A month since my last post and I am trying to find words to describe the last few weeks.
I am now home with family in Texas after too many hours in planes and nearly as many in transition. It is odd that I am not writting about my new Thai friends, but just the same a few sweet words will wrap it up well.
I spent a few days of "debrief" with my team in Koh Sumet, Thailand just relaxing and learning how to let others serve us again. There, we were to let a bellhop carry our luggage, have a room attendant come and "turn down our beds," dining room servers who do just that, which, to our amusement, was downright uncomfortable. It was lovely just spending time together and getting to relax with the new sisters of life that I'd made in the 6 months of DTS. Affirming one another by speaking encouragement and truth one morning, we all were reminded of the sweet privilege it was building up the Kingdom of God with such a phenomenal group of women. Those girls mean so much to me and each one of them have greatly impacted my life in some way or another - i miss them dearly- though I am enjoying my own sleeping quarters. lol.
Being back in Kona, Hawaii was very surreal. A new class already well into their lecture phase, it was odd not knowing all the faces passing you by. Even odder was seeing the faces you DID know and feeling unable to fully answer questions from classmate who'd been on other outreaches like, "how was your outreach?" and "what was one thing you learned in the last 3 months?" I remember one morning, when our class was gathered for "debrief" and stories, we had taken a break and I walked into the class outside, noticing that all the groups of conversation were happening within our outreach teams! It was hard to have "small talk" when the last 3 months were such a great time of change for all of us. All in all it was INCREDIBLE to hear the testimonies of God's hand working through the 4 outreach teams that came out of our school. From delivering a baby in a Port-Au-Prince tent city (Haiti), building a water
tank/filter for a village in Togo (Africa), ministering to a small floating village in Cambodia, to making friends with prostitutes in the red-light district of Phuket (Thailand). A group of just fifty students, passionate for God and willing to give their lives to His calling, impacted the lives of possibly thousands of people around the world!
Graduation night was a quick ceremony of sharing, thanks, and praise as the 50 of us officially wrapped up our Discipleship Training (School). Many of us decided to go out for desert/drinks for a celebration and made our way down town. Our group of Thailand girls was a little behind the rest (what? us girls take a little longer to get ready!) and as we were walking out of the campus were stopped by a staff member and friend, Ben Nonoa. He informed us that a tsunami warning had just been issued for the island and that one of the largest earthquakes had just rocked Japan!!!
to be continued....
Love Always
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