Where is my home? I laugh because today as Leah and I were out walking and asked where we were headed, we replied that we were heading home. By “home” we meant back to the hostel we are getting to sleep in tonight (for winning the last race)! This year everything is constantly on the move…I travel with my world race family and my few belongings from place to place, never knowing exactly what we will be walking in to next and what the next place we will call home will look like.
Each place so far has been very different…
Mexico training was a big room with @ 30 new sisters and bunk beds during training next a bus for 48 hrs (that never came close to earning the title of home)
camping in tents for a month in Mexico (with 26 tent neighbors)
sleeping on a church cement floor (with 50 other people) in Guatemala
Nicaragua was a hotel briefly then an orphanage (similar living conditions as the kids)
Peru has been another cement church floor, then up in the Andes mts we sleep in the church’s storage space on mattresses (praise the Lord!) laid in a pile on the floor
Let me give you a glimpse in to our living conditions over the past 2 weeks…we have been blessed everywhere we go to have churches and church members open up their space for us!
It gets down in to the low-40s at night, so we climb the ladder up to our perch and snuggle close, bundled up with wool blankets (FYI hot water in a Nalgene, tossed in the bottom of your sleeping bag works wonders for warming up the toes!).
We awaken early each morning to the smell of campfire smoke, where all of our food is cooked.
Hot drinks at each meal to keep us warm, and mountain spring water to drink from the faucet (first country we haven’t had to buy water in!).
Tiny toilet/shower room all in one, privacy from the living quarters is a shower curtain (watch out when the wind blows)! I went for my record length of time without a shower- 8 days- until we all pitched in to buy a warm shower head…helps a lot but still cold air.
Community living- big family gathering for each meal!! Every breakfast is eggs and bread, and you can count on potatoes (Nicaragua was rice) in some form as part of the other meals.
Fun with the church family- dancing and singing during a birthday celebration!! Shawna is sporting some of the local wardrobe!!
Mancos picture of our kitchen (we stayed with a church family in their basement) from Zeo´s past week-
Right before leaving their home, we got to taste the popular local cuisine of…
Guinnea Pig!!
(sorta tastes like rabbit)
Living as a big family is super fun to me…the living conditions aren´t always the most comfortable, but it´s all part of the adventure of this year- and I love it! 🙂
