Six months working with my squad on the field has come to an end. We had our month six debrief in Budapest, Hungary after serving a month in Ukraine. During debrief we transitioned the new Squad Leaders into their roles by having them run the debrief. I felt the change in leadership because I didn’t have to do much at all! It was great! I was able to spend my last few days with the squad by hanging out with people and saying some parting farewells. (Not a complete goodbye since I will be checking in on them in August!) Budapest was also such a beautiful city! I got to see a lot of the city and experience a part of the culture by watching a soccer game with the local Hungarians. 🙂
After debrief the squad headed to their next country, Romania, without me. It was and still is a weird feeling. I still don’t feel like I will be home in two weeks. I have adapted to a crazy, unusual and unstable ‘routine’ of moving countries every month. It’s so easy now. But thinking about going home to America seems like a foreign idea to me, and a little scary and intimidating!
After debrief Emily Rae, myself and Daniel, who is our Squad Mentor we work with in the office (my boss), headed to Vienna, Austria for a three day squad leader debrief. It is really great that the World Race program allows the squad leaders a few days to process the past six months and takes the time to make sure everything went well and check in to see how we are personally. These past few days have been a good time to prepare mentally for re-entry into America and life after the World Race.
Yesterday we took a bus from Vienna to Bratislava, Slovakia. Because… well, why not? haha We had some free time after our squad leader debrief and Bratislava is only a 1.5 hour bus ride from Vienna. We spent one night in Bratislava and then headed to Prague, Czech Republic. Emily Rae and myself have the opportunity to travel (on our own dime) for two weeks. We are planning on traveling to Prague, Munich, and Salzburg; ending in Budapest where our flight was booked.
I feel good but also strange. I don’t know what is next for me. I feel that God has lots in store for my future, which excites me but then also scares me. I feel that God is asking for me to just blindly follow Him wherever He tells me to go. And I’m not sure what it will hold. I know whatever it is it will be good. Because God is a good God and He wants good things for me. But the every day steps to get there blindly led by Him can seem scary. I trust God and am excited for what He has in store for my life. There are a few passions, interests, and directions that He has revealed to me this past year giving me a sense of what is to come but He hasn’t given me anything concrete as a next step. Which is okay. All I do know is, that I have dedicated my life to do whatever He asks. Whether that is traveling across the world speaking His name or whether that is staying close to family, getting a 9-5, married, and raising kids, I know that my life will be centered around Christ. I will always be a missionary to whoever is around me. My prayer is that my life whatever it looks like and wherever it will be, will reflect Jesus and that all those that encounter me throughout life will be impacted for His kingdom. Because in the end, that is all that matters.
