As of today, there are officially 100 more days left on the Race!!!! You’re telling me I’ve already been on the Race for 223 days?! Whoa. So I am crazy excited to go home, but believe it or not, I haven’t been counting down the days. Someone else told me we had 100 days left, and I figured, well why not blog about it?!?! I thought it might be fitting to tell you about the things I’ve loved so far this year and the things I just am a little ready to be done with because we all knew there would be certain aspects of the Race I wouldn’t love… BUT. I still wouldn’t trade my time on the Race for anything. I continue to be so so so so so thankful to be here and to be living this life (do you think I emphasized how thankful I am with the five so’s?) I hope I made my point…….. Despite the hard or frustrating things on the Race, it’s all been worth it, and no matter how excited I am to go home, I know God still has growth for me in the last few months!!
Things I love about the Race:
- I’ve had the chance to meet people from all around the world. I get to see how Christians live out their faith and worship in many different churches. I love seeing how God is the same no matter the style of worship or size of the church.
- I’ve been able to experience living in so many different cultures and eat cultural foods, participate in holiday festivities, and so much more. There are some really cool things in different cultures!!
- I get to do so many fun adventures in places I never thought I’d be. My favorites so far:
- Hanging out with the elephant at the zoo in Cote d’Ivoire
- Hiking at Boti Falls in Ghana
- Hot air ballooning in Mendoza, Argentina
- Horse riding in the mountains in Mendoza, Argentina
- Weekend trip to Cambodia while we were in Thailand
- Hiking the volcano in the Philippines
- So many more!!!! God created a pretty amazing world, just saying.
- There’s opportunity for SO much growth if you let it happen. I feel like God has grown me in a lot of ways this year, and I’m pumped to keep growing even after this year.
- You learn how to communicate with people who think very differently from you because you live with them 24/7 (that can be a beautiful and awful thing….)
- I’ve learned so much about myself despite me thinking I already knew myself. It’s funny how hard circumstances bring up things you never knew existed in yourself.
- Memories, memories, memories
- How thankful it has made me for the life I live at home and the people in it
Things I miss about home:
- I feel like my family, friends, and bed are obvious answers?
- Not having to wear shoes in the shower
- Not having to carry toilet paper and hand sanitizer with me everywhere I go since half the bathrooms don’t have toilet paper or soap EVEN if I have to pay for the bathroom.
- Drying my hands on a towel after washing them (my shirt has been used more times than I’d like this year)
- Choosing my own bed time. It’s a little hard to choose your bed time when you sleep with 6 other girls in one room and everyone has different ideas on when it’s a good time to go to bed.
- All the little things – going out to eat with my family on a Friday night, game nights with friends, hanging out on the farm and taking the four-wheeler out for a spin. The big, grand adventures are amazing, but doing grand adventures every week makes me miss a simple, quiet life with grand adventures every once in a while.
- Living out of a dresser and not a backpack
- Speaking out loud and actually having people understand me
- The wide open spaces of South Dakota
- I could really go on about this, but I will just end with one last thing. I really miss my Mom’s mashed potatoes and gravy (yeah Mom, if you just want to plan on making mashed potatoes for my first meal at home, that would be GREAT – LOVE YOU!)
Especially at this point in the Race, there is a lot of tension between wanting to be home and wanting to be present here and finish the last 3 months well. Please pray for me (and our squad) to stay focused and passionate about what God is doing these last few months but also for the things we will do after we return home.
