1. Brothers and sisters. My mom always told my younger sister and me, "Friends may come and go, but sisters are forever." This year, I have learned just how true that is and I think it applies to brothers as well. There are few, if any, people in the world that I would choose to spend time with over my siblings. Through them I have also learned that people change. They are constantly getting new ideas, forming different opinions, and being molded by Christ. The same way that I look back and shudder at the things that I have done, said, and thought, is the way everyone does. My brothers and sisters showed my this by always being different than I expected when I saw them again. Without a doubt, we are all "Boudets" but each of my siblings is very different, unique. There are special things to love about each of them.
2. Open-air evangelism. I have a love hate relationship with this activity. Every time we go out my stomach cramps and I get a head ache. I think of 101 reasons not to go, but somehow always find myself on the way. But it seems that on the way back, there is nothing but joy, excitement, and the most wonderful exhaustion. We are left on this world to tell others about Christ, so there is nothing better than doing it....than investing in something that last forever. People last forever.
From open-air I have learned that people love straightforwardness and long for someone to care for them. People know when you are being honest or not. When you honestly care for someone, they can tell. One thing that I have told several people on the street after we have talked for awhile and things may or may not have gotten a bit "passionate"..."So, if you are right, blah blah blah (insert whatever they think... Muslim, atheist, Mormon, etc) when I die, I would blah blah blah (again insert what each person thinks) would happen to me. But, if what I am saying is correct, then when you die, you will spend eternity in a horrible place called hell, and I do not want that to happen to you, so that is why I am here. " People everywhere hurt. They know things are not right. They long for someone to care. Christ has the solution, and who loves them more?
I have also realized that America is an amazing mission field. Many people think that there is a God, that Jesus was a good person, that the Bible is a good book, but have never realized that Christ provided a way for them to have eternal life. What an amazing harvest that is waiting!
In a way that nothing else ever has, open-air has also shown me my weakness, that nothing that I do is really me, but Christ in me. Here's something I wrote a few days ago:"I know I will weep when I stand before my Savior and realize all the opportunities He had given me and I allowed myself to get in the way of ceasing them. Even now my head is spinning with people I should have talked to, was supposed to talk to, but for some reason, just didn't....the dear man who shared his trail mix with me on the plane last week...the self-centered jocks I scoffed at last night at Target....the neighbors who came over for dinner a couple of nights ago....my extended family at Christmas....all of these are people, souls that will last forever....and I did nothing. Something I read recently; "Winners of souls are first weepers for souls." I pray that God will "stamp eternity on my eyeballs" and that I will see people as He sees them."
3. Cubbies. One of my greatest highlights during the week. I need to learn to tell stories that captivate three and four year olds. Even at this age, they long to be cherished, to know that they are love, to be treated like a person. Through them I have discovered that I do not know why I do most of the things that I do....and that I do not like that discovery.
4. Ireland. I spent a week in May in Ireland. My dad had a class for work over there, so I went along. I learned that I l-o-v-e airports. People watching is amazing and talking to people from all over the world even better. I also relish traveling. And I found out that I care much more about what people think of my than what I would like to admit. It was much more difficult to share Christ with people than I imagined. Made me wonder how I would really handle things if I was in a work place.
5. Christina. A wonderful gift from the Lord who has shown me so much about being a godly woman.
6. Kids Meetings at a Nursing Home. To read more about it, click here. It taught me compassion, to love the unlovely, and about communication. But the most beautiful thing of all was seeing again that the gospel is for all men and that Christ love is everlasting. 
7. TEPSE. A closed chapter in my life now, but one that changed my life. Forever.
8. Counseling at camp. Always a joy and a trial at the same time. Being responsible for a dozen girls for a week at a time is overwhelming. The hurt in their lives has always brought me to tears, and to the end of myself. I no longer knew what to do or say, and had no where to turn but the Lord. What a wonderful place to be....one that I never want to leave. By the end of the week I also go into "mother hen" mode, where I just want to pull them all to me and protect them forever. Then the Lord tells me, "Kathleen, I love them more than you can even fathom. You will not be able to protect them, but I will never leave them."
There is so much more I could say, but I will close for now, because it is a new day, a new year, and I have more lessons to learn, a Savior to love, more stories to make, people to meet, places to go, and an eternity to impact.
P.S. Here are a couple of pictures from out trip to Arizona this summer, because looking back I never did post and more after I put up the post "A Preview..."
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