Q U E S T I O N S & A N S W E R S : K E L S E Y ‘ S W O R L D R A C E
Thank you for those of you who took the time to read my last Q&A blog! Turns out that puppy got 1,577 reads!! PUMPED to share stories about the race and all that the Lord did!! If you didn’t catch the last one with questions 1-9, read the Q&A PART 1 here.
I’ve been home from the race for 2 months and there’s not a day that goes by where I don’t reflect on my experience. To be honest, I still haven’t processed it all– but to be fair, I think it’s something I will be processing for the rest of my life.
P A R T 2
10) What was your favorite food/meal you had on the race?
EL SALVADOREAN SOUP WITH HOMEMADE CORN TORTILLAS FROM GUATEMALA. Hand’s down, my favorite. My teammates KNOW this was my favorite meal because I would not stop talking about it (I get that trait from my mom, Sher Bear). I still dream about those warm, thick tortillas and that jalapeño-infused soup.
Other favorite foods were fresh mangos from Cambodia, egg roti, thai food, and 3-layer tea from Malaysia, Nutella crepes from Guatemala, and mango sticky rice from Thailand. Also, I had better Thai food in Malaysia than Thailand, ironically! While we were in Malaysia, we were in Penang– which is the unofficial food capital of southeast Asia. The majority of my favorite meals of the race were the street food in Penang!
11) What was the strangest food(s) you had on the race?
As far as strange foods I’ve tried on the race, I’ve tried fried frogs, fish eyes, fish brains, and ant-egg soup. I’ll try anything at least once! I remember thinking some banana soda I tried in Honduras was pretty gross. Durian ice cream was FOR SURE THE GROSSEST THING I ATE ON THE RACE. The worst part was that I kept burping it up for the next 24 hours. It’s terrible. Durian is a fruit that is actually banned from a lot of hotels in Southeast Asia because of the smell—think dirty gym socks. There’s a fun video of me eating durian ice cream here. Also, as far as strange meals go, one time in Honduras, our host family gave us 2 hamburger bread-buns with a ton of syrup on them for lunch. Along with the classic game we played in Cambodia called, “what kind of meat is this?”
12) How do you think your view of God has changed after visiting other cultures? Have you seen other aspects of Him?
I wrote the answer to this question during my last week in Kenya:
I’ve been sitting on this question for a few weeks now. It’s the only one I haven’t answered fully out of all of these. My answer for this one changes every day. Feel free to ask me in person, friends and family!
Right now, my answer is this: My view of God has changed, for sure, in good ways. I’ve experienced God as a Father, and have increased in deeper intimacy and dependency with Him over this past year. It’s been pretty freaking sweet, and I love talking about the ways I’ve grown with the Lord during this past year! However, I’ve also wrestled with Him A LOT as I have been exposed to a lot within this past year. I’ve witnessed heart-wrenching living conditions, people living in captivity without freedom, real darkness and confusion, and brokenness in more ways than I thought I would be exposed to. Through it all, I’ve asked God questions about His sovereignty and His love—I think it’s natural to question that when you see brokenness in new ways.
More times than not, I ask God—why me? Why didn’t I grow up as a refugee from a war-torn country? As a woman trapped in the sex industry? As a person who goes days without food and a roof over their heads? As a drug-addict in prison who’s version of normal is just trying to survive? Why did I grow up the way I did? I did nothing to deserve the life I was born into. There’s a lot of guilt I’ve wrestled with in this past year, and I’m certainly not done processing through it all. While I might never come up with an answer for why I grew up the way I did, I just have to trust in His plan for my life, and that He empowers me with the responsibility to do something about it. I’m privileged in every sense of the word. But instead of feeling guilty, I’m transforming that into action. I have a responsibility to use my privilege, education, and resources to better the lives around me that were not born into it. I cannot feel guilty for something I do not have control over. All that God asks me to do is to steward it well.
I think we look at the world around us and ask: Why do bad things happen? Why is this world so dark and broken? I think if we assume the world is filled with love, and pain is the exception—sure, valid question. Throughout this past year, I’ve just realized that this world is broken and dark, and God’s love is the exception. Natural disasters, poverty, and political corruption are the norm—but amidst that, God—full of grace and mercy—reaches into our brokenness and makes beauty from ashes. He finds beauty in the broken. He makes beautiful things out of the dust. He transforms and redeems ALL things. He breathes life into death. And through it all, His name is glorified. We can find Him in all situations because He doesn’t leave things broken– He is constantly restoring and renewing things.
On another note, think about it—we are ALL created in the image of God. Every culture, every tribe, every nation, every language, every ethnicity, every tradition—we are ALL created in God’s image. I think my view of God has expanded just in the sense that God is in everything, and everything is in God. When you think about it, it blows your mind to think about the diversity of God and all that He encapsulates.
13) What is one country that you would love to continue to do mission work in? Why?
