Here’s a quick summary of each country on the World Race!
From this experience, I learned that often the most “important” or “impactful” moments on the field are simply from conversations with people I had the chance to meet. Those are sometimes the moments when I realize, “Oh wow… I think that time spent may have really meant a lot to that person…”
So even though our work for that month was to “teach English” or “work in a children’s home”, it’s often those unexpected, totally spontaneous conversations we get to have that mean the most to me.
Month 1: CHINA
We worked at a foster care home outside of Beijing and tutored some home school lessons for the kids of staff working there. Additionally we had very meaningful conversation at an English corner in a more central area of Beijing.
Month 2: MONGOLIA
In Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capitol city, we partnered with a new local church that was just getting started. We hosted English classes and made friends with local Mongolians. We held church in our apartment made memories spending time and praying with our new friends in that country.
Month 3: JAPAN
IN Sanda, just outside of Osaka, we partnered with an American family to host English classes and organize special community events. We also got to know our host families, especially spending time with their kids.
Month 4: NEPAL
Just outside Katmandu, we partnered with an organization that helps fight human trafficking, through community outreach and education. This was a unique month, because all of the women on the squad worked together, and all of the men on the squad were doing other work together. We hosted English classes for women who were at risk for being involved in trafficking. Additionally, we reached out to get to know women who were still in trafficking, and did our best to connect those women with the organization we were working with. Additionally, we helped coordinate events, such as soccer games and Christmas parties, with that organization. This month we also focused on prayer and intersession.
Month 5: INDIA
In Hyderabad, we worked with Covenant School of Worship focusing on prayer and intersession, in addition to worship leading during some of their church services. We helped in teaching and community outreach during church services and slum ministry. We also visited our friends of our local contacts and spent time in prayer with them when we visited. We also taught some conversational English classes as well.
Month 6: MALAYSIA
Just outside of Kuala Lumpur, our team helped teach in a school called Dignity for Children, a school that reaches out to local national and refugee families. My role was to partner with a talented sewing teacher to teach a fashion and draping class for a junior and senior level class. Additionally I made a dress that was sold to benefit the sewing program. The idea of the class is that if the students are not going to university, they still have a profitable skill they can use to in tailoring work, alterations and design.
Month 7: THAILAND
Just outside of Mae Sot, we worked with Asian Tribal Ministries, and traveled to a small village near the Thai/Burmese border to host a kids camp and teach English. Additionally my parents came on the Parent Vision trip in Chang Mai to chat with Buddhist monks, play with kids in local community outreach, and painted a large mural together in a safe house for women transitioning out of human trafficking.
Month 8: CAMBODIA
In Siem Reap, we partnered with Siem Reap Angkor Agape School, planning lessons and teaching grades 1st through 10th grade. Additionally, we visited our students when they were on break for the Khmer New Year and also painted the outer walls of the school, creating 4 large murals. We also set up a giving platform and gave a significant amount of finances to help pay teachers who were at risk of being let go because of a lack of finances.
Month 9: VIETNAM
In Da Nang, we partnered with Golden Dream International Learning Center to tutor the students for their upcoming annual recognition ceremony. While the students were on a week break, we painted 15 murals (3 walls going up 5 flights of stairs) that displayed the 6 days of creation: one day for each set of stairs, with days 2 and 3 combined.
Month 10: PHILIPPINES
In San Mateo, we stayed in the mountains to help at a the “Snack Shack” that raised money for our ministry hosts, to be able to serve local churches in the community. We updated the new care-taker’s apartment for our ministry host and also painted the walls for a church in the local area. However, the best part was hosting a camp for boys living on their own on the streets of Manila. We played games with them, sang songs around the campfire and watched movies with them.
Month 11: INDONESIA
In Bandung, we partnered with The Center, which focuses on community building and conversational English tutoring. It was a great space for very good conversation with our new friends from the Muslim community. We engaged in community outreach in the local karaoke clubs and made many new friends this month. Also, I worked at a safe house for at-risk women, to design small purses the women could make and sell to earn their own income.
To all everyone who has partnered with me in prayer, encouragement and finances:
THANK YOU for all of your generous support in this journey of faith! I took a leap out into the unknown, and you cheered me on. You believing in me was an instrumental motivator to fully pursue this trip around the world and to leave my comfort zone. I sincerely appreciate you partnering with me on the World Race.
This is based on my experience of the race. My team changed 3 times over the course of the race, and each team does different work each month. Our squad was made up of 4 teams, and each month we usually worked in separate locations around each country, aside from “all-squad months”.
