Here’s a shocking piece of news for everyone: March of 2015 is almost over. That means I’m finishing up Month 3 of the World Race and ending my time in South America.
Here are some of the highlights from the first quarter of this year:
- Putting my bachelor’s degree in Spanish to good use: exactly zero people speak English in Mapiri, Bolivia, so I served as my team’s translator for the month
- Hiking a 15,000-foot volcano in Ecuador: having your head literally in the clouds is an awesome experience
- Preaching my first sermon (in Spanish!)
- Being hospitalized Peru: despite being in the third world, I spent the night in a nicer facility than some I’ve seen in the States
- Serving as translator/counselor for marriage counseling sessions: for real, I couldn’t make that up
- Contracting a parasite from contaminated water in Bolivia: click here for the gory details on giardia parasites
- Washing the feet of teen moms in Ecuador
- Feeling famous wherever I go, just because I’m white: everyone stares, everyone is excited to practice saying “hello!”, and it is apparently the funniest thing in the world when I say hello back
- Three hot showers
- Six automobile breakdowns
- Getting stranded at a tiny village in the jungle, thanks to one of the aforementioned breakdowns: five of us spent the night crammed on two twin mattresses on the floor and woke up throughout the night to a resident bat flapping around our heads
A bullet list can’t capture how incredible these past three months have been. Most days involve some sort of pinch myself, “is this really happening?” moment. My mind is constantly blown by the beauty and variety of God’s creation, and the love and warmth of his people around the world. The missionaries, pastors, and churches we’ve worked with have accepted us like family wherever we’ve been, which is both beautiful and humbling. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us this coming month, as we leave South America and head halfway across the world to India.
My team will be serving at an orphanage in Bangalore for the month of April. We’ll be helping take care of the kids, and also teaching and preaching at local churches throughout the month. It’s going to be quite a change to go from our tiny jungle town in Bolivia to a big city in one of the most crowded countries on the planet!
Our squad will be leaving for India tomorrow, April 1, so please keep us in your prayers as we travel!