The Lord has given me many dreams and visions about what future mission work looks like, so I’m excited to see where He leads me in the future! I’ve always felt a call to southeast Asia. However, for me (as of right now), it’s not so much as where I serve, but how I’m serving.
There’s a ministry we served at in Costa Rica that I always still think about. Read my blog here about my experience serving there. It was called Face of Justice, and we served prostitutes on the streets of San Jose by serving them hot coco and cookies and praying over them. In the long run, I feel called to serve that population of people. There’s an organization in the Philippines my squadmates got to serve at called Wipe Every Tear, and they serve sex-trafficked women and prostitutes at the bars. That’s an organization I would love to partner with. I know I’m meant to serve in relational ministry where I can disciple and empower people– who are typically in some kind of transition– to rise above their circumstances. I love going deep with people, and enjoy helping them find out what they are passionate about, how they can bring Kingdom, and how they can go deeper in their walks with the Lord.
As far as country goes, I’m open to wherever the Lord is calling me! I definitely feel called to serve college students in America right now, but I could see myself moving outside the US in the future. There are countries I would certainly go back to and visit to re-unite with ministry hosts and people I met (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Malaysia, Rwanda, and Kenya). I’d defiantly move back to Malaysia, but I’d have to be super covered in prayer if I moved back there as it’s an intense country to live in. We will see! I’m open to serving as a long-term missionary, and I’m open to seeing what the Lord has planned for me.
14) If you could start over what’s something you would change to benefit this time on the race more?
I would read and re-read books before I left for the race! There’s a book I read a few years ago called “When Helping Hurts” and I strongly recommend it for anyone who is going to serve on short-term mission trips or serve long-term in missions. Here are the following books I would have read/re-read before the race, but that I also enjoyed reading for the first time on the race:
–When Helping Hurts – Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett
–From Spiritual Slavery to Spiritual Sonship – Jack Frost
–The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind 40-Day Devotional – Bill Johnson
–The Art of Listening Prayer – Seth Barnes
–Scary Close – Donald Miller
–The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness – Timothy Keller
–Counterfeit Gods – Timothy Keller
–Bait of Satan – John Bevere
-The Circle Maker – Mark Betterson
–Life Together – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
–Intimacy with the Almighty – Chuck Swindoll
–Love Does – Bob Goff
–Emotionally Healthy Spirituality – Peter Scazzero
-A Wind in the House of Islam – David Garrison
–Jesus Feminist – Sarah Bessey
–Victory over the Darkness – Neil T. Anderson
–Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus – Nabeel Qureshi
–Present Over Perfect – Shauna Niequist
-The Insanity of God – Nik Ripken
–An Unhurried Life – Alan Fadling
–360 Leadership – John Maxwell
–Screwtape Letters – C.S. Lewis
–Deliverance From Evil Spirits – Francis Macnutt
–Building a Discipling Culture – Michael Breen
–Keep Your Love On – Danny Silk
–A Million Miles in a Thousand Years – Donald Miller
–An Appeal to Heaven – Dutch Sheets
15) What do you wish people at home knew?
The World Race provides incredible ways to serve people around the globe, but most of my favorite moments on the race have been outside of assigned ministry: from sharing the Gospel with a Forever 21 worker in Honduras, to be-friending and ministering to the workers in the markets and local coffee shops, to having conversations with the local homeless people in Guatemala, to discipling two former-Buddhist boys who accepted Jesus in Cambodia, to talking to an American couple about Jesus during an off-day on a safari in Rwanda. The point is that we can serve anywhere and everywhere, and we don’t need to be told how to serve in order to bring Kingdom.
It’s a concept we like to call “living on mission.” Basically, it’s where we look for opportunities to serve and bring Kingdom outside of assigned ministry. EVERYONE has access to participate this way! There’s another thing we call ATL—which means “ask the Lord.” It’s a concept where we spend time in prayer and ask the Lord what He wants the day to look like or who he wants us to talk to or what he wants us to tell someone! We simply listen and make space for Him to speak. I practice ATL alllll the time when I’m unsure of what to do. Through listening prayer, I’ll ask the Lord what He wants someone to know—He could speak through a picture, a word, a vision, or even a dream. I’ve learned to empty myself (my desires, preferences, comforts, etc.) so He can fill me up—another concept called “dying to self.” When we do what’s uncomfortable, God shows up in CRAZY ways.
James 4:8 “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
As much as the race has been an incredible experience, I know that I can bring the lessons I’ve learned such as ATL, living on mission, dying to self (living into abandonment), and listening prayer home to the States to practice whenever and wherever—not just on a mission trip.
About me personally: I’ve changed. Have grace on me as I try to figure out what life in the US looks like, and how I’m bringing all that I’ve learned back to “normal” life.
16) Did you see or partake in any healings?
Yes! I witnessed and partook in physical, emotional, mental, and social healings. I, personally, went through a lot of inner-healing and experienced breakthrough in Nicaragua, Cambodia, and the Philippines.
