Its been three weeks, and I am finally ready to talk about what happened last month and how it affected my team and my heart. To explain, I will have to go back to month four on the race, when I was asked to be a team leader. It was debrief, which is a period of five days that our squad had to rest, worship, and prepare for the next leg of our journey. I was pulled aside by our squad parents who asked if I would consider leading a team. Of course this caught me completely off guard, “who me??” the goofy, rule breaking, prank pulling jokester? I was excited, nervous, and scared yet completely at peace that God would equip me with everything I would need, so I accepted the position.
The next morning, I was handed a piece of paper with six names of my new teammates, who I was entrusted to lead. As I looked at the names on that paper, I so desperately desired to lead well, loving these people, and encouraging them to draw closer to Christ. We talk a lot on the world race about what it means to fight for each other, and although I didn’t know exactly how that would look, I knew that I would, in any situation that came along.
Fast forward to month six, where team changed happened again, and we formed a temporary team for the month, of all women. We lived in close quarters where we quickly learned about each other and became good friends. Our group was filled with adventure seekers like me, and we all were pretty excited when we learned that a beautiful beach was only three hours away from our house. We had two days off the following week, so I excitedly booked a bungalow close to the beach, and we packed our bags.
Our team of nine ladies stormed the tiny town of Kep, Cambodia with happy hearts ready to rest, enjoy the sunshine and the delicious western food at our resort. I researched motor bike rentals, and within thirty minutes, five shiny lime green motor bikes were parked outside our rooms. We drove down to the beach, pinching ourselves in awe of the beautiful life we were living.
The following day, two of my teammates, Katie and Katie ventured off to explore an island while the rest of my team went to be lazy on the beach and eat pancakes. We played in the ocean swimming nearby a bunch of monks in their bright orange swim shorts, and talked about our worst first date stories.
We rode our bikes back to the bungalow for lunch and swimming in our pretty pool. It was here that my month completely changed. I was swimming in the pool with my teammate Brittani when a resort staff member ran over to me with her personal cellphone telling me that there had been an accident.
I quickly grabbed the phone and braced myself for the words that would hit me like a freight train. “Hello my name is Rolf and I have some bad news. I am with your two teammates Katie and Katie and they have been in a pretty serious motor bike accident.” My head is spinning as I rack my brain for all the questions I am not prepared to ask. Where are they? Are they conscious? How bad is it? I am told on the phone that it is really serious, we should come immediately, and some other information that we later found out was miscommunicated, but needless to say, put me into a state of high panic and shock. I grabbed my clothes and Brittani, who was steady and reassuring to me the entire time, and rushed to the hospital in our resort owners truck.
I walked into the open aired hospital nearly running to find my friends and quickly found Katie C. sitting in a bench, crying and in shock. I was so relieved to see her alert and okay, but clearly bruised up with scrapes all over her legs. She was waiting outside of the room where Katie L. was screaming loudly, filling the hallway with her cries. I rushed inside to see Katie on the table with her foot very mangled and a lot of blood everywhere. The doctor was doing a make shift surgery while Katie was completely alert and not drugged at all. I will spare the details on here for everyone’s benefit, but the sight of what I saw still runs through my mind today.
The quality of the hospital was beyond horrible and the quick stitching up of her foot was nauseating to watch as I held her hand. As I stood next to Katie, a former marine, who has lived through things most people have no clue about, I was burdened by the amount of pain that she was experiencing and frustrated that I could do nothing about it. The doctors and nurse’s first priority was to stop the bleeding, but their facility was very small and the only pain medicine that they had was equivalent to ibprophen. I watched as they stitched up her ankle that was only attached by a small layer of skin, and grew angry that we were in a country who’s medical training was so poor.
In the next thirty minutes, a lot of decisions had to be made, and as a team leader, I had to respond quickly. I think these kinds of situations are make it or break it, because looking back on the amount of shock I was in, I am surprised I was functioning at all. It was decided that Katie would be transferred back to Phnom Penh to an international hospital which was about three hours away. I left with both girls and jumped in the ambulance, leaving all my things and the rest of my team behind at the beach. This ride in the back of the rickety ambulance speeding down the highway, hitting every pot hole in sight while Katie was in excruciating pain was the lowest part of my race to this point.
Watching someone you love be in such pain and misery is one of the most horrifying and traumatic experiences you can have. I desperately desired to reach out and take away her pain, but I couldn’t. The nurses had nothing to offer her in regards to effective pain medicine, and her body was entering shock because of the pain and blood loss.
I sat in the ambulance in complete shock, handling phone calls from our home base in the USA, and aiming to distract and comfort Katie in her pain. I was filled with frustration and fear, but then Katie said something I will never forget. She stopped in the midst of her crying and said, “Honestly, I have more peace in this moment than I have had the entire race.”
She was bleeding, hurting, and hours from a hospital that could help her, but she had the most incredible sense of peace upon her, and I was in awe.
Leaving for the race, I was asked about my fears of traveling, and even though I probably never mentioned it, situations like this was high on the list. I sat in the back of that ambulance asking God “Why would you let this happen to us? We are here serving you, and you did not watch over her today!” Katie’s statement though, stopped me dead in my tracks of inaccurate thoughts of abandonment. In the midst of this experience that I never could have foreseen, He was giving peace, and His strength was being made perfect within Katie, calming her and reminding her of His presence!
We arrived to the hospital and Katie had several operations over the course of the next week. She was eventually transferred to Thailand where she received another operation for a skin graft. Her foot is gradually getting better, but she will have to return to the USA and not be able to continue the race with us. I will be honest, it has been hard processing everything that happened, but God is showing me so much through it! Although it is hard to understand why this happened, I trust that God will continue giving peace and security over all involved.
Just as the peace swept over Katie in the midst of her suffering, the assurance that He has me in the right place at the right time has been ever so evident in my life. The thoughts of inadequacy as a team leader, through hard and trying times have been lifted. He provided me with the stability, the strength, and the endurance to care for my team even when I thought I could not handle it. He has shown me that although I do not know what circumstances will come my way, He is going before me and preparing my heart for what comes next.
Thank you to all who prayed, fasted, and cried with me on the phone in the midst of this event. God has blessed me with so many lessons and assurance of His faithfulness, and I will continue to thank Him, even for the hardships that bring us closer to Him!
Abby- Learning that He is ALWAYS in control!
