Hey Everyone!
I really miss talking to you all. I know I didn’t have the best wi-fi while I was overseas, but I always looked forward to writing these blogs and filling you all in. Just because the WR ended, doesn’t mean I don’t think about you amazing folks anymore! Soon I will be setting up a different blogging platform and I would love to have each one of you join me on this wild ride called life. While the race was quite a chapter in my story, God is still writing the rest of my book, and yours for that matter, so I would love it if we could continue to do this thing together because our existence is all about genuine and authentic relationships; walking through the good times and the bad times with community who CARES. We are to celebrate one another AND carry each other’s burdens.
I would love to hear from you and hear what is happening in your life. Please feel free to reach out to me via email [email protected]. If you need prayer, encouragement, support, have questions, or even just to celebrate the special moments in life, I’m here! And if you would like to follow my next blog, send me a quick little email telling me so and I will give you the address.
Well then! It’s now been four and a half months since I have been home! My mom is through her recovery, praise! My squad safely and healthily returned home two weeks ago, praise!
I can’t believe the bus to the World Race has finally parked. Just last year at this time, my squad and I were busy with fundraising and spending our last few weeks with our families before heading onto the mission field in October! With all the excitement and curiosity pumping through our veins, it just seems unreal to me that it is all over now.
TRANSPARENCY
As I’m sure you can imagine, adjusting back into society after being overseas for months at a time is quite an adjustment. I think I was able to adapt back into U.S. society pretty well because as soon as I arrived on American soil, my focus was my mother’s health. For being home for only four months I feel I have gone through many seasons. My mother’s recovery was still ministry, it just had a different face to it. During her post recovery, I went through the limbo season with trying to find a job and figuring out my future. Along with limbo came frustration and some depression…luckily I bounced out of that almost as quickly as I fell into it. Limbo is a challenging season and when God is clearly working on your patience, it’s even more challenging, haha. My current and hopefully final season, for now, is distraction. I have a job, a very good job with an amazing purpose and team! but I’m not satisfied. Every day I wake up, I have a mental battle between desiring the American Dream life, OR — moving overseas to live a simplistic life. I catch myself in so many moments thinking about my little friends from Cambodia, Malaysia, and Costa Rica; their faces forever carved in my memory.
Meet Julio
Julio and I met last October while my team and I were in Costa Rica. Julio is an art teacher at the school my team and I taught English in, in Los Guido. Our connection was truly God breathed and orchestrated. While Julio and I had a difficult time communicating because of our language barrier, our final goodbye was gut wrenching, and I knew — there was something uniquely special about him and the way I felt for him. We continued to stay in touch through messages and video calls throughout the remainder of my trip and I prayed heavily about our relationship and for God’s will and purpose in our lives. In July, Julio came to visit me and my family and I get to see him again next month in FL for my sister’s wedding. Currently, we are working on his visa so that we don’t have to be apart anymore. Some days, when I feel out of place in my country, not sure where I am going in life or what my future entails, Julio is the only thing that makes sense to me; him and my family. For the last eleven months, Julio has been such an encouragement to me. He is one of the most precious people I have ever known. He is always positive and he loves me more deeply than I could ever have hoped for in a future mate. Everyday Julio is my reminder that God has a special plan for each of our lives and that while we may never fully understand his timing, He always has a plan.
If you anyone has questions I still haven’t answered about my trip or you are curious about something, please let me know! I’d love to take some time to respond and share more about my trip, spiritual journey, you name it. I have a TON of pictures too! So I would also be happy to share those.
Love you guys!
