First of all, thank you to everyone who has been praying for me, and has supported me during these past few months! I greatly appreciate it and I know God has used you in some incredible ways!
I arrived in Iowa City on Tuesday night, safe and sound. Most of the program participants carpooled as campuses back to the Midwest, and there was a church near Nashville, Tennessee that let us stay in its facility overnight. The crew from the University of Iowa did a two-day caravan back home. It was so much fun to spend that time together. Also, one of the guys from Iowa had his birthday while we were on the road so we made a birthday trip to the nearest Waffle House that morning and we had a great time having breakfast together. It was so encouraging to talk with the other people in my car about their experiences and to observe how much God had grown them during the course of the summer.
The last week of the program was spent talking about working for God's Kingdom back at our Campuses. Scott Gaskill, the College Pastor for 24:7 and his family, came to visit us and helped us process and create a vision for what God can do on the University of Iowa Campus in the future and how we can advance the name of Christ there. It was wonderful to have them there. I got to spend sometime with his wife Emily and learn from her wisdom and share with her about what I learned this summer. That week stirred up a lot of excitement in me, and among my fellow Iowans about the coming school year.
During that last week I was amazed at how much the girls on my team had grown. It was clear that they had all really changed in big and small ways and that God had opened their eyes to who God is, who He made them to be, and His heart for the World. It was an honor to live with those girls all summer, and I cannot believe that I had the privilege of being their team leader.
Saturday was the last day of the program, and it was so bittersweet. We opened up the day by watching the sun rise on the beach as a team, and it was breath taking to see. I have done that several times, but that last time was really something special; the sky was incredible and being there with my girls was so wonderful. We spent the rest of the day, packing, cleaning and doing a few last fun things, and had one last team time together.
All four of my girls live fairly close by, and I am fairly certain that we will see each other again, but that night was the end of our time as a team. Many times people are in our lives only for a season. Though I will continue my relationships with those girls for as long as they are willing, they are moving on to their lives back home and I am confident that God will continue to grow them and use them for His glory.
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