Today August 6th marks my 300th-day of being away from America (if we don’t count that glorious 16-hour layover in NYC way back in March.) I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting the past few days. So I decided to write a blog about some of my favorite memories of the last 300 days, hope you enjoy!!
1. In the Philippines, during free time we’d hang out with kids outside the gate, or we’d swim with the kiddos from the orphanage. After dinner, I would do puzzles at the dinner table with some of my teammates. I also made friends with one of the cashiers at the store I would go to. Her name was Lea.
2. That one time in Thailand, when I went to see elephants with my lifetime best friend, Stella. I cried real tears. Elephants are beautiful. One time in Thailand, a few of us went to a temple with a view of the city. Before we left, we had a time of acoustic worship. Some people walking by took videos of us. I thought we were going to be YouTube famous, but that never happened.
3. On Christmas Eve in Malaysia part of my team slept in the Church and woke up next to our mini Christmas tree and drank instant coffee, listened to Christmas music and opened our secret Santa gifts we got each other. Our normal living conditions in Malaysia were all 7 of us living in one room on our sleeping mattress. It wasn’t the most glamorous situation, but we made the best of it with a lot of laughs.
4. In Lesotho, our teams would worship together under the stars. One time after worship, we played the soundtrack from the Greatest Showman and danced around. I went on an African safari at the end of that month. It was a dream come true.
5. In Swaziland, we would hang out outside a lot because we didn’t have much room inside. One night, a lot of us were outside admiring the moon, and a shooting star went by! We all shouted in amazement. It was that cool. Also, in Swaziland, we had a squad talent show. I have some funny people on my squad. Ask me about them sometime.
6. In South Africa, we would make popcorn and play Spicy Uno almost every night. I miss that. Also, my friends taught me a card game called 313. I’m pretty addicted to it. At the end of one of our bible studies, we sang “Set a Fire” together. It was really beautiful singing that with my South African friends. Every night, a different couple or family would deliver us a home-cooked meal. It was such a special blessing that month, we were cared for really well.
7. On my birthday in Nicaragua, we went out to a pizza place to celebrate. The owner gave us control of the music, and I asked everyone to play a song they thought of to describe me. My teammate Morgan played “You’re my best friend” by Queen, and I sat there looking around at all my friends, so thankful. When we were on Ometepe island, sometimes Amanda G, and I would look at the stars. It was so beautiful, but all the frogs that lived there kind of ruined it. I’ve never seen frogs the size of those living on that island. ALSO THAT TIME MY PARENTS CAME TO NICARAGUA!
8. One of the first nights we were in Costa Rica, most of my squad went to see Avengers End Game. I went to the movies with 25 of my friends. It was so great. Later in Costa Rica, we worked at a Christian Camp. We had to clean all the dorm rooms before camp started. We would dance around and sing really loud to make it bearable.
9. In Panama, after talking to a classroom full of students, a girl approached me and said she was really encouraged by our message and that it couldn’t have come at a better time. It was days like that that made the whole race worth it. Also, in Panama, I would go and watch the NBA finals with Morgan White, and it was so random and fun. One time at our hostel, Savannah and I played Lecrae really loud on the hostel stereo and danced around all silly.
10. In Colombia, we would play hangman with the kids at school. They were so proud when they solved a puzzle in English. I’ll admit I was also pretty proud of myself when I solved a puzzle in Spanish (: During our free time in Colombia, our team worked on a few different 500 piece puzzles. Clearly, I like puzzles. In Medellin I took a cable car system up to Arvi Park, it was stunning.
I hope these memories made you smile and laugh! 🙂 See y’all in TWENTY FIVE days!!!
