“WOAAHHH WE’RE HALFWAY THERE, WOOAAAHH LIVING ON A PRAYER”
5 and a half months in; 5 and a half months left!!!
161 days completed, 161 days yet to go
God has already done so much, and I know he’s still got so much more to do!
So in this time, I want to celebrate what God has done, and look back on the race so far. However, this isn’t just about the “fun” things, but also the hard because I still learned so much and grew because of it, and God is in it all: the hard and the fun, so that makes everything good since he is good!
Month 1// October// Belize
What a whirlwind! This month was an emotional roller coaster filled with all new things, spiritual warfare where I actually saw demons, fasting my family, making relationships with sweet girls at a safe home which had the hardest goodbyes, and so much more.
My team was an answer to prayers to our host’s prayers. They asked God for videographers and photographers to help plan for their upcoming fundraisers, and 3 out of the 6 on our team all had studied that- to some extent- in college! It was so cool to be used as an answer to a prayer and be used to perform the miracle in someone else’s life!
Dealing with Demons showed me just how strong the name of Jesus is, and just how little they are! It was hard, and a little scary since I had never dealt with it before- but I got to learn a new level of authority as a child of God!
Fasting my family broke my heart- I thought it’d be easy, but it was way harder than I thought! It also gave me a new level of brokenness toward missing my dad which God revealed to me through showing me how much I missed my family. Except the difference is, I knew I’d get to see them and hug them again in a year, but I’d never get to do that again with him on this side of Heaven. This brokenness actually created space for me to rely more on God for his love and comfort.
Month 2//November// Honduras
This month was jam packed!! A 4 bedroom house filled with 36 world racers, sleeping like sardines without mats on the floor, ice-cold showers, and 7 hour days at the orphanage with our friends who have disabilities. We had an awakening- which is where multiple world race squads meet up if they’re all in the same country- and this was my HIGH of the month; whereas the week before I was hospitalized with 3 different internal infections and that was my low.
I dealt with the question “what do you do when God says ‘no’.” This was so hard to deal with. I fasted dinner for a week and popcorn for the next (which is basically my main food source LOL) as I prayed for my sweet friend Fatima, and asked everyone I knew to also pray for her. Unfortunately, I never saw healing in my friend and this broke my heart. I never doubted God, but I definitely had to ask him a lot of questions, and I knew he used this to keep drawing me closer to his heart.
On the flip, everytime her sister, Lucia, joined us in prayer, my heart was so softened and overjoyed to see her relentless faith and deep care for her sister’s well being.
Month 3// December// El Salvador
Mi favorito!!! (so far at least!) This month makes me so expectant of all that is to come because of how great God showed himself to be. I can only imagine how much more he has! Through feeding the homeless, and passing out Christmas gifts to the poor, by being taught generosity by a family who makes $6 a day, going off the grid to a 3rd world island with no wifi and very minimal electricity, to God using us to share his gospel through our testimonies, and so much more!
God did a miracle in me this month- He had me fast all my medicine for this entire month; and on top of that, this is the first month I didn’t get sick! I had gone to the dr twice in Belize and hospitalized for 2 days in Honduras. It was amazing to see his supernatural protection over me this month.
One of my favorite divine appointments was when God told me to pose the idea to the team that we all needed to carry around one of our own shirts to give away to people we meet as the spirit lead us. We then split off into pairs and went as the spirit lead. We stopped and talked to people/ prayed for them and got to know their stories. My teammates Hailey and Meagan actually met someone who said to them, “I just been asking God for a new shirt.” Right then and there, Meagan whipped out her shirt from her purse and gave it to him, and he put it on immediately! He had no idea they had a shirt when he told them his prayer, and they got to be used as an answer to prayer for this man. Marissa and Denae’ also met a homeless man who was on crutches, and they were able to give away one of their shirts for him to use as a cushion on his crutch! We saw so many other works of God just like this! (check out this blog of our first full ATL week!)
The hard part this month was unintentionally losing contact with my family for the two weeks we were on the island and had no electricity or wifi- especially since we were there for Christmas! (By the generosity of our hosts, they let us use some of their international minutes to talk to our families for 5 minutes each which was the greatest present!)
Overall though, I celebrate this entire month! Christmas was spent camping on the beach, my 21st birthday was spent in the capital, and new years on a roof watching the fireworks encompass the city!
Month 4// January// Vietnam
What comes after a high high? A pretty low low. This was my hardest month.
By the grace of God in the way our flights work, we had a layover between continents in the states where I got to see my family for a few hours! This was the most special treat (and honestly best 21 b’day present!!) However, the second goodbye was much harder than the first knowing how much longer I still had on the race before I’d be reunited with my fam again. This caused alot of FOMO of my friends all starting a new semester at school and all I had already missed with my family already.
