Hey everybody! It has, once again, been a while. It’s funny, I thought that once I got back into the United States, the land where Internet is plentiful and fast, I would be back on a good blogging schedule. But I guess it’s hard to get into a habit of doing something when you have so many other distractions jumping in front of your face.
Today has started off a good one, having come to a coffee house in downtown Gainesville to get some work done. This has been my first real week working at Adventures in Missions as an Apprentice for the World Race Training Program. And so far it looks like this will be a good 6 months!
I’m already sending packages, summarizing evaluations, researching facilities in Europe for next years Awakening event, and of course, taking down tents. We just finished up a week and a half of Training Camp for M and N Squads, leaving in January, 2010 for their very own World Race experiences. And what a blessing it was to be a part of their training program. (more on that in a later blog)
Re-entering the U.S. after my World Race trip was, for lack of better words, interesting. I felt lost in a dream, as if everything was just a play of my imagination. Someone would be speaking to me, maybe praying, maybe showing their delight that I am home safe, or asking about my trip, and I would just stare at their faces, unsure if they actually existed. “Am I actually here? Or am I sleeping on a pink couch in Eldoret, Kenya, having only been on The World Race for three months?” There were times I would be in conversations with my mother at home, or eating dinner, and I would be staring off into space:
“Braedon? Helloooo? You there?”
“What? Oh, sorry, Mom. I was in Eastern Europe for a little bit there…”
Fortunately I had some people to call up who would understand what I was going through- my team. I spoke to Cindy Flores, an amazing woman of God, who would prophecy over me on the phone, encourage me just with a single word. But as we conversed and laughed about the little things we were learning about living in the U.S., like flushing TP, or driving, speaking to real English-speakers, there was something familiar I heard in our voices… It was that same distance I heard in my own voice when I spoke to my friends and family about the trip. We weren’t completely back from all of the countries we had visited in the past year. In fact, I’m realizing that every time we left a country, we left a little bit of ourselves in those places, from the first to the last, from The Philippines to Nicaragua. Our hearts and minds still work and function in those time zones, those languages, those currencies, those foods, those people. I left my heart in the nations.
There were times I felt like it was difficult for my heart to break for the places we were in. But I’m now realizing that, because I had the Love of The Father in me for each one of the people I met on The World Race, my heart didn’t just break for them, but the pieces were left with each of those people.
What I plan to do is give you guys a glimpse at those places, once again, and where my heart still exists and beats, even to this day. We are going to revisit each of the eleven locations God sent me to during my eleven month excursion in order that we might get a better idea of what The Lord is doing in each of those places. You see, during my trip, I could only see my experience from one point of view, 
and when every single day is sensory overload, it’s hard to really see what God is doing in the midst of all the chaos. So going back and processing the things I’ve seen, heard, and experienced, we might see new things that Jesus has done that we didn’t get to see the first time around. This time, we’re going to take this journey together- you, me, The Father- travelling the world together. I know we don’t have the plane tickets, and we all have our jobs and families to tend to (I have a job!) , but this will be a good way to get all of our hearts following the footsteps of The Holy Spirit.
Stay tuned for more blogs, including my account of the Training Camp experience, Life in Gainesville, GA, and my time in Manila, Philippines (I’m going to try to revisit countries during their respective months I visited them i.e. Philippines: October, China: November, Kenya: December, etc. however, I got a slow start on this months, so I will be getting The Philippines and China out during the month of November).
Thank you again for all of the support you have all given in the past year. You have taken this trip with me and you deserve to experience all of the joys of God’s Heart for His people around the World.
Thanks for reading.
