Hey guys! If you haven’t listened to my last few podcast episodes on ITunes and SoundCloud, let me invite you to click either of these two links and give them a try! When I’m quiet on this blogging platform, you can always be sure that I will have some stuff for you to listen to on there, that give a bunch of fun information and insight about my World Race experience! Sometimes I prefer that storytelling outlet, over this one. But I’m trying to do better about writing blogs for those of you who mainly follow along this way 🙂
Here’s the iTunes link:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/created-for-more/id1439912956?mt=2
And the SoundCloud link:
https://m.soundcloud.com/createdformore
One of my main goals in communicating with other people is to help them truly understand what I’m saying / thinking / feeling. Like I want people to picture it (whatever it is) in their minds — that’s why I like sharing photos so much! But I know it’s hard to fully represent and depict what we are experiencing on the World Race, back at home. Sometimes it’s just really hard to know what it’s like unless you’re here seeing these things yourself.
There’s random stuff I haven’t told you. Stuff that adds up to fill the average day, but sometimes doesn’t make the social media post or amount to much of a complete story for the podcast. These are few of those things, to bring you in a little more. The World Race can be very normal sometimes! I joke that I don’t like to use the phrase “world traveler” because we settle down and unpack and live regular lives, just in sporadic places.
So here are a few of those things, mainly from the last month or so in Swaziland and now South Africa 🙂
My first night in Swaziland I was given a bed inside the tiny house, instead of being told to use my tent. But it got so hot and stuffy up on my bunk bed that I would sit up over and over and fan myself with a little piece of paper, then finally went into the “living room” area at midnight and layed on the tile floor without a pillow or blanket. Then at 3 am I moved to the couch nearby. Finally at 6 am people started coming into the house, so I moved back to the bedroom. It was the worst night of sleep I’ve had on the Race ?? I set up my tent later that day and moved outside for the rest of the month.
Every night, dinner with the squad felt like Thanksgiving or something. We had the tiniest kitchen / dining room space, so everyone would line up outside and wait for their turn to walk through the door and grab food from the buffet line, then head back outside to eat while sitting in the grass. But it was kinda fun because you could sit with someone new every time, and enjoy the air as it got cooler.
The preschoolers would wear me out so much during the day that I would walk back onto our homestead, immediately change out of my skirt, walk up to our hosts’ home and lay on their porch. Literally just collapse on the tile and wait for a breeze to pass by. Sometimes people would ask if I was okay, I would tell them I’m just tired and hot, haha. This happened almost every day.
There’s almost always a lack of personal space during all squad month. The two hours on the porch before other people got home from ministry, or my tent at the end of the evening, were some of my only quiet moments alone. I love my squad, and really appreciate the conversations and bonding moments we have, but sometimes I just need to be away from everyone else you know ?? It was just really hard to get away.
There was one evening where me and a few girls took my speaker and layed in the grass and listened to the Hamilton musical. The musical is so long that by the time the last few songs played, we were laying in the grass looking at the stars (which, in rural Africa, are so numerous and bright).
My first day at the preschool, a little girl came up and pulled my skirt down. Thankfully I was wearing spandex shorts underneath!
Our first week in South Africa has been REALLY pleasant. Our hosts are very welcoming and hospitable. We live in a residential area, and I think this is the first time I’ve seen a blacktop neighborhood road since we left the States. Sometimes when we walk around the neighborhood or town square, it feels like an LA suburb in the 70s, or a scene from Gilmore Girls.
So far we’ve done some street evangelism, preschool ministry, and spoke at church on Sunday. There’s also a Bible college connected to this church, so we’ve sat in on a couple classes, joined the students for worship, and attended their bible studies. That’s been a nice, unexpected way to get poured in this month!
Later this week we are visiting Cape Town as a team to take advantage of or close proximity ?? Our host parents want to see the penguins at the beach with us on the way down.
People from the church have been blessing us a TON by providing dinner for us almost every night! They just come by the house, say hello and drop it off and go on their way!
The team encourages me to play music in the house through my portable speaker, they say I’m a good DJ ??
I have a teammate from New York who likes to run marathons, and she has convinced me to run a couple miles with her in the morning a time or two.
I’m also trying to be better about brushing my teeth twice a day. It’s been a lot better! But not perfect haha.
Aaaand I’m still quickly making my way through the Old Testament! I’m in 2 Chronicles and would like to be finished through Psalms by the time we get to Latin America (next month).
Wow that turned into a lot of words, sorry about that. ?? If you made it here to the end, I just want to thank you for your continued support and prayers. I hope you’ve enjoyed my picture updates on Facebook and Instagram, the photos are a lot of fun for me.
P.S. I think I’m on the final $1,000 stretch to support raise until I’m fully funded!! So close!
