I find it hard to believe just how fast the last 11 months have flown by. It seems like only yesterday I was saying goodbye to friends and family and boarding a plane to Europe to begin a journey of unknown possibilities. Since my arrival home, I have been processing the past 11 months and I hope to give you a look into what the last year has been, month by month, country by country, highlight by highlight and challenge by challenge. So here you have it:
Month 1 – Bulgaria
Bulgaria will always have a special place in my heart. My team served in a small village called Dobromirka, which had a special kind of country charm with its many sunflower fields and rolling hills. Even more charming than the Bulgarian countryside, where it’s inhabitants. We had the pleasure of working with a small mission organization, Mission Possible Bulgaria, to run summer camps for kids. One of my favorite experiences in Bulgaria was building relationships with the neighborhood children who would stop by our house everyday to play soccer, Frisbee or card games. We had a month of pouring into these kids who had very little exposure to the gospel. Our team spent a lot of time with two young boys, brothers, Sashko and Mariancho, and were able to leave them with Bibles and soccer balls before we left. One of the challenges of investing so much time and energy into relationships with the kids was the realization that we were only there for a short time and we didn’t know what kind of influences would follow for the kids. I was drawn further into trusting God to take care of those we poured into by the time we had to move onto the next country. It became evident by the time we had to leave that the Lord had used us to bring life back into an old dying town and that he had a purpose in our being there. I was able to see first hand the opportunities that God had given us to bring light to a town full of darkness. I left Bulgaria saying many sad goodbyes, but hopeful for all that the Lord would continue to do in the tiny village town of Dobromirka.
Month 2 – Albania
Albania was one of the more challenging months for the majority of our squad, as this was the first month that our whole group would be serving together as opposed to split into our individual teams. Similar to Bulgaria our main ministry in Albania was to help run summer camps for kids. Our group stayed on a compound in Lezhe, Albania working with Lightforce Ministries, which operated simultaneously as a campground and a pig farm that helped to sustain the ministry. Our group was spilt into different jobs for the month, some were pig farmers, others were manning the climbing wall and obstacle courses, and some were on kitchen duty. One of challenges of working in Albania was the inability to speak openly about Jesus with the kids because of the Muslim and Atheistic presence in the country. I found it difficult to see the purpose of serving in Albania because a lot of ministry we were doing seemed pointless and unfruitful. I still struggle with thinking back on Albania, as I personally struggled through my own doubts and questions into why the Lord had lead me there, but I am reminded of two 18 year old girls, Dido and Ardita, who worked in the local super market down the street that we were able pour into while we were there. It’s easy to look back on a month that was challenging and loose sight of the blessings. Though Albania was one of the more challenging months of the race, I learned the most about how God continues his purposes whether we see it or not.
Month 3 – Moldova
I had never even heard of Moldova before leaving for the World Race. Moldova was the only country that I hadn’t signed up to go to. Our group was supposed to go to Turkey but it was changed to Moldova last minute due to civil unrest in Turkey at the time. Though I had no idea what was in store for Moldova, I had a feeling going into it that it was going to be a month full of blessing and overflow. My team spent our month in the small town of Singerei, Moldova assisting a local pastor and his family with his ministry to kids throughout the region. Our hosts Mihail and Gallina, were by far the most hospitable hosts we had on the entire race. They went above and beyond to make us feel welcome and take care of any needs that we would have. I have never met a couple as selfless as Mihail and Gallina, they were constantly giving of their time, materials, and attention. Though Moldova was the poorest country we went to in Europe, the people as a whole were the most generous I have ever met. Every Saturday my team would arrange a program for the local kids were we would perform Bible skits, preach the gospel and play games. We spent several weekdays taking care of small projects around the campground that we lived in for the month and visiting the school to teach English classes. My month in Moldova was a time of bounty. God was pouring unending blessings by enabling me to meet my second financial deadline on time and by giving me strength and refreshment to continue the journey.
