Training camp is done!! I cannot express how the Lord has worked in this week of training. These people that I get to do life with are amazing. I truly love them, and I am so thankful God has made a way for our paths to cross. I can’t wait for all the adventures and memories with them!

The Lord’s faithfulness has no end. He brings peace to every storm and loves us all with mercy and grace. This week I learned how deep the Lord’s love truly is and how important it is for us as believers to show that to others. The importance of love has really stood out to me throughout this week. “I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other.”

John 15:15–17

This gave me a new outlook on what it’s like to love one another as followers of Christ. The Lord literally tells us that we did not choose Him, but He chose us. That is crazy to think about, but it also encourages me to choose to love others. Choose to love the people that hate you. Choose to love the people that disagree with you. Choose to love the people who are different from you. The Lord continues to choose us time after time when we sin or decide to walk away from Him, and He never stopped loving us. So we can’t stop loving the people around us. Loving others is so important, yet it’s one of the hardest things for us to do. This week I have worked on finding ways to love others well no matter what. I encourage everyone to be intentional about loving the people around you the best you can.

I honestly cannot believe that the Lord has blessed me with this life. I am so excited to go overseas and serve His people and grow in many different ways. It is such a blessing that we get to do this and that people so graciously helped support me in many ways. This is the Lord’s purpose for all of us. To go share the love of the Lord and the gospel wherever you are. It doesn’t matter whether you’re in the same coffee shop you go to every morning or in a country you’ve never been to before. There are people who NEED JESUS EVERYWHERE. This world is thirsty; they want the Lord, they want love, they want community, and they want truth. So I encourage each and every one of you to go out into your world and love like Jesus did and be open to the Holy Spirit and let Him direct your path and put people in front of you that you can share the gospel with, encourage, or maybe just give them a hug. The everyday kindness in this world has been lost in a lot of places, and we as believers are called to walk with kindness in every step we take. Don’t doubt God’s purpose and plan for you; we are all a part of the body of Christ and are called to be a vessel for the Lord to work in us however He wants to. So be open and look at the world with open eyes, and it’s so important to be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. This is just some of what I learned this week, and it has really changed my perspective. So go out and plant the seed and trust the Lord to do the rest.

This week we will be serving locally before we head to GREECE!! I hope you all have an amazing week, and I’ll update you soon!