Well hello from Grass Valley, California… home sweet home! I
am always surprised at how comforting home can be after spending time away.
Between college, working in San Luis Obispo and then this year, you would think
I would have learned by now. But each time is a lovely surprise. I love the
familiarity, the fresh mountain air, the TREES and seeing people I have known
since childhood. This place and the people here have truly had a big part in
shaping who I am today.
Flashback to India… We truly ended the Race in “World Race”
fashion, taking an overnight train for 35 hours, without A/C mind you, to New
Delhi for our final debrief as a squad. Final debrief was a bittersweet time,
reminiscing on the year and hearing plans as we all head home or onto our next adventures.
What I loved most about this time was seeing how close our squad had become. I
consider any one of them a dear friend and know I could call any of 60 S-sqad
ers at any time of the day and they’d be there for me, and vice versa. We
started this year as strangers, and leaving, we felt like family. This year and
the experiences we shared truly united us all.
We had a final banquet where we all dressed up with what
clean clothes we had left from the Race (lots of the guys got suits made in
India), ate dinner, took pictures, watched a video of the year, and laughed as
Christina and Cody awarded squad superlatives. Mine ended up being “Most Likely
to Get Away With Murder.” How do you feel about that??
I parted with the squad at our layover in Frankfurt, Germany. I was
extremely blessed to have the opportunity to travel around Europe with my
family before coming home. We visited family I hadn’t seen in years in
Copenhagen, stayed at the Shelter hostel in Amsterdam and rode bikes all around
the city, and drove all over beautiful Germany. It was so nice to have all four
of us together and share that time before John headed back for school again.
I was anticipating being home to be weird, sad, that I’d be
dysfunctional and super emotional. I’d take weeks just sleeping and needing to
journal. But instead, it has been completely natural and normal. I haven’t
cried once, or even felt the need to. There are little things that are taking a
while to get used to, such as everything being so clean, and having a cell phone
again. But overall, it’s been really… normal. I was a little nervous. Does this
mean I haven’t changed? Shouldn’t it be at least kind of weird to be back? But then talking with a squad- mate, I
was reminded at how much change we went through this year. We moved “homes” at
least once a month, sometimes once a week, met new families every day. Got used
to completely different diets and cultural norms each month, and many more.
This is just another change God is taking me through.
I have noticed changes in myself at little things. I catch
myself praying a lot more often, relying on God in situations I wouldn’t
necessarily have before. I am much more sympathetic for the issues I see on the
news, especially in the areas we traveled to this year. I want to make a
difference, and now feel empowered to wherever I am, it doesn’t have to be
thousands of miles from the US. I really value quiet time, it was hard to come
by this past year. I have much more faith that God has things under control
(even when it doesn’t appear that way to me), because He proved it to me time
and time again this year. He is faithful.
While you are probably wondering what is next, I’ll have to
leave you in suspense because I myself am not even sure yet. I will tell you
that I have been scanning the newspapers and the Internet for elementary
teaching positions, but it ranges from Grass Valley to Austin to Oregon to
Colorado, so I am still unsure. I am thankful for time at home right now and
the opportunity I have to spend with family and catch up with old friends.
I came across this, reading the other day, “God knows our
need and knows ways to meet it that have never entered our heads. Things we
feel sure we need for happiness may often lead to our ruin.” And John 15:9-11
“Dwell in my love. If you heed my commands, you will dwell in His love. I have
spoken thus to you, so that my joy may be in you, and your joy complete.”
My biggest fear in coming back to the US was that I would
feel the best part of my life was over. That the Race was going to be the most
exciting thing I’ll ever do. One of my teammates quickly reminded me not to
make the Race an idol. Yes, it was an amazing year, and I learned a lot from
it, but it was a stepping- stone preparing me for whatever is next. In the last
few weeks in India I truly began to see this past year that way. After all, it
is not in our circumstances that we are called to be content, but rather in our
relationship and understanding of our Father. I am excited to move forward and
put this last year into action.
Thank you so much for being a part of this journey!
