Zambia Trip Recap - David Walls

It is always interesting reflecting on certain chapters of our lives.  Getting to go back and reflect about that time brings up many feelings and thoughts.  It has been two weeks since our group has left Zambia and I am still trying to process everything that the trip has meant to me.  The whole thing almost does not feel real.  In just three weeks I developed close relationships with so many kids and then just as quickly as we arrived, we were gone.  Never in my life have I experienced such a strong connection with so many people so quickly.  I am naturally a guarded person that takes time to open up and be vulnerable so I was completely caught unaware by how emotionally jarring this would be.

An amazing thing that many of the kids did for us was that they wrote each of us letters.  I initially received a few of the letters the night before we left and at that point I had not fully understood the impact that it would have on me.  I read the letters and was grateful that they would take time out of their lives to write me.  However, I was bombarded with letters on the day we were leaving by the kids.  On that day as we were leaving and saying our goodbyes, it began to sink in what this trip has meant.  It became a lot harder to open the letters that they had wrote.  It was not until today that I opened up the letters that they wrote.  I have felt a little unsure that my time there made any genuine difference on any of them, but reading those letters reassured me that God truly worked in those three weeks. 
There have been things that I have felt God has been telling me to be more intentional about in my life such as spending meaningful time with people who might be more left out, having authentic interest in people at all times, and always exuding joy especially when I may not be feeling excited or happy.  These were all things that the kids had written to me in their letters about.  It means the world that God has made himself more evident to them during our short time that we were there.  I now am beginning to feel a contentment among the sadness that has plagued me since leaving.  It is always hard saying goodbye to people that you genuinely have come to love, but it is a little easier knowing that everyone has grown a little bit more because of the time shared. 

Overall, God has revealed more than I imagined he would.  This blog might be a bit of a jumbled mess but that is because I am still discerning what it has all meant.  There are many more lessons that I have yet to learn that I know God will reveal in due time.  As I turn the page and begin this new chapter in my life, I will always be turning back to this chapter and reading what it has to say.  There are nearly 75 kids on the other side of the world right now that I had the honor to live life with and no matter how far that distance may feel, the impact they made and the love they shared will always be with me.