God has gifted me with friends, people who surround me in encouragement and love. God gave me family, people who know me better than most and can give me well studied advice.
These weeks feel like God is going "And here, have this blessing from these people, and, oh, a wonderful conversation here, and maybe a stronger friendship bond with these people, and a bucket of encouragement for all."
Building a support team sounded easy at first because I know people who love me. Getting into it was uncomfortable and not terribly fun asking for money and prayers. Looking back on these last weeks, I kick myself for seemingly needing support raising as the excuse to hangout with friends. But, wow, has it been fantastic. Even through the seriously uncomfortable awkward (and I actually like awkward) I know God is preparing me to be in the field, to have awkward conversations about Christ (those conversations are soooo good, but man, are they hard to start). Every lesson that I learn in this time before leaving for Asia I know will be applied to my work there.
As I finish this post, I cannot tell or show you how many times "thank you" came into my stream of thoughts as I wrote the above. Try every other word, sometimes multiple times between two words. "Thank you" is aimed first and foremost at God, then at my family and friends. I do not even know all that I am thankful for. I guess for starters is the chance to God's love around the world. Yep, thank you, God, for that.