Quick update.
Launch is over and we’re officially on the Race! Our team made it to Orlando and has been hunkered down since about 730 this morning. Some of us have been resting while others are out and about trying to keep loose (or keep sane…both are plausible). The flight for Paris leaves the gate at 11pm this evening, so we’ll have to stay in and around the airport until then. We’ll be landing in Paris tomorrow around 1:30pm their time (6:30am CST).
Training this week has been exhausting, but we’ll need to utilize every bit of it right out of the gate. We’re excited to meet that challenge, though.
Firstly though, I just want to reflect on the weekend before launch.
That weekend, without a doubt, was the hardest weekend I’ve ever experienced. Ever. I didn’t want to say goodbyes to anybody. At times I almost felt like I was literally abandoning the people I loved. (I know that isn’t true but when you know your life is about to be flipped upside down and you’re leaving everything you’ve ever known, you can’t really control what your mind throws at you…at least I couldn’t.)
The night before launch, in the midst of those painful goodbyes, my closest friends and family handed me a large stack of letters, one for EVERY WEEK I would be gone….
EVERY. WEEK.
Are you kidding me?!
I lost it lying in my bed that night. I cannot possibly express my fullest gratitude for that gift. I still have no idea what to think. If any of my friends and family are reading this post, I love ya’ll so so much.
The next morning, I had the chance to spend a little more time with my brother since we both had to be at the airport extremely early for our flights (he was flying back to school). So, after barely any sleep at all, my brother and I drove to DFW at 3am…That was the first time I’ve ever cried in an airport terminal (never thought that would happen). We were only two gates apart. Gosh I love my brother.
Then finally, this past Saturday in Atlanta, I said my final goodbye to my parents…..
Alright I have to stop. I don’t really want to cry in an airport again.
For those who I haven’t really told, you’re probably wondering why Paris is our first stop. Well, it’s funny because France is usually never an option for a WR team due to the relatively steep costs of living there (especially in Paris). However, the Lord had other plans. This will undoubtedly be one of our toughest tests of the Race financially, but we’ll make it work.
But missionally, why Paris? Well, since 2015, due to the increasingly violent and complicated civil war in Syria and the strong presence and offensive of Islamic State fighters, civilians (mostly Sunni Muslim) from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, North Africa and other Western Asian and Middle Eastern areas (some of which are not plagued with conflict) began moving into Europe to seek refuge from their home countries. Initially, Britain made public their intention of welcoming and retaining many of these refugees, and because of this France opened up its borders NOT to permanently house them, but to simply be a “pass-through” for the UK. Then suddenly, after a large number of refugees pushed to northern France expecting to cross the English Channel at the french town of Calais, Britain reversed its stance and only took in a few hundred refugee children…and that was it. France is now stuck. After this, Paris began seeing a large increase in refugee population, mostly concentrated around an area called Porte de la Chapelle.
So that’s where we’ll be for 24 days.
Our job is to love and share the Source of Love. Our job is to live and breathe His “kingdom” everywhere we go. Our job is to illuminate the dark. Our job is to show them they have a good Father.
The Race is on.
Love all of you dearly, may the Lord bless and keep you close to Him.
-Bradley
