Y’all asked, I answered! Also, sorry, not sorry if I greet you with a kiss on the cheek when I see you. I’ve been doing it for five months now in South America and it’s kind of a habit now 
What was your favorite month and why?
Argentina- I loved the ministry, the people, our hosts, the culture, the country side where we lived, and the food. I got to build relationships with a lot of the kids at our ministry site and it really was just a sweet way to end this year surrounded by things that were just a blessing to us.
What was the biggest thing the Lord taught you?
Community. 100%. What it looks like and how it’s supposed to be. It’s hard, but so good. We literally spent 24/7 together for 11 months. Think about it, even if you live with someone you don’t spend that much time together normally. It’s like a pressure cooker of growth. I learned to give and receive feedback, how to choose to love people, and how to give to a community out of the overflow of the Lord and to not try to do it by myself. So much good stuff.
What was the hardest thing you experienced?
Saying good-bye every month, to put it plainly, sucks. Every country, you invest in people, in your ministry and you build relationships and make connections, and then you leave and do it again. It’s like 11 short term mission trips. And it’s so good because it’s incredible the impact that happens in just 1 month, but after doing this 11 times I’m ready to not have to say good-bye anymore and to invest in a place for more than a month.
What was your favorite moment from every country?
1. Mozambique- Our team would stargaze a lot at night because there was no light pollution and it was so beautiful. We saw so many shooting stars that month.
2. Malawi- We had a girl’s night with cookie dough an dancing and singing
3. Zambia- A squad assassin war with clothes pins and the camp we successfully built, planned, and made happen for 80 kids!
4. Philippines- Tattoos, going to the river with the street boys, making donuts at Krispy Kreme, and going surfing for the first time
5. Thailand- Selling clothes with YWAM in a night market, leading a bible study at a prison and having one of the women come to Christ. It was so cool!
6. Cambodia- Eating lunch together every day as a family with the students. Also , one time my teammate and I found a coffee shop in a garage (nothing’s weird anymore) that had the best coffee.
7. Colombia- A little boy named Mateo that I got to hang out with all month and when took a hike with all the kids and their families. We played soccer, had potato sack races, made lunch, and danced all day.
8. Ecuador- There was a girl named Aileen at a place for special needs children and one of her disabilities. However, the only time she ever fell asleep randomly was when you were trying to feed her lunch! She was so sassy and one of my kids from this whole year.
9. Peru- We had kindergarteners make a spirit tunnel for us to run through after our ministry had ended and it was so funny! We also got to eat dinner with our pastor and his family and they cooked us local food, aji de gallina, and it was probably the best thing I’ve ever eaten in my entire life.
10. Chile- As our team was leaving for Argentina, one my teammates had her passport stolen so we had to stay in Santiago for an extra two days to get her emergency one. It was so fun through so explore the city more, spend time together, and we got to see the American Embassy which is super fancy. Santiago ended up being one my absolute favorite city of this entire year.
11. Argentina- There was a little boy at our ministry this month, J*, and he was 10 and still couldn’t read and really struggled with basic math. The educational system here isn’t great where we were, but he was so smart; he just learned differently and needed one on one attention. We would do homework help with the kids every Monday and the last Monday we were there, he did ALL of his homework and understood it and didn’t have any meltdowns, which was huge! It was so special to see how excited he was to finish and understand his homework and be able to actual make even a small difference in his life.
What was your favorite food by country?
Africa- madasi (fried donuts),
Asia- lumpia (egg rolls), grilled bananas with cinnamon, sugar, and butter
South America- aji de gallina (chicken with a kind of cheese sauce, lomo saltado- rice, french fries, beef, bell peppers, and onions
Recipes for all these foods are on Pinterest, too!
If you could go back anywhere, where would you go and why?
Santiago, Chile for sure! If I had to recommend one place for people to go out of this whole year it would 100% be this city! It has so many coffee shops, hole in the wall restaurants, there’s green everywhere, it was such a vibrant and active city, and every single person we met was so incredibly helpful and nice.
What was your favorite ministry?
Special needs ministry in Ecuador and having mom get to experience that ministry as well at the Parent Vison Trip/
What were some of you fav adventure days?
Bungee jumping at Victoria Falls in Zambia, doing a bike tour of downtown Bogota in Colombia, hanging out with my mom in Ecuador, surfing and going waterfall hopping in the Philippines.
What did you miss the most this year?
Working wifi. Just kidding (kind of). I missed the availability of being able to communicate easily with friends and family. I missed Cook-Out. I missed hanging out with my brother and sister. I really missed driving and being able to set my own schedule.
What was your most embarrassing moment?
I might regret putting this out on the internet, but oh well. Month 2 (still World Race newbies), our team is hanging out for team time and I asked one of them to pop my back. Well, in Africa most of what we eat is a heck a lot of beans. I think you know where this is going… So I lay on the floor and she starts to pop my back and I farted SO Loud y’all. I couldn’t stop laughing, but I was mortified. I don’t think they’ll ever let me live that one down. What a way to break the ice with your first team lol.
What are some of the most important spiritual lessons you learned?
I’ve been processing this question through the last couple days and while I learned a lot, I realized that the underlying theme of my whole race has been prayer. Learning to pray against spiritual warfare with the authority that we have in Jesus, watching non- believers ask us to pray for them because they know the power of prayer, being shown by the Lord that He really does want to hear my littlest and grandest desires and He delights in them, growing in interceding in prayer on behalf of other people and that actually is something the Lord has put on my heart. I learned that prayer isn’t a way to get what I want, but the way that I communicate with the Lord and keep Him at the center of my life instead of focusing on His promises to me, but missing Him. So much good stuff.
What was the funniest moment?
In Africa, we were in a chapa (a public 15-passenger taxi van that you can actually fit about 30 people in) and someone brought their chickens in with them. Well, one of the chickens jumped out an open window while we were driving. The drive pulled over so fast and about 10 men went sprinting out across a field trying to catch this man’s chicken. After about 10 minutes of them running around and the 6 white people catching all this on video, they finally caught the chicken!
Where was the most interesting/weird place you used the bathroom?
We were on travel day to Zambia and a lot of us had to use the bathroom, so our driver stopped in this sketch area. I wish I had taken a picture of it because it looked like a town that had been deserted but there was a “hotel” (it wasn’t even really a building, so idk) but a guy appears and says, “Hey, you can use my bathroom.” Ok, great. We walk up 4 or 5 stairs to a tiny building where there are two stalls, no doors, and a hole in the ground. Fine, that’s do-able. There’s also a wall on the other side of this building and a gate that passed through to go up the stairs. Well, we all finish and turn around to leave and the guy, smiling, has locked the gate us and tells us that we have to pay. Luckily, some of us had money on us and were able to bribe our way out of the bathrooms. Fun times.
I know that I’m not coming home the same person that I left. I’ve grown a lot in many different ways and I don’t know what that looks like outside of the World Race, so have patience with me. I don’t really know what coming home looks like and I don’t know my emotions are going to be like. I do know that I’m ready, that this season is coming to a close, and that the Lord is opening doors and walking me into a new season with lots of new things. So I’m excited, I’m nervous, I’m ready to see all you awesome people, and I’m ready to keep running this race!
