We are in the middle of a crazy nine days. It is what I call #Mission2Missionaries. We have an incredible new friend, Bethany Covington, who is here all the way from Scottland dong a MISSION TRIP in our own home. A mission trip to the missionaries. She works for the Brent Woodall Foundation for Exceptional Kids, located in Texas, but helps direct their international outreach to families all over the world who have kids with autism. Bethany is training our family in how to do therapy with Keller at all times and has introduced a new therapy this week to us called PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System). It. Is. AMAZING. But IT. IS. EXHAUSTING.
We are spending every waking minute with Keller trying to push him in these therapies so he can advance and then we can learn the next stage while Bethany is here all week. It’s all based around play, so he is having a blast in all of it! The therapies are very specific and complex so we are also continually talking through them and making sure we are doing it right. Casey always remembers the details. I can tell you a story about how I FEEL about the details… does that help?
Part of Bethany’s mission here is to do workshops and reach out to our communities here as those with special needs often don’t have the abundance of resources found in the USA. It has been super heartwarming for me to see so many people come out and learn about autism. Last Thursday night we had our first workshop on autism and developmental disorders here at the Ocean View Methodist Church and 45 parents, teachers, and community members attended. It was insane. I was overwhelmed with emotion because two months ago I wouldn’t have been at such a workshop and now autism is rocking my world. It was beautiful. Then on Friday, Bethany and I went to the School for Disabilities in Ocean View to meet more with the incredible principal who has been working there proudly for 25 years. She is a mighty woman and I loved seeing more of the school and hearing about their vision. These teachers are living and working and serving in a world that is all new to me, and I am in awe of them. Every day my worldview and what I value is being challenged and these people are my new heroes.
So we find ourselves in the middle of #Mission2Missionaries and I have learned that we missionaries still need a lot of change and mission in our own hearts and lives. I am so thankful for a God who is in the changing business and loves us enough change our hearts. And as we are changed I can only pray that we can change others.
“Even the smallest person can change the course of the world.” -JRR Tolkein