What’s up everyone! Hard to believe that month 8 is coming to a close for me here in Eastern Europe, and tomorrow we are flying out to our last region of the race, AFRICA!!!!!
So I thought this would be a good time to answer some of your questions that people have submitted to me via social media. So here it goes!
What kinds of mission work have you been doing in the different countries?
Belize: Painting the preschool of the Independence First Nazerene Church and helping out with their nightly ministries
Honduras: Hope At Hand & a Home for Adults with special needs
El Salvador: Mi Casa Kids Orphanage
Vietnam: ATL in Hanoi
Cambodia: Overflow Guesthouse serving the rest of the squad & the staff there
Albania: CFN Bible school & their ministries
Serbia: ATL in a town called Novi Pazar
Romania: Living Hope Church and helping out with their ghetto Children’s & homeless ministries
Ethiopia: Sports ministry/construction
What have your living conditions been like?
Belize: Sleeping on the floor in one of the room of the Sunday school building of the church
Honduras: All squad month #1- Hope at Hand house (our host’s private home)
El Salvador: The girl’s house at Mi Casa Kids home where I slept on the couch in the living room with my teammates on the floor & other couches)
Vietnam: Hostels
Cambodia: All squad month #2- Overflow Guesthouse AIM base in Siem Reap Cambodia & a hostel for debrief
Albania: The dorms at CFN
Serbia: an 800 sq. ft. studio apartment (there were 7 of us living in that space)
Romania: At the church we were serving at upstairs sleeping on one of the couches
Enthopia: All squad month #3- HopeEthiopia compound
Have you gotten sick at all on the race?
As much as I hate to admit that yes I have gotten sick, but I have avoided all the stomach/intestinal illnesses or parasites that others on my team/squad have come down with at times.
I was sick with sinus/chest crud in Southeast Asia mostly caused by the smog/pollution/poor air quality while in Hanoi, Vietnam (my whole team-myself included at one point during the month there were knocked down with something) and breathing in pool chemicals while working at the guesthouse in Cambodia also didn’t help my case either, but I am totally to blame for that reason why I was sick along with the heat.
I got chewed up by sandflies, and had a minor reaction to the bites while in Belize, and that put me out of commission for like a day due to being on medication to help ease the discomfort of the bites.
What are you looking forward to the most when you get back to the States?
This is such a hard question! I am looking forward to so many things when I get back to the States in September. I’m looking forward to seeing my friends and family, going to UM football games with my dad, playing some fall golf, my duties as a bridesmaid, filling out grad school applications, just overall relaxing and easing myself back into my life back home.
Do you have any fears or concerns about coming home after the Race?
If i’m honest yes I am worried about coming home. I am afraid just how much everything and everyone back home has changed, and I’m afraid that I will feel like I don’t belong there anymore, and that I will have a hard time adjusting to life back in the states as I knew that leaving for a year things will not be the same as they were when I left, but still I’m worried about how I will feel about things at home. I am also worried that I will fall back into old habits, and that the “old” me will creep back in me as I am pleasantly surprised just how much I like my “new” self, and the person who I have become on the Race.
Who has been your favorite person on each of your teams?
Wow this is an extremely hard question as I have loved being with all 10 of the gals that I have had the pleasure of being teammates with on the 2 teams combined so far. So for this one I’m just gonna plead the 5th, and say that if you know me then you’ll know who they are haha.
If you wanna know who one of them is- go check out my blog titled “Girl on Fire”.
Do you know your post race plans yet?
Short answer to this is yes, but they aren’t set in stone yet, and I don’t wanna give too much away until those plans actually come true.
I did find out that I am going to back stateside on Aug. 25th when we fly into Boston, and I’ll be spending a few days there doing what I call a mini self debrief.
Was spending the holidays away from home difficult for you?
Yeah the holidays were tough for me. Thanksgiving in Honduras was a huge letdown, but spending Christmas in El Salvador was by far one of the best Christmases that I have had in a long time, and getting to share it with my Team Surrendered gals will always hold a special place in my heart. Not being able to go to the Quick Lane Bowl with my dad the day after Christmas was hard on me to miss this year as that is a yearly tradition of ours.
What are some of the weirdest foods you have eaten so far on the race?
Chicken feet & gizzard, seaweed smoothie, durian fruit, snake/trantulala/scorpion/crickets, mashed potatoes mixed with mustard, enough rice & beans to last me the rest of my life.
What has been your favorite region/country on the race so far?
Eastern Europe as it reminds me so much of home, and this was also where I felt the most homesick as well because of it feeling like home in so many ways. This was also the region where God reveled to me his heart for what he wants me to do post race.
How hard has living in community been for you?
I m not gonna lie living in community has been alot harder then I thought since I am so used to spending alot of time by myself. But living in community has also been one of the greatest things that I could have done. I have realized that having such a strong Christian young adult community is some thing that I have lacking in a way back home even tho I have my BSF group but I am going to leaving them next year as I’ll be aged out, and it is something that I know I’ll miss when my race is done. I also feel like I have 32 siblings in Christ that I know I can count on if I ever need prayer for things or someone to talk to about whatever. Living in a community like is special, and I know that it will be something that I’ll miss when I go back to my life in the states.
Looking back, do you feel like you were mentally prepared for what you’re experiencing on the Race? Has it been harder, easier, or what you expected?
Also, now that you are in month 8, what would you wish you had new, more of, or fresh for your last 3 months?
For the most part yes I was mentally prepared for what I was going to experience on the race. I was mentally prepared to leave my old life behind me for something greater then I could ever imagine. I knew going into it all that it was going to be hard at times, but I knew that I could fight through it no matter what, so it has been pretty much what I expected.
Clothes def clothes as I have been wearing the same 6 shirts these last 8 months.
What has been your longest travel day(s)?
El Salvador to Vietnam: El Salvador-Orlando-Chicago-Tokyo-Saigon
What has been the hardest adjustment for you on the race?
Not being able to go anywhere by myself as I am so used to traveling alone, and exploring alone. That has been by far the hardest adjustment for me, and in a way I have missed out on things all because I had no one to go with me.
What is something that God has taught you about yourself on the race so far?
To put my full trust in him, and to surrender it all to him every day.
Be honest, how do you really feel about feedback?
Haha funny. I still absolutely HATE feedback especially super feedback, and prob will always hate it, but I understand the reasoning behind doing it. I have also received so much feedback on how I have come to learn to accept it with grace and poise and my growth in that area, but the truth is that I have learned to just keep my mouth shut about my displeasure of having to do it. I just smile and say thank you when one of my teammates gives me feedback especially constructive, but inside my head I am cussing feedback out during every single team time. At this point in my race, I have about maxed out on my feedback receiving levels.
Thanks for submitting your questions! I had fun writing this blog! I’ll be doing another Q&A at the end of the race when I am home, so keep the questions coming!
Til next time your fellow sister in Christ,
Bonnie
P Squad
Psalms 18:2
YOLO
