Hi everyone! With home on the horizon, I know so many of you are going to have questions so I figured I would do a Question & Answer blog with some of the ones you sent in to me as a resource that I can point people too when I get home. Of course, I know there are infinite questions and they won’t all be listed here, so please feel free to message me with any questions you have that didn’t make it into this post and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Enjoy!
What did you miss the most??
With Tropical Smoothie Cafe at a close second, I honestly think I just missed Arkansas the most. It’s been home for my entire life so the first time it wasn’t, I definitely felt the weight. I miss being in a place of familiarity and good local mexican food with waterfalls only a short drive away. I really took for granted the state of being rooted and being a place where I can really invest in people long term and be present for things like birthdays and weddings without plans to leave any time in the near future.
How do you think the race has changed you? Just one specific way that would surprise everyone?
I don’t know if this will surprise many people, but…I think more so than changing me, being on the race has really allowed Jesus to change my heart. I think there were things about myself I always knew to be true but had such a hard time walking in confidently because I was obsessed with what everyone else thought about me. Having been given so many opportunities from living in community with so many other Jesus-loving girls to doing ministry in the jungle, it’s become harder to not be myself than to just live freely as the girl I was created to be, even it means having to endure some people thinking I’m a little bit weird. It’s taught me to really learn to love myself and that, when I can do that well, I can love the people around me so much better.
How do you think you will transition back to the U.S.A.?
With buckets of grace and humility. It might be really easy or really hard or it might be pretty normal and there will just be some days that are more difficult than others. I think it’s going to take me having grace for the people around me when they ask how my “trip” was to not lash out and ask how the last year of their life was. Grace for the people around me that do and say things that I don’t like because they don’t have a full understanding or total perspective of the things I’ve seen the way I do. Grace for myself because I’ve grown a lot, but I’m not perfect and I’m not any more deserving of Jesus’ love than the next girl is. I think it’s going to take me stepping into hardcore humility because I’ll be honest, I think it’s going to be really hard to come home and not mentally put myself on a bit of a pedestal. Humility to destroy the mindset that I did anything worthwhile, because in truth, I’m just a tool the Lord is using in a much bigger picture. Humility in realizing that I’m not entitled to miss chick-fil-a milkshakes any more than the kids who just came back from their week long trips to Haiti. Everything is going to take time, of course, but those are the two things I’m shooting for.
How is your relationship with Jesus different?
I’ve had my eyes opened to so many new and beautiful sides of Jesus throughout this trip, so it’s really hard to choose just one way our relationship has changed. Ultimately, I think I’ve just seen so much more intimacy in our relationship. So much of the race for me has been learning that I don’t have to fight for His attention. That He is so in love with exactly who I am and is, at all times, all ears. I don’t have to earn His love or time. He meets us where we’re at and He never ever gives up on us. We’ve made a mess of things, but still He is merciful. He is full of grace. He can change the hearts of 19 year old girls addicted to attention and He can make them into hearts that beat for His name, His Kingdom and His people. He comes down to sit beside us in our mess and then lend the helping hand we so desperately need and do not deserve to help lead us into the plan He has for us. I’ve learned that, like the prodigal son, when the Lord sees you taking steps toward home, He runs full speed at you and embraces you. He holds up the big “Welcome Home Child!!!” banner. I’ve learned the value in leaning into the heartbeat of the Father and letting His nearness comfort and His voice remind me who I really am.
What was the craziest thing God asked you to do on your trip?
It may not be the answer you were hoping to hear, but I think the craziest thing the Lord asked me to do was to keep going. There were so many points on the race that broke me. Points that sent me to my computer looking up flights to go home. Points that made me question why in the world I was here in the first place. Points where most people would have decided that the most logical and reasonable thing to do was to just stop while I was ahead. The Lord told me to keep going. He challenged me to keep pushing to see the sides of Him that I would have missed out on if I hadn’t obeyed. He took me to the ends of the earth to teach me lessons that I probably could’ve learned at home, but because I have a Father who created me with a wandering soul and an adventurous spirit, He took me to the other side of the world to show me. He took me to my lowest points and pushed me to my limits and my breaking points and even still, he whispered, “Don’t you dare give up. Don’t you quit on me. There’s more.” And more, there definitely was.
How many countries have you been to on the race?
Technically speaking, with spontaneous trips and long layovers, I have visited Ecuador, Canada, India, Nepal, Zambia and Botswana over the course of my travels but the route I am on did scheduled ministry in Ecuador, India and Zambia.
What has been your favorite spontaneous moment on the trip?
Speaking of technically visited countries, I think my favorite spontaneous moment on the race was when 6 of my friends and I decided to book flights from where we were living in India to Nepal and spend a few days in Kathmandu. We bought the tickets and flew out that week to the land of Himalayan coffee and Mount Everest! It was so freeing and so much fun. However, three days into our trip, our friend Nick got really sick, so we had to leave him and three other boys in the hospital in Nepal while we flew back to India without them. It was a little chaotic toward the end, but it was quite possibly one of the most spontaneous things I’ve ever done.
How has this effected some of your relationships back home? Have they grown stronger or weaker?
It’s been really good for the majority of my relationships at home. It’s been so cool to watch how the Lord is growing the people back home in the same ways that He’s growing me here. I think that for the most part, I will have to wait until I get home to see any major differences, but from the facetimes and emails, I’ve loved getting to share stories and moments with my loved ones back in the States and I definitely think that if it hasn’t yet, it will strengthen our relationships in the future.
What were some of the best and worst experiences you encountered on the trip? Do you have any advice for people looking into doing the race and what are some pro tips for them?
