Hey guys,

I hope everyone is doing well! I have not shared a blog post in a while because finishing up school has been pretty time consuming. I have also been trying to prepare myself to go on this trip in many different ways. That being said, I only just realized, God has been preparing me for this trip in a very specific way this semester: He is teaching me the importance and power of sharing. It may sound obvious to some people but it wasn't to me so I wanted to share this with you.

I have been learning how sharing personal stories (something I am still not great at) will strengthen a relationship, how sharing an experience will bond people together, and how sharing your time is sometimes the most important gift you can give. Sharing your Joy is contagious, sharing your love is healing, and sharing your sadness is absolutely necessary. Sharing can be really scary and really risky, and it does not always go well. That being said, for me at least, it has always turned out much worse when I decided to stay inside my comfort zone and not share. I have been amazed at how sharing has strengthened some of my friendships in the past few months.

What needs to go before sharing though is listening. Its important to know where others are at in their life. Its important to be someone people can share their life and thoughts with. Its important to provide people the opportunity to share with you.

It feels weird writing this blog because while I am good at being someone others can share their life with, I am pretty bad at sharing my own life with others. This is my commitment though, to get better at listening and sharing (please help me lol). We were created to be in community with each other and without sharing, we are all just individual islands separated by a large ocean.

Shout out to Pastor Collins and Professor Goloubeva. Their hearts and way of looking at the world really helped to make this click in my head these past two days :)