140 days

It is officially 140 days until I am supposed to go to Kenya! WOW! I keep telling people I am going to spend next year in Kenya, but that's not really true at all. What is true is that I know I'm going to be leaving the country in approximately 140 days, not to return for ten months...

140 seems to be really a very significant time period. Recently, I believe a Christian group called for 140 days of prayer for America, but I forget the symbolism behind the number. Regardless of my obvious ignorance on the numbers meaning, I still want to start my own 140 days of prayer. For the next 140 days I am going to focus on praying for 3 specific things:

1. My future students. Regardless of where I end up, I will have students. I will have young people who I will be able to teach and learn from, and I am going to pray that God will be preparing both our hearts for my arrival.
2. My own experience. I'm under no illusions of this adventure being anything like a vacation. I know it will be tough and I want to spend the time I have left here at home preparing to meet those challenges.
3. Other SMs. Finally, I want to intentionally focus on my fellow student missionaries. I haven't been able to go to all the meetings or meet everyone in my class, but I know that these fellow students are my teammates. We may be halfway around the world from each other, but we will all have key things in common. In preparing to leave my comfort zone, I want to be able to reach out to others and encourage them as we start this crazy journey together.

So that's my plan. You're more than welcome to join with me, and I would greatly appreciate your prayers! 

To celebrate this WOW moment, I'm including this picture of Hannah and me two years ago at camp. Fun times :)