T-4 Days

It's been a busy few weeks.  I've been doing a lot to get ready to leave.  Nobody wants to hear about my last few days at work, it'd be a really boring story, but half of last week and the first part of this week I went on a last road trip to see some family and friends as well as meet with a couple of congregations to raise support. It was a great trip, met some really awesome people and got to see some of the best people in the world right before I leave.  But now it's time to pack.  I've always waited until the last day to pack and my thought has been, why change now?  It's always worked sooo well BUT, it's a little different this time.  I've got to decide what I need to take with me, I'm a guy so it's not an elaborate thought process, what I need to box up annnnddddddd then do it!  So I'm getting a head start today and since I am sitting here typing you can guess how far I've actually gotten with this whole packing early plan.

But really it isn't packing early.  I'm leaving October 1st, yea that's tuesday...TUESDAY!!  As in 4 days!  Plus there are things to do between now and then that have nothing to do with packing.  But this is going to happen....as soon as I get done blogging....so here I go.....to pack a little more... right now....bye bye.....oh wait I have a story first.

Ok the other day I was talking with some friends and there was one of those moments when someone says something and you immediately remember a few conversations you have had in the past with other people and you had totally forgotten about but someone sure hasn't.  So I was at Lipscomb a few years ago of course people are always asking you what you want to do with your life because hopefully by the time you are in your early 20's you have an idea what you want to do with your life.  I remember sitting with a few friends and we were just talking about that, about our majors and what we wanted to do and whether we could see each other doing that.  So I said that when I'm 25 I hope to be doing one of two things, either working as a full-time youth minister OR living and working abroad in the foreign mission field.  That's what I was telling everyone because that's what I wanted to do.  So we would talk to each other about our interest and what we hoped to do once we were where we wanted to be.  But to make a long story a little shorter, I left Lipscomb thinking a role in ministry might not be my place not because I didn't want it but because I hadn't yet graduated and there seems to be this idea that you can't ever do what you want unless you have a degree, and I didn't have a Bible degree.  After I left I even thought, well maybe I'll push that goal back.  By the age of 30 I want to be in ministry or in the mission field.  That goal eventually faded and I had forgot all about it, pressing on trying to see what else God had planned but apparently He hadn't forgotten.  I turn 26 in about 2 weeks.  I think I've said this before but a lot of things have happened in the last year that have led to this, things that tell me this is what God wants.  A few years ago I told him this is what I wanted and He started working.  I don't believe He would have made this all happen if He didn't want this too.  We just always have to trust in Him, always have a desire to serve Him and he will use you when He is ready.  Remember that when you ask something of Him, He just might do it.  He started putting things together, piece by piece to make this happen. I got chill bumps the other day when I remembered those conversations that had escaped my mind some time ago.  But He hadn't forgotten

He has formed a team, a great team.  A team of people who have a desire to see great work done in Mololoa, a team of people who have faith in Him the orchestrater of all of this and faith in me to do everything I can to make a difference for His Kingdom.  I hadn't really thought a lot about this until just the other day but everyone that has given to allow me to move to Tegucigalpa haven't given just because they love the work being done in Mololoa and know that more help is needed.  You've also given because you believe in me, you trust me, you want to see me do what you know I love.  I can't say thank you enough.  It's humbling to know that one reason so many of you have given and made this possible is because you love me.  Just know that I love each one of you as well and I can't wait to tell you all about it.  As most of you know, where I go good stories will follow.  Or rather shower heads that catch fire, or scorpions that bite you, or THE BUS LEAVING YOU AT A YOUR WORK SITE TO GO EAT LUNCH!!! They make for good stories...eventually.  But anyways, THANK YOU!! All of you for making this happen.  It's going to be amazing!!!  

.....I guess I'll get back to packing now.....

One step closer!

Ok, I have to admit that I’ve been in a relationship for a year and a half now.  Some of you know this and some of you are going to be like WHHHAAAAT???  But now as I move to Honduras I have to let her go and it’s not fun.  A year and a half ago I met her and knew immediately she was the one.  I had been looking for a few years for her and she finally came into my life.  We know everything about each other, we are like one when we are together.  She is an extension of me.  When she hurts, I hurt.  When I hurt, she makes me feel better.  She is sleek and beautiful, a sexy stallion.  She had just gotten out of a relationship when we met.  Her previous man was in the military and was being sent to Hawaii, he just couldn’t afford to bring her along…. or to ship her.  Like a knight in shining armor, I burst onto the scene and swept her off her….tires.  I cranked her up for the first time, she started to say something after a minute but I stopped her and said, “You had at VROOM!”.  But I now feel terrible, doing the same to her that the last guy did.  Leaving the country and having to leave her to start a new relationship, a new life, a new home, a new family.  We had a lot of great adventures together but now all we have are memories.  As I sit here, holding back the tears, I reminisce about our long trips together to the beautiful Keys, to the great mountains of West Virginia, and to the amazing back roads of Alabama and Tennessee.  I slept in her comfortable bucket seats and she helped me as I moved.  Oh the memories…. But I’ll be ok, the dreams of me shifting through her gears will soon subside and I’ll move on.  But it’s for her own good, at least I’m telling myself that, because she would never survive the roads of Honduras.  It has been three days since I abruptly let her know that she would be leaving me for someone else within an hour.  When I word it like that it doesn’t make me look as bad.  I hope she is happy.

But on a serious note, things are progressing well.  I have still not reached my goal of monthly support but I am getting closer.  September 26^th -30^th looks like the date that I will be leaving, with the 30^th being the most likely day.  I’m getting more excited everyday but the reality that I’m leaving my family and friends is beginning to set in.  I’m going to miss them and I wouldn’t be doing this, leaving them, if I didn’t have a passion for Mololoa and didn’t think that God wants me there.  But I do have a passion for the people and the work there and I fully believe that God wants me there for the foreseeable future.  Please keep praying about this and I’ll keep you posted on how things are going and if anything changes I’ll definitely let you know.  If you know of anyone who would like to help financially, please let me know and I will contact them.  Now that I’ve sold my car I have moved one step closer to moving.  The money I got for my car will go directly towards buying another vehicle in Honduras, which I am told are a little more expensive than they are in the States.  Other plans are coming together nicely, I just have to reach my goal of support which I am sure will happen because I believe God is working to make this happen.