This is Jess. Jess and I were unfortunately never on a team together but that didn’t stop us from forming a friendship that I cherish dearly. Jess is one of the most amazing people I know. She also happens to be one of the most interesting. I was talking to my friends about her and they specifically asked me to write a blog about her because she seemed so interesting. So, here it is.
Jess and I got to know each other during month 2 of our race. Nicaragua was an all squad month and that meant we actually had a chance to be around each other. We ended up rooming together, though she hardly ever slept in the room. One night I shared a portion of my testimony during a worship session and Jess really connected with it. She talked to me after and told me that she wanted to share her testimony with me. I was so pumped, because I love testimonies. However, this was even more special because she was sharing it with me first. She had yet to share her story with her team. I not only got to hear her story (and man it was powerful) but I also got to encourage her to share it with her teammates. This moment formed a bond that created a unique friendship that lasted the rest of the race and beyond.
Jess is one of the most interesting people I have ever met. She is hard-working. She worked 3 jobs while getting ready to leave for the race. One of those jobs was grave digging. (See what I mean a bout interesting!) She is a free spirit. Jess loves adventure and is always on the go. Loving her well is going with her. Jess is strong. She can overcome so much. I watched her do it this last year. I saw her step up and grow into the leader the Lord was calling her to be. In South Africa I remember a conversation we had. Jess was growing so much in her faith and the Lord was laying things on her heart that she wanted to change. I got to watch her take ownership of those things and create change in herself and her community. I also got to watch her get baptized in the ocean that same month.
She loves slides. While most everyone else had chacos or tevas as their shoe of choice, Jess wore slides. No matter the occasion you could count on her to be wearing those shoes. Jess is also deaf. One of my favorite memories of her was when I was able to witness her using sign language to communicate with a deaf family in Malaysia. I saw this family come to life and get so excited that she was able to talk with them. She could reach people that most of us never could. It was incredible to see.
I could keep going about Jess but I’ll leave you with this last little bit about what makes Jess so unique. Jess loves people. She always has time to play with a child or sit and talk with the homeless person. It doesn’t matter who they are. It doesn’t matter what anyone might think. She loves with her whole heart at all times. I’ve seen her play ball with a child in a store while the rest of us shop. I’ve heard about her having dinner in the park with a man who had just gotten out of jail. She embodies the love of Christ. She sees people through His eyes and its one of the things I admire most about her. I know all these things about her without having the privilege of spending everyday with her on one of my teams. I guess they knew we would cause too much trouble if left alone unsupervised. Jess is like a little sister to me and I’m so grateful for our friendship.
