Miles, Milestones, and a Whole Lot of Snuggles

 This feels like the kind of blog post that should come with a map and a handful of pushpins — just so you can keep track of Mary Faith’s travels as you read.

Her journey kicked off on May 2nd with a flight to North Carolina for a very important reason: the arrival of her first grandchild. On May 10th, a healthy — and very adorable — baby boy made his debut. Not a bad way to celebrate Mother’s Day. In fact, it was an especially meaningful one, as her grandson shares a birthday with Mary Faith’s late father.

After three weeks of serious (and highly important) snuggle time, Mary Faith said goodbye to her newest little favorite and headed west. She landed in Phoenix on June 2nd, where she’s been hard at work lining up opportunities to share about Sowers4Pastors — what the ministry is doing and how others can come alongside that work.

She’s already scheduled to speak to a small group from her home church and is hopeful that more opportunities will come together while she’s in the area.

But if you’re reading this and thinking, “Well, I’m not in Phoenix…” don’t worry. Mary Faith is not exactly staying put.

Next stop: Pennsylvania for a reunion over the Fourth of July. And since she’ll be renting a car in Phoenix and driving all the way there, she’ll be covering a lot of ground between Point A and Point B. Ohio is on the route, and she’s hoping to line up speaking opportunities along the way. So if you happen to be somewhere between desert and fireworks… this might be your moment.

And if that still doesn’t work?

From Pennsylvania, she’ll head to California for her nephew’s wedding. At this point, it’s safe to say that July has been officially claimed as “Support-Raising Road Trip: Coast-to-Coast Edition.”

As Mary Faith put it, “I’m more than willing to travel to speak to a group. I’m open to whatever and wherever people will allow me to speak. This is a top priority.”

While she didn’t originally plan to be in the States for five months, it’s looking increasingly likely that she may stay until it’s time for the backpack trip. Logistically, it makes sense — especially since she has family to stay with. Flying back to Honduras in August only to return to the U.S. again in September might be a bit much, even for someone clearly racking up frequent flyer miles like it’s a competitive sport.

And, let’s be honest, the extra time doesn’t hurt when there’s a grandson involved. More time in the States means more chances for a few bonus snuggles.

Even with all the travel, Mary Faith is staying disciplined. 

She continues her Spanish lessons online and is grateful for opportunities to practice while in Phoenix. So yes — somewhere between highways, airports, and family gatherings, she’s still fitting in verb conjugations. Impressive.

As you can imagine, this kind of travel schedule comes with one very obvious prayer request: safety. Or, as Mary Faith summed it up, “That’s a lot of miles!”

If you’d like to have Mary Faith speak to your church or group, don’t hesitate to reach out. And if you don’t happen to live near one of the imaginary pins on this imaginary map, no problem — Zoom is still a perfectly acceptable form of modern-day travel.

No suitcase required.

 - posted by Christi