Since I am just a few short hours away from getting on a bus for 36+ hours, I figured I would answer the question: So what is a travel day really like on The World Race? Usually a pretty early start. I'm not sure what feel like early to you, but anytime you have to leave before 7 am, your day is going to start pretty early. Early as in…the night before. You've probably let your pack explode a little. We all try not to, but it happens. You start to take a couple of things out to find that one thing you REALLY need, and before you know it your corner of the hostel room is a crazy mess. So sometime around 10 pm, you must decide: to pack tonight, or to pack in the morning. Sometimes you've been ordered to pack the night before, which I appreciate. Let's face it, I need constant adult supervision. It always takes me soooo long, so I get to bed some time around 1 am. This makes 5 am alarm clock seem like an enemy of sorts. What a jerk that alarm clock is! I never liked it anyways. Sometimes for fun, I sleep right through it. You should see the mad dash that happens when you decided NOT to pack the night before and you wake up 12 minutes before you are supposed to be heading out the door. Oh my goodness! This is not recommended. So you wake up, get yourself as read as you can in the shortest amount of time possible, and sing a few worship songs, then you are on your way. Hotel rooms, street corners, and parking lots make great places to pray over the travel day and sing His praises. Then it's off to the convenience store to buy something resembling food for the long journey ahead. This journey usually involves a combination of walk, taxi, bus, train, and plane. Sometimes the taxi is an open air jeep or the back of a pick-up truck. More times than not, it's not the type of taxi that you're thinking of or used to. And the driver probably doesn't speak the same language as you do. Every taxi, bus, train, and plane is probably a longer journey than it would be if you were planning a family vacation. The thing is…we're on kind of a tight budget! Haha. Our longer journeys give us more opportunities to interact with people and spread the word, so if it takes a little more time and costs a lot less, it's right up our alley! I cannot imagine what goes into coordinating for 43 people to move from one city to another, from one country to another, from one continent to another! Whew! But coordinated it is!! There are wonderful people in Atlanta in charge of this and logistics focals and squad leaders out on the field with us making it all happen. Bless their hearts, they have to herd us around and make sure we get from one place to another in one piece and on time. Through is all, we choose joy. We have a 45 hour bus ride to get from South Africa to Mozambique!? FANTASTIC!! Praise Jesus! We don't have sleeper cars on the train and there will be people standing in the aisles and smoking up a storm for 18 hours straight!? Thank you God that there are trains to take us from one country to another to spread His love to all the nations! There are definitely times when we have to hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait, and then hurry up and wait some more. There are times when you are not sure how you are going to make it through the next couple hours or days. But there are so many times of pure joy and excitement. There are moments of pure disbelief that He chose ME to do this. That no one else is as suited as I am for the amazing plans that He has for me. And His love for us is so great. Travel days are a great opportunity for us to show each other how much we love and care for one another. We have so many more of them ahead, and we choose joy!!
Since I am just a few short hours away from getting on a bus for 36+ hours, I figured I would answer the question: So what is a travel day really like on The World Race? Usually a pretty early start. I'm not sure what feel like early to you, but anytime you have to leave before 7 am, your day is going to start pretty early. Early as in…the night before. You've probably let your pack explode a little. We all try not to, but it happens. You start to take a couple of things out to find that one thing you REALLY need, and before you know it your corner of the hostel room is a crazy mess. So sometime around 10 pm, you must decide: to pack tonight, or to pack in the morning. Sometimes you've been ordered to pack the night before, which I appreciate. Let's face it, I need constant adult supervision. It always takes me soooo long, so I get to bed some time around 1 am. This makes 5 am alarm clock seem like an enemy of sorts. What a jerk that alarm clock is! I never liked it anyways. Sometimes for fun, I sleep right through it. You should see the mad dash that happens when you decided NOT to pack the night before and you wake up 12 minutes before you are supposed to be heading out the door. Oh my goodness! This is not recommended. So you wake up, get yourself as read as you can in the shortest amount of time possible, and sing a few worship songs, then you are on your way. Hotel rooms, street corners, and parking lots make great places to pray over the travel day and sing His praises. Then it's off to the convenience store to buy something resembling food for the long journey ahead. This journey usually involves a combination of walk, taxi, bus, train, and plane. Sometimes the taxi is an open air jeep or the back of a pick-up truck. More times than not, it's not the type of taxi that you're thinking of or used to. And the driver probably doesn't speak the same language as you do. Every taxi, bus, train, and plane is probably a longer journey than it would be if you were planning a family vacation. The thing is…we're on kind of a tight budget! Haha. Our longer journeys give us more opportunities to interact with people and spread the word, so if it takes a little more time and costs a lot less, it's right up our alley! I cannot imagine what goes into coordinating for 43 people to move from one city to another, from one country to another, from one continent to another! Whew! But coordinated it is!! There are wonderful people in Atlanta in charge of this and logistics focals and squad leaders out on the field with us making it all happen. Bless their hearts, they have to herd us around and make sure we get from one place to another in one piece and on time. Through is all, we choose joy. We have a 45 hour bus ride to get from South Africa to Mozambique!? FANTASTIC!! Praise Jesus! We don't have sleeper cars on the train and there will be people standing in the aisles and smoking up a storm for 18 hours straight!? Thank you God that there are trains to take us from one country to another to spread His love to all the nations! There are definitely times when we have to hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait, and then hurry up and wait some more. There are times when you are not sure how you are going to make it through the next couple hours or days. But there are so many times of pure joy and excitement. There are moments of pure disbelief that He chose ME to do this. That no one else is as suited as I am for the amazing plans that He has for me. And His love for us is so great. Travel days are a great opportunity for us to show each other how much we love and care for one another. We have so many more of them ahead, and we choose joy!!
The many faces of a travel day