Through prayer, Jesus physically healed my foot while I was in Kenya! Read the story about my foot being healed here. We also prayed five times for a man (who was paralyzed from the waist down) in one of the prisons in Kenya, and he gained back partial mobility and experienced healing! Read that story here. As far as other physical healings go, I’ve seen them happen all the time on the race. Someone will have a headache or get sick, and we’ll pray over them and they’ll feel great right after with no pain!
But I think through all of it, I’ve learned to praise the GIVER, not the gift. It can be really easy to get wrapped up in the supernatural coolness of witnessing a healing– let’s not forget WHO that was possible through! When I reflect back on those moments, I’m reminded of the Lord’s grace and goodness showing up, His steadfast love and pursuit of His people, and His continual presence being glorified in all things.
I have a whole list of miracles from the past year of my life on the race that were all by the grace of God. As me about it!! Jesus showed up in INSANE ways, and I love witnessing about it all!! Powerful stuff.
17) What’s a cool story you haven’t shared with us yet?
Okay yes! I’ve been wanting to share this story. I was baptized in a pool at Overflow Guest House at Siem Reap, Cambodia after the Awakening Conference on April 28, 2017! I’m not sure how I didn’t get around to posting about it, but we had a long series of travel days to the Philippines right after, and didn’t have access to wifi for a while. I was also processing all that happened that weekend, and didn’t know how to articulate all that the baptism meant to me at that time.
That weekend was powerful. I felt like the Lord was calling me to be baptized, but I wasn’t sure when I would have the opportunity. On the final night of the Awakening Conference—a conference where four world race squads came together in Cambodia—the main speaker, Gary Black, stood in the middle of the pool at the Overflow Guest House and invited anyone to get into the water to be baptized.
I was baptized (aspersion—a sprinkling) when I was a senior in high school, but since that time I had grown so much in the Lord and my faith walk with the Holy Spirit. I always felt like I wanted to experience a full-immersion baptism, not just a sprinkling, but I hadn’t felt the Lord telling me to do it until that weekend.
That weekend was a powerful one for me—full of breakthrough, revelation, and increased faith. I wanted to seal up what I had learned and how I had been operating. The Lord has ALWAYS been speaking life and love over my identity in Him, but while my heart believed it, my head was only 95% convinced. The weekend transformed that way I viewed myself– I 100% KNEW who I was in the Lord and what He called me to do. I was operating as a TRUE daughter of the King, who chose me and called me beloved. I knew my worth. I knew my identity, and who He called me to be. I didn’t have to perform or work for His love for me—I was finally okay with just “being” and it was enough. I didn’t have to earn His love by doing anything! That weekend, I was operating like I finally and truly believed that. I was walking in FULLNESS. It was powerful. The confidence I exuded in His authority—who empowered me with spiritual authority—was unlike anything I had experienced before. I knew I had to be re-baptized to publicly declare what He had been teaching me and who He called me to be.
My heart was beating fast, as the Spirit was prompting me to do it. I was wearing a dress, so I was debating whether to do it or not. Then, the Spirit told me to go, right at that moment. As I was walking forward, Gary yelled, “Come on—who else wants to get baptized? Where are my future pastors?” The Spirit was guiding me before he said that, and was confirming some things in my heart. So, I walked into the water with one of my teammates, Cherish. Cherish has been a part of some foundational moments with me on the race, and had seen where the Lord was bringing me from and to. Gary and Cherish co-baptized me with water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with fire and anointing of the Holy Spirit. It was powerful.
Since then, I have seen a change in my faith walk. That night, I said yes to operating in the FULLNESS He has called me to. Now (AND STILL), I’m walking with full confidence because I have authority in Christ to claim victory over the darkness. To not step back out into fear of pleasing people, but boldly and confidently walking in His ways to please God alone. Total surrender, total dependence on God. This is what Kingdom living is all about. To deflect the glory off of me and onto Christ– it is not I who live, but Christ who lives within me. The goal is not to keep it to myself. The goal is that the overflow of the Father’s love for me will pour out into all aspects of my life.
18) What is one “picture of joy” (person/place/thing that represents joy from the race)?
In Kenya, we had an opportunity to drive 5+ hours to the middle of a desert to visit the Pokot Tribe—an unreached people group (meaning they have never heard the name of Jesus). We arrived to find women clapping and singing in unison to welcome us, and they invited us to dance with them shortly after. This is a picture of us jumping and dancing with them. None of us spoke the same language, but our smiles all communicated love. This represents a joy that goes beyond understanding in its purest form. Check out that VIDEO OF JOY here.
Also, there was a moment in Rwanda when we were at a traditional Rwandan wedding, and I got called up to dance in front of 600+ people– my friend Victoria joined me. I’m excited to share that story with you on the Part 3 blog!! I feel like this picture also encapsulates joy.
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ALRIGHT! BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THE LAST Q&A PART 3 POST IN THE FUTURE!
Thanks for giving it a read! Feel free to post questions below, as I love answering questions about the World Race!
peace and grace,
kels
