1 year later & 50 things I’ve learned

 

1. I can now do the “Asian squat” (google it)

2. Our contacts are always surprised that we can wash our clothes by hand…and I’ve surprised myself

3. I celebrated Thanksgiving in Honduras, Christmas in Nicaragua, and the 4th of July in Tanzania

4. I’ve experienced God as Healer in my own life, as well as in the lives of people all around the world     

5. I shared a bathroom with 51 other people in Honduras

6. I’ve come to enjoy cold showers

7. The love of God started to break me in month 5 and hasn’t stopped 

8. I saw Mount Kilimanjaro 

9. I’ve received and spoken words of encouragement, prophecy, and truth

10. I traveled by bus for 15 hours in a seat the size of a high chair on African highways over 100 speed bumps (or more)

11. I’ve learned seven different languages (at least a few words)

12. I rode an elephant in Thailand

13. I went white water rafting on the Nile

14. I’ve felt the tangible presence of the Holy Spirit amongst team Siloam

15. I saw hippos in Lake Victoria

16. “It is for freedom that I am set free” – this song lyric by Bryan and Katie Torwalt speaks to one of the biggest things I’ve walked through on the race

17. I fed and changed diapers for five baby orphans in Kenya

18. I gave dating advice to a room full of Vietnamese adults 

19. I attended the loudest event I’ve ever been to – a Ugandan soccer game

20. I’ve come to love justice 

21. I’ve been physically, emotionally, and spiritually tired (sometimes all at once)

22. I’ve met countless people who don’t know the love of Christ and countless who do

23. I’ve prayed for most of those people 

24. I bungee jumped for the first time in Uganda

25. The Lord taught me about his love for “the one” by introducing me to Mercy Wanjala in Kenya, a high school student who will be a lifelong friend 

26. I had a deep revelation of the Lord’s protection and provision over my life; for this I am indescribably grateful

27. I read Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire about the Brooklyn Tabernacle and have grown in my love for prayer

28. Laura and I were ripped off by a cab driver in Vietnam (it was a good thing we had a half hour walk home to “process”)

29. I hiked a volcano in Guatemala

30. I prayed and worshiped outside of a hospital with B Squad in Honduras, interceding for a patient who exited the hospital healthy

31. I’ve lived successfully out of a backpack

32. I would go back to Thailand just to eat street food

33. I whittled chopsticks in a northeastern Thai village

34. I jumped the border to Laos from a boat only to get kicked out thirty seconds later

35. I’ve eaten crickets and tarantulas

36. I visited the killing fields in Cambodia, a memorial of the genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge in the seventies

37. I rode on a wagon attached to a motorcycle in Cambodia as daily transportation

38. I’ve had no lack of American food – I’ve found popcorn in every country

39. I went to a giant water park in Vietnam

40. I’ve attended one wedding and three funerals
 
41. I preached for the first time in Kenya

42. I’ve attended 17 different churches

43. I’ve been in all four hemispheres 

44. I am doing life with six people with whom I hadn’t had a conversation a year ago; now we know one another intimately

45. I’ve been both homesick and in denial about going home

46. I met Mario in a nursing home in Nicaragua; his understanding of God’s love was transformed in the short time team Spicy Mustard spent hanging out with him

47. I showered with mosquitoes and termites in Cambodia

48. I’ve eaten rice every month and still love it

49. I have a new heart for worship

50. By God’s grace I’ve proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the nations