If you didn’t read a single blog, this is the one to read. The RECAP BLOG! There are two ways you can recap with me and they’re BOTH RIGHT HERE!
The first way is this video!
Since my family, friends, and supporters wouldn’t fit in my backpack… I made this video instead. 🙂 I took a second of video each and every day and put them altogether; so, Here’s your chance to experience a year abroad in about 6 minutes (if you click the Vimeo part on the video it’ll open up a page where you can view it full size!)
The second way is through my top 11 moments of the year.
I wrote in my journal a lot this year and one of the main things I did was compile thankfulness lists. Each month I’d set aside a two page spread and write down around 100+ things that I was thankful for that month.
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Getting to pray original design over all the kids at El Shaddai in Swaziland. (Original design: praying and asking the Lord how he made each kid–their gifts, talents, passions, and desires.) We prayed and wrote what we heard down and then handed them out to each of the kids. These were kids that have come from extreme brokenness, neglect, abuse, and sometimes all they’ve heard their whole lives are, “You aren’t wanted, you aren’t valuable, and there isn’t a purpose for your life.” Through original design, we got to encourage them, tell them that they do have an incredible purpose and God truly KNOWS them!
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In Mozambique I decided to workout every day. It got dark around 7pm and our electricity turned off at 9pm so I got up every day to workout at 5am and then spent super sweet time with the Lord while the sun was rising. Being able to practice discipline that month set me up to have great opportunities to love on the villagers that we encountered and getting to build a home for a widow was an incredible experience
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In Thailand the second half of my day was spent at the Refuge, a children’s home for kids from Burma. While we were there I got to teach a little boy named Star. His sweetness, eagerness to learn, and the chance to actually get to know him made my month in Thailand my favorite.
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Community Living. Reflecting back on the year after getting home, I am so thankful for all of the conflict resolution discussions, team disagreements, constructive feedback, and brokenness rubbing up against brokenness because it’s all of these moments that make the year worth it.
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In India our teams conducted a health clinic in a mostly Hindu neighborhood. While we weren’t allowed to mention the name of Jesus some people knew by the way we acted! Because I have experience with taking blood pressure I got assigned to the BP station and took blood pressure for 6 hours! The coolest thing about getting to do this was getting the chance to lay hands and pray for each and every person that came through the clinic! For each person that came through I asked the Lord for one word to pray as the cuff was pumping up 🙂
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In South Africa, our team slept in the same small room…with all of our beds…and packs…and bodies. There were super thin walls and no personal space at all. But something beautiful happened as we all laid down our personal “rights”, started to be brutally honest, and be willing to live in uncomfortability something incredible happened. We became and team, a family, and my first team will be girls that I never forget.
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In Malaysia we taught English at a center that didn’t have many classes so we ended up only working about 6-8 hours a WEEK. With God’s help I decided to set aside time to seek his face in our off time. A lot of my team that month choose to fast, set aside time, and be radically intentional with the Lord and a lot of us had some of the most significant encounters from the whole race in Malaysia. That month I also got to teach two boys Hoe and Lie. These two boys taught me about spiritual warfare and how powerful our prayers can truly be.
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On our plane from India to Nepal I heard the Lord ask me to spend an hour every morning on the rooftop with him. At first I was a little nervous because I didn’t know if there would be a rooftop! Turns out (no surprise) that there was a rooftop not only at our home for the month but also the hostel that we spent time for debrief at!
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The World Race does something called PVT, Parent Vision Trip. My dad got to come to Thailand to spend time with me, doing ministry, worship, and just catching up. I loved that he got to see a small glimpse of what this year was for me and we got to do some pretty fun things while there (like spending time with tigers and elephants, mopeding, and eating good food!)
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Over the course of the year I got the chance to preach three times and teach multiple others! It was super fun to get a chance to step into preaching and teaching!
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Last but not least, our train ride back from Singapore. It’s a super long story that is totally worth hearing, so ask me, BUT long story short: We should NOT have made this train. It had left the realm of probable and was pretty much toeing the line of possible. Our taxi driver laughed when we told him what time our train left. BUT WE MADE IT WITH FIVE MINUTES TO SPARE. Again, it doesn’t sound as glamorous in the shortened version, but trust me it is.
