I have a bit of an update for all of you. It’s been about a month since you last heard from me, and so much has happened!
I’ll start with my month at home in Northern Virginia. The highlights:
- I was able to attend my home church (Cedar Run Community Church, Herndon VA) on the first Sunday I was back in the States! What I didn’t know was that my mom and my sister had arranged a little something and partway through the beginning of the service my sister took the stage and sang a prayer over me (cue the tears) while two giant projection screens flashed images from my blog that I’d captured in the 11 nations I was privileged to visit this year (open the floodgates).
- I got to visit my favorite park in the world: Dollywood!! I spent the summer of 2010 working at Dollywood as part of Discipleship Focus, a program that pushed me to the Word and sparked rapid growth in my relationship with the Lord. Visiting Dollywood also meant visiting some of my very dearest friends in Tennessee!
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I was able to spend an entire week with my family: mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, niece, nephews (I have TWO of those now!!), and brother – as well as some extended family (Thanks for being there Nana, Opa, Ellen Marie, Aunt Pam, Uncle Ward, and Sean!!)
I don’t think words can express how healing it can be to just be around people you love – to hear their laughs and wake up to nieces and nephews jumping in your bed asking what you’re doing at 7am at the beach (the answer was sleeping…until the question was asked, of course).
Oh, and I found an elk in Tennessee:
being at home,
being with my friends and family,
being in the congregation worshiping with my home church,
being still,
being at rest.
In those ways, my "month 12" was blissful.
I kept waiting for the moment that I would lose my cool in a grocery store or break down over how much extra space there was in my bed now that I don't live with 42 friends, but that break down has not happened and I’m not positive it will any time soon…
Turns out I actually like sleeping in my own bed still, even after the world race.
There were things about being home that stood out to me, for sure. Things I didn’t necessarily like, but if I was culture shocked about anything, it was really how normal it felt to be back in American culture.
There’s been another major highlight, though, and it really has nothing to do with re-entry or my hometown…except that I’ve moved to Georgia!
(So long, Va!)
I began working at Adventures in Missions last week as a World Race Mobilizer. Essentially, that means I coach future racers through their preparation to get them on the field.
My days are filled with phone calls about support raising, passports, vaccinations, gear, and the spiritual and emotional implications of choosing to abandon one’s home, family, friends, job, car, pet, etc. and go to the nations for 11 months.
Oh, and I LOVE it.
This week marks 2 years from the day I started at HP. Reflecting on the experiences that job gave me and the path the Lord has walked me through, literally around the globe, to get me where I am today brings me to tears (the good kind) at least once a day. So far, I’m more grateful than I can express for this transition. I’ve only been living in Gainesville for a week, but I feel at home and I feel so much peace blanketing me – thank you, Jesus!
Now…How can you stay involved?
Working at AIM, as a non-profit, means part of my salary is support raised – which means I need to keep raising support in order to stay here and keep coaching these racers to get them on the field!
Support Needs: I need to raise somewhere around $433.00 per month. You can support me by:
-Clicking here
-Type my name (Kacie Lester) where it says “Staff Member”
-The rest is pretty self-explanatory.
Prayer Needs: Peace, that I’ll learn my job quickly in order to serve my racers at the caliber that they deserve, and that my family has peace adjusting to all the transitions going on right now.
Thank you so, so much for your continued prayer and financial support. I wish I could hug you through my blog to try to communicate just a fraction of how blessed I have been by your faithfulness.
I will be starting a new blog sometime in the next month, this new job of mine keeps me super busy 9-5 and moving is still taking over my evenings (I know, it’s weird that I don’t have buckets of extra time considering the size of the transition I'm in…not), but I do have every intention of continuing to keep you all in the loop of the adventures that the Lord is taking me on! but until then you can follow me on twitter (yay, we’re all trendy now!): @klynnlest
Love you all so much.
