THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Everbody,

Let me start by saying I'm sorry for such a belated thank you to all those who supported whether in prayer or financially. Coming back to the States, I really hit the ground running, and life decided to throw every. single. curveball. my way, but that's no excuse, so I apologize. 

As I sit in my very favorite coffee shop in Boone on this cold, rainy day, I find my heart wandering back to the sweltering heat and coastline of Tunisia. And as I "travel" back, my heart overflows to know the number of the people back in the states who faithfully supported me in whatever way they could. Whether it was through t-shirt sales, through bracelet sales, or just through direct donations, I was so overwhelmed and humbled by the generosity of Christ's body. I think back to the incredible things that happened throughout my trip, and am so, so aware that NONE of it could have been possible without your love and support, so again thank you!! On that note, I'll lead into the 5 most life-changing/inspiring/just plain awesome things that happened complete with pictures. 

1. Prayer Meetings

Once a week, our host family would open their home to all of the interns as we all met for a time of intentional prayer over our students, over each other, and over our coworkers. One of the most impactful and powerful experiences of the whole trip for me was at a prayer meeting. That afternoon I had been sick again and had to go home early from camp, so my fellow interns and host family surrounded me in prayer over my health, and my body. Also, our last prayer meeting was at the council of Carthage, possibly the very same council of Carthage that determined what should be included in the bible, and what shouldn't, so that's awesome. 

2.Relationships with students

Forming relationships with the students was always an uphill battle. Let's face it; we're these strange people, from a strange land, speaking a strange(and very confusing) language. On top of that, when they were in our class, we asked them to speak this very strange and confusing language, so can you blame them to be hesitant to speak to us? But as the camp progressed, we somehow worked together to find a middle ground, where we could both be comfortable, and begin to form a friendship. Somehow by the grace of God, by the end of the two weeks that we had our kids, the picture above was not an unusual sight. How cool is God, right?? 

3. Sunrises/Sunsets

So, newsflash: I am NOT. a morning person. Like at all. In my life, I've woken up for the sunrise maybe 5 times, and 2 of those were in Tunisia. There is just something about sitting on the beach, surrounded by friends who have become family, watching the sun reflect magnificently off the Sea of Tunis as it rises. There were many memories shared there, from boat police chases to meeting the most friendly dog named Rexi. 

4. Adventures

Pretty much every off day we had, we went adventuring. For me, this was an incredible and amazing experience. From a young age, I learned all the bible stories, and now here I was 2 decades later, walking many of the streets that the disciples, and maybe even Jesus walked, and that was mind-blowing for me. I loved living in a place with such a deep history, to the point where even the rocks, the sea, and the roads have their own stories to be told.

5. My birthday

That's right, I turned 24 in Tunisia!! If any of you know me well, you know that I pretty much HATE having all the attention on me, so birthdays are not always my favorite. Maybe it's because I have so many siblings that I'm not used to it being all about me, I don't know, it just makes me feel very self-conscious and awkward. I was determined to NOT make my birthday a big deal, try to get through the day without hearing the dreaded "Happy birthday" song. Shout out to the best roommates and host family, and co-workers in the world who said, "Yeah. Screw that, we're gonna celebrate her." I not only heard the song more than once, but I also heard it in French, and in Arabic.....:) After work, they also treated me to a smoothie at cafe journal, one of our favorite cafes in town.

Again, I cannot thank you all enough for supporting me and truly allowing me to go on this formative, and life-changing trip. If you were one of those who supported me either in prayer or financially, know that it was NOT unnoticed. Each different donation brought peace and joy to my soul as I prepared to leave.

Sending all my love,

Rose