For those of you who don’t know, I went to university and majored in Music Education, which is just a long way to say I spent a lot of time by myself playing several different instruments for over a decade. Going on the Race, I chose to leave all of my instruments at home because I didn’t want to carry them around the world. On the Race, you have to be able to carry all of your possessions, and I didn’t want to be weighed down by something that could (and probably would) break. This has been the longest I have been without my saxophone literally since before I started playing the saxophone. And, to say the least, I miss it a lot.
The wake of not bring any instruments on the Race really hit me around the end of South Africa (Month 3). In our house in South Africa, there was an upright piano and I played it every day for hours on end. I ended up writing a song during that month. By the time we were preparing to go, I realized how much music took up my life. It was around this time that the weight of numerous culture shocks started to take a toll on me mentally.
For someone who spends so much time thinking, listening to, and performing music, I rarely listen to music. It was not until Botswana (Month 4) that I started listening to music again. I feel like I express myself more clearly and also regulate any stress better when I have music involved in my day. It was also around this time that one of our squad coaches (a married couple who invests in my squad) started asking the Lord on my behalf and encouraged me to start praying for a piano or some instrument to play at least once per month. And, the Lord has provided!
Now it’s Month 1o and we are in Serbia, living in the upstairs space of a church. A church in a small city (reminds me of my semester abroad) that has several different instruments and a sound system that we are allowed to use. It’s also an unofficial ATL (ask the Lord) month, meaning I control my overall schedule every day. So, I intentionally am going to be taking an hour every day to just lose myself in music (bass and piano) and ultimately refocus so I can finish this Race strong.
Angie Moore
Instruments around the World
Dominican Republic (1): cajon
South Africa (3): piano
Botswana (4): piano, voice
Zambia (5): piano, voice
India (6): bass, piano, voice
Nepal (7): voice
Romania (8): piano, drums, guitar, voice
Bulgaria (9): piano, voice, guitar
Serbia (10): voice, piano, bass
Prayer Requests:
- Warm, sunny days in Sombor (nicer it is outside, the more people are out),
- Godly appointments to talk to, get to know, and share Jesus with people, and
- God moves in the relationships we have already made.
Praise Reports:
- We made it to Serbia and into Month 10 safe and sound,
- My team (Talon) is living with another team (Fortress), and
- We are all loving this city, ministry, and culture a lot.
