on august 31st i left home to come down to gainesville, georgia for training. the flight (which i was a tiny bit nervous about due to the recent end-of-the-month flight delays/cancellations) went perfectly. the one snag i did hit, however, was that my pack did not make it to georgia.
my immediate reaction? “no problem. i can improvise with the best of ‘em.” or so i thought.
i had had a bad feeling about turning my pack over in minneapolis, so my stomach kinda dropped when it wasn’t there in atlana. when it still hadn’t shown up the next day, i panicked a little. by day three, i knew it was gone…and tears ensued. i was focusing on the fact that i had reduced my “worldly” possessions from a house down to a select few items that seemed necessary for a one-year adventure. as if that wasn’t bad enough, i then moved my focus onto the fact that even that small selection of “prized” possessions was now gone. nice progression, huh?
fortunately, once i got the tears out, i was over the whole thing. i realized it really was just a pack full of “things” and that only a few of those things had memories attached to them couldn’t be replaced: el salvador shirt (first mission trip), sneakers (first triathlon & el salvador), a beautiful yellow skirt (gift from a dear friend) and a shirt my mom gave me for Christmas last year. but ya know what? all but one of these things has already been replaced either with something someone sent or something new…and soon enough even that one last thing will be replaced at just the right time.
so instead of having a pack full of boring old stuff, i have a pack full of really cool stuff that all has a story to it. losing my pack allowed me to create relationships i may or may not have formed otherwise…and those that were formed are so special.
also – extra special, gynormous THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOUs go out to everyone that was praying with me as well as…
burrowmeister (otherwise known as sarah): my princess in shining armour for donating pjs, sneaks and clothes
nancy & connie: these two amazing women pulled together an entire backpack full of goodies for me to wear. not only that, but then connie gifted me with a pair of the pants from the bag. they are heavenly (no, they seriously are…), and i had grown quite attached to them. i kept going back and forth between working up the nerve to ask her where she got them and working up the courage to see if she maybe didn’t want them anymore and would just possibly want to “donate” them to me permanently. so you can imagine my excitement when, even tho she said she loved them she, with the promise of praying for her every time i wash them (she was joking, but i am totally serious about it and pray for her every time i wear them), she said i could have them! i was so excited i did a happy dance on the spot!
jerry, laura and annette: with their help, i didn’t miss a single minute of training! they were on the phone with the airline on my behalf. then annette, in response to my prayer request email, replied back to me that she knew someone at the airline. she contacted him, and he has been an incredible blessing! he was able to make the entire process work. and to think…i almost didn’t send the prayer request email because i thought i was over-reacting.
honestly, everything is going much better in this situation than i could have asked for. losing my pack could have been a huge stumbling block but instead ended up being the most real, raw example of what this trip is all about: living simply, coming together as a community, and building relationships.
yet another sign that God’s plan rarely looks like the one we have planned out…and it always turns out better than the one we planned.
