Less than a week, people. Time is winding down on the race. Still can’t even believe it.
Along the race, I have shared stories, experiences, and thoughts in blog form, and I no longer will have to do that. I might share some blogs here and there, but they will more than likely not come as frequent. So as one of my last blogs, I wanted to give my readers a voice. I wanted to write about what they want to read. So here are a list of questions that people asked about my journey as well as my answers.
If you could pick one area that the Lord truly grew you in, what would that be, and how do you plan on using that when you get home?
Prayer. My biggest take away among many is that I learned how to pray on the race. I learned how incredibly important it is. How much it works. I learned how much the Lord desires that I come to Him in prayer. Just to talk to Him. But I also learned how important it is to let Him speak back. To give Him the time to answer what I’ve been praying about. I plan to make prayer a priority when I go home. To pray for myself and how I can best glorify the Lord for that day, but also to pray for others who need prayer.
Is there any way that God has changed you through the race (like daily habits or things like that) that you want to keep up when you get home? How has your life been forever changed through doing the race?
I want to continue to sacrifice things for the Lord. Things like sleep and food. I have learned a lot about what it looks like to mold time with the Lord around your schedule and what it looks like to mold your schedule around time with the Lord. And I want to do the latter. So if I have to wake up at 4am (which I have done many a times on the race) because I want to spend time with the Lord before 6am ministry, then I want to do it. If I feel like the Lord is calling me to take my lunch break to be in the Word, then I would gladly sacrifice my food to fast. I just want to value my time with the Lord more than my to-do list. So when it comes to how has my life forever been changed, I think that the race gave me the time to learn that my time with the Lord is more precious than anything. I never want to give it up. My time with Him drives my day. It makes me a better servant. It makes me a better person.
Were more countries open to hearing the Gospel than other countries?
Definitely. It was interesting to find out that the countries who claim Christianity as their religion were the most closed off to the Gospel. I had more open conversations about Jesus with Buddhists in Cambodia and Thailand than in Serbia and Romania where Orthodox Christianity is the main religion. I think that the same happens in the states as well and I don’t really know why. The second someone mentions Jesus in a conversation, people get turned off. But in other countries, specifically in Asia, people actually are curious about what we believe and they enjoy talking about religion.
At the top of your head, what was one of the most eye-opening experiences you encountered?
I wrote a blog about my conversation with a boy in Cambodia named David. You can read my blog, The Boy Who Changed My Life, if you want all the details, but that conversation was one of the most eye-opening experiences I think. He came to Christ when he was young, so as a boy living in a Buddhist family, he had to hide his faith. I learned what sacrifice for Jesus looked like because of him. He loves Jesus so much that he will sacrifice sleep to spend time with Christ when his whole family goes to bed. It was an absolute honor to speak to him and get to help him practice his English. I was in the presence of a warrior that day.
What was your favorite country and why?
What a hard question. As a whole, I really loved Asian culture. So I think that Thailand was one of my favorites if we are talking culturally. For ministry, I loved Zimbabwe because I got to work at a camp which was familiar. It was nice to feel competent in a ministry for once. I also loved Costa Rica because we did a ton of different types of ministries: medical, kids, prayer, painting, construction. I loved the diversity. I also really liked Malawi because I would say that I really started digging into my time with the Lord and seeing a change in myself because of it. I think Malawi really sparked the start of growth for me on the race.
If you did it again, what would you do differently?
I would probably pack a little differently. Lol. I would definitely bring a mosquito net for my hammock and I wouldn’t bring my favorite shirts from home. I don’t really know what I was thinking bringing those. On a serious note, I think I would be more intentional about praying before each month about what the Lord wants me to learn or what the Lord wants me to do. Like if the Lord tells me, “Chelsea, I really want you to grow in scripture memory this month,” or “Chelsea, I want you to invest in this person while you are here,” then I would take active steps to do that.
