Jason, We Love You
You hijacked my life in the best possible way with your film. Then you became my friend. I’ve loved watching your family grow. You’ve challenged my faith, my worldview, and the way I view humanity.
~Talitha
Jase the Ace
Dear Jason,
I first met you in Fall 2008 in our old Spring Valley offices! I remember our first interaction, and being so mesmerized and in awe of the way you bought joy, passion and love into those around you!
From Fall 08 through filming the Rescue World Tour podcast, throwing ourselves off cliffs in suits and ending that tour driving across the country in buses you have been a visionary driving force through all! You have a unique ability to see the future the way it can be, that is something I have always admired about you!!
Thank you for everything you have done for me Jase, from the beginning on my journey through “Free Timmy” you have always been a champion in my eyes. I always have, and always will respect you Jase!
I know the past few months have been tough, know that you WILL overcome once again, rely on Danica, Gav, Evelyn, and of course Jesus!
Jason Russell: You are VALUABLE, You are WORTHY, YOU ARE LOVED!
We’re all here for you.
Love you brother,
Timmy.
Jason,
I wrote this email to you on January 6th, 2012, and for some reason, decided against sending it. It seems to articulate everything I want to say to you more succinctly than I think I’ll be able to now in the present. Here it is:
’Jason,
I’m sat in my room at university, feeling terribly nostalgic and hungry for adventure and divine purpose. I can’t shake off my love affair with Invisible Children, no matter how hard I try. I just can’t let it go. I wanted to tell you that I don’t know where I’d be without IC. I know that may sound drastic and perhaps unhealthy, but honestly, sometimes I just lie awake at night and can’t get over how life-altering Invisible Children has been for me.
At school I was the class clown, not many teachers really liked me, and I certainly wasn’t cool. Not to mention I was Christian. But at 17 I discovered the unseen and it didn’t even matter. Sometimes I think to myself now ‘Ha! To all you who thought I was weird. To all you who didn’t talk to me when I sat next to you ‘cause you thought I was kinda uncool. HA! Look what I did. Look who I met. Look at the love that I know.’ And then I get sad for them that they don’t have what I have in Invisible Children. At uni, I don’t flaunt my experiences and sometimes I look around the room and just think ‘Oh, if only you knew. If only you knew what my life was and the people I love’, you might think of me differently. Fortunately, I’m able to show them through my actions. But they still don’t know so much of my story, and it’s so tiring to tell sometimes. I just spent a while on Nate’s Facebook and it’s late at night and my flat is empty. And sometimes everyone seems so far away, and there is nowhere I want to be more than San Diego.
But all nostalgia and missing aside : Invisible Children changed my life. I wouldn’t be studying in the most incredible city, doing this degree, had I not watched the Rescue. I would be attending the birthday parties in London of some of the people who inspire me most in life had I not been placed on a team with Nate Henn. I wouldn’t be attending a church that I’m deeply in love with had I not gone to the Rescue alone, four hours from home without knowing anyone. All these things interlink, and it blows my mind to think how intricately planned all of our lives are - weaving in and around everyones separate paths, tying them together loosely, sometimes, and binding them tight others. God is a wonderful God. We are so blessed to know Him and be called to live out His heavenly purpose. What can’t we do with Him? Nothing. We can do anything. We can move mountains. And we will. We’re here to establish His glorious Kingdom on Earth, and His kingdom doesn’t house Joseph Kony’s, child abduction and terrorism. Kony 2012 is going to be powerful, I can feel it.
I love you very much, Jason. Thank you for changing the course of my life forever. I hope you can look beyond the cliche and see the might and power in that statement.
Hannah Jones x’
My “IC Story”
Jason,
I won’t actually share my full IC story here, as it sounds much like those of thousands of others, but I will say thank you. Thank you for helping to create an organization (and a movement) which is not only doing so much good for our friends in Africa, but is now causing so much beautiful change in the hearts of young (and not so young) people on a global scale. Because of your work, and that of the rest of our IC family, I was able to spend my first semester out of college as a Great Lakes Roadie for the Face to Face tour, and to meet the thousands of people (not to mention my 5 teammates) who would forever change the trajectory of my life. I will never be able to thank you enough for pouring your life into Invisible Children, and into all of our lives.
Also, thanks for forever changing the song “Dynamite” for me, people still look at me weird as I suddenly break into dance when it comes on.