Month 4 – Romania
My month in Romania consisted of numerous experiences as my team was assigned to do what they call an ‘Unsung Heroes’ month. This meant that instead of being involved with one ministry for the month, we would be traveling around the country in search of new ministries for the World Race to partner with in the future. We began our month in Brasov, Romania where we connected with C3 Church, a small church started by a couple, Florian and Mirabela Vasile, with the focus of reaching the lost people of Romania. I was inspired to hear of all the work that C3 Church was doing in Brasov and all that God had done to get them where they are today. As we continued our traveling around Romania, we ended up just outside of Timisoara at a ministry one of my teammates was previously connected with, River of Life Ministries. River of Life was a small organization run by Doug and Roberta Moore that functions as a care home for single mothers, orphaned children, and the elderly. It was amazing to see firsthand the redemption that the Lord had brought to the people in the care home. Many of them had been through many tragedies and difficulties but are now thriving in a community of people devoted to serving the Lord. Following our time in Timisoara, we headed north to Oradea where we stayed with relatives of one of my teammates pastor, Paul and Becky. We were so blessed to be able to be based in an area where there were numerous ministries to connect with. We met with ministries involved with church planting, ending sex trafficking, taking care of the elderly and mentally impaired and taking care of orphaned gypsy kids. I had the opportunity to see what ministry in Romania looked like through many different scopes and I was blessed to see a glimpse of how God uses different people to accomplish and fulfill different needs.
Month 5 – India
India was one of the countries I was looking forward to for quite a while. I had always heard about the rich culture and interesting encounters in India and was looking forward to experiencing it for myself. Despite the scorching heat, crowded streets and interesting smells that India is notorious for, it was quick to became one of my favorite months. My team spent the month in Hyderabad at Sarah’s Covenant Homes, a foster care home for orphans and abandoned kids with chronic and life-threatening illnesses and impairments. A typical day consisted of playing with babies for a few hours in the morning, heading down the street after lunch to play with the older kids for most of the afternoon, then spending an hour with our assigned special needs child trying to rehabilitate and care for individual needs. Chloe, my assigned kid was born without eyes and autistic. Every evening I would assist her in learning how to feed herself and become more independent. While it wasn’t an easy task to perform, I was beyond blessed to look back on the month and see just how much Chloe had progressed. My favorite floor to work on in the care home was the floor with all boys who were always bounding with energy. I quickly became attached to several kids who I would spend everyday playing with and pouring into. We would spend our days running around on the rooftop, playing tag, simply having fun … something these kids don’t always have the opportunity to do because of physical impairments. One kid that I really bonded with, Riley, was 2 years old but was the size of a 6 month old child due to a chronic heart disease that stunted his growth. He was unable walk, but he was one of the smartest and cutest 2 year olds I’ve met. He would cry everyday that I would leave to go home, but on the last day when I was saying goodbye he was smiling and laughing. It was heartbreaking to have to leave after a month of forming attachments to the kids, but I am forever grateful to have been able to be a part of such a ministry that focuses not only on caring for the physical needs of orphans, but also their spiritual needs as well.
Month 6 – Nepal
Nepal was by far the most beautiful country I have ever been to. Seeing the snowcapped Himalayan Mountains for the first time on my birthday was absolutely breathtaking and a moment I will never forget. My team spent the month in the town of Baglung, 12 hours west of Kathmandu, towards some of the most beautiful mountains I will probably ever see. Our ministry mainly consisted of helping to build the local church by putting on Christmas services and attending church gatherings in the area. My team struggled in Nepal with sickness and cultural differences that caused some tension between us and our contact. I spent two nights in a sketchy Nepali hospital with one of my teammates who had a parasite and later on I spent a day in the hospital myself for an illness to this day I’m not sure what it was. I had a strange reaction to one of the medicines that was given to me through my IV while at the hospital which caused me to be paralyzed for about 5 minutes and made my lips turn blue. While it was possibly one of the more scary moments of my life, I learned that even when I literally have no control God does and he used that moment to remind me of that. As a result of being sick, I stayed an extra day in Pokhara, one of the cities we were traveling through on our way back to Kathmandu. Pokhara was by far the most beautiful city we went to in Nepal and we got a special tour on motorcycles by some of the local church members. Spending Christmas Day away from home and family definitely had its challenges, however it turned out to be one of my favorite days on the race. We performed a skit, a dance, some music and a sermon to about 150 Nepali kids on Christmas Day. It was an incredibly special moment to be able to spend Christmas with kids who got to hear the gospel for the first time and to be able to dance with them literally the entire day. Upon hearing the news about the earthquake in Nepal while I was in Mongolia, I was fearful for my friends that I had made there, but the Lord is faithful and I found out that every one of them was safe.
