The World Race . . .
On June 3rd I returned to Grand Junction, Colorado for the first time in nine months. Throughout the nine months I was gone, I lived in five different countries, Colombia, Ecuador, Thailand, Cambodia and Albania. I also spent time in Greece, Italy and Montenegro. And I flew into El Salvador, China, Singapore, Serbia, and Russia. I got to experience so many different cultures and meet people from all over the world. It was incredible and an experience I will never forget. The goal of this blog post is to provide a summary of what these nine months actually looked like and to say thank you. This would not have been possible without your support. Also at the end of this post is my answer to the question that I have gotten the most since I have been back, whats next?
Colombia
On September, 14th I arrived at my ministry location in Medellin, Colombia. In Colombia, we partnered with a church that is also a rehabilitation center for drug addicts. At this center I helped in simple ways with cleaning, cooking and organizing. This church also had a partnership with an education center in Manatiales which is a suburb of Medellin, and the area with the most displaced people in the city. I spent my weekends in Manatiales and did mainly children’s ministry while I was there. I lived in Colombia for a month and it was an incredible experience. One of my fondest memories from Colombia was my last church service while I was there. The church held a service in Manatiales and hundreds of people came to it. After the service there were baptisms, and I alongside 20 Colombians got baptized and publicly committed our lives to Christ.
Ecuador
On October 13th, I arrived in Portoviejo, Ecuador. While I was in Ecuador I spent every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at the local hospital volunteering. Helping with paperwork, taking inventory, putting together boxes of supplies to take to separate wings of the hospital and unloading the truck that was full of boxes of IV’s. Then every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon I went to the local garbage dump to the community of families that lived there. At the garbage dump my team and our ministry host ran a program for the kids who lived there. We played games, taught English, told a story from the bible and after we would feed the community dinner. When my team wasn’t at the hospital or the garbage dump we were doing something with the community. Either participating in a small group, prayer night at church, painting the walls of our neighborhood, or playing soccer. My time in Ecuador was incredible and I loved every minute of it. One of my favorite memories is one day my host took my team to hike up this mountain shortly after it rained so the ground was super muddy and we spent the majority of the hike slipping and rolling around in the mud. One thing that I miss from Ecuador is when anyone walks into a room they personally greet everyone in the room, which is just a great way to show that you care for everyone and make sure everyone feels welcomed.
Thailand
After a full week of travel, on November 16th I arrived at my ministry location in the suburbs of Chiang Mai, Thailand. I lived in Chiang Mai for two months. The first month I lived at a home for victims of sex trafficking. At the home there was 20 young girls and 3 boys. While my team and I were there our ministry was to build relationships with the kids and just show them the love of Christ. I had a group of five girls that I taught English to in the afternoons and it was always my favorite part of the day. In the mornings our host would take us to various places around Thailand where we would speak about Jesus’s love. We went to a prison, a church in a rural village, and a detention center for teenagers. Also every Wednesday at lunchtime we went to the local college and taught English to the students there. The second month in Thailand my team and I moved into a hostel in the heart of Chiang Mai. This hostel was in the process of transferring ownership. So we got to help with setting up the hostel for the transition. We also had the opportunity to do a lot of prayer ministry in the heart of Chiang Mai right by all the bars that are just fronts for brothels. Overall, my time in Thailand was incredible and a really growing experience. My favorite memory from Thailand is on my teammate’s Harper’s birthday we went to a place called the Grand Canyon which was a huge obstacle course on a lake. It was so much fun to run around on the obstacles and just spend a lot of quality time with my teammates. The thing that I miss the most from Thailand is hands down pad thai. I ate that almost every night for dinner and it was delicious.
Cambodia
On January 12th I arrived at my ministry location in Cambodia. In the mornings I would bike to a local pre-school where some of my teammates and I painted murals on the walls surrounding the school. Then in the afternoon I would teach English to two different classes. A class for kids that were elementary age, and a class for kids that were 12 and up. I got to teach alongside an amazing Khmer woman named Chaddy, who loves the Lord with her whole heart and her dedication to the kids and the Lord I found to be truly amazing and inspiring. Within four blocks of where I was living in Cambodia there are six different business where women are sold every night for their bodies. Every night I got the opportunity to pray over these places and for the women. Pray expectant that God can do big things, that He is the redeemer and can turn any situation no matter how awful it is to good. One of my favorite memories from Cambodia was when a class of my students surprised me and Chaddy with cake and flowers on Valentines day, and we just spent the class talking, laughing and playing games.
Albania
On March 7th I arrived at my last ministry location on the race. I arrived in Polican which is an adorable European town that has a population of around 8,000 people and sits at the base of a mountain. In Polican, my team and I lived above the church that we partnered with. Our ministry there was all church related things. On Thursdays was bible studies, Fridays was youth night, Saturday afternoons were children services and Sunday was service. My teams main objective in Polican was to bring youth into the church. This looked like building friendships with the local teenagers. We played soccer, volleyball, went on walks, and a lot of coffee dates with our friends there. I got to live in Albania for three months and one of my favorite memories from that time was when we got to hike up a mountain and talk to Albanians that live in a rural village at the top of the mountain about Jesus. This day is one of my favorite days ever. From Albania I really miss all the people and all the relationships that were formed there. The youth that we got really close to, the kids that would come over every night to play games, Arta (the lady at the grocery store), and our ministry hosts Mimosa and Klaudia. These people made Albania feel like home.
Whats Next?
So, I did the race. I traveled around the world for nine months sharing the love of Jesus and it was a phenomenal experience, one that I am so incredibly thankful for. I learned so much about the world, about who I am and most importantly I learned so much about God. Our relationship grew exponentially and I am most thankful for this. I learned so much about what it looks like to trust the Lord and that is what I am going to continue to do.
I’m taking yet another leap of faith and I am going back out on the mission field, but this time as a leader. I will be launching with the next year of racers as an Alumni Team leader. I will be leading a team of seven girls for the first three months of their race. I am incredibly excited about this opportunity to serve and help disciple the next generation of racers. I am so excited to see all that God has in store for them over their race and to see their growth. It is an honor to be a part of it. I will be leaving in a little less then two weeks. In total I will be fundraising 3,000 dollars for this trip. If you feel called to support me you can donate on my blog (click orange donate button) or contact me directly. I am asking for prayers. Prayer for my new team, that we can serve the people in Cambodia well and prayer that God will give me wisdom on how to best lead my team to start off their race as best as possible. I cannot thank you enough for all of your support. This last year would not have been possible without it.
– Rachel
