Dear readers, 

I hope you are doing well on this fantastic day, I’d like to invite you into a bit of a celebration I am having today. 

You see, today is my birthday. 

Now, I don’t share this information just so you’ll feel more inclined to donate to my trip, so please, do not feel obligated to do so. I want to share how God has grown me this past year, and the wonderful story it is becoming. 

God’s shown Himself to me in many ways ever since I turned ____. One of my dear friends and mentor once told me ____ is the best year of your life, don’t take it for granted. 

He was right. So very right. 

Now I’m sure I will learn more down the road, and my relationship with Christ will become more and more solid. But looking back at what God’s done for me this year, it’s indescribable in so many ways, but I’m gonna do my best. 

At the beginning of the year I was out and about living on my own for the first time. My walk with God was growing more and more each day, and I learned a lot from my mistakes. I loved the opportunities God was giving me to serve Him, It seemed as though I learned something new each day about myself or the world around me that I didn’t know beforehand.

God brought some amazing people into my life as well. I had two amazing house-mates, a long distance best friend, ministry partners, crazy co-workers, and now a family of 43 christ followers ready for whatever God gives us. Now, they all played a part in the story, even if they weren’t there for very long. I’m am so very thankful for every single one of them.

Here is a little bit of brutal honesty. I also lost a lot of things this year as well.  I lost my place I was living, I lost my job, I lost my ministry, I lost my best friend, and I lost my direction in life for a while. 

God didn’t walk away from me. He was always by my side. He led me down the path He wanted me to walk, He picked me up when I fell down and scraped my knee, He gave me everything I needed, then He took everything else away. 

After I lost everything I gave God everything I had left going for me.

My life.

I asked “God I have nothing, no commitments, no direction, what would you like to do with my life?”

A thought popped into my head. The World Race. 

“Wait, God, is it time? I’ll go if you want me to.“

Go.

Now here I am. I am ____ and my life is very much on the move. God looked at my story and he said “This one will be crazy, buckle up buddy,”

You might be wondering why I haven’t shared how old I’m turning today. It’s a bit immature, but I don’t actually share my age almost at all anymore. 

There are a couple reasons why I choose not to, but the biggest one is I want you to treat me by how I treat you. Respond to me with how I respond to you. Don’t look down on my because of my age.

I don’t want to hear someone say

“He’s so immature, well you know he’s just ___ that’s why he still acts that way.”

Nope. I choose to act this way. I embrace my childish side more than others, I won’t deny that. But that does not mean I am not being used for kingdom work. 

I think this is a good point to bring this letter to a close. I want to thank you all for reading my letters and supporting me through prayer and financially if you feel led to do so. 

If you ever have any questions about what God’s doing with my story please reach out to me, I would love nothing more than to tell the stories of what He’s done for me, and what he will continue to do for this next upcoming year as I travel the world sharing the Gospel with all who need to hear it, including myself. 

Until we get to speak again, 

-Mitchell