Coming into something it’s hard not to have expectations, so here our 10 expectations that I was wrong about.
1. I thought I would have a spiritual high the whole time.
1. I have a choice every day whether to pick up my bible & strive to be like Christ. I have to choose that spiritual high
2. I thought it would look exactly like the world race pictures that I’ve seen
2. People don’t put the hard parts on social media, needless to say it’s a lot more difficult than holding cute kids and seeing beautiful views
3. I thought ministry would be the main focus
3. While ministry is a big part of the race and why I came, it’s a lot about your personal growth through Christ. And also learning that life is ministry
4. I thought being around people 24/7 would be so fun
4. Don’t get me wrong it’s great, but having quiet time is so important and is hard to find on the race
5. I thought I could do it by myself
5. God showed me that I have to lean on him & my community to do life on the race
6. I thought I would be completely out of society
6. Well so far our first country is pretty Americanized & Our host dad randomly takes us to Starbucks
7. I thought I wouldn’t get homesick
7. When you get comfortable somewhere for 18 years, you are bound to miss it…a lot
8. I thought I would be able to communicate pretty well
8. Language barriers are super difficult to get through and creates a lot of miscommunication
9. I thought God would speak to me all the time
9. God does speak to me all the time, I’m just still learning to listen
10. I thought it would be like my past trips to Nicaragua
10. Turns out a week in nica is nothing like 3 months in El Salvador
All of these expectations seem like good things ruined. God beautifully broke all of them when I got here. He showed me there is no such thing as perfect. We are gonna fight, we are gonna struggle, and we are not gonna have ministry 24/7. But that’s how I’m going to grow. He put me in over my head, threw me into something I didn’t expect to grow me in these 9 months more than I have in 18 years. These nine months is real life, it’s not just a mission trip. We are doing life in 3 different countries just as I would in va beach. It’s better than I expected because I’m growing more than I expected to and God is showing me more of who he is.
