A Final Farewell

Kristin has been having an emotional couple of weeks - to say the least. Kristin returned with 20 other team members from Costa Rica at 1am on Wednesday July 16th. Thursday and Friday we packed her office and hauled it to the house. Before we left the church she began to become overwhelmed with emotion for those whom she's tried to lead closer to Jesus and the hard work she put into the office that no longer bore a reminder of her presence there.

This past Sunday was a sweet time for Kristin as the youth, parents, church members, and staff gathered after the 11:00am service to give her their final farewell. Bob Thomas began the reception with an overall blessing from the church. He was on her hiring committee and is now sad to see her go. Rev. Bill gave a word about Kristin and how much he enjoyed the time he had working with her. Sharon Brookshire, who hosted the wonderful reception, began to talk about what Kristin had meant to her. Mrs. Brookshire began to talk about her daughter Katie, who had passed away several years ago. Katie was the main reason Kristin had become a follower of Christ. Mrs. Brookshire said that the last five years with Kristin has been as if she has been allowed to see her daughter grow up. She recognized Kristin's heart as that of Katie's. By the time Mrs. Brookshire was done speaking there was not a dry eye in the fellowship hall. It was a moment that brought a beautiful display of closure to Kristin's time at RHUMC.

Kristin has been allowed to write one last "Hill Topper" article, and this is what she wrote...

July 17, 2003 I moved into an office at RHUMC. July 17. 2008, tears rolling down my cheeks, I packed up my office. There’s not a column big enough to write about what those exact five years have held for me. There’s not enough room to thank every single person who has made a huge impact on my life and helped keep me standing during these five years. I am not the same person I was when I started here, and that’s a good thing. I was one year out of college when I started…now five years later….thirty is looming. It’s been a rollercoaster of a ride to say the least. I am grateful to the Lord for the wisdom and revelation that He has revealed to me. I’m grateful for who He is and His faithfulness.

As Rev. Bill has already stated…I came because I heard His voice…I leave for the same reason…I hear His voice. I never knew how long I was to be here, but knew it was obvious when He wanted me here and I knew it would be obvious when it was time for me to leave. The time has come and I have heard His voice. He told me first that I was leaving before I knew where I was going. The time has come that He has a new season for not just me, but for the Youth of Richmond Hill. The Lord has great things in store for RHUMC…I believe that. He wants to take these youth deeper than I have been able to take them…and that is an exciting thing.

The word “bittersweet” is how I have wrapped things into one word for a couple of months now. It’s bitter because it is hard to leave the ones you love. It is sweet because it is from Jesus and there is nothing better or sweeter than walking in His will.

So the time has come to say goodbye. I love each and everyone of you with all that I have. Thank you for allowing me to be apart of your lives for the past five years. Thank you for allowing me to be apart of the work of the Lord in your lives. Jesus has such beautiful things in store for each one of you. Know you have a prayer warrior in me and that I will always lift you up before the Throne of our beloved Jesus.

I love you,
Kristin

posted by Robert @ July 24, 2008 5 Comments

Estamos a casa

For those that haven't seen our Costa Rica blog (http://rhumcyouthincostarica08.blogspot.com) here is the latest:

Estamos a casa (We are home). Just wanted to let everyone know that we safely made it home last night. Our flight was delayed from Atlanta to Savannah (I have many sarcastic remarks that come to mind when I type that...but we had a no sarcasim rule enforced on our trip..so I will ask Jesus to bless Delta)...and we pulled into the church parking lot at 1:00am exactly. We are grateful to all that Jesus did in our lives on this trip and we are grateful for all of you that diligently prayed for us. We will post more updates and pictures later...but for now, know we are home safely. Below is our final team picture we took--which includes our blessing of our translator Jenny from Ireland who made a return visit over the pond just for us :-) as she translated for our team 3 years ago. This picture is taken right after we ziplined down a volcano...an active one we must let you know!

posted by Kristin @ July 18, 2008 1 Comments

And we are off!

Please pray for us while we are in Costa Rica!!!

http://rhumcyouthincostarica08.blogspot.com/

posted by Kristin @ July 07, 2008 0 Comments

Kristin's Chaos

Kristin's life has been in over-drive these past couple of months, and it's about to reach it's peak. She has just gotten back from New Orleans, worked a Chrysalis Weekend, and now she is at a summer camp for our new church (Riverstone) in Kennesaw, before heading to Costa Rica.

There are about 300 youth at the camp (only about half are from Riverstone) but the cool thing is that they have 100 volunteers there to help. The atmosphere there is very exciting. They have told Kristin not to get too overwhelmed. Tom Tanner, the pastor, has been there this week and he told Kristin that this youth week, for her, is "opportunity without without responsibility." She is free to do whatever, but nothing is expected of her. They wanted her there so she would have the opportunity to see what the big youth camp - everybody will be talking about - is all about, and to get her foot in the door with some of the kids.

Anyway... Kristin will be back tomorrow afternoon to do Wednesday night youth here in RH and then she leaves Monday for Costa Rica with a team of 21. Keep her in your prayers. She likes to get worn out before getting worn out - and almost dying in foreign countries - but we're not speaking that.

If you'd like, Riverstone has a LIVE FEED on the internet so you can watch whats going on at the youth camp. Go to www.riverstonesummercamp.tv and watch the speaker and the worship team tonight. I watched it last night and it was really good.

Thanks for the Prayers...
Robert

posted by Robert @ July 01, 2008 1 Comments