************************************************************************************************************************
Nate Evans, of East Moline, did it twice.
He became the third World Racer
to finish a second trot around the globe, and was the 
first active
participant to do so. The two others were ”squad leaders,” who
directed large groups of missionaries.
Mr. Evans returned late
last month from a trip that took him and 54 other missionaries to New
Zealand, Australia, Cambodia, Thailand, Uganda, Kenya, Romania, Ukraine
and the Philippines. He took a similar trip in 2008 to South America,
Asia and Africa.
The trips were sponsored by an organization named Adventures in Missions, based in Gainesville, Ga.
Mr.
Evans learned about the organization while serving at a Christian Camp
during summer breaks from Palm Beach, Fla., Atlantic University, which
he attended after graduating in 2003 from United Township High School,
East Moline.
Knowing the World Race
director led to Mr. Evans’s second go-round, he said. ”When most
people finish it for the first time, most would say once is good
enough,” he said. ”It may sound glamorous to some, but it’s really a
hard trip.”
He has told friends that the Amazing Race television reality show probably would be a breeze for him.
‘”The World Race program has changed a lot since my first trip,” Mr. Evans said.
The
most obvious change was that twice as many people participated. Policy
changes and leadership differences also took getting used to, he said.
”I
was different than when I went on the first trip, the people were
different, the locations were different, and the experiences were
different,” he said.
Mr. Evans had to step back from a leadership
position, which at first was difficult to accept. The trade-off,
though, was spending less time arranging logistics and planning and more
time in the field working with people, he said.
At first, Mr.
Evans wondered what God was doing to him, but later realized that ”God
didn’t want to hear me whine and complain,” and actually knew what was
best for him.
”I learned from this trip that God knows more and
is more committed to the true desires of my heart than I thought I
was,’‘ he said.
He also was reminded about the powers of prayer and patience through a 4-year-old Tanzanian boy with a cleft palate.
”The
whole month I was in Tanzania, I tried but couldn’t find anyone to help
this boy,’‘ Mr. Evans said. ”As I prayed for him, God told me He would
bring some healing.
two months later I got an e-mail telling me this little boy named Barack
had had successful surgery. It was incredible.”
It proved the
words of Mark 11:24, he said. The Scripture says: ”Therefore I tell
you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you will receive it, and
you will.”
He also remembers a Filipino boy named Renul, who
came to a place named the Children’s Garden, which cares for kids fresh
off the streets.
”In five weeks, I watched Renul go from being a
shy, scared kid, to a trusted friend who joined me in prayers for his
life and prayers to God,” Mr. Evans said.
For more stories of his adventures, visit his website, nateevans.worldrace.org.
Mr. Evans’ World Racing days may be over, but his next task will take him to Spain to participate in a G42 leadership academy in July.
Meanwhile,
he hopes to find work in local restaurants to earn money for the trip.
After serving God for so long, it should come as no surprise that the
restaurant job Mr. Evans seeks is to be a server.
