I have been through so much in the last couple months that I don’t even know how to update all of you as to what has been going on in my life. I’m just going to list what the last two months have looked like for me and I will skimp on the detail where necessary.
I went from dating to being engaged, back to dating, and then before I knew what was happening I became single again, all in about a time frame of three weeks. As luck would have it, the final conversation took place a week before the next team that I am leading, arrived.
Then I rented a house for the team (which has 25 people total) only to have the owner back out 5 hours before the team landed. So with the help of a friend, found some furnished apartments to rent by the day, until I found something else. The lady we rented them from was crazy and threatened to call the police on two different occasions to come and manage the team (because we were trying to move our things out to another place). She was also convinced that we were trying to sneak out with out paying. In the process of all of that, she got me so worked up that I slammed the van door only to have the side window shatter all over me. After if was all said an done she cost the team several hundred extra dollars because of not telling us key information about how to move out, but told us how much everyone enjoyed us and that we were welcome back anytime, which will never happen again.
So I found a place and we moved in, which has been great. However, a couple of days later I took the van to get the window fixed which was a cheap and easy $20. Then as I was driving away from the glass place I entered into traffic, where I was robbed. They stole my backpack off the seat next to me during a nice little diversion game. I lost my camera, about $500 of team money, my favorite Bible, and my leatherman multi-tool. I chased them down an alley, but they had too much of a head start and I lost them (think really bad chase scene out of a movie).
The next weekend I am at the store buying supplies for the team at 6:30 a.m. and I get a phone call that one of my guys is having a seizure and coughing up blood. So I abandon the checkout counter race home to find that it is still going on. We pick up is 300 lb plus body of dead weight and rush down the stairs to put him in the van. I raced across town to the Nairobi Hospital fearing that at any moment he may die. We get him inside and they start checking vitals and we are rattling off his past medical history (long story). They then tell me that they need $10,000 deposit to admit him to the ICU. I argued with them until I finally gave up and called some friends at a Missions hospital and had them bring an ambulance and transfer him. He spent 4 days in the ICU before being discharged and then a week later we sent him back to Canada.
Then a week after that we had some complications with someone on the team and them not being a good fit, as well as non-compliant, and had to send them home. It shocked the team and they personally attacked me and my co-leader for about an hour straight. Although some of the things said were hurtful and disappointing to me, I still had a peace that it was the right thing to do. I also looked for pieces of truth in what they were saying so that I could own up to any of my short-coming or improve my involvement with them thus far. Please pray for us as we try and figure out what it means for us to be a team and wrestle through our emotions. Please pray that the Lord shows us how to move on from here.
Over the last two months with everything that I have walked through I have been clinging to one quote and that is, “Situations don’t create your Spirit, they reveal it.” These things have made me press into the Lord more than ever. He has absolutely met me every step of the way. Even better than that, he has brought healing and freedom from past struggles in the midst of all of this. More importantly I am finally fighting for myself and I am facing things head on as they come (My biggest problem was that I would spend myself fighting for everyone else and then have nothing left to fight off my own struggles or temptation). I leave you with part of a chorus of one of my favorite songs, “I dare you to tell me to walk through fire. I dare you to.” I certainly feel like I have.
Thank you so much for all of your love, prayers, and support. I could not do this without all of you.
