Tips for Future Racers

Here are my two cents on things I wish I’d known before starting the race.  

10.  Pillow and Sheet–I’d say if you are going to pamper yourself in any area, bring a decent pillow.  I have a few small ones that I combine into one pillow case.  Also, for you warm-blooded folks, a sheet has been very useful in each of the warmer countries.  I generally use my sleeping bag and sheet as an interchangeable sheet/blanket combo.  When its hot, I prefer to lay on top of the sleeping bag and just have the thin sheet on top.  Due to mosquitoes and modesty (you might be sleeping in a room with the opposite gender), the sheet has come in handy far more often than my sleeping bag. 

10b.  In general, don’t pack that much.  Anything that you can purchase at a store in America, you will be able to find here (even in Africa).  Remember that all your flights go through big cities and big cities have the same malls we have in America.  Things like toiletries, medicine, clothes…all of these things you can really do without.  I honestly could get by with 3 pairs of pants/shorts (1 jeans, 1 shorts, 1 athletic), 3 shirts (1 junkie, 1 long sleeve for church, 1 normal shirt).  Pretty much everywhere in the world, clothes are cheap, and often its probably cheaper to buy a new shirt than to wash the old one.  Other needs: 1 pair of shoes, 1 pair of tevas, a few pairs of washable socks/underwear,  1 Jacket, 1 comfly sweater that can be warn under the jacket,  1 longsleeve to complete the cold weather trifecta.  I was quite surprised how often I received free clothes that I end up giving away. 

10c. Bring an external harddrive (125 gigs is plenty) big enough to swap big pictures/movies/back up your comp. 
 
9.  Start off each month right.  Learn the vernacular language’s basic phrases the first day when you enter a country.  Shake as many hands as possible and try to get to know as many people at your ministry site as you can at the outset.   Its easy to think “I’m tired, I will get to this later,” but first impressions are huge and starting the relationships off right is well worth it.

8.  Bring Enthusiasm.  So I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not naturally the enthusiastic type.  Somewhere along the way, I realized that its way better to just be excited and act like a fool than to be reserved and worry about what other people think.  Especially in any ministry involving kids…just get over yourself and be a fool and the kids will love you.  Interestingly enough, it is also generally true of adults as well. 

7. Don’t have unrealistic expectations of ministry.  When I arrived, I thought I would be doing hardcore evangelism 24/7.  Turns out a lot of days are actually quite similar to days I could have had in America.  Maybe our contact has a specific job for us for a fraction of the day, and the rest of the day we are on our own just forming relationships or serving our contact.  Appreciate that there is indeed a time and place to merely plant seeds and serve others who are doing the evangelism.  You won’t always get to be “the missionary hero.”

6.  Beware of computer time.  You will have ample time to use your computer and in 75% of the countries, you will probably have internet access as well.  Set up some safeguards in advance for how much you will use.  I have seen so many people short change themselves by spending too much time on the internet.  If I could do it all over again, I would set some really strict limits on how much time and what sites I could visit.  (e.g. only can check sports once a month or something). 

5.  On a closely related note, be completely open about sexual struggles.  There is a tendency (especially after training camp), to think that we are all going to be super spiritual and not have any of the same worldly problems we had back in the states.  Wrong!  Lust is still a problem and the temptations to view pornography or masturbate is still there.  This applies to the girls too!  So how do you combat it?  Just be open and honest from the outset with your same-gender teammates.  If one person is honest with his/her struggles, it makes it easier for the other person to be honest as well.  My first teammate and I didn’t really mention the subject and both of us struggled independently instead of just having our weaknesses out there in the open.  You are all having the same issues, so just be open and vulnerable from the outset and you will reap dividends in the long run.  Check out this blog that speaks on the issue: http://brianswanson.theworldrace.org/?filename=warning-contains-pornographic-material

4.   Brush up on your love languages.  I confess that I didn’t know what they were pre-race, but apparently there are about 5 different ways people like to receive love: quality time, words of affirmation, gifts, physical touch and acts of service.  Since I feel loved by people who spend quality time with me, I just assumed everyone was similar.  Turns out we aren’t and I needed to spend 10 hours with someone having deep conversations to make them feel the same amount of love as if I’d just given them a hug and said “I appreciate you.”   Figure out your teammates languages and look for ways to make them feel loved by you.

3.   Don’t be a perfectionist when it comes to public speaking.  Volunteer for everything and just trust God to do most of the work.  Telling anecdotal instances and personal impressions about how God is reaching you is a lot easier than you might think.  (Additional advice: Also, be sure to work the audience a little when you are speaking.  Your goal shouldn’t be just to take your turn speaking and get it over with.)  Your goal should be to reach your audience and share the wisdom God has given you.  Be fun, be enthusiastic, be vulnerable and you’ll be surprised what kind of spiritual insights pop out of your mouth.

2.   Decide ahead of time how much money you want to spend.  I was surprised at how many opportunities there are to spend personal money.  Depending on your teammates, there might be a general culture of heavy spending on things like food or drinks.  Although I am probably one of the most frugal people on my team, I still find myself spending way more than I intend to on things like meals. 

2b. The whole 3 dollars a day thing and losing weight due to malnourishment is not a legitimate concern.  Chances are that everyone will sort of equalize (big people get smaller, small people get more normal).  If you can set up some reasonable guidelines on how much you are going to spend on daily pleasures, you can save yourself a headache when you get home and realize how much money you’ve spent.  This also applies to various excursion opportunities you will have (safari’s, Nile rafting, visiting nearby countries, malls, souveniers, gifts for family/friends/supporters). 

1.   Surrender your rights.  It turns out each of us thinks different things are important and if you keep tabs on all the ways in which your teammates owe you, you are just going to stress yourself out.  Don’t try to compare yourself to other people but just try to do your best and worry about what God thinks of you.  Be willing to “throw yourself under the bus” for the sake of your team/ministry and don’t expect to get credit for all your accomplishments.  Learn to do what pleases God and accept the fact that you are probably going to feel under-appreciated and misunderstood a lot of the time.  You are going to be spending all your time with people you probably wouldn’t have associated with back home and you need to adjust what your “comfortable environment” is.  Don’t expect anyone else to change for you, but be willing to make all the changes on your own.  (Fear not, your teammates will be adapting as well, but allow them to do it at their own pace and don’t have any expectations).