This is it. 11 months, 11 countries, and only 9 days left until I am home. It’s hard to believe that exactly a year ago today I was arriving in Gainesville, Georgia about to step into Training Camp for the World Race. Now, I’m able to count on my fingers how many days I have left on the field. The only real way I’m able to sum up this entire year in one statement is this:
A wild adventure in which the Lord took me on to radically change my life. A “YES” in our spirits means a life of unpredictable circumstances, incredible people, having your heart broken and put back together a million times, but more than anything, experiencing the Lord in the way he created us to experience Him: in abundance.
The cool thing about the Lord though is that it doesn’t involve traveling the world or having these crazy experiences in order to experience him. He pours out Himself upon him when we LET him. People have this expectation that an experience like this has to change your life dramatically, but in reality, it doesn’t. In some ways yes, but circumstances can’t change our hearts if we don’t allow it. I was dramatically changed because I surrendered to my Lord and Savior. I gave up control, comfort, and the life I knew back home. He radically changed my life because I allowed him to.
Life with the Lord isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. There have been some really hard days over this past year. There have been months and seasons of this last year where I felt distant from the Lord. There have also been days when I’ve heard from Him so clearly and can feel his presence so radically.
I really am at a loss for words when it comes to summing up this entire experience (I don’t think it’s actually possible to fully do that.) But what I can tell you is the answers to some questions I’ve asked myself over this past month to begin processing through some of this.
What roles have you played over these past 11 months?
I have been an English teacher, construction worker, mental health facility worker, babysitter, evangelist, preacher, worship leader, art/music teacher, tickle monster, care point lover, treasurer, team leader, skit performer, cook, backpacker, housekeeper, medicine administrator, nurse, children’s minister, sports facilitator, traveler, preschool aid, painter.
You want me to be something, I can be it. I’ve learned to become more flexible than I thought I already was.
What is something the Lord taught you?
When I think about what the Lord has taught me over these past 11 months, the first thing that comes to mind is his faithfulness. Oh my goodness how he is faithful.
I think of India how we were with our entire squad and learned a little bit of what it looks like to be on the race (or so we thought). I saw his faithfulness in healings at the medical camps we were a part of, to seeing all the children that are sponsored going to school daily and earning an education because of donor’s financial support.
I think of Nepal when he healed my ankle before our eyes, and the way he gave us a family when we were really missing ours. He gave us mountains and valleys of beautiful colorful flowers, and the opportunity to preach in churches every day.
I think of Vietnam, when we were starting to miss America, and he gave us Sherman as a host and the Brewer family to pour into us. To have some comforts of home for the first time (hot showers, real toilets, beds, good food, English speakers, malls, real coffee, a Christmas Service and dinner over the Christmas season, ice skating, etc.)
I think of Cambodia when my grandpa passed away and he gave me the verse John 14 to share with my grandpa the day before he died. We lived along a small fishing village where the Lord brought me back to the Mekong River (where I previously have visited when I was in Laos back in 2015). He gave us bikes and knew that biking along the water was good for my soul, and in a way felt a lot like home in Winona where I attended college. To the women at Destiny Café and the people at Smile Restaurant that served us daily. To that rickety boat that some of our friends told us we could canoe in if we wanted to (MY SOUL NEEDED THIS). To teaching children for the first time on the race and my heart being so full because of that. The Lord knows what’s good for my heart and he is faithful in those things.
In Botswana, they were having a drought and a previous Race team prayed fervently for rain, and we got to see the results of that: with torrential multiple times. When our ministry was “cancelled” for the month because of riots/protests on campus the first few days we were there. We had the opportunity to do street evangelism instead and helped bring a woman named Grace to the Lord because of that.
In South Africa I got the chance to serve what society calls the “untouchables”. The mentally ill and destitute, and those without families who care for them. To get a glimpse of what Jesus means when he says, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40). To live alongside the people that society says to throw to the curb, to wait an extra-long time for medical care or an ambulance because there are others that come first. Those who are so drugged up that they walk around like zombies all day. To witness a woman die before my very eyes, and hold another man’s head as he’s bleeding out from a head injury, and not have people blink twice about it. To look at these people and know: the Lord loves them so so deeply. That he died for each one of them, and he cares for all of us just as we cared for them that month. He showed me true faith in seeing the residents worship and rejoice. In smiles and dancing. He told me, “the world will hate you because of me. They will outcast you, persecute you, but I will always take care of you, I will always provide for everything you need. He showed his provision and faithfulness through the stories of our hosts about how money and supplies have miraculously appeared time and time again, just when they needed it most.
In Swaziland, we prayed for rain again, we danced and shouted and worshipped for the Lord to send down the rain. He did just that and more. To have the opportunity for my mom to come visit me this month! To work with the kids at the carepoints and see her pour out her motherly love on children who don’t have moms. To having a wonderful American family as hosts that loved us so well and invited us into their home to worship and hang out with their family, to experience being in a home with couches (a lot of us passed out on those!) and for an Easter service away from home.
In Argentina, to have a family that brought us in as their own. That served us so selflessly and allowed us to be a part of the ministry that they do on their own time. To witness the faithfulness of the Lord in providing food every week to the homeless population near the bus station. To the intent hearts of the young men at the prison that were pleased to be a part of the bible study Carmen and Ricardo held each week. To the final teammates on my team being fully funded this month!
In Chile, we were served by an amazing woman of the Lord named Bernarda. She loved us so well and taught us what serving in humility looks like. I got to be a music/art teacher this month as well (the Lord knows my heart!).
In Bolivia, the Lord blew my mind with his sweet surprise of us being able to hike 64 miles in the Amazon jungle to visit an indigenous people in a small village called Mojos. He blessed us with such a man of the Lord as our host and guide, Phil, and we learned so much from him alone. The Lord displayed his faithfulness and strength so much when we were weak and thought we couldn’t go on. He displayed his beauty in diversity: from the plants and butterflies we saw with every step. He provided living water through the river we walked along; to drink from and to bathe in. He showed his goodness in the Mojos people and their ability to trust in Him even though most of them have just accepted the gospel 5 short years ago.
To lastly, in Peru, where I’ve seen the faithfulness of the Lord through the ministry we are a part of. Brazos Abiertos aims to restore families through a variety of outreach opportunities and programs. To see our hosts pour their lives out into this ministry, and treat these young kids in the slums as one of their own, and to give families an opportunity to reconcile relationships and restore what faith in the Lord looks like.
The Lord has been so good to me these past 11 months. There is no doubt in my mind that this is exactly where he wanted me. To draw me into deeper intimacy with him, and when it comes down to it, while serving others, you learn a lot more about yourself than you do about the world. My worldview has expanded, my view of myself has expanded, but most of all, the Lord is no longer in a box for me. He is limitless, he is in relentless pursuit of His children, and he draws us closer to Himself each day through his character. He is bigger than my insecurities, bigger than my doubts. He has called me CHOSEN and LOVED. He has claimed me as his daughter and he’s claimed that I am already HOME because he lives within me.
HOME IN 9 DAYS PEOPLE. Some of you may wonder, “what are your plans after the race?” Let me tell you that I have no idea yet but I know that the Lord is good, his plans are greater than mine, and his timing is perfect. So for now, I’m resting in what the Lord has already given me, and we will see where he takes me from here. I know it’s going to be a grand adventure, this is only the beginning 🙂
