Preparing for launch was overwhelming; so many things to do before leaving town, more importantly leaving the country. The day arrived when I was leaving my lovely hometown of Missoula, Montana and head to Spokane, Washington where I would fly out of. The way I said goodbye to my parents the following morning did not go how I wanted it to. I was yelling and getting quite angry at them because they were dinking’ around, thought for sure I was going to miss my flight. Goodbyes consisted of a quick hug while saying bye. I wanted to hold them, cry with them, and pray over my parents as we were all embarking on this new chapter. I later called them and apologized for being such a jerk and got to do two of these.
Being reunited with U squad felt like seeing a family member you have not seen in years. Launch was full of worship, last minute training things, and tears. Most of the time, I was feeling sad and excited. I was still not sure what I was getting myself into. It was even harder on me when squad mates had their parents with them; it made me miss mine even more. I even cried when the parents were leaving and they weren’t even my parents. These goodbyes were good, because it was letting go of everything and saying hello to a new beginning.
One of the afternoons all the squads went to different parts of Atlanta (from the place we were staying at,) to do a prayer walk and tune into the Spirit. In our area were a lot of hotels. We prayed over the them because Atlanta is the largest city in America that deals with human trafficking. Prayed that the Lord would move in these hotels and employees would keep their eyes open. The Spirit was telling me to buy a meal from McDonalds; so I did. Where in the world was I taking this…I had no idea. I was just being obedient to the Lord. A couple ladies from my team talked and prayed over a lady. We kept walking around; an hour and a half later I’m still carrying this bag a McD’s around. I was pressing into the Lord hard cause my heart was just heavy from what the Spirit put on my heart.
Went back to where we were staying at sat in lobby and cried a bit cause I was just so confused. A still small voice came and told me to head back towards the gas station. Was praying that this was the person I’m supposed to give this too. Who happens to be sitting there? The lady a couple teammates prayed over. She started crying and knew this was the person. Lord spoke through me and gave her encouragement and them prayed over her. This is the start of crazy and amazing things the Lord will do through me on the race, I ask myself this one question; am I ready to be broken? Let’s see how China will break me…
