Well, here I am in Month 10 of this World Race. One week away from entering Month 11. This month in Nicaragua has gone by slowly yet quickly. We have figured out that while on the World Race there is this weird time paradox. The days can go by slowly but the weeks FLY by.
We have had a LOT of downtime this month and that has been pretty hard. Our contact is a first time contact so he is trying to figure out what having a world race team looks like so thinking of things for us to do can be hard. So with all this down time I have had a lot of time to think. Think about my future, and about being at home, and how not living in community is going to be terribly hard. But I have had to bring myself back to the present and realize that I still have 5 weeks left in this journey. I don’t want to be the racer that looks back and says,
“I could have given more the last 2 months of my race.”
I want to finish this race stronger than ever and look back and say,
“I gave everything I had in these last two months.”
We have one week left here in Nicaragua. Our Pastor doesn’t have anything planned for us. We could potentially have a week of off days. But that’s not what I want to do with my last week. I want this to be the most memorable week of the month, and maybe even the race. I want to take risks and not be afraid of the language barrier. I feel like I have said this so much during the race but I haven’t done anything about it. I’m all talk and no action. I don’t want that anymore.
I want to begin habits that can be carried over into my life when I come home. I don’t want to fall back into every day routine of going to work and coming home, eating dinner, hanging out with friends every now and then and then beginning that routine all over again the next day. That’s boring to me, especially after this 11 months. I’m not saying that this is wrong, but for me, this is not the kind of life I want to live. I want to make a difference in this everyday life. I want to have an effect on people in my community. I want more than the American dream.
So that is what I will be searching for when I get home:
How can I make a difference in my community?
How can I live a life that is more than the American dream?
How can I be an example to people?
Am I okay with failing?
Am I going to be okay with taking risks with the potential of being judged?
I understand that I can’t come back and expect people to be completely open to trying new things and getting out of their comfort zone. Therefore, I may fail. I have to remind myself that I can’t do this alone and the God is going to be with me through each failure and each success. It’s going to be hard to come back to a community where they might not understand the World Race culture. But I’m going to do my best to invest in this community and I’m excited to see what God has in store.
I will give more details of what the future holds in a blog next month, but for now, I would love if you would begin praying for the transition home and that I would remain present and give my all in these next 5 weeks.
I’m so grateful for all of you and the fact that you have supported me so much in this journey. I’m praying for all of you and am excited to catch up with everyone when I return home. See you soon!
~Andrea
