"Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." Galatians 6:10 (NIV)
The past couple weeks have been full of so many emotions and so much to do. I have been at home in Saint Louis since I have left Tulsa. When I first got back I was really sad because I had to say goodbye to so many people. At the same time, I was excited because I got to see my family and friends that I hadn’t seen in months. The first week I was back I spoke at my church about my trip and people in my church graciously donated $1200 for my trip. The next week I had a garage sale where I raised just over $1000 for my trip. Some people came to my garage sale not even looking to buy things, they just knew we were raising money for missions and they wanted to support me. I also had tons of help from my family and church. With them helping the garage sale wasn't work as much as it was fun.
The next week my mom and I welcomed a lady from our church into our home. Her name is Margaret and she is a wonderful woman from Kenya who is studying at the seminary in our town. She is a wonderful person to be around and loves God so much.
Then, this past weekend my mom and I went to Indiana to visit my grandparents and the rest of our family. We had a cookout at our cabin where I learned to play horse shoes and brought me and my Aunt Sharon victory by getting a double leaner (worth 4 points). I was pretty excited about this win considering the fact that I have never played horse shoes before.
We got back from Indiana yesterday afternoon and I went to have dinner at my Aunt Jeanine’s house and see my dad and his family. When I got back I saw a man in my yard putting up a sign. When I got closer I realized there were flamingos all over my yard with a sign that said “Good Luck World Racer.” The youth group at my church flamingoed my yard! I was so excited to see it. It was such a huge surprise.
These past couple weeks have been so busy that sometimes I lose track of what I need to do first or what I want to do. There have been moments that I wanted to run away from all the stuff I need to do to get ready. But then I get the moments where I spend time with people I love and I feel the support they are giving me. God has blessed me with wonderful people in my life wherever I have been. I have always had people supporting me. That is what the church is. That is why God created us as creatures that want to be around other people. A song I've sung in church before says “a church is not a building, a church is not a steeple, a church is not a resting place, a church is a people.” In Jesus’ time, if someone said I’m going to church I think most people would be confused because they would wonder which person of the church you were talking about. We are all the church and even when I am not with the people I have been supported by all my life we are still united because we all have been blessed by the same God and have the same Holy Spirit working through us.
