IVE GOT A LOT OF QUESTIONS

I will be coming home so incredibly soon. In just two short weeks (and one day), I’ll be on American soil. I have learned a lot. I have grown a lot. I have been to a lot of countries. I have stories to tell. 

But, I have one small request. Please don’t ask me “how was the Race?” or “how was your experience?” when you see me. That is basically like me asking you how the entirety of the 2018-2019 school year was for you. It is impossible to summarize a year’s worth of experiences into a couple of polite, conversational sentences. 

Yet, I understand that you care and that you want to know more. And more than anything, I want to share! So, I have been working on a list of questions that will help both you and I talk about my wild and crazy adventure of being on the World Race. Some are serious, some are funny, but they are all relevant to a year on the field!

 

GENERAL

1. What did you learn about being a follower?
2. What were some of your favorite moments with SOLDOD, YOJ, and Primrose GPs (my three teams)?
3. What places and moments broke your heart?
4. What places and moments made you come alive?
5. Who are your closest friends you made on the Race and why?
6. How was life on a co-ed team?
7. How was life on an all-girls team?
8. What were some of your best living conditions? Your worst?
9. Which ministries were most challenging for you? Which most fit your passions?
10. Where could you see yourself living long term?
11. How many countries did you end up going to?

 

EUROPE

1. Ask me about our layover in Turkey.
2. What was public transportation like?
3. Ask me about the difference in the places that I lived.
4. Ask me about the Romanian mouse story.
5. What is traditional (Ukrainian, Romanian, Bulgarian, etc.) food like?
6. What did the Lord teach you about adventure days in Ukraine?
7. Ask me about a ministry that intrigues you! We worked in a lot of capacities with kids in Ukraine, worked in just about everything in Romania, and had ATL (ask the Lord) month in Bulgaria.
8. What is it like to live with the entire squad for a month?
9. What is it like to go to places that Paul preached to?
10. What surprised you about the Balkans region?
11. What is it like to work with Roma Gypsies?
12. Ask me about my hospital experience in Romania.

 

ASIA

1. What was the weirdest thing you saw being carried on a motorbike?
2. What was public transportation like?
3. What is it like to switch teams?
4. What is it like to have two teams at the same ministry?
5. What is traditional (Vietnamese, Cambodian, Thai, Burmese, etc.) food like?
6. What’s one of the funniest bad translations you saw?
7. Ask me about a ministry that intrigues you! We updated a daycare and taught English in Vietnam, worked in a library cafe and taught kids in Cambodia, did construction for a lock-in school in Thailand, and taught English to college students in Myanmar.
8. What did you see in nature that amazed you?
9. Ask me about my off day when we learned about and played with elephants!
10. What was it like living in 115 degree weather, with no AC, and sleeping on the floor for a month?
11. How do you survive a 26 hour bus ride from Thailand to Myanmar?
12. Ask me about the major cities we visited in each country (Ho Chi Minh City, Siem Reap, Battambang, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Yangon, and Mandalay)
13. Ask me to describe the cheapest meal I could buy in each country.
14. What new foods did you try?
15. Ask me about our travel day from Asia to South America.

 

SOUTH AMERICA

1. What was public transportation like?
2. Ask me about the portion sizes!
3. Ask me about a ministry that intrigues you! We worked in a drug rehab facility and in an Internally Displaced Persons camp in Colombia, worked with adult men with mental handicaps and children in poor living conditions in Ecuador, painted murals and orphan ministry in Peru, and evangelized in Bolivia.
4. What were your favorite adventure days in South America?
5. What was it like seeing your parents for the first time in nine months?
6. What was it like having a parasite?
7. What was it like switching teams… again?
8. What was it like being at 3,000 meters in elevation for four months?
9. Ask me about the Germans!
10. Ask me about the differences in living situations!
11. Which of your personal skills did you get to use?
12. Ask me what it is like to be a Treasurer!
13. What is arequipa and manjar?
14. Did my Spanish get better living immersed in Spanish culture for four month?
15. What are you doing after the Race?
16. What is it like to spend the entirety of the Race with the same person?
17. How excited were you to come home?

 

Ask questions! Ask away! And please, let me ask you questions too! Life in America might seem routine and mundane, but I sincerely miss the routine, and I want to hear all about it. I want to know what you last purchased at Target, your favorite new restaurant, and what’s the best sermon you’ve heard lately. I want to hear all about you too, friends! Thanks for taking the time to read this, I cannot wait to catch up with you!

 

[Thanks to Kimmy Whittington for inspiring this blog!]

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