Words cannot express my appreciation for the sacrificial generosity which I have seen over the past two months. I have had so much support from churches, businesses, friends, and family. So many people have not only encouraged me for this journey, but also have made it possible for me to go. I truly appreciate each and every person and what they have done for me. I want to share two specific stories.
After I came back from training camp, I realized that I had several items that I needed for my trip, one of which was a two-man lightweight tent. I have a one-man hiking tent that barely fits me. After living out of this for two weeks, I realized that if my tent is my bedroom for the next year of my life, I really needed to be able to fit my pack inside of it when I slept. Another need was a pack to put inside my tent. Finally, I had a rip in a sleeping pad that forced me to use a patio cushion for a “mattress” under the sleeping bag. That made me the running joke of camp.
So when I returned home from camp, I went to REI for the stuff needed. I got there and was helped by a very helpful employee, and we were setting up the tents in the store to see which one I would need. The one I picked out was $239. When I was getting out of the tent an older man named John came up to me and made small talk by asking why I needed a tent and which one I liked. This gave me the opportunity to tell about my trip, what I will be doing over the next year and how God had worked in my life. He told me how cool that was and told me to be safe. Later on, I had the tent and went to look at packs. On my way there he came back up to me and asked if I knew where Winston-Salem was. A little surprised by the question, I told him that I actually lived just north of Winston and had to go right by it on my way home. He gave me his phone number and address, and told me that he had bought that exact tent last year and wanted to give it to me for my trip. So I thanked him and told him I would be by his house in a little bit.
After looking at packs, I decided that I really wanted an 80-liter pack, but the biggest pack they had in the store was 65. I decided to wait and see if I could find one online. I left the store a little disappointed that I had gone all the way to Greensboro and didn’t come home with anything that I had gone for. But that soon changed.
I got to John’s house and on the back porch where he had said he was going to leave the tent for me, I found a letter (see pictures.) Not only had he left me the tent, he had also left me an 80-liter pack AND a sleeping pad!
Then today I went to eat breakfast with my grandma and grandpa. After we got finished eating, I was near the Virginia line. Needing gas, I went across the line to get it a little cheaper! While eating breakfast I was telling Dad how I really needed a new pair of shoes that would last me a year. He knew that “Hill’s Shoes” was near where we were getting gas, so we decided to stop there. Todd Hill, the owner of the store and a great Christian man who I knew from my days of playing middle school basketball, was helping me find what I needed. We had a great conversation about The World Race and his mission trip to Belize. After we chose the shoes I needed and I went to check out, I asked him if there were any great Black Friday deals. He looked at me and said, “How about I just give them to you for your trip?”
As my leave date draws closer, the reality of everything that I am leaving at home is beginning to really sink in. Seeing the relationships that I am leaving here and knowing the effects that me being gone is going to have has really been weighing on my mind. The enemy has started putting serious doubts in my mind about being 23 years old and not starting yet in a job that I am going to retire from. I have always been a person who has his life planned out. Taking this year to drop everything to follow a calling that God laid on my heart was starting to not even sound that smart to me! So God has really used today’s experiences and others such as them to constantly reassure me that I am doing exactly what He wants me to do. Seeing God show up through everyone who is supporting me has definitely given me an assurance that God’s plan is much better than mine, and that in Him is where true life is found.
