I have sat down to write this blog so many times I’ve lost count. No matter how hard I try the words won’t come.
How do you summarize a year full of new experiences, new places, new friendships, and seeing God move all over the world?
The world race. I anticipated it for so long and now on the other side, I feel like I merely blinked and now I am sitting and wondering, “wait! What just happened?”
I am still struggling to find the words to accurately express what the past year has meant to me and how it has changed me.
So instead of trying to capture everything I am feeling in words, I want to share some of my favorite moments from the race and some of the things I deeply miss from this past year.
I miss…
the nights when the girls of team Agape stayed up “too late” and we ended up in fits of laughter.
walking to the market in Thailand to get dinner…and I miss cheap, delicious pad thai.
each and every sweet kid that gathered outside our house each evening in Dzoole.
those fierce nertz competitions.
my squad sitting in a room, worshiping together.
my teammates sitting on me while I am reading or napping in bed.
the sunsets in Haiti.
all the nights of stargazing and squealing whenever we see shooting stars.
all of the sweet children and how their little hands always find their way into your’s.
going to the bars in Thailand and playing jenga with the women who work there.
the sweet kids in the Philippines and having them beat me in checkers.
as strange as it sounds, sleeping in the same room as at least five other people.
playing hand-clapping games with the little girls in Malawi.
attempting speak Spanish to get to know the kids that worked in the city dump in Guatemala.
spending every single lunch time with Vancy in Laos.
I could literally go on forever.
These people, these places, these experiences have changed me more than I can explain and I am forever grateful for them.
For all of my supporters, thank you for giving me this year. For giving me the opportunity to travel this world, love it’s beautiful people, to have amazing friendships, and to return a completely different person that I began. You’re support, prayers, and encouragement have meant the world to me.
Love,
Rachel
