Beginning month 9 is absolutely mind-blowing to me. I feel like I’ve been abroad forever and 8 months have actually felt like a lifetime. But all good things must come to a close eventually, and I wish more than ever that this chapter wouldn’t.
The race did something to me.
Ever since my first mission trip the Lord sparked a deeper desire for Him and mission work in the middle of my heart- and it has erupted ever since leaving my beloved home in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The night before heading to launch I thought, “WHAT in the WORLD am I doing?” Traveling the world for 9 months- away from every comfort, every person I know, and living in the unknown every single day. But it was so much more than that.
It’s a desire for more- more of the Lord, a deeper sense of community and fellowship, and a renewed passion to live missionally no matter where I am. I’m so excited to take the things I’ve been learning on the race and apply them to my community back home. Whether that is descipling some friends from high school, talking to the homeless woman on the corner of walmart, or even just being an encouraging smile to everyone I walk past. I’m excited to be Jesus’ hands and feet right in my back yard.
Today I’m going to share my top 5 ” what is my life right now” moments from the race. Some are pretty mundane, while others I still can’t believe happened. ( p.s. they’re not in any particular order.)
#1. Machu Picchu
My team had the opportunity during our stay in Cusco, Peru to hike this beautiful wonder of the world. We started around 4 AM and when we finally reached the top, I was blown away. It’s one of those things that pictures will never, ever do it justice. Myself, my mentor and a few other friends enjoyed a yummy treat at the top and remained absolutely breathless at this incredible creation. I will never forget that day, and just how incredibly small it made me feel compared to the wide expanse of mountains and valleys on all sides of me. Our Lord’s creation is so DANG creative and beautiful and absolutely leaves you amazed.
#2. New Year’s Eve in Santiago , Chile
This was one of those unexpected, super cool God moments. My team finished ministry for the day, and decided that we wanted to stay up into the wee hours of the morning to celebrate the beginning of 2018. My mega-team that month had a huge dance party, snacks and around midnight everyone in our neighborhood ran into the street to watch the fireworks. It was one of those moments where I sat in the middle of the asphalt road, watching the fireworks and thanked the Lord for how He loves and sees me so dang well… and in the midst of everything, a tiny gray kitten jumped into my lap and fell alseep. “What is my life” was my only response.
#3. Cliff jumping in Greece
Literally a few days into the race our ministry host in Romania gave us the opportunity to go on a weekend trip to Greece. While there, they took us cliff jumping into the Mediterranean sea. When presented with the idea, I said, “absolutely not, that’s not for me” and was honestly pretty terrified by the idea.
But when the day came, I swam with the rest of my people over to the edge of the cliff, and found myself shakily walking towards the edge. All of a sudden a rush of adrenaline came over me and I couldn’t not jump… so I did. It was one of the most terrifying yet freeing thing I’ve ever done. Once I landed in the water I knew that something had been conqured. That day I took a huge leap (literally) in the direction of living with the true freedom the Lord has created me to walk in, and it was life changing.
#4. Worship with the squad at 2nd debrief
3 times during the race our squad takes part in a debrief. The first one takes place after month one, the second at about the half-way point of the race, and the last one is the last 4 days of the race in our final country. Debrief is a time for the squad to come back together again, share experiences, and dive deeper into what the Lord has in store for us. It usually involves a bit of adventure, sessions, worship and fellowship with the squad, our mentor and coaches. One night during second debrief in Cusco we had worship in the dark. The point of this was to give space for everyone to worship freely, because it is literally just you and the Lord. Take out any space for performance to creep in, and just focus on the Lord and His presence. During this, the Lord was just showering His love and praise over me. I felt so dang FULL, and He just kept telling me over and over how proud of me He was. Have you ever been in a place with the Lord where He truly does feel closer than the skin on your bones? Where you can feel Him so close and so intimately where no lie from the enemy could ever come in and tell you anything different…. this was one of those moments. Where I was so overwhelmed with His peace and presence that I cried tears of joy over His love.
#5- The final one was to hard to pick….. so I decided not to. It comes down to all of the little moments where I am completely overtook by the Lord and His creation around me. Every mountain, spray of ocean salt on my face, sunrise, sunset, laughter of a child, and moments of complete pure, unexplainable JOY. This happens sometimes on the daily, and it is what honestly makes this whole thing so worth it. Yes, traveling the world and seeing people and different cultures is incredible, but it really is the small moments that are the most sweet.
That’s all I have for you this week! We just arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal on the 5th and will be doing ministry here for the next couple weeks. If WiFi allows, I am going to try and blog twice a week, so be on the lookout for those! Once again, thank you all for your prayer and financial support- I’ll never be able to say thank you enough for this incredible, life-giving experience.
