Thank you to everyone who sent me a question! So sorry it has taken me so long to post this blog. Without further ado:
Did you get homesick?
Thankfully I did not get homesick on the Race! Of course I had moments where I missed home and missed my friends and family, but there was never a moment where I didn’t think I could finish the Race out of being homesick.
What’s your best poop story?
Haha! At training camp, I heard a lot of people talking about how you don’t finish the Race without a poop story, and I remember saying multiple times that without a doubt, I was determined to finish the Race without a poop story. And then travel day at the end of month 9 happened. We were traveling from Johannesburg, South Africa and had an 8 hour flight to Abu Dhabi. I started feeling sick the morning we woke up to start this 4 day travel to Haiti and it progressively got worse as the day went on. We got on our flight and shortly after being in the air I almost passed out, like, sweat dripping down my face, tunnel vision, hearing gone, but thankfully I didn’t actually pass out. I couldn’t sleep because the pain in my stomach was so bad. We had about two hours left of the flight when I felt like I was going to throw up, so I ran to the bathroom. As I went to throw up, I simultaneously had diarrhea, and well we all know that if my head was over the toilet to throw up the diarrhea had no where else to go except in my pants. Yep. My worst nightmare and my absolute worst fear happened. I had to wash my shorts in the sink and then sat in the bathroom for 30 minutes and cried and used all of their paper towels to dry my shorts. It was literally the absolute worst. So there ya have it friends, my own personal poop story. But hey! I survived!
How did you see the Lord work in your heart? And how are you using that to bring Kingdom?
The Lord worked in my heart in so, so many ways but as I sat with the Lord on this question, this is what I felt like He was saying to me: That He removed the blinders & He opened my eyes. To see the world the way He does. To see people the way He sees them. To love the people He has created in His image, the way He loves them. To see that the way I was living before the Race was a religious, check the box, kind of Christianity. To see that doing life with a community of believers is vital. To see that every one has a story & it’s absolutely worth taking the time to sit & listen. To see what an intimate relationship with the Father looks like. To see how crucial spending time with Jesus every single day is. To see that I can only give away what I have. To see that I have to first be walking in freedom to proclaim freedom to others. To see the importance of surrender and obedience to the Father. To see the authority that I have through Jesus Christ. To see the power of prayer. To see that He is a God of miracles. To see that we are fighting a real, spiritual battle. To see that we are fighting FROM victory, not FOR victory.
The battle has already been won. In the end, we as believers, win. He changed my perspective on a lot of things. He changed my heart to look a lot more like His. Hallelujah! Thank You Jesus.
And because I’m walking in a deeper understanding of the Lord and His Kingdom, I’m able to live a life that’s worthy of my calling. Staying in tune with Holy Spirit and asking God for divine appointments through out my day. I am walking in more freedom, greater boldness, and living an interruptible life to bring Kingdom everywhere I go.
What was your favorite encounter with Holy Spirit while on the Race?
Month 4, in Malaysia, I asked the Lord to give me a vision and He did. A very detailed one. The vision He gave me was of an older man wearing a specific shade of green shirt, with white/grey hair and beard, sitting up against a wall in a chair or on a bench, and He told me to lay hands and pray healing over him. After wandering around Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a few hours, the Lord led me to Him and everything that I saw in the vision was sitting right in front of me.
What was the greatest struggle you faced?
I would probably have to say community. Although it was also the greatest aspect of the Race, it was really difficult living in community 24/7 and not having much time to yourself.
What was your favorite month and why?
Month 8. We were in Johannesburg, South Africa working with a ministry called Impact Africa. We got to go into squatter camps every day and do door-to-door evangelism. I felt like I was living the life that Paul lived. The Book of Acts truly came alive for me this month. My entire team walked in such boldness and authority. We saw miracles, witnessed healings, cast out evil spirits, and celebrated so many salvations. The Lord spoke to us and gave us detailed visions. I began walking in a new kind of freedom that changed the course for the remainder of my Race!
What was the most important lesson learned?
The simplicity of the Gospel and how easy it should be to share it with people. I often found myself trying to over complicate sharing the Gospel. This is something my team and I talked a lot about in the second half of my Race. It’s truly a very simple thing to do. It’s not our job to save people. We can only share the Gospel with them and then they have to make the choice to receive salvation or not. The Bible says in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes…” No amounts of eloquent words that we try to come up with on our own will ever convince anyone to receive Jesus. It’s the power of the simple but powerful Gospel that changes and saves people.
Did you get sick?
Y’all. This was my biggest fear when I decided to do The World Race. I prayed about it and prayed over my body for months and months before launching and then had to continue to give this fear to the Lord many, many times throughout my Race. I can confidently say that I definitely had favor from the Lord when it came to sickness. My body was healthy for literally majority of the Race. I got a sinus/allergy/head cold type of sickness about three different times and then the stomach sickness, from my poop story, which I had for about a week. Other than those 4 times, I was pretty healthy! I am so thankful the Lord kept me as healthy as He did.
How was your stomach with the different kinds of foods and circumstances?
My stomach wasn’t ever really an issue for me. It was actually fine majority of the Race, with the exceptional diarrhea moments, that are just inevitable.
In what ways did you grow?
Oh man. I grew in so many ways! I grew in my relationship with Jesus first and foremost. And because of this growth, I was able to grow in so many other ways. Becoming disciplined in spending time with Jesus every single day and deciding that my Jesus time every morning was nonnegotiable, is where the growth started. Through reading my Bible, spending time in prayer, and learning to just sit and be with Jesus, led to the growth that I saw in living in community, in communication, in vulnerability, in healing, in hearing the Lord’s voice, in walking in freedom from things that are not from the Lord (fear, doubt, anxiety, shame, etc.), in walking in the authority that I have through a relationship with Jesus. Overall, I grew to live mission minded 24/7.
How are you adjusting to the states after being gone for 11 months?
The first week home was really weird and overwhelming. Even after being home for over two months now, there are still moments where I struggle. Not living in community 24/7 with 5 or 6 other people who are always encouraging you, calling you higher when you don’t look like Jesus, asking hard questions, talking about what Jesus is teaching them, laughing/crying with you, praying for you, and just doing life together literally every second of every day for 11 months, is probably the thing I’ve had to adjust the most to and it’s been the absolute hardest. Having so many options & choices anywhere & everywhere you go is also pretty overwhelming. It’s not all hard, struggling moments though! It’s been really, really great being back in America! We are blessed beyond words here and I’m thankful for how the World Race has changed my perspective on this incredible place I get to call home.
What country had the best food?
Thailand for sure! Pad Thai. Chicken Curry. Chicken Fried Rice. SO. GOOD.
How did you handle moving from place to place and having to say bye to all of the people you met in each country, so frequently?
This is a great question. It was honestly really tough every single month. It never got easier. I had to rely on Jesus and I tried my best to go in to each month with a heart wide open and to love the people I got to meet well while I was with them. And then you have to trust and believe that God is going to continue to work and move in the people’s hearts long after you leave them, because He is.
Were you able to work out on the Race?
Yes I was (Thank You Jesus)!!! You have time to work out every single day, you just have to be self motivated to do it. I did body weight workouts and cardio, with the exception to the few times I was able to drop in at a CrossFit Gym. I took a jump rope and bands and got really creative with 5lb water jugs, bricks, and whatever else I could find to turn into workout equipment.
So there you have it! I would love to answer any more questions that you all might have, so just reach out to me & ask away!
With love & a changed heart,
Mads
