Here are 11 memories, lessons learned, and/or personal growth facts about this life changing chapter in my life revealed to me.
- People live there so can I. In each country I traveled to, I found a way to survive. I was given a roof over my head, water (bottle water to be specific), and food everywhere I went. I figured this out pretty quick along the Race. I figured out that I didn’t need that much stuff to live well in these countries. I honestly did not even need all of the items that were in my bags — backpacks that is. I could easily go to the store and purchase whatever item I needed and there were clothing stores available to replace anything that I needed to replace. Now some of my favorite or liked items were a bit harder to purchase in other countries, but I made it work somehow.
- The MISSION is to be relational. Could I have done more — yes! But am I content with the people and relationships I built — yes. The best way to be involved in the different ministries that I volunteered at, was to be relational. To build relationships with the staff of the organization or the people they ministered with. I might have only been at the ministry sites for 2-3 weeks, so I needed to use my time wisely and get to know the people around me. The more I got to know the people around me, the more I was able to minister to them and love on them.
- I knew this wouldn’t be easy but I didn’t know it would have been this hard. From being put into positions I didn’t always want to be in to being around people I didn’t want to always be around to so much more. I wouldn’t change it for anything. In the end, all of the things that I went through were totally worth it. I grew in more ways because of the positions I was in than if I had not been in those positions. I am thankful for the hard times.
- Community — whether it was with the squad I was with or the people we lived with, we always had community. There was never a time where I was alone.
- Hand washing clothes was and still is one of my favorite chores. In about 5-6 of the countries that I lived in, I had the luxury of hand washing my clothes. And sometimes, my ministry for the day was hand washing clothes, sheets, or just about anything that needed to be washed. Hand washing clothes was a mindless task that I learned to enjoy and then love.
- I lived a normal life. I slept, I ate, I worked, I lived with people, and so on. I lived a normal life of work. My work was just solely focused on living missionally. I was taught to look at everything I do as a form of worship and a way to minister to anyone around me. So everyday I went into the day ready for what opportunities the Lord has for me. So now no matter what I do, I want to be ready for what God has for me.
- I am grateful to be back but at the same time my heart longs to go again. My heart loves America but my heart loves the world just as much, if not more. “This is why once you’ve traveled for the first time all you want to do is leave again. They call it the travel bug, but really it’s the effort to return to a place where you are surrounded by people who speak the same language as you. Not English or Spanish or Mandarin or Portuguese, but that language where others know what it’s like to leave, change, grow, experience, learn, then go home again and feel more lost in your hometown than you did in the most foreign place you visited. This is the hardest part about traveling, and it’s the very reason why we all run away again.”
- In the 11 months that I was on the Race, I learned more about myself than I feel I learned about myself in the 25 years prior. I was pushed to find out what made me, well me. Not only for myself but also for the sake of describing myself to others — for the sake of community living.
- One of my favorite things during the Race, was meeting other missionaries or the hosts and hearing their story. I loved learning about how they were called to the ministry and how everything started for them and also how things were going for their ministry. Every story or testimony I heard made my heart happy. #yourstoryisthespark
- The best adventures that I went on this year, were the ones where memories were made with the people around me. Like sitting next to a new-found friend on a bus to Guatape, Columbia to climbing a volcano for 6 hours in Ecuador to riding the Piccadilly subway line in London to white water rafting in Nepal with my new team to sitting at a coffee shop in Rwanda for hours at a time to giving a sweet child a crochet cross to keep in Kenya and last but certainly not least, sharing a meal with a kindred spirit of a friend on the last official day of the Race. Those are just some of the most cherished moments I want to remember forever. Check out my blog that holds pictures of other memorable adventures – https://aleesabyrne.theworldrace.org/post/adventure-is-out-there
- Personally, this was the most growing time for me. My relationship with the Lord was truly awakened. He has and continues to reveal to me his ways and knowledge and love to me. Throughout the year, God truly taught me what it looks like and feels like to depend on him. Traveling to 11 different countries and changing communities so many times was hard but one thing was constant and that was him. And my relationship with him. The time I was able to spend with him was growing but was always there.
