A lot has happened since we left Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan we met the other expedition squad that is doing our route in reverse, we traveled over 4,000 miles overland through four countries and one sea totaling 134 hours of travel. We then had Turkey pulled out from underneath us by the attempted coup by the military. I hope to give you a quick overview of what has happened in the last three weeks.
At the end of our ministry time in Bishkek we headed to Karakol, Kyrgyzstan to meet up as a squad as well as join with the other expedition squad that launched in April who are doing the same route we are doing just in reverse. Karakol was a beautiful place and we where able to house all sixty of us together. It was a great time of learning what it means to have God be our father and taking away all sense of perfection or trying to prove ourselves we just learned how to be loved by Him. We were also surrounded by beautiful mountains and a large lake that where perfect for use during free time.
After debrief we started a long journey to Tbilisi, Georgia. We first had to travel back to Bishkek to pick up Azerbaijani visas then head to Almaty Kazakhstan to get on a 60 hour train ride to west Kazakhstan. The train ride was not as bad as I thought it was going to be, yeah it was crowded and very hot at times, but the people who rode where very nice. We were given lots of free food and drink. They knew how to travel having full dinner sets to eat the food that was sold along the way at certain train stops. The train was a great time to sit and talk with my fellow squad mates and get to know them more and interact with the locals as we traveled like they did.
Sixty hours later we got to the port city of Aktau and eight hours later we were leaving Kazakhstan on a cargo ferry headed to Baku Azerbaijan across the Caspian sea. The ferry ride was one of the highlights of my time on the race. It was just such a unique experience traveling across the sea with 18 of your close friends. We just relaxed and enjoyed the sea especially the sunsets and sunrises. We did not get too bored, but when we did there was a whole ship to explore and workers to interact with, we were even let into the bridge to see the control room. We arrived 34 hours later into port and four hours later we had cleared customs and made it to Baku.
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Baku was a surprise for many of us. This was a very beautiful city, full of oil money and right on the Caspian sea. There was a lot to see and take in as we walked around the city and experienced some great nightlife. Two days later we left Baku on a night train headed to Tbilisi, Georgia.
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We had a couple of days in Tbilisi so we walked a lot exploring old beautiful cathedrals, fortress, the king’s old gardens and hiking up to many beautiful lookouts over the city. Because of the July 15th coup in Turkey we are not allowed to go into Turkey any more under the covering of the World Race organization so we are now in the process of planning other options.
Please pray that things would come together and that we would go where God is leading us and we can best serve Him.
