Change is the story of my life right now. Last Monday, I left my house, flew to Miami, spent 1 night there, flew to Quito Ecuador on Tuesday and spent 5 nights in a hostal there, and traveled for 6+ hours to El Carmen where I will be spending the next month in ministry (minus the week where we are traveling to another city for ministry). And those are only my location changes.
Take into account way-of-life changes, perspective changes, ministry changes, and team changes, it has been an interesting week.
Yes you read that correctly, I have been a part of some team changes. Due to a squadmate being called somewhere else and hence leaving the race, I was asked to leave my team, the Lamp Lighters, and join a new team, Powerful Whisper. While I was extremely sad to leave my old team, I know God has a lot in store for this new team and that this was His plan all along. Without further adieu, here is Team Powerful Whisper!
(From left to right: Nicole Ransom, Jamos Mitchell, Angela Dixon, Emily Mitchell, me. Those are all links to their blogs)
Through this process, I have gained some valuable experience in changes. Upon arrival in Quito (I didn’tswitch teams until Friday night), our main contact, Gustavo, was telling me how awesome my old ministry site was going to be. I was so excited and couldn’t wait to get down there. Of course, in the hoopla of changing teams I didn’t think about changing ministry locations, but when I did, I began to get some wonder-lust at the other ministry sites. I forgot that I needed to get rid of expectations and take this trip with an open hand.
Of course, as soon as I started hearing about what we’ll be doing in El Carmen (my new ministry site), I was no longer jealous. In fact, I think I’m more stoked about this now. But that’s not the point. I need to be ok with wherever I’m placed, whoever I’m with, and whatever we’ll be doing. This trip isn’t about how much fun I can have or what sites I can see; it’s about glorifying God and loving the people I come in contact with, wherever I am.
With that, let me tell you about some of the highlights of my first week as a world racer:
– Went to the equator with my squad
– Drove all over Quito with our main contact picking up bus tickets and sim cards
– Lived in a hostal for 5 days with 3 other guys in my room
– Explored the city by bus and foot
– Watched a Ecuador soccer game at a bar in Quito
– Squeezed on a bus with 60 World Racers…and a bunch of Ecuadorians
– Rode in the back of a truck with 10 other people and all of our stuff (I was on the tailgate, hanging on so I didn’t fly out the back)
– Went to an Ecuadorian carnival/street fair where my teammate Jamos and I ate sorbetto (a mix of sorbet and a smoothie) and huevos chilenos (doughy balls covered in sugar), rode bumper cars with the pastor, and played ring toss with his daughter.
– Get to live in a house with the pastor and his family for the month. His family is ridiculously hospitable and does so much for us.
I love hearing from you guys, so please don’t hesitate to comment on this blog! I want to balance between writing purely descriptive blogs and “deeper” blogs, so hopefully all of my blogs won’t be “I did this and then I did this…” because there is so much I’m experiencing on the inside.
Also, I’m still not quite fully funded, so if you would like to support me, please click here or on the “support me” tab on the left. ¡Muchas Gracias!
