I have spent roughly ten months preparing for this trip.
Be that praying, fundraising, stressing, packing, or any other number of things I did to prepare, it has taken up a lot of my life.
Now, as I sit in the Atlanta airport just a few short hours away from boarding our first flight on our way to Swaziland, I’ve been able to reflect on all it took to get here, and honestly, I am awestruck at how much the Lord showed up in big ways without me even realizing it.
I was convinced I was not going to make my first deadline. I had approximately $250 just days before we had to have $2500 in our accounts. I had given up completely, and had started planning what I was going to do this summer instead of going to Swaziland. And then out of nowhere, God showed up, and I made my deadline.
When I was stressed out about finding the funds to purchase the tickets to and from Georgia that were not covered by my fundraising, God showed up. Someone who saw what I was going to do in Swaziland offered to use his frequent flyer points to purchase my tickets. This individual had never even met me.
God continued to show up in big ways throughout training. Our team saw remarkable unity almost immediately. And we are no small team. After just 24 hours together I could tell you everyones name, which, for those of you that know me well, is a phenomenal achievement.
As I look around at our team in the airport now, I feel so grateful to be leaving America with this group of people. I’d love to list off all the qualities I cherish in each of them, but 32 other names would most likely be a bit much.
I’ll leave you readers with this: Expect big things from our Swaziland team. We are loud. We are excited. We are vulnerable. We are in an ever present state of worship. We are a beautifully broken with a fire in our hearts for Africa. Big things are going to happen this summer. Big, big things.
