Reset, Renew, + 4 months of Pictures! - Explore Archived World Race Alumni Blogs

Hello from Port Elizabeth, South Africa!

My squad has been extremely blessed to spend a few days here in this beautiful town to come back together as a whole squad and debrief everything that has happened in our first four months on the race! I am not sure if I have explained this well to everyone, so I will give a quick breakdown in case you are not fully sure how this squad/team thing works. I am a part of a squad of 20 people. Our squad is divided into 3 teams (two teams of 7, one team of 6). We are all on the same route (going to the same countries at the same time), but we are all at different ministry locations within that country. Therefore, the whole squad generally does not spend very much time together because our team locations are usually quite far apart. So debriefs are incredibly sweet because the whole squad comes together for a few days in one location to rest, regroup, and prepare to enter our next ministry.

This debrief has had a bit of a plot twist from normal in that, we got new teams!

From the start of the race until now, I have been on the same team, with the same 6 people. We have lived together, served together, laughed together, cried together, and loved each other for 4 months. Now we have been reshuffled, and I will be leaving this debrief and entering a new month of ministry with a new group of people! This is exciting, sad, and scary all at the same time. After spending every waking moment for four months with the same people and knowing every detail of everyone’s habits and routines, it is hard to think about living with people who don’t already know exactly how you function. It is also sad to leave the people that have become sisters during the first four months of this journey. However, overall it is very exciting! I am excited to walk among a new group of people, with new perspectives, new wisdom, and new ways to stretch and grow me!

My word for this debrief has been: reset.

This debrief has been an incredible time to really evaluate where I am at and in the truest sense of the word, reset. We are now four months into this thing and it is time to start asking the hard questions. How have I grown? Where have I succeeded? Where have I failed? Where do I desire to grow but haven’t yet? How am I going to actively pursue growth in that area?

Looking at some of those questions has been hard. Truly evaluating areas where I have desired to grow but haven’t is hard. Looking at areas I’ve failed is hard. But only through recognition of that will I be able to move forward. Therefore, I am incredibly grateful for this time of reflection and resetting, and I am beyond excited for everything this new season is going to bring!

In my time of evaluating, I also realized that I have drastically deprived all of you of pictures over the last four months and I want to make up for that. Therefore, this blog will contain the first four months of my race in pictures. And I will make a very serious attempt at being more consistent with sharing pictures in the future!

Month #1: Colombia