today i bought a 1-way ticket from minneapolis to lubbock, texas, which made what's coming in my future so much more real to me. it was scary and exciting. for some reason i was being super indecisive-- continental or american? layover in houston or dallas? seat on the right or left side of the plane? usually i am pretty impulsive, especially when i'm excited about something, but i had a really hard time actually buying it. i feel like deciding those things was hard for me because it's sort of momentous and such an important junction in my life. here's the story. i think i'm going to probably refer people to this when they ask me, because i've told it dozens of times. but for some reason it's still not getting old. like i said, i feel like i'm living in someone else's story just because of how well this is all coming together. . .
in october, i decided i wanted to go to europe for spring break. i know a couple of missionaries in edinburgh, scotland, but the tickets to scotland were more expensive so my friend cassie and i bought tickets to london and decided to fly from london to scotland. luckily we never bought those tickets, because the scotland thing fell through. a few weeks before we left, cassie remembered she knew people in madrid we could stay with.
we finally got to madrid after a solid twenty some hours of travel. that afternoon all i wanted to do was sleep (i have a really hard time sleeping in airports, airplanes, cars, et al), but we all went to church. on the way out of the service, i made some snide remark to this guy. me, cassie, and steve started talking to him (nate) and his two friends. we all hit it off really nicely and decided to go hit up some art museums as a group the next day. these three guys -- david, noel, and nathan-- were from texas, which is where the story sort of begins. i told nate i wanted to do something sweet with my summer and he jokingly said he would hire me to work for him at his church. he was probably joking, but that made me really excited. i wanted to do something different because changes of scenery are really refreshing to me. i also knew i'd grow a ton somewhere else because it would be stretching to me and i wanted to deal with some other things i've been kind of avoiding the past few years. basically, going somewhere else would give me a chance to look at some things in my life from a different angle.
well, we all went separate ways, but i wanted to hang out with them again because we all connected and had so much fun. later that week, i took a train to sevilla, where david and noel are studying abroad (they were just visiting madrid for the weekend). david brought his friend ryan to the train station to pick me up and we all spent the day hanging out. i didn't really get to know ryan very well, but we talked some on facebook when i got back and i was very encouraged by him. he told me he had a friend named kat whom he thought i'd get along with because we liked a lot of the same music. i jokingly added kat on facebook expecting her to judge me for being a creeper, but we ended up talking for a super long time on facebook and found we had tons in common.
i mentioned that i was looking at moving somewhere in texas for the summer, and told me her roommate needed a subleaser for the summer months. i was so excited, but i didn't know anything about lubbock (where texas tech university is) and didn't have a job or a car. well, that all kind of fell into place. ryan's going to be in africa for most of the summer, so he's letting me use his car until he comes back and i can look for my own while he's gone. i'm also thinking of interning at the wesley foundation, a college ministry on the texas tech campus. if that doesn't work out, there are a few other jobs i'm looking at and would be really excited about. since i've committed to moving, i've "met" tons of other amazing people-- kat's roommate rachel is super sweet, and i'm so excited to live with them both. we all get along really well and i'm so excited to get down there and hang out with all of them. i've probably added or been added on facebook by like 20 lubbock people this week. :)
i'm already so encouraged by all of these people and the way God is so divinely orchestrating all of this it's such an intricate web He's weaving! and i love it! i'm trusting that Jesus has me going to this body of believers to continue to grow me and challenge, stretch, and encourage me. this is such an exciting thing for me. actually, the first thing i've been really excited about in many months. it was originally just going to be a summer thing, but i'm thinking if i find a stable job and place to live i may as well stay. it'll feel like summer all year long for me i'm sure :)
so i leave may 18, 2 days after i graduate. and i went with the american airlines flight (that's the climax of the story, just fyi).
it's all so strange. i feel like i'm just getting settled in some ways at northwestern and just developing some sweet relationships, but at the same time i'm so ready to get out of here because i feel really caged. may 18 can't come soon enough, but i also want to be careful not to live in the future, because it'll come soon enough. i want to make the most of the last few weeks i have in college. it's all so sad and beautiful at the same time. i can't even begin to communicate how much i'm learning and growing right now. God is so good and faithful to me, the worst of sinners.
i'm beyond excited to see what He has for me in the last place i thought i'd ever be.
:)
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