This month was super crazy. God totally took any expectations any of our squad had surprised us. it was like this month, over and over, God was like,
“you thought this, but I have something else in mind…
SURPRISE!“
Except, Jesus didn’t shout surprise at us… he just calmly said it, because it was no big deal at all.
This is when I would turn to Lynda and say, “are you surprised?”
And she would loudly and strongly proclaim, “NO.”
This is what Lynda and I always do in America, but,
SURPRISE!
we were together this month. We actually got to have this conversation over and over.
But, let’s back up to when we got on the plane from Rwanda. We got on this plane, this plane that left Rwanda at 2:00 am.
The plane was open seating. WHAT?!?
I’ve never heard of an open seating plane. Ever. Much less sat on one. So, I sat next to Andrew and we flew to Ethiopia. On the flight, I noticed that Anna was sitting by a woman across the aisle and was talking to her… a lot. I was proud of Anna for talking so much to a random lady that she sat beside on the plane. The woman was wearing a running shirt, so I assumed that they had been able to start talking because of the shirt.
We get off of the plane, start walking through the airport, and I see Anna taking a selfie with this woman from the plane. “Dang,” I thought, “that is pretty sweet”, but then Anna tells the woman that she just loves her. “Hang on a second, that is really strange,” I was pretty confused, “maybe Anna just had a really good conversation with her and is just being really friendly.”
A little bit later, Anna comes up and tells me about how she ran into her BEST FRIEND from CANADA on our ‘open-seating’ flight from Rwanda to Ethiopia!
SURPRISE!
Twyla, Anna’s friend, had been in Uganda when we were there and was trying to meet up with Anna to see her. Meeting up hadn’t worked out for them. So, they both went about their lives, but God had them on the EXACT same flight! Not only that, but that random, 2am flight was OPEN SEATING! They got to sit BESIDE each other! So, I’ve decided that God had that flight be open seating for Anna. Incredible. I can’t even.
Then,
my friend, Sadie, left on the World Race two months before I did. Our routes are completely different. Four of the countries on my route- Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Montenegro- were not on the original route for us. God had those four in mind for L Squad to go to. I’m not sure about all of Sadie’s route, but I know that when I was in Rwanda, she got to spend a second month in Malawi. Her squad was not all able to cross the border into the next country. Well, at the end of Rwanda, I got on a flight to go to Ethiopia. Sadie got on a plane to go to her next country- but her first connecting flight was to the Ethiopian airport! So, the first future World Racer that I met, my great friend Sadie, a Racer that went out into the world two months before I did, was at the Ethiopian airport within the SAME 24 hours that I was there!
SURPRISE!
My mind was blown. There was no way with our original routes that she and I would cross paths. And then, we went to the same airport, the same day. Crazy. Right now, she is at the same ministry in Thailand that I was at, Zion Cafe. Wow.
Then,
When we landed in Ethiopia, it was cold. We loved it.
Cold in Africa.
SURPRISE!
It was not hot and sweltering- like most of us pictured Africa would be- it was cold, but a cold that all of us loved and were thankful for.
Then,
We drove out to our ministry. The place that we were going to stay for the month. It was about four hours away from the capital that we flew into. As we drove, we got further and further out into nothing except beautiful landscapes from God. Seriously, there was nothing out there. We just got more and more excited as we drove. We were going to be able to just be out in God’s creation without distractions that a city holds. It was really cool. I was excited that I was going to be able to save a lot of money this month. You know, there were not shops and places to spend money, so it goes to reason that I wouldn’t spend money if there was no where to spend money. 🙂 I was happy. After having one of the wheels on a van explode and get changed, we arrived at the Hopethiopia guest house. We were expecting to really be roughing it this month- especially with the location we were in.
SURPRISE!
We walk into this volunteer house that Hopethiopia has for teams that come. It was a big, single story house that L Squad got to have for the month! There were western toilets. There was running water. There was a huge kitchen. There were bunkbeds for everyone in six different rooms. (We have five teams that stayed there and one married couple- six rooms was perfect) There was a whole area of tables for us to eat at. There was a whole other area that was full of couches for us to hang out in. There was a WASHING machine for our clothes! We were blown away. All of this out here. #ThanksGod
Here’s a story. I don’t like running with people. I’m slow. I go my own pace. I don’t like feeling that I am holding people back from what they can do. Because of this, I haven’t run very much on the race. I don’t really prefer working out with other people either. I like to do any of my exercise by myself. AIM has a rule that you cannot be by yourself. It’s a good rule, I’m sure. Lol. Actually no, I know that it is a good rule- I just don’t like it.
You can ask my team. I’ll say that I think that hitch hiking would be fine- well, fine for me. I wouldn’t like Martha and Asia to hitch hike. But, me by myself is fine. 🙂
Anyways, because they have that rule and I don’t like to work out with others, I haven’t worked out very much this Race. My favorite form of working out is running. Or I should say jogging. I jogged once with Martha in Rwanda. Tons of people stared at us and a handfule of kids swarmed us and ran with us and asked us for money. I jogged a few times in Thailand with Werness. I haven’t jogged much. I prayed at the end of Rwanda that I could have a place this month to jog.
SURPRISE!
Since we were out in the middle of nowhere, there was tons of space to run in. We wouldn’t be as stared at when we are out with no one around really. It wasn’t even that God answered the prayer just at giving me the space to run. He went further and gave me space to run ALONE! Wow.
Then,
My squadmate, Katie has a nephew from Ethiopia. In the back of her mind, she thought that she just might be able to meet his father. As we drove out to the place we’d be staying all month, that idea started to get buried. With every mile we drove out further and further into nothing, that thought was put further and further to rest. Over the course of the month, I think that perhaps every single person prayed for her and the situation with her wanting to meet the father, etc. The morning of our last full day here, she was able to leave with Diane to go and look for him. The guys that worked at Hopethiopia and were with us daily, had gotten transportation and helped Katie with this mission.
SURPRISE!
After a 5 hour ride and I’m sure a lot more that I don’t even know about, they were able to find him! Once again, mind blown. They reached the turn where they were going to go and look for the father. The first man that they met and asked, knew where the father lived. The next time they stopped, they were at his house. At this time, it had become a huge thing. *on a side note, anytime any of us go out where there are people, a scene is caused. White foreigners cause a crowd of people to come out and watch what is going on. So naturally, this happened to Katie when she was at the house* The father was not at the house. He was at work. Another man went and picked the father up from work when he realized that Katie was there! So, Katie met her nephew’s father! Wow. God knew the whole time that she would find him and meet him. Out of the whole country of Ethiopia, out of all the people, out of all the places. Wow.
God did so many things for us. He does so many things for us all of the time. Jesus loves His children so much more than an Earthly Father even loves His children. He loves us that much and so much more! Why are we surprised when He does good things for us? We shouldn’t be. He does good things for us and He does those good things for us all of the time. Sometimes they are huge, like these, and we don’t need to look for them and sometimes do need to keep our eyes open for them, but all of the time God’s love for us and love for giving us good thing should not be surprising. Maybe we should all have the little conversation that Lynda and I have.
“Are you surprised?”
“NO.”
I love you all! Thank you for all that you do!
<3 Ash
