I am not good at talking about my emotions, so please bear with me as I seek to articulate and process through my first round of saying goodbye.
This past week was a gift from God. I had originally planned to make my goodbye trip to Huntington University over Homecoming weekend at the beginning of October. This plan, however, was disrupted when I found out that the six weeks of training I have prior to leaving for the field was going to start the Saturday of Homecoming. Due to this conflict in scheduling, my trip to Huntington was moved up two weeks. Because of this, I was able to not only attend a praise and worship chapel, but also ended up being in town the same weekend as one of my friends who lives in Texas now.
It was definitely a week of mixed emotions. Stories were told, memories and laughs were shared, wisdom was passed on, encouragement and prayers were offered, and I left with more reading material than I came with. Seeing many of the people who have invested in me over the past four years at college and helped shape me into the man I am today was definitely bittersweet. I am so excited for where God is leading me and for the relationships and opportunities to share His love that He will present me with in East Africa, but at the same time, I grieve for all the relationships that I leave here and all the milestones in my friends’ lives that I will miss. I know that, while time will change these relationships and some may fade, others will be maintained and picked up once again when reunited.
This brought me back to a truth that God revealed to me before leaving for PRIME last year. The truth is that, while we may be separated geographically by many miles, we are still united as the Church, and we have the privilege and ability to enter into the presences of God together and present our requests to Him through the Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
Prayer Requests:
- Safe travels to training in two weeks
- That I would be intentional about building rhythms and practices into my life that will deepen my relationship with God and be transferable to the field
- Visa application
Praises:
- A great week with friends and mentors
- I purchased my plane ticket
- God is moving around the world to make His name known, and we get to be a part of it!