What a journey this has been for the last few weeks… really almost the last year. Ok, realistically the past decade.
We got married just over a decade ago (WOW, that makes me feel like the years are flying by). Our marriage has been tough since day one. I won’t go into all the gory details of that today… maybe one day. But long story short, we have had to fight for what we have today and would not be here, together, if God had not completely transformed who we were into who we are today.
About six years into our marriage God really started changing our heart towards overseas missions work. (We still to this day don’t know exactly what that will look like, but this is definitely a journey birthed by God.) We really needed to heal some from what we had been through with our marriage, and God brought in my amazing company to help with emotional healing and even to help us financially. We started doing a few missions trips here and there. That’s when we knew that God was calling us to another country to help build His kingdom. So three years ago we felt that God was leading us to learn more about Him and more about what ministry would look like. We decided to pick our family up and move two states away to go to Bible College to grow more in our faith and learn theology along the way. And RIGHT after we made that decision, we found out I was pregnant with a SURPRISE to us baby #4! Walking through in God’s plan led Josh to go ahead and move with all of our stuff while the girls and I stayed in Texas until baby girl #4 was born! Then 48 hours after she was born we were all in Missouri where we have spent the last two years growing in faith and learning more about what God wants us to do with our lives.
Last year I was at my company’s convention and went to the International Business Meeting. Since I knew we would end up overseas somewhere I thought it would be a good idea to look at what my business would be like in another country. Lo and behold, New Zealand was going to be the next market opening. (See we had already planned a trip to New Zealand to see if that is where we would end up doing ministry. <— again, another story for another time). So I knew right then and there that I should book a trip to New Zealand for the launch of our company and stay a whole month to work my business!
A friend of mine asked if she could come with me to help grow her business and I instantly said “yes” because I knew how strange it would be to be all alone in a country, while leaving 4 kids and a husband back home (not exactly your typical “stay-at-home-mom” kind of day). So we booked our tickets, booked our car (yikes, opposite side of the road, opposite side of the car driving), and booked our first 2 weeks Airbnbs. After all, we didn’t REALLY know what we were getting ourselves into, so we wanted to give ourselves flexibility.
We were on our way!! Got here to New Zealand and it was amazing…ly different than what we expected. I’m not sure either one of us really knew what to expect. After all, it’s not like we knew anyone that was jumping on a plane to grow their network marketing business without actually having a network in that country… Unfortunately, my friend really felt like she should head home after being here a few days. So we changed our plans and got her back on a flight home. And then here I was… in a country that is foreign (thank heavens they speak English… sort of)… All… By… Myself.
Wow… that was SO strange. I had so many emotions those first few days alone. Guys… I haven’t been “alone” in over a decade!! I didn’t remember what “Jen” was like… I really only get a glimpse of “Jen” every now and then… between 2 and 7pm, three days a week… when I am working on my business at the coffee shop… But I don’t REALLY get to just be JUST Jen, because, well, I’m working! My emotions ranged from “Wow, this freedom and independence is amazing” to “Holy crap! What in the world am I doing here alone? I need to book my flight immediately and just go home, what was I thinking?” Then to, “You know what… God had a plan for this. God knew that I would be alone…. wait, maybe God WANTED me to be alone… because you know what?? I am NOT alone.”
So… has this trip been what I wanted it to be? Nope. Have I enrolled the 50 people I was hoping to? Nope. Have I enrolled 1? Nope. (Thank heavens I still have 18 days to enroll people, so please say a prayer for me).
But has this trip helped me grow? Yep. Has this trip helped me connect with myself? Yep. Has this trip grown me closer to the Lord? Yep. Has this trip taken me WAY past my comfort zone? Yep. Has this trip grown my faith?… FOR SURE!! And I am SO grateful for it all.
The thing that keeps popping in my head as I am out “adventuring” is when 
Bilbo Baggins runs through his hobbit town (which BTW I totally got to see) and yells, “I’m goin’ on an adventure” (and I really hope you all read that with the accent in your mind like it is in mine, LOL). The adventure that he had was not just frolicking in a field of daisies… It had some really scary moments, where Bilbo had to step out of his comfort zones to experience things that his other hobbit friends could only dream about (and lets be honest, some of those dreams would be nightmares). But Bilbo went on an ADVENTURE!! Not a walk in the park. An honest to goodness adventure! So… this trip is not done yet… and as Bilbo would say…
“I’m goin’ on an adventure!!”
-Jen
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