On Saturday, September 7th, I said goodbye to everyone and everything back home in the United States. This past weekend I have been in a hotel right next to the Atlanta Airport with my squad preparing for our journey ahead in an event that we call Launch.
For a long time now I have tried to mentally prepare myself for all of the goodbyes that I was going to have to make. As a guy, saying goodbye to friends has been by far the easiest. Saying goodbye to personal things such as having my own room, a comfortable bed, and access to food whenever I want was a little harder, haha. But at this point I’ve already gotten over it (as I should). Lastly, my family was pretty hard. I have to give a lot of credit to my parents for making it a lot easier to say goodbye to them because they did a very good job of constraining their emotions. That really made things easier.
During one of our sessions at Launch, one of my discipleship leaders said that this trip isn’t about what we want to do. That really stuck with me because I have lived most of my life doing what I wanted to do. God has given me a sense of peace in this and showed me that by doing what he wants me to do, I can become much stronger in my faith, and become a better man of God.
I am currently on a bus headed to Washington DC. From there my squad and I will catch a flight to Qatar, and from there another flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. We will then get on a bus and go on our way to our destination, Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa.
I am thrilled to see what God has in store for my squad and I over these next few days as we travel to South Africa. I am at peace knowing that God is in control and no matter how bad of a situation I find myself in, that it is his plan and is for the greater good.
Thank you all for the prayers and support you guys have given me over the past couple of days! It has been hard but the excitement trumps it all! God Bless!
