I feel so loved...

I think I should leave more often (said totally tongue in cheek).  I don’t know whether it’s just that I’m leaving or more what I’m doing, but over the past few months I have had so many people encourage me, tell me what they think of me (in a good way), pray for me, etc.  It’s been amazing, I feel so loved.  And this is on top of the many people who have donated money…and more who have told me they’re still planning on donating.  The outpouring of support I’ve experienced has at times been totally overwhelming. 

And it’s not just what people say – but the fact that they ask about how preparations are going.  They pray for me.  I think back to how many times I knew people who were preparing for trips or going on missions things and I was so concerned with what was going on in MY life that I only remembered after they would mention something about it.  [Now, there have been many times when I have remembered, but still, I know there are times when I haven’t…and in the cases when I do remember or do think about it, they were people who were close to me.]  I usually don’t even need to mention Honduras, people ask.  Which is appreciated both because it often means they’re remembering to pray – so necessary – and it gives me a chance to talk about what’s on my mind…because Honduras is a constant thing, and especially as the school year is coming to a close, most of what I do is in preparation for Honduras.

A two weeks ago (and a bit), my department at school had a small “celebration” for me.  It was appreciated (and considering how I feel about surprises…I appreciated that I had somewhat gotten wind of it ahead of time, so I wasn’t really surprised).  Last Thursday night Campus Life had something for me as well…they rolled it into the “senior send-off” that happens every year.  Pretty much I was put in a chair and people said (usually nice) things about me.  I’m not comfortable being the center of attention in large groups…so part of me didn’t really appreciate it as much as I should have, probably.  But the things they said (and the thought behind it) were appreciated.  And this morning, the group of students who normally pray in the morning asked if I would join their circle so they could pray for me.  Wow.

There are so many ways that I’ve been encouraged by people in the past month (and more).  Words can’t express what I’m feeling right now.