Well This is Weird…..

     

• I still forget that I can flush toilet paper and still carry
  some back up toilet paper in my purse just in case the bathroom doesn’t have
  any.

• I am still amazed at how clean bathrooms are and that the
  toilets are western style, actually flush, have toilet paper, and soap! (A rare
  luxury on the race)

• My body is still not used to AC or ice in my drinks,
  therefore I always have a jacket with me even though I live in Florida and it is in the
  90’s outside.

• I have had a few awkward moments of starting to reach for a
  stranger’s baby to hold it, then realizing that it is not culturally appropriate in America.

• For the first few days home, I was always surprised by the
  fact that almost everyone around me spoke English. I didn’t have to play a game
  of charades just to order a meal or ask where a bathroom was, what a luxury!

• Stepping into my closet for the first time was like walking into a store, the
  variety was almost overwhelming! To actually have clothes hanging and in
  drawers and not a back pack has been amazing!

• I am excited that I get to choose what I eat for each meal,
  which will NEVER include rice…ever. Eleven months of rice will leave you never wanting
  to eat it, look at it, smell it, or even think about it.

I have enjoyed Diet Dr. Pepper, Moe’s, Chick-fiil-A, alot of
real cheese, dill pickles, fluffy towels, the smell of clean laundry fresh from
a dryer, not having to hand wash my clothes, real coffee...sometimes multiple
times a day, fast internet, my own room that I don’t have to share with six
other people, my own bed, and spending time catching up with friends.

      My emotions have been all over the place since coming home. Sometimes
I feel nothing, sometimes I am extremely excited for the future, sometimes my
anxiety about not knowing what is in my near future overwhelms me, sometimes
the amount of hurt I have seen in this world overwhelms me, sometimes the
amount of joy that I have experienced and witnessed this year brings me to my
knees in awe of our Father,….the list could go on but I think you get the idea.
I am all over the place!

 

     It is hard to even begin to put the past 11 months into
words. One thing I do know is that I am extremely blessed to have been given
this opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus in some of the darkest
places in this world. I am blessed to have seen the injustices in this world
first hand, because through my heartache I was given the smallest glimpse of
just how much our Father loves us and cares for us. I held orphans, fed the
hungry, spent time with widows, sat with families in the slums, and loved on
street kids. This year I discovered who I am in Christ and the authority I have
through Him. I experienced the Lord in ways I never dreamed possible. A fire
was ignited in the deepest part of me to be the face of Jesus to this world. My
heart was radically changed this year, and the Lord ignited a passion for long
term missions in my heart.

So now the question of what’s next….