Howdy folks! I am back home in Dallas, Texas of the good ol’ U. S. of A. It has been just over 2 weeks since I’ve returned Stateside. After about 30 hours of traveling from Osaka, Japan to Seoul, Korea to Los Angeles, California to Dallas, Texas, I finally made it home. Whew!
Some tidbits about my 11 months in Asia:
– 14 countries (India, Nepal, Thailand, Burma/Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Mongolia, China, South Korea, Japan)
– 51 times I had to pack all of my stuff to move from one location to the next to sleep in a new place
– 7 months without hot water for showers
– 6 months sleeping on my sleeping pad (which is basically a pool float)
– 4 friends visited from home
– 11 months without meat or fish (almost 3 years and counting of being a vegetarian!)
– 4 book store ministries
– 20 coffee shops visited from my go-to list!
– 6 months using only chopsticks
– 44 books read from start to finish (my sister was competing with me but only read 22, half of me!!)
– 111 miles run starting month 9 (with my running partner Grace!)
– 42 birthday postcards mailed out
– 4 team changes
– 11 months being Logistics by Gratney! (can’t write a blog without mentioning Gratney, I can’t do it! haha)
– 20 flights
– 76 financial supporters (couldn’t have done this without you!!)
– 5 months without easily accessible internet
– 5 war museums visited
– 10 tops, 5 pairs of pants, 1 pair of shorts, and 4 pairs of shoes worn all year
– 1 beach month
– 4 children I wanted to smuggle home
– 2 plants successfully passed customs from Japan to USA
– 8 visas in my passport
– 35 stamps on my passport (excluding USA who didn’t even stamp me in!!)
– 3 pages left blank in my 28 page passport
– 0 times I popped open my tent…
– 2 piercings in Korea (don’t worry, they are just second holes in the normal spot!)
– 27 books read from the New Testament (that’s all of them…)
– 1 Off Day each week to be just a tourist!
– 11 months my daily food budget was less than $5 usd
Here are some pictures of my month 12 so far! 🙂
^my t-shirt says it all: “I’ve come a long way” 🙂 This was when my parents met me at baggage claim in DFW with a patriotic balloon! I was exhausted at this point from all the travel ha!
^my first meal back in the States!!! Chipotle! WITH CHOPSTICKS!! I’m a pro at chopsticks. 🙂
^3 of my bests! (Katie, Kate, and Laura). My parents threw me a Welcome Home party the afternoon after I returned. I was soooo jetlag-drunk, but it was really good to see everyone right away!!!!!
^Christmas presents to open from December! My family loves me!
^my second meal after being home. Fried pickles at Razzoo’s with my sister! Yummmmmmm. And Ranch! First time I’ve had Ranch in 11 months!
^speaking of my sister, it was so good to see her again!!! I missed you, Hayley!
^that is A LOT of peanut butter options… Overwhelmed Moment #478. Peanut butter is hard to find overseas! And once you find it, it’s too expensive to purchase!
^annndddd I have already visited the Asian Market in Garland. First time I cried since being back home – walking up and down the aisles of the supermarket seeing all of the Asian brand names I remember eating! They have a noodle place, boba tea, all the things!
Y’all. I miss Asia so much! And I know she misses me too. 🙂 I don’t know when I’ll see her again, but I know that I will! I just know it! God has been so faithful with me on this journey. And I know that He will continue leading me on to big big big things!
I have a friend named Janet. She is from Carrollton. She went on the Race with me. We were never on the same team, but we did do the Canyon Swing jump together in Nepal, if you remember those pictures from October! 🙂 Anyway, she is going on another mission trip and she needs financial support! If you are interested in reading about her experience (she leaves at the end of this month!), check out her blog: janetcastaneda.kingdomjourneys.org She is going to Uganda for 2 months, Thailand for 2 months, and India for 2 months!!!! She’s a treasure in my life and she’s doing awesome stuff for the Lord overseas!!! 🙂
^this is me and Janet from lunch today! 🙂 I love her! And since you love me, and I love her, go ahead and show her some love and support! She’s a fellow Texan after all. 😉
I will write one more blog. It will be PACKING TIPS for future World Racers. 🙂 I have lots of advice from my teammates and me that I’ve been collecting over the year.
THANKS for reading my blog for the year! THANKS for all of the comments! THANKS for all of the financial and prayer support!!!
Love y’all!!
Find me on instagram @whipavi
Now what…? Big plans!!!
What in the WORLD am I up to next? 😉 😉 😉