For me, the worst experience was getting food poisoning and severe dehydration on the first month of the race while we were in the Andes in Ecuador. It was awwwffuuuullll, but on the ups, I didn’t get sick a single time after that! As far as best experiences, we met so many incredible people and saw amazing things. I cascaded down a waterfall, flew over Mt Everest and sang I’m Yours with my friends at an Indian wedding. As far as people go, I’ll never forget living with the girls inside the girls safe house here in Zambia and all the love that was shared here. As far as sights go, the one thing that got me like nothing else was seeing Victoria Falls. I mean, wow. A true testament to how powerful our God is. For people considering the race, I would tell them that it is hard. It is the hardest thing I have ever done. But it is so worth it. My biggest tips would be 1) be where you are with who you’re with. This thing goes by fast and you’ll want to look back and remember how you chose into the present moment, not constantly looked forward to the next thing. 2) Invest money in your gear. It’s different than a cute weekend camping trip on the river and your things will go through the ringer. If your squad was like mine, you’ll spend months at a time in your tent sleeping on your pad so you’ll thank yourself later for getting something better than an upgraded piece of cardboard. 3) Learn what it means to be grateful and learn fast. This is an amazing thing but there are moments where you will forget why you said yes. These are the times where being grateful will become your lifeboat. 4) Don’t have expectations. Every squad’s experience is different. Every racer’s experience is different. Don’t spend time trying to figure out what it will or won’t be like and just live it. The only thing that matters is that you seek Jesus in every moment and if you do that, I promise your race will be everything you want it to be.
How hard was adjusting to the different cultures and keeping up with what is okay there and not okay or offensive?
We had a bit of training beforehand, but mostly, we have to rely on whatever ministry host we are living with to let us know what’s okay and what’s not. They’re human too, though and sometimes they leave things out, but when this happens, there’s usually a kind local around to let us in on the goods. The hardest place for me to adjust to culture was India. I felt like I was on a movie set the entire time, like I was on a different planet. Culture shock hit me really hard. Especially dealing with so many different religions in one area, it went beyond Indian culture and dipped into religious culture and knowing what to and what not to say and do around people of certain religions. It takes a while to get adapted but it does happen eventually and it’s so cool to watch how people react when you make an effort to respect their culture be it mannerisms or dress codes. It’s such an easy way to show the people that you’re in it for them. That you want to love them well.
What made this trip so special?
Above all, I think the one thing that made this specific trip so special was my people. I can’t imagine going the distance with anyone else and much less alone. The people are the ones that make it. They can be the difference between a good race and a bad one. I was immensely blessed to be on the world’s best squad and have the most amazing teammates. #GapJ4ever #teamsnacks #backatit
Did you have free time to explore and enjoy each country?
Yes! We get one adventure day and one rest day each week. The people at AIM believe in the Race being a time of getting everything we can out of the places we are because we may never be there again, so we got to visit Banos in Ecuador, Nepal, and Victoria Falls on some of my favorite adventure days.
What is a typical day like during the race?
This one is hard because each day is so different! Here in Zambia, though, we lived in a safe house with 12 of the girls here at the orphanage. A typical day here looks like getting up, having breakfast and then going out to work for a few hours. Sometimes it’s dong manual labor and sometimes it’s helping the kids write letters to their sponsors; whatever the hosts need a hand with that day. Afterward, we usually have lunch and go buy groceries if we need them. Between lunch and dinner, we have free time to spend sitting with the Lord, hanging out with the kids/hosts, writing blogs or whatever else we choose to do with our time. We cook for ourselves so when late afternoon rolls around, some of us will start on dinner. We eat and then have team time, a time set aside for the team to sit together and talk about the day, give feedback or ask for prayer if we need to and sometimes do a fun activity. On off days, we like to go to coffee shops in the area or just catch up on sleep!
Who or what touched your heart the most?
I think the biggest blessing on the race that touched my heart was the mothers. Mabe in Ecuador, Madu in India, Brandy in Zambia. All around the world, there are mothers and the ones I had the gift of being loved by were some of the most amazing, servant-hearted people I have ever met. Their lives are busy but they are full of joy. Here in Africa, you’ll see women out working in the fields, carrying water on their heads, and dominating public transportation all with their babies on their backs. Moving around all the time was really hard and having the comforting and nurturing hearts of the mothers that so willingly took us in and helped us adapt was something I’ll never take for granted again.
As you came face to face with the person that God sees you as, how did you handle the changes he wanted/wants to make inside of you?
Sometimes, these changes were big things. Things that will take years to become more natural, like reminding myself every single day that I don’t have to pretend to be someone else in order to gain acceptance. Other times, it was small things, like remembering to choose a good attitude on days when I’d rather be a grump. With all of these things, though, I was faced with a choice. The Lord wasn’t going to grab me by the wrists and force me to change. I could just sit in who I was, ignore His voice and be content with it, or I could do something big and brave and wild. I could choose to let myself be changed. There’s a song I really like, Called Me Higher, by All Sons & Daughters. It talks about how we could just sit and wait to feel something, wait to feel better or different and not let our walls down, but the Lord has called us into something higher and deeper. He’s asked us to change for His sake so that we might be better equipped to do the work He’s called us to. There were definitely parts of me I wanted to, and still want to, hold on to. But I trust that when I take my hands of the wheel, only good will come from it.
I hope this could give you some insight on how the race has been for me and maybe even kickstart some other conversation starters for when I get home (**tip for re-entry: I love talking about the race and I can’t wait to let you in on all the things I’ve learned and experienced but I’m really going to need specific questions…sorry, friends, but “So…Africa?” is going to be a rough start.) I’ll see you all very very soon!
P.S. For everyone who doesn’t know, I will be continuing my travels on my own to Ireland, England and Spain after final debrief ends so I will be posting about those adventures here on my personal blog. Feel free to follow/subscribe/share!
