Hello friends. Sorry it has been so long since my last update. We have been traveling a lot – about 2,500 miles in 3 weeks. We are now in Almaty, Kazakhstan heading to Kyrgyzstan tomorrow. Kazakhstan is a great country and not what I expected. I feel like I am in America and fit in because people have stopped me on the street to ask for directions. In China, it was different. People would stop me in order to take a picture with me. They were very excited to see us in their country.
China was a great month filled with many great adventures and people that we met along the way. China was “manistry” and “womanistry” month where the guys and girls were separated into different teams. I was on a team with six guys, and it was a blast hanging out with great men of God. We could joke around a lot while at the same time transition to really deep conversations about life and our struggles and celebrations on the race.
We were able to go on some fantastic hikes as well, my favorite being Tiger Leaping Gorge. This was a two day hike through one of the tallest gorges in the world. There were snow capped mountains at the top and a raging river at the bottom. It was a beautiful hike and we were blessed to have clouds as we hiked to keep us cool, but when we stopped at the end of the day, we had open skies to sit and just look at the mountains. We even got to do some camping in an abandoned school yard and someone’s driveway. They were beautiful spots to stay in and, even better, they were free, allowing us to use our lodging budget for food.
As we hiked the trail, we met many amazing people from all over the world. But Damaris from Bulgaria sticks out the most in my mind. She joined us for the two days we hiked the trail and she fit right in with us. As we were about to leave for the hike she stopped us and asked if she could come along with us because the guide book said it was not safe to hike alone. She was originally from the UK but had studied in China for a while so she was there visiting old friends and experiencing China. We were able to have great conversations about the Lord. She was really interested in what we had to say, and we loved answering her questions.
Travel days were long and consisted of sitting on buses, but we did not mind too much; the scenery was breathtaking and you could just stare out the window for the trip. We didn’t even mind getting stuck for 3.5 hours for construction because the scenery was beautiful. Plus, we had good company as we talked to some of the other Westerners.
In Kazakhstan, we were able to have some time off. Myself and two others headed to the capital, Astana, to meet two guys connected to Adventures in Missions who were doing recon for our squad, setting up contacts and figuring out the best ways to travel across western China. Astana is very new city it was named the capital only 25 years ago. The architecture is very beautiful and modern – it looks like it could be used for the capital in the movie the Hunger Games.
We now have new teams which I am very excited about, I get to interact with new people and learn from new viewpoints and life experiences. I am still a logistics coordinator for the whole squad so that has been challenging trying to move 35 people across central China. But it feels great when things come together and we are able to travel as a squad and be together. Continued prayers would be great as we began the next stage of our race. Crazy to think that we are already halfway done with the race. As of right now, I don’t want this race to end, I am having way too much fun and learning a lot from my experiences with God and interactions with others.
