First off, Happy Thanksgiving y’all!! I’m celebrating in Santiago, Chile with my awesome team and Casa Esperanza. I am very sad this week not to be home, I would love to be cooking all day long with my dad. In light of being homesick, there is a lot to be thankful for!!!
1. My team: THESE GIRLS ! They haven’t left me yet… maybe because they are stuck with me? Haha kidding- but weird to think about how close we all have become in such a short amount of time. I’m so happy to have shared these past months with them and the months to come. There has been some hilarious moments also hard ones, but we all have gotten through them and it’s made our relationships so much stronger. I could not imagine being on another team or the race without them.
2. A bed to sleep in: I’m all about that #topbunk crew but in all honestly so far on the race my team and I have been able to have a bed to sleep in the whole time and dang major thankfulness there. Learning how some of the living conditions are for the people that are from the area we are in, its crazy how much I can love my top bunk twin bed! Lord is awesome for providing that for my team and I
3. New friends: all of the people I have met so far on the race have been awesome. From meeting my team, to my squad, to our ministry hosts, all the way to the locals we can call our friends. It’s so awesome meeting so many new people and having friends ALL over the world, now that’s a pretty darn cool thing to say. I mean, right? It’s also just a cool way to share the gospel to so many people we encounter. I’m thankful for the girls in Casa Esperanza and calling them mi amigas.
4. Good music: on the race and living with 8 (maybe 8+) people, there isn’t much alone time. Most of the time when I need to escape and feel like I’m not surrounded all the time, plugging in music and jamming out has turned into one of my favorite things. (If you are coming on the world race, I highly advise investing in wireless headphones, I love love mine- you can walk away from your phone and still jam out) I love getting to know what my teammates like to listen to and also show them my killer dance moves- joking, hahah.
5. Walmart: Cheree and I have talked about how much we love Walmart and just the finds we have bought from there and just talks about home. When we arrived in Santiago we noticed a Lider with the same blue sign and yellow light symbol but wasn’t sure if it was too good to be true AND YALL we are in walking distance from the good ole Wally World!! It is so fun to stroll the isles together and admire the similarities to back home
6. Sunshine: all last month I froze my butt off in Ukraine, it’s hard to pack winter gear when all you have is a backpack, haha! So wearing shorts and t shirts everyday and sweating is so greatly appreciated by me right now.
7. Mountains: they remind me of how big our god is and how he cares so deeply. There are things so huge in this world, like the mountains in the distance, but he still cares about every hair on my head and my small problems that I need help though. What a cool guy
8. Late night chats: laughing, crying, dancing, card games, singing, or just plain hanging out at night here is so great. The days get hot but the nights get cool and crisp and just the hangout time after dark is so sweet and breeds such good conversation. Morgan and I got to get deep with each other on the trampoline the other night with popsicles and guiding each other back to the Lord. Or card games till we are asked to be quiet that makes us get the giggles that are uncontainable. Or after youth group, having the locals teach us stiff girls learn how to move our feet and hips at the same time (was hard, not gonna lie). Or running around the basketball court playing soccer or scootering and laughing. What ever it is, it’s some great memories.
9. Emails: this month, we don’t have WiFi. So when people ask to stay in contact with me I ask them to email me. It’s makes me smile SO BIG when we seek out WiFi and I see new emails from people back home. I enjoy emails because, unlike text messages, they can have many topics and go long and not have the pressure of replying fast. So when I can have a thread of emails to people back home, I can write them throughout the week and mail them when I have WiFi! So getting emails shows how my friends and family want to keep up with me in more detail and it makes me feel very loved. (If u want to email me, [email protected] I’d love to hear from you!)
10.
You know I didn’t know what to put for the tenth thing. Just couldn’t think of what I wanted to put. But I’m happy that ended up happening BECAUSE I am stupid thankful for Friday night. We ate dinner with 50+ Chileans all on a basketball court together at tables in a U shape. It was SO AWESOME! We all helped cook and I made gravy from scratch (just like my dad taught me!!). Then we ate, talked to new people, and helped clean up. And it was all around awesome. Super different than what Thanksgiving looks like at home but anything with mini marshmallows on top makes me happy happy, hahaha!
There is so much to be thankful for and I’m so happy for this season because everyone voices how thankful they are!
And man oh man am I darn thankful for The World Race!
