Well well well, long time no blog, BUT I’M BACK!
New season of life means a new blog! Why did I change blog sites?? Well, that’s because I not only am continuing to partner with Adventures in Missions, BUT NOW I have been hired to be a Gap Year Mentor!!
What is a Gap Year Mentor?
The mentor of a squad gets to love, lead and disciple a squad as they journey through their 9 months of the World Race. We have the honor and responsibility of being the guide that “leads the way” into deeper intimacy with the Lord, helps remind the squad WHO THEY ARE (aka sons and daughters of the Most High!), and teach life lessons to help build a foundational ground IN CHRIST for the rest of their lives! As I partner with my leadership team and the Holy Spirit we get to help light the fire for the MORE that the Lord wants to do in the squad’s lives!
Our goal is not to become their crutch BUT to be the big flashing arrow that points them to Christ! To give them the ability to walk away from these 9 months having an unwavering faith in Christ & to knowing the truths He says about them. AND THEN they get to give it all away! They get to become the teachers & disciplers to others!
How Did I Get Here??
Welllll it started about a year ago- I had the thought, “I would kinda like to be a mentor…maybe…” I was only in month one of squad leading, and part of me didn’t think I was capable to walk in that role. Also, I had JUST started in that season, and it didn’t seem right to already be thinking about the next. I hadn’t voiced this to anyone at this point because 1. it felt too soon to talk about and 2. I was very insecure about what I was or wasn’t capable of…so I let it go…BUUUUT not for long.
A couple weeks later I went to Guatemala City with my leadership team and some of the staff from the Guatemala base. We were having a grand ole time hanging out, then the question was asked…”Kyndal, what do you feel like your calling on life is?”
Me, who at the time was struggling with a lot of inner battles of insecurity in my abilities as a leader did not want to answer. I tried to brush the question off, but it didn’t work. Then I was asked, “What do YOU want to do??” Immediately i thought, MENTOR! But I didn’t want to say it because I was afraid they would all think I was not qualified for that role. But I couldn’t think of any other answer, so I decided I would just have to say it, and embrace the judgement/comments that would follow. (Wow, what a lie!! These people loved me, but I was so consumed in insecurities the enemy was whispering in my ear that I projected judgement onto my friends).
As soon as I said, “I’d like to be a mentor.” I felt joy and wanted to smile! Then my sweet friend who asked the question said, “Kyndal, as soon as you said ‘mentor’ you had a sparkle in your eyes.” There was no judgmental remarks, but instead love and encouragement that followed!
This was only the beginning. I mean it felt like the “beginning” for me but it was just another step in the Lord’s great and divine plan!
Pretty soon after that conversation I felt the Lord asking me to surrender my future. So anytime I had thoughts of what was next I gave them to the Lord. This continued even til the day I had to come home abruptly in month 6 (March 2020) because of Covid.
So here I was coming back home with NO IDEA what was next. But honestly…with how this year was going, who really did?? Before March I hadn’t planned on living at home after that race, but it ended up being an incredible blessing. It was a sweet sweet time with my family as we navigated all the things that came our way.
During this time I had begun to plan a little, and move forward with where I thought I would be going next. I thought it would be international. And so I took steps in that direction, but also knew it could be a long time before that would even be possible with Covid restrictions.
Then July came and I just didn’t feel so sure about my plans at the time, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I flew out to Gainesville, Georgia to have a squad leader debrief. (All the leadership teams from this last gap year came together to process, debrief and celebrate the last year of leading).
One day during worship I was praying, and asked the Lord if I was suppose to continue living in San Angelo (with my family)? Or am I suppose to move? Possibly somewhere else in the states? I decided I wouldn’t go seeking anything out, but if the Lord provided a job and a place for me to live I would prayerfully consider moving to wherever it might be…
Within a couple hours, a friend from Gainesville said if I ever wanted to move there I could stay with her!?! then I literally turned around, and another friend said, “Hey if you moved here I could get you a job!” Lol what?? Neither of these girls knew about my conversation with the Lord earlier that morning!
THEN just an hour later, my former squad mentor & and real life friend 🙂 approached me and asked if I would consider applying to be the FOURTH GAP YEAR MENTOR!?! (btw this friend was in the conversation I talked about in Guatemala^^ and has also been apart of my world race journey since day one so it was such a “FULL CIRCLE” moment!)
Anyway…my jaw drops, and I can’t help but say, WHAAAAAT?? I had come to the conclusion in my mind months prior that I would not get to be a gap year mentor. I thought that door was closed. But the Lord’s timing is better than my own! Little did I know that God was working on things that I couldn’t see, and then BAM he swung the door wide open!
Then all the perspective came flooding in! The Lord’s timing was TOO good. He waited so that he could have my full attention, and walk through the insecurities with me & truly speak into them. He refined me through a hard BUT sweet gift of a year. A year that started with squad leading 50 humans around the world, and ended with me living back home & getting to see how much I had grown since I had last lived with my family!
No matter how surprised I was, I immediately knew this was what I had been waiting for. Though, consciously I didn’t realize it, the “yes” to mentor had never left. I knew this was where I was suppose to go next. As I went through the application, and interview process I just knew it was a plan of the Lord.
Even during the last year when I had accepted that dream as a closed door, the Lord continued fighting for that open door! So here I am! A year later from that conversation in Guatemala, and I’m now two weeks into being a mentor!? My squad arrives tomorrow, and I can’t help but feel overwhelmed with joy & expectation of more promises to be fulfilled!!
I couldn’t have planned the last year of my life any better than it played out. The disappointments were just as crucial as all the victories! God is THE MOST INTENTIONAL & I feel so deeply loved by Him!
I just have to end this blog by saying THANKS! Thanks to all of you who have partnered with me, prayed with me, and just loved on me over the last year, and really even into the last several years that have been incredibly trans-formative for me! I appreciate you all SO MUCH!
To continue this journey with me I will be sending out regular newsletters either through my blog, or by email. So either way, if you want to keep up- subscribe to my blog here so I have your information!
love love love
kyn
Prayer Requests:
- Health over myself and everyone participating in gap year this year.
- For my squad (Gap F) to have softened hearts and opened hands to what the Lord has in store for them!
- Wisdom for myself as I lead this group of racers!
- Fundraising for myself and my squad. (in order to work as a gap mentor I fundraise most of my salary. something I consider SO WORTH IT in order to have an opportunity to disciple like this!)
