We are in Month 4. Month 4 of this amazing, messy journey called the World Race. I know that it has been a while since I posted a blog, and I apologize, I have been asking the Lord to show me what He wants me to share with you – but in the meantime I thought I would do a recap of what the last 3 and a half months have looked like.
Here is an attempt to highlight the last 3 and a half months for you:-
Month 1
In January, I lived in Retreat in Cape Town, South Africa. We lived and served with our host John, who is focused on community development and especially working with the youth and children in Retreat. I spent the month teaching life skills lessons in local primary and high schools, visiting the elderly, and praying for people in the community.
Month 2
In February, I lived in Ngarange – a village in the middle of the Okavango Delta in Botswana.We spent the month feeding and teaching children, doing home assessments of the needs of some children in the community, bible studies, a women’s retreat and organizing a day of games and fellowship for all the children. We also learnt to do traditional reeding (we reeded our own shower), painted the front of the kindergarten, organised a cargo container of donations from Australia, did a cardmaking workshop with some local ladies and learnt to make bread.
Month 3
In March, I lived in Antananarivo and Mantasoa in Madagascar. I spent the month doing a lot of kids ministry, teaching English, leading Bible Studies, organizing and helping to run a family fun day for people from the village and sharing ideas with teachers from the local school. I also learnt to make chicken noodle soup and banana fritters.
Month 4
This month, we are living in Da Nang city in Vietnam. I have been teaching English, attending the local church, spending time with the local teachers and sharing what we are doing. And met other people living and doing kingdom work here and just praying for and blessing them in whatever way I can.
So far we have lived in 4 different countries on 2 different continents. Spent around 126 hours traveling on buses, many hours on planes and crammed into taxi’s, cars, trains and buses.
If you have been following my journey from back home, on here and on Facebook, you see pictures of us smiling, having fun with kids or doing adventurous things like visiting amusement parks or the beach. But don’t let that fool you into thinking that this is a vacation, full of fun, sunshine and smiles. You don’t see the small buckets of water we have had to use for bucket showering, the exhaustion and heat, the days that we struggle to find enough clean water to drink, the frustration and difficulties of living with other people 24/7. The last 3 and a half months haven’t been easy, but that’s ok…because I didn’t sign up for easy. God didn’t call us to ‘easy’.
I know that many challenges lie ahead, but I am ready! I have seen God move in amazing ways and I want to see even more. I signed up for the race because I felt like God was calling me to take this challenge of doing something that would make me rely on Him in ways that I never have before. And that has definitely been the case. I have had to rely on Him every single day to make it through – and my relationship with Him has never been more intimate and strong than it is right now.
Watch this space 🙂
