Ya know, when your phone stops working for the third month in a row, God might be trying to teach you something.
At the beginning of Argentina, my phone stopped working for a couple days. I was full of frustration in trying to figure out why it wasn’t working. I spent some time talking to God, learning that I was supposed to spend some time away after having four months of internet access and sim cards. We didn’t have wifi where we were staying, so I had to go to Starbucks any time I wanted it. Another fun story, my laptop charger stopped working our last day of Month 8, so I haven’t been able to use my laptop for almost two months.
In Chile, I bought a sim card when we were at the bus station in Santiago on our way to Antofagasta. I bought data that was supposed to last the whole month, but ended up only being good for seven days. Meanwhile, within our first couple of days in Antofagasta, my phone stopped working again. No matter how hard I tried, it didn’t work for the entire first week in Chile.
Not having a phone then, I spent the first week in Chile pressing into the Lord and also into who was around me. I was still frustrated that I didn’t have a phone, but the Lord started teaching me what dependence on my team looks like. Because I didn’t have a phone, it forced me to spend time getting to know our hosts, the teens from church, and the sweet people we were staying with for the first week.
After that first week, my phone started working again, so I decided to buy more data for the rest of the month. It was really good to have the data and a working phone to be able to talk to our hosts once we weren’t together anymore.
That is, until we got to Cusco. It worked for the first week of Month 10 while we were in Calama, and on the busses to Cusco (praise the Lord that I had music to listen to on the busses).
When it stopped working again, a couple of my teammates started asking me questions. They started asking if I thought God was asking me if there were people I needed to not communicate with for the month. Talk about a hard realization. After I spent some time in prayer about it, I realized that I was looking for validation once again, and that I needed to separate myself from my phone for a little while. It’s been tougher some days more than others. I spent a good few days figuring out why I wasn’t supposed to be on my phone while we were at our hostel in Cusco and it was freeing to process through that with God.
Once we got to Tim and Holly’s place outside of Cusco, I mentioned to Katie, my Team Leader that I was struggling more with not being able to listen to music more than anything else. Africa taught me a lot about what it looked like to go a week or so without communication. I’ve come to the realization that my ability to have communication will come back again, and I’m still working through what it looks like to not have music in the present moment. I just want to worship through music, and I can only get my brain to come up with so many song lyrics when I don’t have actual music to listen to. Katie started telling me about the significance of silence, even when it isn’t spent talking to the Lord. Sometimes, you need to just sit in silence with no background noise. The day after Katie and I talked about it, Tim started talking about the importance of silence, as well.
I mentioned in a previous blog that I lost my wallet towards the end of our time in Antofagasta, which means I don’t have my cards, drivers license, insurance cards, cash, all the things.
Throughout the last couple of months, God has stripped thing after thing away from me, which is teaching me so so much. He’s teaching me that dependence isn’t a bad thing, that it is okay to rely on people around me for what I need.
There has been a lot of Venmo over the last few weeks (until my phone stopped working) and a lot of borrowing laptops from my team so that I can talk to people from home.
It’s been wild to come to the realization, and work through the fact that I only have 43 days until I’m Stateside again, and I still have lots to learn.
I’ve read more books over the last week than I had the entire Race, I’ve spent a whole lot of time talking to God, I’ve spent a lot of time pressing into time with my team.
For Month 11, I will no longer be on Brushed with Glory. We were given the opportunity to pick between three ministries for our last month on the Race.
Part of the Squad will be spending time in Lima, Peru working with an unreached people group in the jungle. Another group will be doing ATL through Peru and Ecuador. The final group will be working with Cru in Quito, Ecuador.
The Lord has given me the opportunity to work with college students through Cru in Quito! I am beyond excited to get to be Jesus in a place I wasn’t scheduled to be on my Race. To learn more about my team in Quito for Month 11, check out the meet my team tab of my blog, or scroll down the side of my blog as you read this one! You’ll see a couple familiar faces of people I have been on teams with, and you’ll see six new faces.
I only have a few more days with (prepare your hearts for our full, unofficial team names) Krispy Chicken Brushed with Glory Baked in Holiness Panfried in Righteousness (or Krispy Chicks, or Krispy Chicken Brushed with Glory, or the official name Brushed with Glory).
God has given me time away from my phone to be able to soak in every last minute with the team I’ve spent almost half of my Race with.
Soak up time that you don’t have with technology.
Be willing to step away.
Be willing to sit in silence.
Press into the people around you.
Spend time Jesus in ways you wouldn’t normally.
I promise it’s all worth it.
