Wednesday, June 3, 2015

The Final DTS Post

Hello friends and family!
So currently I am sitting on the first of five planes as I head back home to good ol’ Pennsylvania. I’m not looking forward to the next 48 hours of travel but am so stoked for what follows the travel: being home! This is my update to just put a bow on my DTS experience and wrap it up.
First things first, a big-as thank you is in order. So……THANK YOU! Gracias (Spanish)! Donobad (Bengali)! Tree Makasi (Indonesian)! Thank you (English)!!!! Seriously, without the support of you guys back home, I would not have been able to make it. So thank you Lord for these awesome people! Whether it was prayer support, financial support, advice, loving on me, or simply showing interest in what I am doing, it honestly has all meant the world to me so thank you all so much. The time, effort, money, energy, etc. was sooooooo worth it.
I will catch you up on some of the stuff that has happened. For certain reasons, I can’t say much about our time in India besides that it was amazing! Please please please come talk to me and ask me tons of questions about it. I must say that I have never loved kids more than I did in the children’s home in the village. Now I have about 20 more brothers and sisters and a second mom (sorry PA mom). My last week was spent in Tauranga, NZ again for re-entry where they try and prepare to enter “normal” life again. Coming home was something that I kept in my mind and had been praying about a lot so I feel prepared to come home. Our graduation night was awesome, we did the haka (a war dance) and I lost my voice for 3 days. After the ceremony, we had the most epic dance party ever. Saying goodbye to the friends I made on DTS was probably one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. I love them all so much and would do anything for any of them. Literally only clichés express how much I love them.  The next morning I left to go to Bali, Indonesia to visit my sister on the way home. We spent three and a half days together going surfing, playing with monkeys, going to rice fields, riding motorbikes (sooo much fun), and just catching up. It was really amazing to see her and to meet her boyfriend. And that brings me to where I am now, sitting on a plane over an ocean on my way to catch my high school graduation (the second graduation in a week).
It’s quite funny to look back and see all that God has done in my life and in my heart. Obviously DTS doesn’t fix all your problems and all of a sudden life is just perfect, but I must say that DTS has given God an opportunity to do a mighty work in me. Coming into DTS, I had many doubts about who God is and also I carried a lot of guilt and insecurities. During our debrief last week in New Zealand we reflected on what we left in New Zealand and what we are taking home. For me, instead of doubt, faith; instead of guilt, freedom; instead of insecurities, confidence in whose image I am made in. God is good eh? To sum up my time on DTS, I would say that I got to know the God I worship much more intimately. He shows me time and time again where I need to go to live a full and free life and that’s the cross. There’s no getting past it. My execution of that isn’t always perfect but I know that His grace and love never ends or fails.  All of the changes and things that He has done in me is solely to His credit so I want to say that all of the glory goes to Him. I’m just glad I didn’t get in the wayJ. I don’t always know how to word the stuff that He’s doing and has done in my heart so please have grace with me as I return. I can’t wait to reconnect with all of you and would love to get together with you and chat. For the last time on this blog…..


THANK YOU!!!!!!!!