This is my first full week of ministry for World Race America, and I cannot wait to tell you all everything about it so stick with me.
Launch was from 1/9/20 to 1/12/20 and what an experience it was. This is a time full of preparation for the journey ahead. A lot of training goes into leaving for the mission field both personal and community wise. Launch was truly a very difficult road for me to travel. From having feelings of pure excitement to get this show on the road, to having the hardships of saying goodbye, feeling far behind due to not being at training camp for the full time, while also dealing with the fear of all these emotions causing me to become to overwhelmed. However, Launch was a period of four days where I saw so much growth in myself. I stepped outside of my comfort zone of home, which was a much larger deal than I expected it to be. The feeling of being completely alone due to not truly knowing my squad while I was trying to work through all of these emotions was such a feeling of abandonment. I learned it was totally okay to cry, which is still a revelation I am dealing with on a daily basis. Not that my family ever made me feel that it was not allowed, but more of society’s opinions. I have always been told crying and emotions are okay, but I have never been a huge crier until the World Race. Which apparently happens more than you would imagine. The running joke was I could literally flood the earth with my tears (thanks Susan). I also learned so much about the Bible that I never had been taught before, and I am sorting out how to begin to grow into these new spiritual developments that I never thought existed until now. I am lucky to have such an amazing support system here that wants me to grow in my faith so that I can thrive to the highest of my ability, while having the best people standing behind me at home prepared to help in any way they can. Honestly, I have more questions than I would have ever imagined. That is what is fascinating about the Bible though, right? There is always more to know, and always more ways to grow our knowledge.
Our first few days here we partnered with Camp Highland in Ellijay, GA. (Camp Highland Weblink) We were able to actually stay on campus there and enjoy the North Georgia mountains. While there we basically assisted with any type of odd job needed. For example, we braved bear country in order to assist with the clean-up of the side of a mountain where the bears had decided to eat out of the garbage bins. This was quite the experience. I literally ended up doing a split on the side of the hill before crashing into the Georgia clay. We will be having a good laugh about that for a good while. We also were able to assist with cleaning up the bunk houses that the kids stay in all summer, which reminded me so very much of 4H camp up in Southside. We spent a good amount of time getting to simply sit and fellowship with the workers who spend so much time there taking care and preparing the camp for the summer season. I know God knew that I needed a little taste of home, and home has always been in the mountains. He knew exactly what I needed to be able to rejuvenate myself and be prepared for what the next few days had in
On Thursday we took off for MUST Ministries, which wow is all I can say. This particular ministry did so many things, I was truly surprised by the amount of different areas they have expertise in. In the spirit of me not being able to fully explain everything they are and stand for, I am going to be a hyperlink to their website MUST . We had the opportunity here to work with the staff on separating toys from their annual toy shop, which reminds me so much of a local cause back home called Toys for Kids, which I have had the honor to help with. God truly wanted me to feel at home my first few days on the field, and I have no doubt that is why he placed us within these ministry partners for our first three days on the field.
Friday we went to work with the Atlanta City Mission (Atlanta City Mission Weblink) working at a local shelter but also got the chance to hit the streets of downtown Atlanta and pass out blessing bags to homeless men and women. We got to sit and chat with them not only hearing of their stories but getting to evangelize with them about Jesus. This experience really rocked my core all the way through. Coming from a small town we do not see homeless quite on a scale such as this is. I do not want to say I was blind to the matter, but my eyes were definitely opened to a portion. That is simply what breaks my heart. This is something we unfortunately expect when we visit other countries around the world, but it is time to wake up, this is right here in our backyard. And guess what? They are loved and cherished by God, just as you and I are. I look forward to being able to help more with this system in future states, but also back home.
This has been one of the wildest, hardest, but most filled weeks of my life to date, by far. But is that not the fun of being a full time missionary?
