Every Nation Every Tongue

"For me, being in middle school and high school is when you kinda start to really care what other people think about you. I went from having this strong childlike faith to being more concerned with what the world thinks of me. What do I think of myself? What do I look like? 
Do I have acne? Do I have the cool music and songs memorized and all that stuff? I started to get a lot more distant from God than I have been at other points in life. I was far away from God for a good seven, eight years, but then got closer again afterwards.

When we moved to Clay Center, obviously I didn't know anybody. I was just getting married, just getting out of college, starting a new job, all of the changes and then we moved to a brand new town where you don't know a single person. What if I don't like it there? What if it feels weird? 
What if I don't make any friends? And then I think probably, around three years it really started feeling like I don't need to go to my parents' house for this holiday, Clay Center is home, and I have my people here. And so I think that's really exciting. especially with getting ready to have a kid! 
It is just cool that we have our own home and we love our community. Even though we've only been here for four years, everyone was just very welcoming, but it just feels very homey. 

My favorite part about traveling this summer to Malaysia for the missionary conference was being able to be around so many people that were just living all over the world. Everyone was so united and friendly and so kind to one another, and you didn't feel like you were around a bunch of strangers, even though you'd never met anybody there before. It was just fun to get to hear what people's lives are like. I got to hear about people's lives that live in Japan and what people's lives are like that live in France. being able to see the world from a different perspective. During worship we were singing in Spanish and English, which was just so cool because this is what heaven's gonna be like one day. 
We're every tongue, every nation, singing for the glory of God. I'm not big on talking in front of a group person. So I love that when I do get to talk to kids, like, you might see them interact with their big friend group in one way, but then when you get to interact with them and like a small group time or a discussion time, you just see this whole other side of this human being that's made in the image of God that's amazing. They all have their own likes and dislikes and challenges and strengths and I just think it's fun to just know people. see them in a way of like seeing them learn about Jesus and all that good stuff."