You, Me + 23

The 23
Team ThaiBo 

If you know me, and know me well, you would know I love to make connections in life. I love to see how everything is connected even in the smallest of ways. I'll meet a man on a plane who's cousin went to Western Washington University or have a conversation with the man from Cambodia who works in the doughnut shop in Kalispell. I love connecting people to places and making family out of strangers, and making this really big world just a little bit smaller.
This time last year I lived in a dorm room with all my doubts and insecurities that said I did not belong. Today I live in a house in confidence that I am where I am supposed to be, yet there are still small doubts that cross my mind and that make me wonder "what am I doing here Lord"
A couple weeks back I was asked to switch from the DTS I was in training for, to Music DTS. The MDTS was in need of A staff member who could lead an outreach team and while Revive had plenty of staff, they did not have as many students. So I prayed about switching and felt the Lord put it on my heart to "fill the need in front of me". So with teary eye's and expectant heart I agreed to switch. The MDTS students have been here for a week now and God has yet again proven his faithfulness in the midst of my doubt. I switched to lead an outreach team so incase you missed the many posts I will be co-leading a team of 20 students and 3 staff to Cambodia for a month and Thailand for a month!
I can't say this has been an easy journey to get to this point. As each week passed and each person who was asked said no, my heart sank and I felt like my "yes" was met by a lot of "no's". Now don't get me wrong most of them had good reason, but with each persons reason I felt that my sacrifice to leave a DTS I already loved was down played and that it was far better to interrupted my life, than to make an inconvenience in their own. Now obviously this is not true, it's just how I felt.
The week students came I finally got a co-leader which coincidently happened to be a young lady who was one of my one-on-one's, WHAT ARE THE ODDS? Also I had felt God tell me this last summer that I would be going to Thailand with Emily but that is another story on its own.
So if I had to lead a team of 20 at least I would have one other person with me, but God did not stop there. The day we announced the outreach locations to the students, the base leadership asked one other girl to join our team and she felt the same call Emily and I did; which is to answer the call to fill the need in front of us.
So all the weeks full of anxiety and tears, of not knowing how many people I would be put in charge of and if I would have anyone with me to help share the load, God blessed me. God gave me 2 amazing co-leaders who have hearts geared towards yes and a team of students who are on fire to see God move.
Even with the promises of God to Move and to take care of everything I still felt fear. I thought that after a year of being at this base and staffing schools I had finally got my bearings and had figured out  what kind of a leader I wanted to be. But this whole situation caught me off guard. I had come back confident in staffing Revive after having a summer of leadership training in Hawaii, but all of a sudden, instead of going into the familiar and having confidence in the eb and flow of what I know, I willingly jumped into more responsibility. If there was anything I learned from Hawaii it was how to step up and take responsibility, even if I'm not 100% sure I will succeed. There are so many unknowns in the months to come, but the known with out a doubt is that God is there with me. He is not surprised by anything that can happen and His redemption story is still and always will be in play. As I continue in this adventure I remember that I am not alone, and that this next chapter God is calling me not to just serve Him but to serve With Him. I can hear Him saying sweetly "This next adventure is You, Me +23"