So it’s been about a month and a
half since I landed in America
and my World Race adventures ended. Some
of you may be wondering how the transition has been. To be honest, it’s been hard at times. Not so much because of the “reverse culture
shock” issue. I mean, yeah, the first
time I walked into a Target after getting back, I did feel like Buddy the Elf when he walked through NYC the first time, but I gradually got over that. The hard part has just been the change in
lifestyle. I went from living in constant
community (AKA I was NEVER alone) to having little community. I went from constantly serving people,
constantly doing stuff to having little to do (or at least little that feels
purposeful). So yeah, this transition
has been hard. But it’s not a bad
thing. The fact that it’s hard means
that I’ve grown and learned over the last year.
I’ve even more so learned the importance of community and the need to
live in it (the early church in Acts, anybody?). It’s difficult to have a time of “doing nothing”
because I’ve seen the great needs in the world and learned God’s purpose for my
life. Yeah, I’ve learned a lot. In fact, those two items only scratch the
surface. I can go on and on about how
I’ve learned more about truly finding my identity in and being secure in
Christ, being bold and confident, using my voice for Him, etc. Which brings me to my next point…
What the heck is the next step in
my life? Well, while I may not be
completely sure about my long term plans, I do know what my immediate future
holds. Back in April, I was walking
through the streets of Kanchanaburi, Thailand
with my boy, Phillip. We were talking
about our future plans, and after I shared what I thought were mine, he says,
“You’d be a great Real Life leader.”
(Quick pause: Real Life is a
college-aged missions program though Adventures in Missions, the same
organization as the World Race.) I kinda
accepted the compliment and shrugged it off.
After all, I knew what I was doing next, and no offense to Adventures in
Missions, but it didn’t involve a second adventure with them. But for the rest of that night and for the
next couple days, the thought wouldn’t leave my mind. Don’t you hate that? You have your own plans, which are obviously
great, but God keeps reminding you of His plans. That’s what was happening here. Maybe in the long term, my plans were still
going to be reality, but first, God had something else for me. And the more I thought about it, the more I
realized His plans.
I started off this blog talking about
what I had learned. And as Real Life
continued to stay in my mind, I realized that I hadn’t learned all of these
lessons just so I could be different.
God had also given me these lessons to share with others. And Real Life is my opportunity to do just
that. So beginning in September, I will
be leaving America
again to travel with one other leader and about 10 to 20 college students to
one of the following countries: Guatemala,
Swaziland, Kenya,
Uganda, Thailand. (I’ll be finding out in a week or so which
country I will be going to.) I will be
spending about 3 ½ months in this country discipling and leading these college
students. Standing side by side with
them doing ministry but also walking through life with them. Speaking truth to them and sharing the
lessons that God has taught me and telling them what God wants them to
know.
So of course, we get to the part of
the blog that I’m sure you all love. I
need your support again. But before I
get into the details of that, I want to address one question you might have
right now. But Robby, we don’t even know
what country you’re going to yet, how can we fully support you? Great question! You see, this trip is a little different than
my World Race trip. With the World Race,
my main ministry was to the people of the country that I was currently in for
that month. With this Real Life trip, my
main ministry is going to be to the college students that I will be
leading. Yes, I will be standing next to
them ministering to the native people.
But whether I’m in Swaziland
or Thailand, my
main ministry will not change. So when
you support me, that’s the ministry that you will be supporting.
Ok, now that we got that out of the
way. How can you support me? First, as always, be praying. Be praying that I can rely on God’s strength
as I step into a scary and new role of being a leader. Pray that God will humble me as I stand in
this position. Pray that God will give
me the words to speak to the people I am leading, that I can have His heart for
these people.
Second,
of course, you were expecting it. I have
to raise money again. This time, I need
$1500 to be fully supported for the trip.
If you feel God leading you to support me financially in this way, you
can once again click the “Mind on my money, money on my mind” link on the left
side of this page to donate online through credit/debit card or bank
draft. Or you can be old-school and
write a check. To donate in this way,
make out a check to Adventures in Missions and put “For Robby Smith – Real
Life” in the memo line. You can then
mail it to
Adventures In Missions
P.O. Box 534470
Atlanta, GA 30353-4470
There is also a second way that you
can financially support me. While the
$1500 covers all of the trip related costs that I will have, I also have
“normal person” debts. Primarily, I have
student loans. Yes, in November, I will
have to start paying back the government for helping me learn all of the Child
Development theories that I will never use and frankly can’t even
remember. (Darn you, Piaget!) Shockingly, since I didn’t have a normal
person job with a normal income for the past year, my bank isn’t exactly
overflowing with the ability to pay this debt.
So your help in this way would also be greatly appreciated. If you feel led to support me financially in
this way, you can make out a check to Robby Smith and mail it to
Robby
Smith
306
Saltlick Trace
Peachtree
City, GA 30269
Wow, this blog is way too
long. I need to end it. So thanks again for all of the support that
you continue to give me. It blesses me
more than you could ever know.
Oh and since I am once again doing
something with Adventures in Missions, I will be keeping this current blog and
will be updating it (hopefully more often than with the World Race). So if you cancelled your email updates
because you thought it was over, get back on it!
