Have you ever heard the saying time flies by ? As a kid I always heard that and would laugh. It seemed like the months would never pass till it was my birthday or Christmas. These past couple months of deputation have been an eye opener! I now know exactly what it means to have time just fly.  At our home church Lighthouse we always had the opportunity to be involved in alot of different ministries growing up. Ministries such as the teen group, young adult ministry, Our Christian Academy and the home school group just to name a few. We always were having people come over and it felt like we were always busy doing some activity etc… It may sound hectic but that was how us kids grew up and we loved it !!! If we didn’t have people come over we didn’t know what to do with our free evening. Some of my best childhood memories were memories spent with the young adults. They became our adopted family. Even though we were busy back at Lighthouse , I think I have learned what the real definition of busy is. We have been able to meet several different missionary families while we have been on the road and my respect level for them has grown considerably. I wish that I could take on every missionary family that we have met while on the road. It is so hard to receive gifts and praise from different missionaries or Pastor’s when all you want to do is give to them. I have discovered that this is one point in deputation I have to work on is I want so badly to give a gift to a Pastor who has been a friend to us or a Missionary kid that we have become good friends with but us I don’t have money to spend like that. I am having to learn to be frugal in what I have and ask the Lord to bless the  person who has been such a blessing in my life.

Actually traveling place to place seems to be the most busiest time of the deputation process. I remember having missionaries come through our church and forget what state they were in or what day it was or what church they were at, and I always thought that was weird. How could you possibly forget where you are?! I have come to the realization that you can forget where you are, what church your at and even what state your in! A common phrase we use when we arrive in a new state is “What state are we in now?” We are so blessed 1 I mean how many kids actually get to travel around the whole country and see exciting new places , meet new friends all the while doing God’s work! We enjoy when we get to stay at a specific person’s house or church for a duration of time! It gives us the time to get to know the church people there and it gives us the opportunity to serve in different aspects of that church. The downfall of staying at a church for a duration of time is not knowing when you will be able to come back and see the new friends you have been able to make. We stay busy though out the week traveling or working on some project the church has asked us to or doing school with my brother and sister. There always seems to be something going on. but just like my brother and sister and I loved have people come over to our house all the time and would not ask to have a different childhood, we would never want to have a different young adult life either.   Although deputation has its ups and downs it is a comforting thought to know that God is in control of our life and of where we are going. Yes we don’t know if we will get to see people who have become our close friends on this earth again but we do know one day we will all be gathered around the throne, worshiping the one who brought us together in the first place.