Open & honest accounts of being back in America three months early…
Morning of March 12 – We received word that PVT was cancelled & our parents would not be traveling to Romania to visit us. We were all heartbroken.
Night of March 13 – News that squads were being pulled off the field based on their location & routes.
Morning of March 14 – W squad got the word that we would be brought back to America along with all of AIM’s 550+ missionaries from around the world. All we knew at this point was that we would be back on American soil in 72 hours or less.
Morning of March 15 – We woke up to the information for our flight home. We had two days left in Romania. The other two teams were already en route to the mission house for our squad to spend our final days together in Craiova.
March 16 – A day of lasts. Last trips to our favorite coffee shops, pastry counters & shawarma restaurants. We finished the night together in worship one last time.
March 17 – OTP > LHR > JFK
March 18 – We landed in JFK in the early morning. Because of the increased measures in New York to prevent the spread of the virus we were no longer allowed to debrief together and we all had flights to our respective homes the same day. I was back in Michigan around 4 pm.
This is what I’m still trying to process. This is what I am grieving. This is why I’m not ok…yet.
Everything happened so fast. One day I was finally feeling healthy & excited for my mom to see my life in Romania and the next I was back in my small town in Michigan. I was just planning out all the spots I was going to show my momma. All of my favorite pastries she was going to get to try & I just convinced her to try a shawarma! Momma Kim was about to meet all of the people that I’ve been talking about for months!! But most importantly she was going to experience WR culture and see the person I am becoming.
I was back home in Michigan for five days. The state was beginning to shelter in place & I was ready to get out of there. I booked a one way ticket south. Eric & TJ were quarentining together in Greenville, SC and I was so excited to join them! Being around people who are feeling all the same feels that I was, was so good. Processing & reflecting on the good (and hard) times with the boys helped me more than they even realized.
When we flew back to America my friend & teammate Grant who lives in Northern California opted out of going straight home and instead went and stayed with friends in Boston. After about a week of making music there he decided to buy a car & drive it home. Apparently cars are way cheaper on the east coast than the west coast?? I told him when I heard about this crazy plan back in Romania that I had no plans and if he needed another driver to head out west to give me a call. About a week into my stay with Eric & his family in SC I got a text from Grant asking if I was still serious about my offer to help him – of course I was!! He drove down to SC to pick me up, and TJ joined along in our crazy road trip adventure. We crashed at some of our friends & squad members houses along the way. We washed our hands & sanitized the car constantly. We had a mini detour in Utah when the water pump broke, but we made it to Auburn, California at Grant’s family’s home.
The last few weeks have honestly felt like I’m back on the race. We drove a LOT. I relearned how to drive a manual. We lived off of cheap gas station coffee & hunted for the lowest gas prices in town. I was back with some of my boys. Life was feeling like my new normal again. Just when I started to get comfortable again, I realized how fast it was all coming to an end, again. TJ & I booked flights out of Sacramento for our next steps and our epic road trip adventure ended.
Sitting here thinking about the last 8-9ish months of my life makes it seem like a dream. When people ask, “how was your trip?” I cringe a bit. It wasn’t just a trip, it was my LIFE. I never wanted it to end. I want to be in Bulgaria right now. But that is not what the Lord is calling me into. He knew when we launched in August that we would be back after eight months. He knew we would never finish our “race”. He knew we would be exactly where we are right now. To be honest the first time someone said that to me, I was angry. I was mad that I thought that the race, all 11 months of it, was His plan for me. But He knew it wasn’t. And I’m trying to find peace in that.
So the most common question that I’ve received since I’ve been back is “what are you going to do now?” And to be completely honest, I have no idea. And to take it even further even if I would’ve completed the whole 11 months, I’m not sure I would even know then. The best way I can put it is, the WR opened so many doors and opportunities that I didn’t even know were a thing before. There are so many paths that I can explore now that I really am just praying about next steps. So as much as I’d like to share what life looks like next for me, I don’t have those answers. And how cool is it to come back to an America that isn’t going a million miles an hour? How cool is it that I get this time, we get this time, to process the race and plan out some next steps? As much as this time sucks because we’re so limited in what we can do, it also is a really neat time to pursue the Lord and what He has for us. So that’s exactly what I’m going to do!
In this next season of life that I’m entering I ask that you keep me, my squad members and our families in your prayers. Prayers for peace as we process the last eight months of our lives. Prayers for communities we have entered/will enter. Prayers for guidance on next steps and what the Lord has in store for us.
Thank you for supporting, encouraging and loving me throughout my World Race journey. I could not do this without it. This is only the beginning. The Lord is opening and softening my heart to ministries I’ve never heard of and people I’ve never met. I’m stoked for what is next. In this new season this blog will no longer be my place to process. If you want to keep in contact feel free to reach out by phone/text/email. I’d love to chat & share stories.
call/text: 616-808-1775
email: [email protected]
Love y’all
