Fifteen things I’ve learned in 6 weeks on the World Race.
Second generation, all Asia route list of lessons.
China was an amazing culture to step into for our first month and now we are halfway through our time in Mongolia. I have already learned so much about Asia, and look forward to seeing the different cultures as we travel as far east as Nepal all the way to Japan.
- BYOTP- Bring your own toilet paper—I guess America made me soft, but I never thought I would have to provide this for myself. Thankfully I’m a quick learner. If you enter a public restroom with a western toilet consider yourself lucky—if it also has toilet paper and soap, you must be royalty.
- Dressed to impress- the world race is a special time period in your life where you can wear almost anything and it is culturally acceptable. Especially in our tribe. You want to wear socks under your chacos? Sure. You want to buy socks with a bear that says “I love balloons”? (GUILTY) go ahead. You want to bring a fanny pack and influence your entire squad to buy one the day before leaving the country? (GUILTY) perfect. You want to wear 4 separate colors in your outfit and not match anything? Right on, embrace it.
- Always dance in the rain- or the snow. It never happens at a convenient time, but random dance parties are always the best. ESPECIALLY when you’re from southern California and the drought never allows for real rain. Spontaneity is really something to embrace. How many people can say that they danced in the snow while in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia? You can count me.
- Abandon America- Where we come from is easy to slip back into. Getting on your phone and aimlessly scrolling through Instagram is effortless, but the times I have spent genuinely getting to know my squad has been such a better use of my time. I promise I will never say I wish I ‘d stalked someone on Facebook instead of creating memories with the people surrounding me.
- Spare PB- International grocery stores aren’t always an easy thing to come by. The small town we stayed in China didn’t have any peanut butter within a 100 mile radius. Thankfully Mongolia was a completely different story. BUT when the grocery store runs out of Jif peanut butter because you have almost 30 Americans raid their aisles of pb, Lo is the only one standing with her backup jar. (winning)
- Fight for God time- Alone time is hard to come by—let alone trying to focus on something while 4 people are holding a headstand competition in the middle of your community space. Sometimes your God time has to be planned, but that doesn’t mean He won’t show up. Walking 3 miles to a coffee shop might be your only option to actually spend sometime alone, but He is always worth it. Planning my time I am going to spend studying the Word and in prayer keeps me accountable to my daily time with God.
- Communicate- suppressing your emotions when you live with 7-13 other people is 100% impossible. You will break. So best advice is just to come out with the problems in the beginning. Let someone know if they hurt your feelings, or let them know if they smell. THEY MIGHT NOT KNOW. Plus showers aren’t an every day amenity on the race.
- Embrace Community- who gets to spend an entire year living with a group of people who will grow with you physically, mentally, and spiritually. Don’t ever take for granted that you have countless pairs of ears to listen when you need them.
- Pray it out- I rarely remember the specific prayer of a person, but I do remember the act of them doing it. Pray boldly. Pray continually.
10. Take pictures of everything- especially of your teammates sleeping in the most random places. We have taken advantage of our weekly adventure day. Countless hikes and interactions with some of the most random animals always call for a photo-shoot.
11. Share your fears- Irrational or real. My fears are rubber bands, balloons, and anxiety of opening a cinnamon roll can. Thankfully our very first task to kickoff our race was folding Christian contraband with rubber bands. My team quickly took advantage of me being vulnerable, but always makes for a good laugh. I may or may not have had nightmares of my team leader giving me a giant bag of rubber bands for my birthday. Thanks Rav.
12. Say cheese- you become famous in Asia simply for being white. Take pictures with random people, maybe they will even make up cool stories to their friends about how they met you.
13. Throw out the old- I’m going to be completely honest. They all warned us that most of us would poop our pants on the race this year. I was the first unfortunately and I will never regret leaving that pair of pants on a train in the middle of China.
14. Charades is language- I can barely say hello in their native language, let alone convey something complicated. Sometimes you are forced to dance around fake coughing in order to get some very necessary medicine, or do some classy-acting to get someone to help you find the squatty-potty.
15. Share your story- the most vivid memory of my race this far was after telling my testimony. I was afraid that after telling my team my past, and all the loss in my life, that they wouldn’t accept me. Once I finished with “that’s it” I started sobbing into my hands—when I looked up I saw my entire team coming to surround me and pray over me in my most vulnerable of times. The encouragement I have had from each member of my little family has meant the world to me. I wouldn’t change my six teammates for anything. I look forward to the 9+ months I have left on this journey with some of the most inspiring spiritual leaders. Everyday brings opportunities for me to leave a little piece of my story with different people in each country I enter.
I thought these people needed me. I thought I was going to be pouring out and giving up a year of my life to serve— little did I know that God was going to change the way I see myself, the world, and the people around me. I can’t wait to see the change this season brings, and how God is going to work through every single person in my tribe.
Thank you for your love and support! I am only $1000 (2 million Mongolian Tugrik) away from being fully funded. I am so thankful for your continual prayers and financial support. If you would also like to be apart of my prayer intercessor email please comment your email below.
Love,
Laura
