twenty four days.
I remember one specific moment in my room senior year at Azusa Pacific where I looked at my roommate Hannah as I realized the start of the new month. Fall had begun and October was welcoming in the holidays and cuddly sweaters. I knew that my send off date would be around this time in 2017 and I looked up at her and said, "Wow! I'll probably be moving out of the country in a year". I didn't know where or exactly when, but I was excited.
Now here I am a year later with twenty four more days until I head on my flight with 10x more of that anticipation. I sense such a significance in these next twenty four days. Just as significant as the twenty four hours that made up the day I felt called into the mission field in South Africa, and just as significant as the twenty four months that I will spend overseas.
I want to thank all of you for being apart of this process. Some have joined my team in the past couple of weeks by you giving me your email. Some of you have been there for numerous years as I sat in your homes and processed that I want to do this work. Every single one of you is significant in my story and the story of what God is doing so thank you!
I actually just was officially released a couple of days ago. That means that all my paperwork, fundraising, and flights are in. Basically - I am going! I had a little bit of a scare with some fundraising as you saw in my last 2 emails, but the Lord made a way and helped me through that!
People keep on asking my how I am feeling! Let me give you a brief and simple update. I am feeling EVERYTHING! I am excited to go but not excited to leave (if that makes sense). As I said before, I have been waiting for this for a year so I am ready to head over there. But at the same time, this summer has been so amazing for me. My church has fully embraced me and loved me so well and its hard to think that I will be leaving that community. And don't even get me started on leaving my dad at the airport. . .instant tears every time!
But I trust! I trust in the way the Lord has been strengthening me. Sometimes I don't feel like I am capable of doing this, but God used a lot of 'unlikelies' and they ended up in the famous 66 library so I'm feeling aiiiight.
The biggest thing God has been teaching me lately is the value of being a learner. I have always been an activator and a leader and sometimes that means that I don't sit down to listen and take in the things around me. In the stillness and the silence I have been able to grow. I'm finding myself reading books, studying the Bible, and listening to podcasts with an intent to listen and hear the interpretations and understandings around me. In that, God's revealed so much of His understanding to me and I am on a 6th grade church camp last night of worship high (can I get an amen?)!
Now to some more good stuff. . .
- Some of you have been asking about my communication while I am out there. Yes, I will be able to Skype, FaceTime, Text (all the things). I will be receiving a new number when I get there, so if you are to contact me, first email me and I will send you over my phone number.
- If you would like to talk to me over the phone, there is an attachment on here that lists out safe words to use for some common religious lingo. Please review that for safety precautions!
- Due to the regularity of my newsletters being sent at the beginning of the month, you will not see my next newsletter until the end of November. So expect the next one to be sent out in a little over a month and a half!
- As a challenge for myself, I will not be in contact with friends and family for the first two months. I am doing this as a way to focus on making my community out there my home. It doesn't mean that I will not be happy to receive texts, but my main focus is to be out there making my team my people (which I heard won't be hard to do for this lovely team).
Thank you for all of your love and support!
Prayer Requests:
- Fear: I have been feeling a lot of fear lately with this move as well as the state of the world. With all that is going on with the hurricanes and the shooting in Las Vegas, the enemy has gripped on my fear and hope. Please pray for that to end and for me and my team to walk into this journey with confidence.
- If you would like a prayer card let me know and I will send one to you!!