Already my insides are churning. My eyes are filled with tears as a
result of so many different emotions. 1) Gratitude to GOD for this
amazing year. 2) All of the people I have met along the way that I have
fallen in love with and miss. 3) Thinking of this season of life coming
to an end. 4)Thinking of the amazing brothers and sisters in Christ God
has placed in my life that I can’t imagine not waking up to, eating
with, working with, falling asleep with EVERY day. 5) Excitement for
getting to see my family and friends back home.
6) Excitement for what’s next in my life.
“beginning” despite what others said. I started my life back home, and
this is just a year out of my life, and after 11 months I would go home
to the rest of my life. But I realize now that it IS a beginning. This is the beginning of a new way of life and a life I want to lead.
life full of so many possibilities. I have seen so much, I have tasted
so much, I have adapted to so much, it feels as though nothing is
impossible. I have big dreams. I know I am young and one may say I am
“naive” because I haven’t dealt with all the hardships and realities of
life. But I have seen so many people’s realities all across the world.
I know there is disappointment, dreams unreached, pain, and
“limitations.”
service and self discovery around the world, but I am so glad He did.
There have been my moments, very seldomly, where I thought I just can’t
wait to be home, but for the most part, on a daily basis I find myself
thinking, “I can’t believe this is MY life!”
I mean, who gets to do this?! Who goes to 5 different countries in less
than a week? Who skydives in Turkey? Who rides camels in Israel? Who
rafts the Nile? Who swims under waterfalls in Thailand? Who sweats and
sweats under a mosquito net that won’t get off your feet in Tanzania,
laughing, while your teammate is commanding all the mosquitoes to die?
Who sits under trees with Africans telling them about the LOVE of Jesus?
I have cried with a Tanzanian man in my arms who just lost his wife to
AIDS. I have cried with Thai women inmates over the redemption and love
of Jesus. I have cried with Romanian gypsies over saying goodbye. I
have cried with parents of sick and dying children in Africa.
I have danced with the Irish, Gypsies, Croatians, Turks, Kenyans, Ugandans, Tanzanians, Thais.
I have laughed with children all over the world.
Peeing on my feet is normal. I don’t mind it when I drop my soap on the
dirt ground in Africa because it has just become a much needed
exfoliator. It’s raining???…perfect, I can go shave my legs. You need
me to give a word of encouragement and a message to the people in this
over crowded African hospital ward? Ok.
To be honest, I don’t want this trip to end. One thing I have learned
about myself is that I am not good at goodbyes. Each country I have
left, I left balling. I know that I love to love, and with that comes
tears and heartache in saying goodbye to the ones I have fallen in love
with. And the last one, 2 months from now, is going to be the hardest.
Because throughout all of the other goodbyes I have had to deal with, I
have had my teammates by my side, holding me and loving me. But the
people I have fallen in love with the most along this journey is who I
have to say goodbye to in just 2 short months.
but I fully intend to listen and obey my Father, wherever that leads
me. God has asked me to surrender EVERYTHING to Him. My hopes, my
dreams, my family, my relationships, my future husband, everything. I
will go where He says go. I will say what He tells me to say. I am sold
out for Jesus. He is my everything.
