Ministry Update:
I leave for launch in TWO DAYS! My squad will spend a couple more days for training in Georgia, and then we will leave for India. My team will be living and working with 2 other teams doing village ministry outside of Hyderabad. This means we will be praying for people/families, building churches, poverty relief, and preaching. I am excited for the opportunity to bond with more teams and to start our first month together! We have been told to be ready with our testimonies and to prepare to speak at churches. While this is an area that intimidates me, I know that it will be an amazing month of growth and new things. Please join me in prayer for my squad’s travel and ministries and for India!
Goodbyes are bittersweet. They signal the ending of something-often times, something good. But they also are the start and promise of something new. While the things that are ending can be hard to leave, you can’t have the new beginnings and growth without leaving something behind.
Some people think about the goodbyes long before they start. For me, I tend to not think about them much in advance, and then before I know it, there they are and off I go with an awkward hug and a “see ya later.”
The past couple of years have been full of transitions. Whether it be transitioning from school to doing ministry in new communities , to back to school, transitioning to teaching and living on my own, or transitioning into new classrooms, I feel like I’ve said my fair share of “see ya laters.”
Ironically, the goodbyes only seem to get harder over the years instead of easier. I think this is due to the teaching and growing process that God has led me through in really learning to dive into places and relationships. In the past few years, he’s shown me how to see the beauty in individual communities, how to seek out relationships, how to really fight for and invest in people, and how to really and truly get to know others authentically and let them do the same with me. While this makes saying goodbye more difficult, it has led to some of the most influential relationships and has broadened my sense of “home.”
For this season, saying goodbye means leaving some places and people that I won’t return to permanently at all, as well as places and people who I will continue to see regularly upon returning. In saying bye, I’ve left a small town that I’ve spent the last 2 years in. A town that I walked into seeing as a temporary place that turned into a home thanks to the people who welcomed me with open arms. It means saying goodbye to my 7 students that I’ve spent the semester getting to know, challenging, and loving and to a church family who has been nothing but encouraging in this journey. It means leaving friends and family and the privilege of seeing and talking to them daily. It means leaving the comforts of home and having things right at my fingertips. It means giving up the possibility of returning to a community of people that have come to have my heart, for at least this year. It means missing out on the important events in your life this next year.
While this season is requiring a lot of goodbyes and sacrifice, it is also one of many “hellos.” I’ll be saying “hello” to living and working with 53 of some of the most incredible people. To learning about different cultures. To creating space to get to know others and their stories. To pushing limits and defying my comfort zone. To living life with less “stuff” but more meaning. To following Abba Father with abandon and to run where he leads.
While I’m looking forward to these hellos with eager anticipation, it is the goodbyes I’ve been reflecting on. And although they seem to be getting harder with each passing year, my prayer is that they don’t ever become easy. I’m saying “good bye” now, but will also continue to do so each month as I leave countries and people that I’ll have come to love. My prayer is that it hurts every time. Because if that is the case, it means that I’ve given my all in that country and season. That I’ve invested and been invested in. That I’ve fought to get to know people and that I’ve truly let them get to know me as well. That I’ve grown and that I’ve continued to let God make room in my heart for more people. I don’t want to enter each country with hesitation, reluctance, or leave unchanged. I want to enter each country with heart filled by God, a learning spirit, and I want to be intentional in knowing those around me and passionately living and loving so that by the end of the month, I’ve spent it all in that place and with those people so that it truly has to be God filling me up for the next month. Ministry is relationships, and if I do it right, I’ll be saying a lot of hard goodbyes over this next year and it’ll be so worth it.
That being said, the goodbyes over the last week and the ones over the next 2 days are so bittersweet. Friends and family, you have been so encouraging and a huge blessing as I’ve been preparing for this trip. You all have provided so much support- financially, emotionally, and prayerfully. I would not be able to fulfill this call without it! So thank you, thank you, thank you! I cannot wait to share stories with you over this next year about all that God is doing, and I expect updates on your lives as well, so please keep in touch over what’s app, this blog, or email. I cannot wait to hug you all at the end of these 11 months, but for now I leave you with a hug and a “see ya later!”
“What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? – it’s the too-huge world vaulting us, and it’s good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.” Jack Kerouac, On the Road
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Some funds are still processing, but I am only $1,782 away from being FULLY FUNDED. Your support has been phenomenal and I cannot thank you enough. If you’d like to partner with me in this mission financially, click DONATE. I’d love to be fully funded before I leave for India next week, so that I can fully focus and engage in ministry on the field!
