I’ll be home in 2 DAYS! Can you believe how quickly time has gone by? I’ve traveled to 17 countries, (if I’m counting correctly) I’ve seen the world, I’ve seen the Lord move in ways I’ve never experienced, and I have lots of stories to tell. In all of this, as people I love, and people that I know love and care about me, I ask that you please help me to re-enter into life back in America well. This can be as easy as just simple conversation. When I get home, please don’t ask me questions like, “ how was the World Race”, or “how was your experience”? It is the equivalent of me asking you “how was your whole 2017 year”? It’s really difficult to summarize a whole year into a practical conversation. Being specific is really helpful. However, I understand that you care, and that you want to know more about what has been happening in my life and I’m excited to share! So I’ve developed a list of questions that will help both you and I talk about this past year on the Race. Some fun, some serious, but all relevant to a year on the field.
General
What did you learn about being a believer this year?
What did you learn about being a leader?
What were some of your favorite moments with your three teams? (First team: Rhemas, Second team: R 1:16, Third team: Fearless)
What places and moments broke your heart?
What places and moments did you feel most alive?
Who are your closest friends that you made on the Race, and why?
What were some of your worst living conditions? What were the best?
What ministry was the most challenging?
Which ministry was your favorite?
If you could live in any country you’ve been to, where would it be?
What was your favorite country and why?
What other countries did you go to that were not on your route?
What was your favorite country in each continent?
What was it like to live out of a backpack all year?
Ask me about all the animals I have seen. Wild, stray dogs, puppies, etc!
Asia
What was traditional (Indian, Vietnamese, Thai) food like?
What was the weirdest thing you saw people eat?
What was the funniest bad translation you saw?
What was public transportation like?
What was the weirdest thing you saw being carried on a motorbike?
What did you see in nature that amazed or inspired you?
Ask me about off days/adventure days in each country and what they looked like.
What was it like being a team leader?
Ask me what the Lord taught me most in the month where I lived with my whole squad.
Ask me about Communism in Vietnam and what that looked like in ministry.
Ask me about our overnight layover in Malaysia.
Ask me about a ministry that intrigues you!
We visited a lot of slum churches and did house visits praying for people desperate to encounter the Lord. We worked at an AIDS/HIV compound and helped at an organization that trains and employs at risk women.
We did a lot of prayer hike ministry and visited dance/night clubs (where women are trafficked) in Nepal. We led conversational English clubs for college students at the local universities.
Europe
What did you do during your layover in Rome?
What was the transition like going from Asia to Eastern Europe?
What were your expectations of Eastern Europe before you got there? And what was the reality?
Ask me about which place was hardest to say goodbye to.
Ask me about my side trip to Kosovo.
Ask me what ATL (Ask The Lord) was like, and the crazy process that went into hearing from the Lord that we were called to Greece instead of Macedonia.
What was the food like in each country?
How was your trip to Athens?
Ask me about feeling like a homeless person in an Athens McDonalds!
Ask me about reading the Bible in 3 weeks.
Ask me about a ministry that interests you!
We worked at a Bible School in Albania and got very close to the Interns that worked there. We did street ministry in Greece, handing out flowers to women on the street, handing out waters on hot days to the homeless, or people working in the heat. We stood outside and held up signs to allow people to interact with us and tell us more about themselves and we did public worship in the city square. We went to a youth camp in the mountains of Bulgaria and made some amazing connections with the youth.
Africa
What did you do during your layover in Qatar?
In what ways did Africa surprise you?
What did you do when you visited Victoria Falls?
What was your bathroom situation in Swaziland?
What is a care point?
Ask me about our house keeper in Zimbabwe.
Ask me about seeing new constellations in the Southern Hemisphere!
What is public transportation in Zimbabwe like?
Ask me about the safari I went on in Botswana.
How did Zimbabwe, Swaziland and South Africa differ?
Ask me about Townships in South Africa.
What people were the hardest for you to say goodbye to from each month in Africa?
Ask me what I loved about our ministry in South Africa, Love Story.
Ask me about how amazing it was to live in Port Elizabeth, South Africa for a month.
Ask me about my weekend trip to Cape Town.
Who is Garret and how did the Lord bless you through him?
Ask me about a ministry that interests you!
We helped out at nursing homes, children’s homes, did house visits to children with AIDS/HIV and spoke to youth groups in Zimbabwe. We worked at care points in Swaziland. And we worked with a charity that predominantly does food provision and distribution in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Please ask questions! Ask away! (These are just example questions) And let me ask you questions as well! Life in America may seem very routine and mundane, but there are a lot of times that I have missed the routine while being gone. I want to know what your last purchase at Target was, your favorite new restaurant, and what the best sermon you have heard lately is. I want to hear about you as well!
2 days. Can you believe it?
All my love and thanks,
Maggie
Many thanks to Keeley for inspiring this blog.
