There has been a lot that has happened over the past 3-4 months. The squad finished up our time in Africa, I got Malaria, team changes happened, my team had a passport stolen, Vietnam has come and gone and now we’re in Cambodia. Honestly, I could write a entire blog about each one but to catch up I’m just going to give a brief summary.
Zambia was by far the toughest month of the race. Going into the month I was pumped, it was “Manistry” month. This is the month where all the guys get to be on a team together. If you look at not just our squad but most World Race squads you’d see that the amount of women doing the trip is way more than the men. Squad has 30 women to 7 men. We love the women on our squad but we were all looking forward to all us being together and just being with “the boys”. Even though you’re told “don’t come into the race with expectations”, we all had heard from past racers just how awesome manistry month can be and we all were looking forward to this month. At least for myself, almost every expectation I had the opposite seemed to happen. I was excited to all be together, do ministry together, and just hangout and be guys together. When we got to our site and we found out the group was split into different houses about a 45-60 minute walk apart, during ministry we were split up into small groups of 2-3, and our only time to all be together was during our lunch break.
Physically all of our comforts weren’t there. We ate the same thing for almost every meal all month, we were taking bucket showers, our toilet was a hole in the ground and for half the month we were tenting. The tenting wasn’t to bad and was quite nice at night, but as soon as that sun came up you were baking in the tent! The toilets were also an adjustment because a lot of us at some point in the month were having digestive issues and that is no fun to have squatting over a hole. But these were all things we expected to encounter at some point during the race.
I could do a whole blog about what happened spiritually but honestly I’m not sure how to write about it and have it make sense. We were out in the bush of Zambia! A lot of mud-huts and seeing people who lived very primitively. This is where we ran into a lot of people who practice witchcraft. Cuts and markings all over there bodies and a really heavy feeling of darkness. Then one Sunday we experienced demon manifestations and deliverances. I know that sounds crazy and when I heard about people who had experienced it on past races I was pretty skeptical. However, we all experienced something that day that we hadn’t before and things that even after trying to justify, couldn’t. Again, I really do want to share everything about that but I am still not entirely sure how to write it, it’s definitely an in person conversation.
Although this month was completely different from what I wanted and was my least favorite of the race some cool things did happen. I really learned from our host what it means to worship with everything you have. Also, learned the power of praying bold prayers. With how much I was not enjoying the month it taught me a lot of the importance of relying on the Lord and seeking and praising Him even when things suck. Finally, even though we all had hoped for something more, I really enjoyed being with the guys. Obviously things could have gone better but there’s something that really bonds you as a group when you go through something that sucks or is tough together.
Our last month in Africa we spent in Malawi. Our team had ATL (ask the Lord) as ministry and that led to some cool experiences. We met an incredible missionary from South Africa and she put us in contact with a lot of people for potential ministry opportunities. We spent 4 days in the southern part of Malawi hiking Mt. Mulanje. On the mountain we really got to see what everyday life can look like and how you can bring passions, “normal life” and ministry together. Obviously the views were awesome but my favorite moment was a night when we had a team Bible study in one of the mountain huts we stayed in. The group was the team, our guide, the porters, our chef, and a guy we met hiking named MJ. At this Bible study everyone was sharing their thoughts and what the Lord was doing in their live and it was awesome! Just a really cool experience to come together and talk about God after a great day out in His creation.
My favorite time from that month was our last week when we went and stayed in Dzaleka Refugee Camp. Dzaleka was established in 1994 for people fleeing wars, genocide and violence in the Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Somali, Ethiopia and other countries. The camp was supposed to have a capacity of 10,000 refugees but currently there is over 41,000 people living in the camp and more people show up everyday. We stayed with a family from the Congo, and they are truly amazing people with an incredible story. They came to Dzaleka 3 years ago and after some time in the camp they felt the Lord was calling them to start a ministry in the camp! Their hearts and desire to just be obedient to the Lord was such an example for me. The way the Father has shown up in their life and provided is just testament to the kind of God we serve. My whole race could have been spent at this camp and I would have been okay with that. We all really bonded with not only the family but also with all the people in the church. Hearing peoples stories that are heartbreaking but hearing them rejoice because they have the Lord was so humbling and really left me asking tough questions about my life. Malawi was without a doubt my favorite month and it was 100% because of the people!
In our last couple days in Africa I really started to not feel well. I had a fever around 103, was drenched in sweat but so cold I needed 5 blankets, and was delirious. So the night before we flew out for Asia I went to the clinic to get a malaria test. This was my second time at a clinic in Africa and although they help, most times you just get diagnosed with an general infection, they give you a basic antibiotic and off you go. Well, my malaria test came back negative but I had a parasite. When I asked what parasite I had the Dr. responded “Not sure but its from mosquitoes and here is some meds”. So off I went and we flew out the next day. During our layover in Ethiopia I started having this pain in my ribs that felt like that cramp you sometimes get when running. Gradually the pain was getting worse and more constant. Our first day in Vietnam I went to a clinic and they told me I had done something to the nerves and muscles in my ribs and that was why every time I took a breathe it felt like I was being stabbed. So they gave me some pain pills and muscle relaxers. That night I was in so much pain I couldn’t move. Every breathe hurt and it didn’t matter if laid down or sat up. The pain felt like it wasn’t coming from my ribs but underneath them and none of the meds were helping. So I googled my symptoms and instantly came to the conclusion that my spleen was ruptured. When I looked at causes of a ruptured spleen there was the obvious, your body taking some kind of big hit, but also that a ruptured or enlarged spleen can be caused by untreated malaria.
So at 4am, Bowen offers to take me to the ER. We get to the hospital and not a single person speaks english and none of the medical forms are in English. So after a couple minutes, the reception people get frustrated and just take my name and age and put me on a bed. Thank God for google translate, even though its not perfect, it helped me be able to get the main symptoms across and the staff to start running different blood tests, ultrasounds and x-rays. After about 2 hours in the ER one of the nurses comes and gets me and eventually I find out I am being admitted into the hospital. The Dr. comes into the room and through google translate tell me that I tested positive for malaria, and that the ultrasound showed my spleen was enlarged and they were waiting on my one the last tests they ran to see if it was just enlarged or if it was ruptured. Long story short, turned out just to be enlarged, I got the malaria treated which is what was causing the enlargement and after about 3 weeks I was back to feeling normal. Praise God!
Leaving Africa also meant that we would have a team change. My first team, Wildfire, was a group that truly became like family. I am so thankful for John, Ben, Alicia, Averie and Tenaya. Getting to do life with them everyday was awesome and gave me such an awesome glimpse of what life in community can look like. I am so thankful for my time with them!
So meet my new team… Fight Club!!
We’ve been together for 2 months now and I am so blessed to be on this team. They made the team change super easy and also were super supportive of me since I was asked to be the Team Leader. Right off the bat we had to come together as a team and be there for one another. Vietnam was a tough month. One teammate had a bag with all her important documents and banks cards stolen by a guy on a moped. So getting new cards and a new passport was an adventure but everyone stepped up and tried to help anyway that they could. Everyone was missing home around the holidays and some people lost loved ones. Where we were was very spiritually heavy, ministry was tough and we needed to rely on one another.
We’re already almost through month 2 in Asia, and were making the turn and heading for the back 9 of the race. Like anything in life there have been highs and lows on this journey but I wouldn’t change a thing about my experience thus far. God has used this first 5 1/2 months on the race to completely change and transform my life and I am excited for what’s to come!
