As I sit here and wait for the inevitable to happen, I can't help but think back over the last four weeks. I have EVERYTHING packed in two luggage bags and my backpack...I'm very proud of that! Even though all of my clothes and souvenirs and plastic lei and camera and journal, etc are all stuffed into the three bags sitting on the floor, the memories are flooding the room I'm in...not meant to be fit into something and stored away. I'm glad I have the time to sit here, still on Maui, and think back over all the things I did while I was here. I still don't know exactly why God brought me here. We accomplished many tasks and got done everything we came to do but I cannot pinpoint a moment, feeling, or event that made me stop and say, "God called me here for this." I do know that He planned for me to be here before I was born though and I have learned SO MANY lessons since I came here. I am incredibly thankful for this opportunity and I am leaving a better person. God also has shown me many of my weaknesses and I am thankful that I can see them so clearly now and have the chance to work on them. I am leaving with a bigger view of my beautiful God, friends who have such a passion for Him, and a heart on fire for Maui. I will never forget how all of those things came together on an island in the Pacific in the summer of 2011.
I fly out of Maui tonight July 4th, 10:30pm our time and hopefully land in Lynchburg July 5th, 5:30pm east coast time. It's going to be a very long 18 hours and I am sad that I'm missing fireworks, both on Maui and back home. The trip will be worth it though when I see my precious Mama and sleep in my own bed tonight. One thing that leaving is teaching me is that I will come back. Out of all the other missions trips I've gone on (to Jamaica, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala) I've never been back to the same place twice. I loved each of those trips!! This place is different though. I don't know what it is and I don't know how to explain it. But even though my body is flying home tonight...a part of me is staying here. And one day, I don't when, I'll have to come back and get it.
"Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You. I will praise Your name, for You have accomplished wonders, plans formed long ago with perfect faithfulness." Isaiah 25:1
[Camp ended on a good note and when I get home I'll post pictures and a couple stories of some of the campers who touched my heart.]
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