One year since Togo...

Today it has been exactly one year since I got on the plane to Florida and met my team for Togo. It's amazing how quickly a year goes! I feel like it was just a few weeks ago that I was having all of those feelings and fears- anxiety about going so far away, not knowing much about where I was going or what I was doing, fear about not being able to communicate with my loved ones at home, and being so unsure of what God had in store for us as a team. It's so incredible to look back and think of all God did on that trip, and after, and how unified our team became.

I'm kind of sad today, and missing my team because it has been a year- but I'm excited at the same time because at this moment there is a new team being trained to head to Togo (and some of my teammates are there to welcome and share with them!) I'll definitely be praying for them as they head off to partner with the work that is going on in Togo.

During the next few weeks, I've decided that each day I'm going to ready over my journal and the letters that I wrote- not only to remember how it was, to remember all of the feelings but to look at that chunk of time in my life that was so significant to my growth and maybe see how God moved in ways that I haven't noticed before.

I wish today that I could be in Florida preparing to go see some of these people again and continue where we left off last summer, but that's not where God has me this summer. For now the most I can do is pray for the names and faces of the people I met and share their stories.

A piece of my heart remains in Togo, but I also need to remember that the story God has for me here in the states is just as important to His story. Even though the ministry looks vastly different and our lives here are full of distractions, His story continues.

"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints." - Ephesians 1:18