Stories.

I loved seeing God work in and through me.
He took things I wasn't even GOOD at and used them to bless other people.

Like SOCCER.
I am NOT a soccer player. Trust me. Mic and Zach were... not me. And yet, almost everyday I played soccer with Sofanee, and he loved it. And I did, too. Once, our game turned into a mass game of Keep-Away with 13 other kids. But once, Sofanee picked up the ball after it had rolled in the dirt, and he cleaned it off before we played again.

I guess I thought that since God had gifted me at certain things, He would only use those things. But now I see that that is putting God in a box. And He doesn't like that.

He also used the things I'm good at.

Like...talking.

I shared my testimony with House Four... all of my testimony. The hurt, the pain, the forgiveness, and the awesome. And through it, God worked in at least two lives. He healed, taught, and loved through me and my story.
And I'm not saying that to sound all "Holier Than Thou", because trust me, I don't think that.

I am so humbled by how God worked.
He took me - a little, silly girl from Alaska, and He shoved me all the way around the world, and He opened my mouth to speak to girls who didn't know the best English. And through my story, He fulfilled a promise: That He would use my hurt to help others.

What else?
God loved through me to turn a little HIV positive girl named Tahmee from a robot to a girl who laughed and played and hugged. We became like BFFs. One day, she was swinging, and I left for five minutes. When I came back, she was just sitting there, with tears running down her face. I picked her up, sat down in the dirt, and held her in my lap for like 30 minutes, just rubbing her back, rocking her, and hugging her. She speaks Zulu, so I couldn't ever understand her, until the very last day, when I said bye... and she said it back, plain as day, in English.

My heart broke. I went outside and cried and prayed for a long time, there in the dark... alone. I would have taken her home in a minute. Some of my favorite pictures are of me and her.

Then there's Mbali. What a precious little girl.
And Betsy. She's had so much hurt - you can tell.
And Candace. Such wisdom in a 15 year old.
And Zem and Personality. So much energy.
And the boys. Always wanting to sit by me and take pictures and look at my pictures.

My red hair was a huge source of entertainment.

I felt peace there, like I was home.