Month 7 – South Africa
Going into South Africa, I had spent countless hours in constant pain while traveling from Nepal. I spent the first week and half in SA either in a bed at our contacts home or in the hospital. It was possibly the most difficult time I had on the race due to frustration at not knowing what was wrong with me or how to fix it. I had spent continual hours in prayer and many others were praying for me to get better, but I simply was not getting better in the time frame I would have liked. I received numerous treatments for the pain, but doctors were unsure of what was going on as all my test results would come back normal. Eventually I got better, my sickness simply went away. It was during this time that I struggled a lot with why God would allow me to go through something like that as awful as it was at the time. Later on I got to share with people at a soup kitchen how God allows us to go through things that don’t make much sense or aren’t enjoyable for a greater purpose. As I was just coming out of the situation with being sick I was able to be raw and vulnerable with people who had it a lot worse than I did. I think God managed to teach me even more through that circumstance than I could relay to those at the soup kitchen. My team spent the month in Jeffery’s Bay and did evangelism on the beach and the slums and helped to maintain a horse farm part time. We also helped run weekly meetings for recovering addicts and spent a day at a local prison ministering to both men and women. I had the opportunity to share with the women about what it means to be accepted by Christ. Hearing the men and women worship in the prisons in SA was possibly one of the most beautiful sounds I have encountered. It was a truly touching moment were God reminded me of his unconditional love for his people, something that will be forever engrained in my mind.
Month 8 – Swaziland
Looking back at my month in Swaziland it’s easy to remember the unbearableness of the heat or having to wear skirts all the time or the very large man-eating bugs, and forget the good things. My three months in Africa were challenging and it’s easy to remember them as only that – challenging, but there were many good things in Swaziland. My team and one other, of all women lived in a small round hut in the village of Timbutini, just outside of Manzini, Swaziland. Most days we spent teaching and playing with kids at a local care point that cared for the poorest kids in the area by feeding them and providing a free education. I spent a lot of time with one kid, Boyboy, from the village who would always have the biggest smile and messiest hands. The latter half of the month, I was charged with leading a group into the local pediatrics ward of the hospital in Manzini. We would spend the day praying for, playing with, and lifting the spirits of the kids in the hospital. During month 8 in Swaziland, the World Race invited parents of racers to come and join them on the field for a week. While my parent could not come, it was cool to see other parents and their children do ministry together and see what the Lord was doing in Swaziland.
Month 9 – Botswana
Botswana was the most difficult month I had on the race. My squad had just been through a situation where 4 of our men got sent home. There was much disagreement between leadership members and the rest of our squad, which served as a distraction and caused tension between a lot of people for the majority of the month. My team along with another was based in Molepolole, Botswana, about an hour outside the capital city of Gaborone. Our primary ministries were street evangelism, an outreach weekend in the Kalahari Desert, and prison ministry. I had the opportunity to speak at a church about 1 Peter 1 and what it means to be holy. I spoke for about 40 minutes, something I never imagined I would willing do. My most memorable moment from Botswana was when we took our outreach weekend to the Kalahari Desert. We spent our days walking through a village going from house to house and talking with people about Jesus and praying for them. I was amazed at how hungry these people were for God. In America you wouldn’t be invited into people’s homes to evangelize, but culturally the people were so welcoming of the gospel. There were some cultural differences that were difficult to manage between our team and our contact. For me African culture was the most difficult to adjust to out of the cultures I had already been in, because of their highly charismatic and superstitious views. There were some fundamental differences between my team and our contacts that made it difficult to do ministry without feeling judged. I am grateful for my time in Botswana, as I did learn a lot, but it was by far the most challenging.
