Dear reader,
It has been too long, I hope all is well in your story. Even if it is not going according to your plan I hope you can see have a great peace knowing that God’s in control and he holds you tightly in his arms.
It’s been about a week since I’ve last written to you, and I do apologize, I’ve had a lot to say this past week, but I could never seem to find the time to sit and put it down on paper.
This letter will do its best to invite you into my mind over these past days, and the thoughts, desires, and ultimately the fears that have swirled around as well.
I’ve had two major plot points over the past week.
A Road Trip and a Camping Trip.
Both of which were a blessing to my heart, more than I could’ve planned for.
Last week starting on Labor Day, I traveled to Port Huron Michigan to begin my road trip. I then moved back and forth through a couple of towns and cities to meet with friends and family sharing about the adventure I am getting to head off on. Still with its challenges nonetheless, I was met with a plethora of missed phone calls and unanswered texts, which led me to not meeting with some of my dearest friends.
Now. Before I go on I want to make something very clear. I don’t hold this miscommunication against my friends at all. I believe very strongly that the people that God allows me to speak with are the ones I begin to converse with, I will continue to love and encourage them if we get the chance to speak, but if not they will always be in my prayers until the time to talk comes around.
I also was blessed with an interaction that I could not have planned for.
It’s a fantastic short story, I hope you enjoy it.
I just pulled into a Qdoba parking lot, about twenty minutes before my next meeting, I just figured I’d sit and read a book to past the time. I reached into my backpack to pull out my book…(Love Does by Bob Goff, I highly recommend it to anyone, small rabbit trail, back to the story.)
A green mini-van pull into the spot next to me, I looked over and I saw an older man with a very gentle demeanor about him. I waved towards him, and he motioned for me to roll my window down.
Odd. This has never happened to me before, but I wanted to see where it would go.
“I’m sure you get this all the time but you have one of the best cars on the planet.”
Now. If you know me at all, you know I understand about 9% of how a car runs. Pretty much the equivalent of a kindergartener understanding the concepts of rocket science. We know nothing.
“Well thank you, It’s treated me very well, I’m very thankful,” I replied back,
The conversation surrounding the car lasted about 12 minutes or so, it shifted when the gentlemen asked “You have Iowa plates on your car, what are you doing all the way out here in Michigan?”
I then proceeded to share with him my Missionary trip I was fundraising for, and that I was traveling to meet with some potential supporters. His response still rings in my heart.
“Wow. Praise God, that’s incredible.”
I could not have planned for such an encouraging conversation. We ended talking about many different things for about a total of thirty-seven minutes, and I could tell he had a new sense of joy speaking with me, a brother in Christ that he probably had no idea that he’d meet today.
He actually drove home to grab a business card of a missionary that lived in the area, and he wrote his number on the card as well and blessed my trip with a donation as well which was very out of the blue. He left in a bit of a hurry, saying that his wife had actually sent him to pick up Bananas and Cheese and that he probably should go and get those to her.
I cannot even attempt to explain how much that interaction meant to me. Words will completely fall short of the pure joy and encouragement I received from a conversation in a Qdoba parking lot.
Now. That’s only one of the stories from this past week. The other two interactions had different impacts on me. One was short but spoken with such confidence that it really hit me at my core.
On the camping trip, I met a gentleman, and I shared that I was going to go on the World Race, as long as I received all the funds to go. The man replied fast, and without even pausing to choose his words…
“Oh, God’s gonna come through. He always does.”
Why don’t I think like that? I do truly believe that, but I can’t say that I believe that all the time as I ought to. This guy said it so confidently, he knew it to be true. I won’t forget that, he leans on God so confidently, I want to learn how to do that as well.
I have one more short story. If you need to take a break, please do so, if not, let’s finish this letter strong!!!
This past Friday night, a couple of us guys were talking, and one guy spoke up and said “Hey, there’s a missionary about thirty minutes away who need some help tomorrow morning, do any of you wanna go help them with me?”
That morning seven of us packed into a van and drove over to a storage unit area. We met a lovely lady, who ran an orphanage over in Mexico with her husband.
“We’ve got two storage units full of bagged clothes that we’re going to take down to Texas and sell them to support our orphanage.” She told us as we waited for the truck to arrive.
As soon as the truck pulled up, we got to throwin’. I don’t know the exact count, but a good guesstimate would be around 2,369 Bags of Clothes. It was such a blessing to serve those missionaries just by throwing bags into a truck, it wasn’t easy, physically, we were tuckered out by the end of it. But the strength that you get from serving just to bless someone else puts a smile on my face that can’t be taken away easily.
“You all were an answer to prayer. Thank you.”
This letter will now come to a close. I hope you have had the chance to be encouraged through these short stories, as always I ask that when you come to the end of my letters I ask that you pray for me as I go about fundraising and the challenges and trials ahead. I trust that God will provide what I need when I need it, and that will give me the comfort I need for today.
Until we get the chance to speak again.
Goodbye.
-Mitchell
