I have completed The World Race.
….. Wait did you hear me? I COMPLETED THE WORLD RACE!!!!!!
I have traveled to 11 countries in 11 months with only the items on my back….. with strangers!
There were some incredible times and there were some absolutely horrendously insane times.
It was by far the best and hardest thing I have ever done in my life.
Here is a look at the moments that I will never forget, moments that were horrific and forever changed me, and a look at what this year was all about for me.
3 Moments I will never forget:
After a month of ministry in Guatemala my student Eulogia singed something to me in sign language. She needed three teachers and a translator to make sure I understood what she was telling me. It was “I love you.”
One night in the Philippines I spent countless hours in slavery bars telling women about a bus that was leaving in the morning leading them to a new home, to a new life, and to freedom. After one of the longest, sleepless, and uncomfortable nights of my life sleeping on concrete and among cockroaches, I waited at the bus waiting for women to come. I waited with every nerve ending in my body standing at full attention. I waited with my stomach in my throat. As the first girl walked up, tears streamed uncontrollably down my face. We left with 7 women that day. I later got word that 1 had officially moved in to the safe house and escaped the trafficking industry.
When an entire bus full of my team and Nepalese men and women watched me pee in a ditch. It was either that or wet my pants on the bus. Given the choice again, the second would have been the more discrete option. Live and learn I guess, live and learn.
2 Horrific Moments
After walking through a dump in the Philippines filled with thousands of homeless people, I heard a small voice cry out to me. As I turned my head I saw a woman holding an infant motioning me closer. As I made my way through the ankle deep sewage and human waste I began to cry. I had never seen something so horrific in my life, and this was her home. I climbed a ladder to peek into her treehouse of a home and she held out her infant and pushed another young child towards me. She forced me to hold her baby as she packed a bag. Through a translator I learned she was begging me to take her children home with me. She begged me to take them because she knew I could give them more than she could. I had no response. All I had were tears and apologies. I have never felt so helpless. I prayed for the family, gave them the food I had in my purse, made my way back through the sewage and joined the rest of the group. Since that moment, I haven’t been the same.
After being sick for an entire month in Nepal, month 6, I was in such excruciating pain I could no longer stand. I was taken to the emergency room. I looked to where the doctor was getting his medical supplies form and it had a dirt floor. I cried, and begged to be taken somewhere else. Lucky for me, there was another ER in Kathmandu. After 5 days in the hospital, in immense pain, away from my family and under mediocre at best medical care I was notified I would be having surgery. The fear that consumed me during those days in the hospital can not be explained in a blog. I would physically shake because I was so scared. At the age of 27 I would cry as my friend would hold me and I would beg God to bring me my mom. Because of the care provided many medical “mishaps” happened. Although kind of funny now, they were pretty horrific then.
- I was allergic to 2 different types of antibiotics pushed through my veins. Arm swelled up like a sausage.
- Due to severe dehydration and lack of nurse experience, I had 6 IV’s put in in 7 days. One of which while inserting went in, then out the top of my hand…. similar to, I would think, a safety pin.
- One time my IV had come out of the vein and an entire bottle of saline went under my skin. I didn’t notice however because I was heavily sedated on pain medication. I woke up to my hand/wrist/arm looking similar to a grapefruit. Ouch.
1 Take Away
- This year has been the most exciting, challenging, excruciating and invigorating year of my life. Was it hard? Yes. Did it come at a cost? It costed life as I knew it…..… aaaannnddd $16,255. Am I happy I went? Without a doubt. Would I do it again?….. haha your crazy if you think my answer is yes. (but I only half jokingly say that because I know that if it’s what I’m asked to do again, I’ll weakly agree.)
The Race changed me. This year I remembered things from my past that I had long forgotten. I found the power of my story and how I can use it to reach people and relate to them. This year, I learned who I was. This year was all about learning my identity and strengthening my personal relationship with God. I quite literally gave everything I had to God, in return I was given an identity. Not because I deserved it or earned it, but because I always had it. Once everything was stripped away from me, only my true self remained. It was always there, it just took The Race and a relationship with God to find it again; and I am so thankful that I did.
||*Before I begin the long journey home on July 25th, I get to spend 5 days in Budapest, Hungary with my whole K Squad. We will do our best to debrief the last year of our lives and tie up the loose ends. I am thankful for Hungary! I am also excited for the next season of my life. God has given me one heck of a previous year so I can’t wait to see what He brings me in this next chapter of life. *||
I am so genuinely excited to see what my life will become.
Romans 8:6
#KeppingupwithK #Worldracedoc #worldrace #11n11 #Worldraceprobs #whereintheworldisHannah
#howamIsupposedtoendthisblog #itstoohard
…..#butseriously #itisfinished
