I went on a walk with the boys of the orphanage today to a local “mountain,” about a 1km hike to the base there and back, plus going up and down the mountain as well. It was a blast!! Tomorrow they are taking us to the mango grove that is over by the mountain and that we could see from the top of the mountain we hiked. We were climbing over rocks and stumps and through fields and everything. The kicker for me, what made me miss home, however was finding a rock on the way back. Along my trek on the way home, I found a red rock that was in the shape of Ohio. I picked it up, first thinking it was a heart shaped rock, and it turned out to be in the shape of good ole’ OH-IO. Oh, how I miss you, Ohio. It is hard sometimes not to think about how life will look differently when I get home, and I’m talking other than how I will have changed. What is going on in the cities of Amherst, Elyria, Avon, Avon Lake? I must admit that these are not thoughts I have often, but I do think about them sometimes. What think more often is how I can apply all of the wonderful concepts I’m learning at home and in those cities that I just mentioned. I don’t feel a call specifically to the missions field thus far on the race, but every time I learn something or experience something that causes me to stop and think, my first thought is often, how can I implement this at home and how is Christ going to use me in Amherst and the surrounding cities when I do come home?? I am truly excited to come home and see how Christ is going to use me there. Am I excited to leave the Race? No, I’ve learned a lot and it has been an awesome experience for me, but am I still excited to come home? Absolutely. I love you and miss you all, fellow Ohioans, friends and family! I am consistently praying for you as Christ places you in my mind, so if you need prayer, pray that Christ would put you on my mind so that I can pray for you! That is one thing that I have been doing a lot this month: praying. More so than any other time in my life that I can think of, God has been placing a desire in me to chat with him on a regular basis. Bringing simple, little things to him, that I would not have thought to bring to him before the Race: praying for a pencil before you sharpen it for a little boy, praying for itchy hair and acne on faces, “good” seats on an 8-hour bus ride just to name a few off the top of my head. Praise God, he is giving me a desire to talk with him more!
