We've had the last supper. I've seen my final sunset in the Philippines. My life on The World Race is rapidly coming to a close. I keep asking myself, "Where did the time go?" It is odd as it feels like just yesterday I showed up at training camp wondering what in the world I had gotten myself into.
Yet, in another sense, it seems like years ago that my parents dropped me off at the Minneapolis airport to go meet my team in New York and head for launch in Romania. It has been a whirlwind and a blur and yet in some ways seems to have stretched on for eternity.
A few weeks ago, we were discussing how many of us had seriously considered leaving the race at some point. I honestly pondered on a few occasions whether my time was best spent on the race during this last year and whether my disagreements with Adventures in Missions were enough for me to decide to leave. In the end, the draw of what I was able to do and my commitment to the teams I was part of kept me hanging around for one more month. I am so glad I did as God worked in my life and gave me an opportunity to see things that I can't learn about on television, from reading a book, or from others story. It is the thing about missions. You have to experience it to understand it. God has a huge heart for the world and I was able to see a bigger picture this year as I entered into different cultures and interacted with different people.
I am so blessed. I have had amazing teammates who have sharpened me and encouraged me. I have been to places many only dream about and have been able to impact lives along the way.
Thank you for being a part of that journey.
If you want to pray concretely, tomorrow morning we board a flight for China, then to L.A. I will stay the night Saturday and Sunday afternoon at 2pm I have a flight to Minneapolis before my final leg puts me back in Sioux Falls around 11pm Sunday night. It is an exhausting stretch of 4 flights that wears me out thinking about it. I am more concerned though as I have been battling an inner ear infection for 3 weeks and seem to have developed a giant swollen gland on the right side of my neck 2 days ago. It looks like I have mumps (or as someone pointed out like I played with iphoto and distorted my head). Flying could be incredibly miserable so you can pray that my ears do not act up, that my glands do not get worse and that I make all of my connections and am able to sleep a lot. That would be HUGE!
Thanks again and this won't be my last blog. I have half a dozen that require pictures and videos that have been too big to get posted on the internet connection I have. So, if you are looking for some entertainment, stay tuned…..
