This month we have been in Lusaka, Zambia. Our team was split up into two different houses. Me and one of my other teammates were with a couple, Henry and Clara. They have two precious kids, Perez who is 3 years old and Peniel who is 9 months. They are the sweetest family and one of the best things about this month.
For ministry we worked with a church doing door to door evangelizing. We would go to different compounds every few days and split up into different group and go around evangelizing. We would be in a group with one other racer and 2-4 Zambians who evangelized with us! Most everyone we met with was pretty open about hearing the good news of Jesus and people who already knew who He is we would encourage and pray for. Evangelizing was really good and we met so many awesome people. One day, I met a 15-year-old boy who wanted to know more about Jesus and commit his life to Him. He reminded me of my brother and it was such a sweet moment for me because he was so young and excited to learn more about Jesus. There were many other awesome moments like that one and as exhausting as evangelizing was, I usually felt really encouraged by the people we would meet.
This month has been a lot different from last month. It has been a pretty hard month for me to be honest. I think the newness of the race wore off this month, and I realized how difficult life on the race can be. I was definitely more homesick for my family and the comforts of my life back home. Before I left for the race, I prayed and ask God to make me uncomfortable and to be honest as soon as I started getting “uncomfortable” I did not like it one bit. I immediately started wondering why I thought it was a good idea to leave my family and comforts for 11 months?? But then I remembered. I don’t want to continue living for only myself, I want to live the life Jesus has for me.
When I started getting uncomfortable and a little homesick I turned towards Netflix and the things that made me feel like I was back home. It wasn’t until a week into the month that I realized who I really needed to be turning to. I started turning more towards the Lord when I would have a bad day or be struggling with homesickness and it helped me so much more than anything else could have. I thought by being on the race and being surrounded by a Christian community it would be impossible to turn back to old habits, but let me tell you it is not. Coming on the race didn’t automatically change me into the person I want to be, that takes work. The beautiful thing about God though is He meets us right where we are. I might have tried to take a break with spending time with Him, but He never stopped trying to spend time with me.
This month has been harder for me but I am leaning into what the Lord is trying to teach me this month. There are always going to be seasons of life that are more difficult than others but that doesn’t mean God isn’t walking with us in that season, He is just teaching us new things.
This month has been difficult but also so much good has come from it. I am sad to be leaving our sweet host family but I am excited to be going to Malawi. It is our last month in Africa!! I am so excited how the Lord is going to use my team this next month!
