Obviously, I have not been doing a great job at keeping up this blog. I'm not sure how many people read it, if any. I still want to keep it up. It serves as a way to document the stories of my wild and adventurous life. lol. So here I go again.
Almost a year ago, on November 6, 2011, I turned 25 years old. Worst day of my life, or so I thought. At 25, I was spending my first birthday ever away from family. It was a tough day. I was dealing with any and every insecurity out there. Starting with the fact that no one in Dallas at that time knew me enough to know how I liked to celebrate my birthday to dealing with being away from the family on that special day to realizing that I was 25 and still single, etc. But little did I know what this year had in store for me.
I spent the first few months studying in getting used to Dallas, which to be honest never actually happened. Dallas will always be part of my life. I will have to spend more time there in the future, but it will not go down in my book as one of my favorite places in the world. Then I went to SC to spend 5 weeks with my family.
After those 5 weeks, I returned to Dallas while my parents moved to Ecuador to be full time missionaries. Well, first big exciting happening of the year. Dallas from January to June was much better. New friendships were made and old were strengthened. I met some friends from Brazil and even began to learn Portuguese. I saw God work in miraculous ways to keep me in school that semester and I was able to make it through one of the hardest classes in the linguistics masters program. Praise Jesus!
Then, summer came around and I was able to make a trip to Ecuador to visit my parents. Returning to Ecuador this time was amazing. It is a country that has always seem me grow, serve, mature, love people, learn about myself, and fully enjoy life. Its slow paced lifestyle always allows me to focus on the present and serve God in my surroundings and enjoy Him and the people there. Oh how I fall in love with that place more and more. From getting to meet people and talk to them about life in Christ to sitting my the river and looking at the mountains. From spending time with my mother at home to spending time in the kitchen with the ladies of the town. From speaking to a group of youth to running down the side of the mountain to catch the chickens we needed to make soup later. Every moment spent in that country was full of joy and contentment. Also, while I was there, I was able to take a trip for 10 days to Peru. I still love Ecuador more, but I was able to visit a new country, meet wonderful people and leave a piece of my heart there. Peru was a place for me to develop new dreams. Dreams of teaching, dreams of promoting missions, dreams of seeing new places. I was blessed to be there even if it was for a short time.
Now, I'm back in South Carolina, but only for a few days. I came to visit my beloved sister and spend time seeing old friends. I even took a three day road trip to Georgia to see a friend and her newborn baby. And next Wednesday, I will be moving to Wake Forest, NC where I will remain until January (or so is the plan).
Yet from November 7th to the 20th, I will spending two weeks in Mexico. I will be taking a vision trip there. I am considering taking a position with Wycliffe Bible Translators there, so the first step in the process is to take a trip there and get to know the area. I will also get to visit some missionary friends there. It will be awesome! Before returning to NC, I will visit two of my closest friends in Los Angeles and spend Thanksgiving with them.
So my 25th year has turned out to be great. By the end of 2012, I would have spent time in 4 countries and spent time in 6 states of the USA.
Throughout all of this time I have seen God lead and provide every step of the way. I always thought that spending a life going from one place to the other would just be fun, but there is emotional issues that arise from being constantly on the move. I can handle it only because I know that God is with me so I'm never alone. I'm not sure how many people out there are willing to serve God by sacrificing stability, but for as long as my Father keeps telling me to move, I will move. As long as He says go, I will go.
So this is an overview of the life of this NOMAD. My life is constantly and rapidly changing. I don't know what and where I will be and the places I will go in the 26th year of my life, but if it is as exciting and fun as my 25th year. I'm ready!
Let's do this! It's an Acts 1:8 lifestyle. If you read this, I'm holding you accountable to pray.
Grace and Peace,
Rakelita
