As my team sat grading English examinations under a grass
hut in the middle of rural Kenya on February 8th, I couldn’t help
but think…wow this feels very normal. It was at that moment that I realized,
this is when life we live on The Race has finally become “normal”. As crazy as
this sounds, I remember wondering when every crazy mishap and adventure we
experienced would stop seeming so bizarre and feel a lot more like normal than
it ever should.
Things that sound like “please mark these examinations in
our staff room before lunch, Asante (thank you)!”…when directly
translated…”please go grade these misspelled examination papers (from 1980) in
that grass hut across the dusty field, past the 4 chickens, next to the wooden
slat fence separating you from the sick sheep (who is currently billowing his
lungs out), while we prepare your meal of a mountain of rice and mystery meat.
Asante!” This may sound crazy to everyone at home, but after spending 5 and a
half months on The World Race, having traveled through The Philippines,
Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, Rwanda, and now Kenya…the scene earlier
described sounds exactly right.
It’s no longer weird to be sitting in church in the middle
of an African village listening to my teammate preach, while an entire family
of chickens cluck right on through the door and make their way across the room.
No one even turns their heads to notice.
I have to chuckle
when I think about how yesterday we had approximately a 40 minute ride in the
jeep to get to school and then the same for the ride back home. On the way to
school we ran out of gas once, had to wait for our driver to run and get some
down the street and bring it back in a plastic jug.
On the way home from school the jeep ran out of gas once again
so our driver left us stopped in the middle of the road, hopped on the next bus
that passed and went to get gas at the next town while my team and I sat on the
side of the dusty road and waited….then not more than 10 miles down the road
the jeep runs out of gas once more and this time our driver Geoffrey flags down
a passing car, jumps in the back seat and off he goes to get gas one more
time…this time our car had made it over to the edge of the road so we stayed in
the vehicle and waited this time around about 45 minutes for him to return with
more fuel.
We should’ve been home around 4:30 or 4:40pm we arrived home
after 6pm. Now under normal circumstances this would’ve been an upsetting
experience, on The World Race however this did not surprise any of my team…we
simply chalk it up to one more story to share with those at home. So anyway, this
year I have learned to be thankful for every experience, God has a lesson from
every turn that life takes if we’re willing to listen to His Spirit speaking.
Yesterday could’ve been frustrating and annoying but I learned patience and gained
an extra appreciation for my ipod J
Living life out of a backpack, changing countries every month, seeing God move
in unbelievable ways, praying at every step we take, dreaming about the food we
will gorge ourselves with when we get home…amazingly this actually feels quite normal.
