Almost always sporting a camera and a smile my previous team leader Emily Gironimi is the subject of my first spotlight blog. Emily loves to make memories and pursue the Lord with everything she has. Leaving her dream job as a labor and delivery nurse behind to take a year of surrender to the Lord, Emily packed her bags for the race with an open heart and open hands to what this season would hold.
Having spent six months of my race on the same team as Em I have come to love sharing stories and laughs with this beautiful woman. One of my favorite memories of Emily was when we were in Nepal waiting to travel to the unreached village in the mountains. The five girls on our team Lumos were living at our Pastor's house and Emily was sitting on a mattress that was essentially plywood covered by a blanket, when she calmly announced that we need not be alarmed but there was a dinosaur behind her on the bookcase. All of us screamed as we saw the giant cockroach perched atop a book and thankfully our "mom" came and disposed of the nuisance. We burst into laughter at our outrageous reaction to a cockroach but it definitely scared us and speaks to Em's literal, dry humor.
Her calm and regal composure was able to bring us peace in the middle of many storms throughout the year, her wisdom and grace has brought comfort to me on a daily basis, and her energetic and fun personality brings about some of the most fun and exciting moments from this year (Christmas in CamBROdia in July?!).
Emily loves people really well. She loves with everything she has, she gets emotionally invested in the hearts of those on her team and she is one of my closest friends. We have joked about plans to live together after the race (I honestly hope they come true) and we have prayed and cried together, held babies as they peed on us together and shared MANY LAUGHS.
One of the least recognized people on our squad Emily has received this spotlight blog for her love, grace, and laughter that she has shared with our squad. I miss her as my team leader but I know that God is doing huge things through her on her new team.
I will never forget her bravery in Nepal as she jumped head first off a bridge shouting her coined nickname "GERONIMO" free falling over a canyon only to be caught by a bungy dangling upside down. This fearless and relentless spirit is what has led her to surrender everything to the Lord countless times in her life and is an example to all and I am so thankful for her.
I love you Em. Thanks for the snuggles, the gifts, and the laughs.
Geronimo!
xoxo
