Layers

Service—leading to lasting change—has a multitude of layers and approaches to success. I could go into a Shrek reference, but I will use the concept as a starting point. There's a lot more to service than one might think. It's one of those entities that leads to exponential exploration: the more you know, the more you realize you don't know. As one might expect, the past year of (indirect) service has helped me barely scrape the surface of what it means to serve, and evaluating ways to do so.

Participating in mission trips leads to great experiences, fantastic growth opportunities, and apparently in regards to my past trip to Jamaica, they could lead to meeting your future spouse (not in my case though, but congrats to Hilary and Stu!) These forays into the lives and cultures of a others for a snippet of time to learn, serve, and then head home are just the beginning. My time of indirect service, building capacity and sustainability for nonprofits, is a step further. I've done direct service in this job and in parts of many other opportunities. Next, I would love to springboard off everything I've learned as an observer and a participant and finally move onto policy. Grassroot movements to actual change. Bandaids to cures. I'm excited to see where life will take me after June 17th, and crossing my fingers that I'll peel back a couple more layers of ways to serve my neighbors.