Month 10 – Mongolia
I had been looking forward to Mongolia from the moment we set foot in the heat of Africa. I was dying to be back in a cold climate and to get a taste of the winter I had been missing all year long. Within the first few days we arrived we had several snowstorms. My team along with two others camped out in a church in the capital of Ulaanbatar. Our goal for the month was to help bring more people to the church we were staying at and connect them with one of the local church members. We held weekly game nights, English classes, and Open Mic nights to attract new comers to Cross of Love church, a church started by Antioch Missions agency. My teammate Nicole and I spent that majority of our month working with a Mongolian day care center for underprivileged kids from the city. Everyday we would spend either teaching the kids English, telling a Bible story, creating art or playing games. On Sunday my team would go to a house church in town and fellowship with a small group of young adults. A few people from my team and I were invited to take a weekend trip into the countryside in the Gobi Desert to visit a house church in a village. We traveled for 12 hours off road on a bus with two elderly women from the church to reach a small village nestled between some mountains. When we got there we were welcomed and invited to take part in several church gathering. We spent time encouraging the church members and visiting their homes. One day they took us to a more remote area to see some baby mountain goats. I was blessed my time in the countryside being able to see a small church thriving in midst of a Buddhist village.
Month 11 – China
For our month in China, my team was based in an apartment in Beijing. We partnered alongside Roundabout China, an organization that raises money for local charities through a store similar to a goodwill store. China Little Flower, one of the charities that Roundabout supports and that we got to be involved with, cares for special needs and chronically ill children and places them in foster homes throughout the city. We got to visit one of the homes one night and play with the 6 children living with their foster parents. We spent the majority of the month working in the Roundabout store, sorting through donations, taking inventory, and running charity events. We were able to witness to and encourage some of the ex-pats living in Beijing by working with them in the shop. In our last week in China, I struggled a lot. I was anxious about the upcoming transition home, my team was a challenge to be around all the time, and I sprained by ankle falling off a curb. I spent the majority of our final squad debrief in Beijing at our hostel because of my ankle and was frustrated that I couldn’t go and spend a little more time with some of my friends before we had to say goodbye. My month in China, especially the last two weeks, was emotionally draining and physically exhausting. By the time I arrived back in the States I felt like between jet lag and the last month, I would take another year to recover.
Month 12 – Home
Now that I’ve been back in America for almost a month now, I’ve had a little bit of time to readjust to life back home and to figure out what’s next. When I first got home everything was very overwhelming; from answering the questions ‘How was your trip?’ or ‘What’s next?’ to seeing family and friends I haven’t seen in a year, I was mentally and emotionally unprepared for my transition back home when I first arrived. It’s taken some time and I assume may take some more to feel like a normal human again. I’ve found it a little difficult to relate to people who haven’t shared in the experiences I’ve experienced over the last year. I have been grieving saying goodbye to many of the friends I made over the last year that I may not see for a while. As far as what’s next, I am still not entirely sure, but for now I will be living at home in Maryland and working at the hospital doing the same thing I did before I left, sitting with psych patients. I am considering going back to school to pursue something in the medical field that I can use on the mission field later on.
Thank you for supporting me on this journey for the last year. Without your prayer and encouragement I wouldn’t have been able to finish this race. As you can see the last year has been a bit of a roller coaster ride – one that I would not have survived if it wasn’t for your support. Thank you.
Abbie
