Where have the past 11 months gone?!?! June 13th I started this thing called The World Race with out any expectations and now I only have 11 DAYS before it’s over?! I guess time really does fly when you are having fun, preaching a ton, being challenged and giving with all that you have! I thought I would share a picture from each country I have been to to begin trying to reach some closure on this amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience….
Country 0: Training Camp – 2 weeks before the WR! Look at how innocent we look! And a bit thinner :-p I started the WR with my knee braces on from prior injuries and along the way the Lord healed me and I got to take both of them off at The Awakening our 3rd month when we were in Ireland! Praise the Lord!
Country 1: Ukraine – We worked at a kids camp and these are some of the fabulous girls we got to work with. They are all missionary kids. The first week we ran a camp for missionary kids and the second week we ran a camp for Ukraine village kids. What a blast! The one on the bottom left cracked me up…ALWAYS!!! She was like a little mom always telling the girls to play nice, put on their sunscreen and to be respectful because people deserve respect. I think she was only like 9!!!
Country 2: Romania – Now this is what we called the “table of love”. Yes, there are 12 of us squished around a table for 4-6 just because we love each others company and chit chat! This month we encountered the Holy Spirit like crazy at some concerts we were able to preach at. We prayed for healing over a brain tumor, broken relationships through divorce, freedom from run-away life for a woman daughter and many other things. It was so powerful!!
Country 3: Northern Ireland – We worked with a church called Fisherwick and got to participate in many ministries: healing ministry (the picture above is of us praying for healing for a woman in the middle of town square!), SOS Bus (loving on people who are drunk coming out of bars), street evangelism and more. It was jam packed with the duty to love and it changed my life forever. This church accepted us into their homes within 24 hours of us contacting them! Our original contact bailed on us last minute so we had to rely on the Lord to come through and he did!! This was my favorite month throughout the whole race because of ministry, contacts, location and Holy Spirit encounters.
Country 4: Kenya – First month in Africa on the WR and it was a blast! Our contacts were phenomenal and we were able to live with them so it really felt like a family! We worked with our contacts church and ministered in schools and slum neighborhoods. This picture was taken at a tribal dance. I got pulled up on stage to dance with them 😀
Country 5: Uganda – This month was by far the most interesting and spiritually thick out of every other country. Let’s just say I felt the presence of the spirit realm in a very powerful way this month. We lived and ministered in a city where the spiritual realm is mostly controlled by witchcraft and other things not of the Lord. Most of my team and I would wake up nightly between 2-5am to pray for peace, freedom and for the presence of God to fall down because the enemy was working hard against us. Even at church we would experience spiritual warfare as the church was once pastored by a false prophet and is on the grounds of a lot of active witchcraft. An interesting month to say the least! Challenging but we all grew A LOT! Thank you Lord for your provision and constant protection. The picture is of myself and a little boy my team and I would visit a lot. His name is Jr.! We preached at church and helped with door to door evangelism every day.
Country 6: Tanzania – They call this hairdoo “Mount Kilimanjaro”!! Haha. I tried to ask teh women to let me braid their hair (thinking that maybe I could figure out cornrows) but instead they played with mine. The outcome??? I’d say it’s a good look, wouldn’t you?! HAHA. Our ministry this month included helping to build a new house for the pastor and his family, visiting an orphanage, and teaching typing and English to the village people. And of course we preached the gospel too! This ministry location was a hoot to get to! We drove 7 hours through the middle of no where. I literally kept thinking…”Are we going to survive? Are they going to drop us off in the middle of the desert and expect us to be ok? Okay, seriously…we’ve got to come up and over a hill at some point and a city will appear! …right?” And sure enough, after 7 hours (and prior 30 hours or travel) we drove up and over a hill and suddenly a whole town appeared! Praise the Lord!
Country 7: Thailand – These are most all of the fabulous women that we worked with in Thailand. They are hard working women who work at a non-profit organization called Step Ahead. They make beautiful leather purses to earn a better life for themselves and their family. This job helps keep them out of poverty and prostitution.
Country 8: Cambodia – This is a picture of myself and two of the adorable kids we worked with. This month we taught English at a YWAM school in a village. They were super precious kids!
Country 9: Laos – Me and a newborn baby goat!!! SOOO PRECIOUS!! If you would like to know more about our adventures for this month ask me via email.
Country 10: U.S. – This was an unexpected detour. SURPRISE! On our way from Asia to central America, we had a layover in LAX (my hometown airport). I had been sick since Tanzania at this point ( 3 1/2 months, going on 4 after having Typhoid, Gastritis {has lingered for 4 months when at max it should heal in 1 month}, intestinal infection, kidney stone, etc) and was not getting better despite multiple medications and visits to the doctors in the past 4 countries. So, my family and I thought it would be best to take a detour and come home for a few weeks to get checked out by U.S. doctors, get better and then head back to finish the WR. It was a good choice that I stayed home and it helped me a lot. I was able to get on some good medications to get my stomach on the track to healing before I burned a whole in it thus creating ulcers. I was home for 4 weeks and then came back to finish the WR. Thankfully, my squad is unique. We usually only get 11 countries in 11 months. But, my squad got 12 countries in 11 months. So, while I was in the States my squad was in Nicaragua and Honduras. I am grateful I still got to complete my 11 countries in 11 months!! And I am on the road to health and healing 🙂
Country 11: El Salvador – This month we worked with a children’s home that rescued children from orphanages that weren’t taking care of them. We lived life with them for the month and it was fabulous. They gave me the gift of lice too! How nice….not! haha. All in all, it was a great month and I was really happy to be back with my amazing team. We also gained a new teammate this month!
Country 12: Guatemala – Our final stop!!! Welcome to Team Beloved! 🙂 This month we are working at a hospital with Cerebral Palsy patience (we aren’t allowed to take pictures) and are also teaching Christian values at a bunch of schools. We are in Antigua which is a beautiful old fashioned town.
11 days left of this life changing experience!! I can’t believe it!!! It has been such an amazing blessing and I am grateful for all of my friends, family and supporters for making this all happen!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!! Many lives have been changed forever, including mine. Good news is..this is just the beginning too!! I have really enjoyed keeping in touch with all of you through skype, email, facebook chat, etc. so I will continue doing so even after the WR is finished.
Love you all!!!
