friends and preparing for the next journey.
I AM GOING TO BE SQUAD LEADING IN SEPTEMBER!!!! #Ksquad
Thinking back to my own training camp we learned about the different ways that individuals connect with God. I thought then that I connected mostly through worship. Over the course of this year I had the opportunity to speak into the lives of my squad mates, my teams, my ministry contacts, and some of my youth kids. I enjoyed more than I could have ever imagined being the person there to love and encourage others along their own journeys. I felt more alive when people would come to me to speak about their struggles and then report back their triumphs with the Lord. Having the opportunity to walk alongside others is something that I am passionate about and enjoy.
I know God has been preparing me to lead for a long time now and I can’t wait to see the adventures that leading a squad will bring.
I find myself getting more excited with every passing day. I will be leaving for training camp in just three short days and then launching back out onto the field at the beginning of September!!!!
I want to thank all of you who have followed my journey thus far and to those that will continue on as I squad lead.
I will be looking to fundraise again $3,500 to cover cost for the organization and an extra $500 for flights to and from training camp and launch and home again.
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