Not to mention we were illegally in the country since Christian missionaries are against the law!! Because we weren’t allowed to profess our faith it made the month feel kind of meaningless- which the enemy then spun a long web of lies in my head about how the race wasn’t even worth it and that I should quit… I almost did.
We worked as teachers in a school and taught english to some precious kids and got to show the love of Jesus through our actions even if we didn’t share it through our words. I know for a fact we still brought Heaven to earth through our loving actions. No time was wasted. (read the full story of how God helped me through this here)
I was held in the hands of God: literally and physically. We got to see the famous hand bridge which was so fun, and God also held my heart as my comfort and peace as I wrestled with myself trying to convince myself not to quit and just go home. Through an anxiety attack I sat in his arms while I worshipped him and allowed his peace to overwhelm my soul.
In the midst of this anxiety attack, God gave me a huge revelation of what it means to live a life out of fear of him versus out of the fear of man. This lesson was revolutionary to my life and completely turned it around because when you truly live out of the fear of God it’s completely freeing! (read the full message here)
We also had another adventure day where we went to a tourist town and got to ride bikes all day long in perfect sunny and 75 weather, then road in basket boats down a quaint little river, and saw the lanterns float across the lake and hang from the ceiling everywhere!
Month 5// February// Cambodia
was hot HOT H O T!! With “feels like” temps being over 115 degrees and no ac, we sweat alot!
Our ministry was to clean, and this was actually hard. Not because cleaning is hard- it’s actually quite easy, mindless work- but because we felt like we again weren’t making much of a difference. We worked where we lived so we never got to go out and be immersed in the culture- which I heard is quite fantastic. We didn’t get to make many relationships with locals, and we often felt overlooked. But what is so important about this month of ministry is the heart of servitude God taught us, and how we got to resemble Jesus in such a unique way by being humbled and serving- not seeking to be served.
I saw God move through team changes and got a brand new group of girls to run the race with! This team truly is a gift from God and I love being with them!
We cleaned, we cleaned, and we cleaned some more- but we learned alot!
After last month of falling so low and having my spirits drained- God made sure to have an ample amount of people disciple me during this month. With lessons on intercession, evangelism etc. We were so lucky to have the opportunity to learn so much!
I also spent a weekend to myself- I got alone with God and he did some deep work in my heart. He brought up some memories I didn’t even remember happened to me because they were too painful that I caused myself to block them out. He brought inner healing to many of my past hurts and painful memories. I could’ve used ten more days in that room, I’m sure of it, but he did what he needed to for this season. I grew the most with God during this month as he taught me so many things and walked with me through some of the darkness in my past and brought so much light and life to it!
THEN HE DID THE MIRACLE WITH THE MONEY AND LET IT RAIN FROM THE SKY!!! What an absolute miracle that I’m so pleased to look back on and even get to share the goodness of the blessings with my friends! (read these blogs if you haven’t yet for the full story!)
We had two debriefs, endless gelato dates, and lots of fun in the sun as we took 3 days to empty a pool with 5 gallon buckets!
Month 6// March// Albania
The first half atleast. IS INCREDIBLE!! I love it here! God is so good!!!
We got to see SNOW!! After 10 months of temperatures above 80 degrees, this change of environment is so very appreciated. We work at and with a Bible school, getting to preach at the church and in worship before class. We clean here also and we get to bring essential items such as: clothes, food, blankets, etc. to those in need in the surrounding community. We get poured into constantly as we pour out, and although we go 7am to 7pm each day, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Last Friday was my brother’s birthday, and my team and I actually celebrated him and his life for the miracles God has done in his life.
We got to go skiing in Albania on our only off day last Saturday, which was quite fantastic.
I ended up going to the doctor again because I had an ongoing internal infection since November that I had been fighting, and realized I needed medicine after I had gotten violently ill. While I was at the doctor the second day in the row, people in the waiting room started asking why we were there- our host who was with me got to share with them why I was there and what they do at the Bible school. Just us being there brought a beautiful opportunity to bring up the gospel which is the reason I am here. I then rapidly typed away in my google translate app and shared the gospel with the woman sitting across from me and I know I got to plant a seed that God will get to harvest in the future.
There’s still so much I haven’t even mentioned that has happend on this journey so far, and I know there’s even more to come!!
Thank you for your support through caring about my journey by reading this blog, for support financially as I have no means to make money, and through prayers- which is most important. The prayers are what keep me going and give me strength as God continues to work!
He is so good and the best is yet to come!!