So much love from Tennessee,
Sarah Anderson
Jason,
Your vulnerability of your story has been the reason why I can always trust your dreams and work. When you told us your ABC’s of life I knew then that you were one of the most sincere, genuine and hopeful individuals I met. You were open about your story, you knew it was yours and yet you knew it was never about you. That realization challenges me and encourages me every day. Thank you for looking people in the eyes when you talk to them. Thank you for responding to emails whenever I sent you one. Thank you for the East of Eden luncheon — but most importantly, thank you for your continual sacrifice for others.
Thinking of you everyday and hoping to share the kind of light that you do all the time.
-Meagan Shorey
Big Dreams
Jason,
I have thought about the way that your story and sincerity drag people in. I was pretty well prepped to “care about Africa” when I stumbled upon Invisible Children, but the things I learned in training in San Diego caught me off guard. There is a way that you do things. It’s building the dreamers here. And making us family.
We’re all still here. And we love you.
I am forever grateful for the way you seem to know me. How you listen. For the time you take talking to me in the hallway at work. The way you ask about Jacob, or my thoughts on East of Eden. The lunch dates and emails. You are in the walls of this place, and you are in the fabric of the justice sweaters the world is trying on right now.
Love you. We’re still here. And we still believe it. All of it.
It’s working.
Love from my desk around the corner,
Bethany
From Eugene Kim!
Jason, I’ll never forget when I was at IC three summers ago, and you overheard a conversation I was having with some contacts about how I hadn’t seen a movie in theaters in months. You weren’t even in on the conversation, but you heard me tell them I was too broke to see the newest Terminator movie, which clearly bothered you. Two hours later, you stepped in front of our van as I was driving out and threw a $20 bill on my lap after I rolled down the window, telling me to go enjoy the movie. Of course, you ran away before I could give it back to you.
Thanks for always being such a stellar example of humility, compassion, and generosity. I don’t know any other boss that would’ve done anything like what you did. It’s still a reminder for me, three years afterwards, that we’re all equal and nobody’s bigger than anyone else. Love you man, take care out there!
For making me believe in my dream
So Jason,
I remember when you brought my team into your office last fall to give us our send off talk and when you asked me what I wanted to do I told you about opening up my own youth center. Though I imagined this dream of mine as just that a dream, you spoke so much confidence into me. Thank you for that. You did that every day for me while I was at the office and continue to do that through the way you live. Thank you for your humbleness, confidence in young people’s dreams, and dedication to trying to make this world harmonious.
Love and Prayers,
Cardinal Seawell
A story
Jason, it’s funny when people say that I’ve grown up with Invisible Children because to me that feels like more of a true statement than maybe I let on. I’ve gotten to watch this thing from so many different angles and in so many different stages, and in the process have been learning so much about my own life in the process. I want you to know that I’ve learned more from you, your example, your commitment and constant willingness to personally sacrifice for your friends than you may think. I admire you so much for the example you live, but also, as do many, for your stories. God has truly created you to tell stories, and as we’ve all seen, over the past almost decade, to tell them powerfully and meaningfully. Every story I’ve heard from you, from what goes into films to your personal and vulnerable stories about your life, your faith, your fears and regrets and your passions, has made a lasting impact on me in some way. For that I want to thank you sincerely, and also share a story with you.
Well, it’s a segment of a much larger story I’ve been trying to tell for several years now. Maybe one day, if it’s what I’m supposed to do, I’ll publish it. But I wrote this particular segment fairly recently, in reflection about what I’ve taken away from Invisible Children - both lessons from the many friends I feel so proud to call my family, and things that I’ve learned from the heart you’ve been spilling all over this organization since you got back from Uganda in 2003. I haven’t shared any of this story I’m telling with anyone else before, and even this segment of it is a rough version, but I hope it will show you just the pondering and story-telling this thing you began has been helping me do.
Here it is, and thank you so much my friend for being fully human. http://spwtest.tumblr.com/post/19616964710/a-tale-of-alma-to-be-human
- Seth Williams
Be Alive
To my friend,
I will never forget the first time I heard your ABCDs of Life training. You spoke with vulnerability, power and confidence that had me captivated. That never changed for me - every time you gave that training or rallied all of the Movement together, whether it was in the trenches of S4S fundraising or Chase week or 25, I was encouraged to keep going.
You did that for me and the hundreds of people working at Invisible Children for years. And these past two weeks, you have done that for millions around the world. Conversations are happening that I never thought possible. My 19 year old sister is posting about Joseph Kony on facebook, and my 11 year old nephew is speaking about Kony2012 in his school chapel. In all my years of being active with IC, these types of things have never happened in my family - until now.
It is happening, and it is in large part because of the work God has started through you. Be encouraged. We will never give up. And we will stand by IC and you for life.
JoLeah Stiles
