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My Journey to the Book


It has been quite overwhelming the last few days

I shared the link to my book to a few friends and the response has been a shock to me. The support has been unbelievable. All the comments are quite similar to this message that I received from a friend who has been more than a brother to me. Those of us who know him back in the day, we call him Kissa.

He wrote:

Hello bro
I finally got a chance to watch the video. And I have 2 conflicting reactions:
1) what a powerful and incredible story man. It is amazing. I would love to rush put in on my facebook and twitter account for everybody to learn from you. How can I pay to order an autographed book?
2) I am also angry against you man. I was supposed to be your brother and friend. You could have asked me for a little help. Instead of living the fight alone. I hope one of the lessons learned in your journey would also be: Know your friends
In any case, bravo and can't tell how much I respect you and I am proud of you
Cheers

This message gave me the strength I needed to share the book with the world. It is not easy to be an open book and share your struggles. It takes a lot of courage, I must admit.

However, it would be selfish of me not to share the lessons I have learned from my dark moments.

 Let’s be honest. We all face challenges in our lives. That is a fact. It is how we respond to them that matters. As we face our demons, we all need help. We need someone to tell us that it will all be ok. I am so happy now that I can look into the eyes of a friend who is in tough situation and be able to give a few words of encouragement, just because I have seen a thing or two.

To those of you who asked me why I did not reach out for help, my response is: I don’t know.

My young brother once told me something that I found to be true: we cannot judge someone who is reacting to a challenge a certain way, simply because we have no idea how we would react to the same challenges if we were going though them ourselves.

I had to figure out things myself, on my own. I had to go through the fire and hang in there. I had to see that this faith thing works. I can tell you now, with so much conviction that faith works. I have seen it so many times.

Flory, a friend who lives in France reacted to the testimony on the video by saying that he needed to hear more from me. My friend Flory, I have so much to say that it won’t fit in any kind of video. I went through a lot, so much that it would take a week or two to share all of them.

Today, as I was driving to work, I couldn’t help remembering some of the stuff I went through, alone, with no one looking. I cried the entire route. These were tears of joy, especially because I was with my daughter when those things happen. And to see who she has become now, I can’t stop crying. She has no idea what she went through with me, and I am glad she doesn’t know.

Just the other day, I went to a store with Skylar (my daughter). As we were about to enter the store, she saw a lady with a tea cup in front of her, begging for money. Then she asked me: Daddy, why is this lady there, sitting in the cold with a cup in front of her? I responded that she needed some money to buy something to eat. Her next question was: Daddy, do you have any money in your pocket?
I reached out to my pocket, gave my daughter a few dollars, and she went to the lady and gave her the money. The look on this lady’s face when she saw my daughter was priceless. 

Skylar is six years old, and I am really proud of her. She is so generous beyond measure.

What Skylar did not know was that, a few years ago, I was in front of a store (like the lady), begging for money to buy diapers for her…

The other thing I would say to respond to my friend Kissa, is that I did receive help. A ton of help. Paul my business partner, is no longer just a partner. He is a brother for life. I saw his generosity first hand. I don’t know how I will thank him. Pastor Christian Murengera has been more than a spiritual father to me. My goodness!  Him coming to pick us up at 11pm in the rain, while we were on the street, and give us a home and a church was out of this world. This will be forever engraved in my soul.

Now, it is time to share my journey with the world.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my book: “Journeyman Stories: 15 Life Lessons and the Most Important Thing I Learned that can Transform Your Life!”


Moral of the story? Do you want to have your life transformed? Just read my book and you will meet my friend Paul.

Always a pleasure
Patrick
The Journeyman

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