HELLO FROM THE OTHER SIIIIIIIIDEE!
It’s been a month since I came home. America is weird. Life is weird. I still feel a little like I’m living the Race at home by being so busy and going places and helping places and making time for other people. And it’s all feeling like the Race never actually happened. And that frightens me because I know it did actually happen and made a big impact on my life and I spent 9 months doing that thing! GOSH.
Anyhow…
This blog I wanted to share with y’all, after looking at it for a month now, what the Race taught me.
- I learned to speak. I was Skype-ing a squad mate recently after a very long and exhausting week interning at a camp, and in my tired state I was trying so very hard to communicate that statement to her that I learned to speak on the Race but was tripping over it everywhere because I was so tired. What I mean by that is English is hard and words have a hard time coming out of my mouth the way they do in my brain, and I’m much better at writing the feels than speaking them. Well on the Race I think I learned how to speak and communicate what I was learning in a way that made me process and learn from it. And that week when I interned at that camp i felt I was able to verbally communicate to others what I had learned on the Race with words that worked. Haha! Did I say it alright?
- Confidence. The year before the Race I was really struggling with being confident because I didn’t see myself the way God saw me and therefore could not stand up on my two feet and do things I needed to do because I could. I think living and being in a community of encouraging godly people who could speak life into me on a daily basis of how God saw me when I spoke lies really helped me get up and be challenged. One day it just felt like a switch went on and I knew I could be confident. I found how to be confident in Christ and how He created me and in His love. I think that can really make a person confident when you got the God of the Universe thinking awesome things about you.
- Encouragement. Going off the last point of encouraging people, I really think I learned how to really encourage people in Christ because I knew how God saw them. Living the way we lived, we really had to encourage each other to keep going. And it made an impact. YOU can be the vessel that speaks good into peoples lives when they don’t see it. When they don’t think they’re beautiful or good enough, you’re the person on the outside that can move their eyes to the good and encourage them because you live with them and see them. (#whenfeedbackcomesintoplayyall)
- Life skills. LET ME TELL YOU. We did all kinds of things in this shindig that is good for life and survival just by having to take care of ourselves and learn to really appreciate things. I cooked, painted, yard work, construction work, swept, gardening, brick making, cleaning, teaching, preaching, burned trash, ran a store, camps, communication, transportation, soccer and volleyball teams, laundry, children, children, children. I mean, some of that stuff sounds stupid but I can tell you the things I learned from moments where these things were involved. Words fail me to describe things we did. All I can say is I did things, and I learned a lot. I’m not a horribly incapable irresponsible person who can’t take care of herself.
- Flexibility. Plans change. Go with the flow. That runs up there with spontaneity. Jump out and do something fun because you never knew when you would be on that side again. Or when things did not go as planned or impromptu lessons or deep talks or dinner failed or its raining. You never knew what was gonna happen so you just had to problem solve to make it work. MAKE IT WORK ANYWAY. It’s okay if life gets a little weird sometimes.
- Teamwork/peopling. When you go into this thing, you’re put on teams of roughly 5-7 people. You live with ’em. Sleep with ’em. Eat with ’em. Work with ’em. You do LITERALLY EVERYTHING with them and if you don’t work together, literally nothing will go right and chaos ensues. We learned to communicate with each other and what needs to be done to keep others informed and being on the same page. Fighting for each other. Spending intentional time together. Encouraging one another. Dude, its a lot of work to be a part of a team, but totally worth it. And I’d say that’s something very valuable we learned and can apply in life.
All I can y’all is this was a launching pad, a restart, a boost up, rehabilitation, for me. God showed me through visions and through people and other things how much this was just where and what I needed in life and it was literally so cool to see things unfold. I never worried because I knew that whatever happened was because He willed it and wanted it to happen and I didn’t need to stress it. I knew it would be okay, I knew I was where I needed to be, I didn’t need to think about anything else.
Life continues to be weird and full of crazy busy stuff. Trying to adult. I went to Project Searchlight. I interned for a week at a service camp. And still continue to catch up with people and share about the Race (and find a job, YIKES.) And still it feels like it was all a dream. Did I actually live that crazy thing around the world?
I guess I did. I’m still here.
I just want to thank my supporters so much for believing in me and encouraging me and sending your prayers to me all the days. You guys are the bomb diggity and I’m so blessed to have had you. For all those that finically supported me, I can’t thank you enough for sending me and being able to change others and my own life by seeing the potential in it all through the financial need. I wouldn’t have been able to go without the providence of God moving in you to support me. You are loved and cherished. Maybe we could do this again?
Your Em.
