This is a blog that another World Racer on a different squad wrote. Every single word hit me to core and caused me to nod my head the entire time. This is SO true everyone. How can you serve me right now?? Read this. It will give you a perfect glimpse into my world and how I need to be loved and cared for in this season in my life.
How To Care for Your World Racer
"I have now been on the field for 5 months. As my team and I approach the halfway point of our Race we made note of what we would like those who love us to know. It's a tough year for us being separated from the friends and family that we love. We cannot keep up with everything back home, but we also do not want to be forgotten. So this is a little guide for those back home to love your Racer better.
Blogs: Read them. Comment on them. Share them. Talk to us about them. But don't pressure us to post them. We know you want updates, but we want our blogs to have meaning. We go for quality over quantity, and sometimes it takes time for us to gather and organize our thoughts. So yes, sometimes we will post a blog from 3 months ago, sometimes it just takes us that long.
Facebook: Interact with us. Chat/message us. Note that posting links to our wall is a kind gesture, but it can be frustrating because the internet overseas is slow, and we get precious little of it. The times the internet works for them are magical, but think before posting gifs and videos.
Skype/facetime: We have precious little internet time (I think that should be obvious to you at this point, but I'm gonna keep saying it). Timezones are a pain as well. But getting to see and talk to loved ones back home can make our week. We know that getting up at 4 am is tough and exhausting and that you have work and other stuff, but know that making such a sacrifice for us is HUGE. We are also willing to be up at strange hours in our timezone to work with your schedule, it just depends on the availability of the internet for what we can do. If we do get up at 4 am to talk to you, please respect that and have a good conversation with us. Try to avoid distractions while you talk to us.
Email: We love communicating with you. We want to know about your life. We care about the things that might seem boring. I know traveling the world makes our lives seem extremely exciting, but we don't want to just talk about us. We still care about you. So send us an email (or Facebook message), and update us on your life. Ask us questions, but don't make them incredibly broad. Asking how one month/country was can be almost too overwhelming to answer. A lot can happen in a day or a week, let alone our entire month. Use our blogs to guide your questions. What has worked well with some of my friends is having an open ended Facebook message so we go back and forth as internet is available.
Pictures: Yes, we take pictures. But sometimes its hard for us to take them while we are working, so if you notice a lack of ministry photos its because we are doing ministry and don't want to pull out our camera. Also, they are a pain to post because the internet is SLOW so it takes FOREVER to upload them. We know you want to see them, and we promise they will get uploaded, just have patience and don't nag us about it. Also, please don't just go through albums and 'like' every picture we put on Facebook. When we see we have 30 notifications we get excited because we want to communicate, not just see that you like our pictures. (You can still 'like' them, just don't go crazy.)
Finances: Fundraising for this trip is difficult. We are often met with struggles, but we also see God do great things. We know you probably aren't rich, but we truly appreciate every donation, not matter how big or small. You can also help us by spreading the word and helping us fundraise, even if you personally are not able to donate. Also note that we need personal funds so we can buy things like shampoo, clothes to replace the ones that have worn out, and snacks for travel days. Just ask us what we need.
Encouragement: Yes, we get to do cool things on the Race. And yes, we will often post about it, but this isn't a vacation for us. Most of our time is spent investing in the ministry we are partnered with. We work, and we work hard. We are also jumping between different cultures all the time and it gets confusing and frustrating. We have language barriers that we attempt to overcome, and we face spiritual warfare on the field. We need your encouragement. That can come through many forms of communication, so however it best works for you, do it. Even if you haven't talked to us in years, send that message, comment on that blog, or whatever.
Prayer: This is the most important thing you can do for us. We need prayers for our safety, prayers for spiritual insight, for team and squad unity, health, and anything else you can think of. God is teaching us, stretching us, and growing us, and prayer support helps us get through. You may never know what your prayers helped us with, and we may never realize it either, but they most definitely make a difference.
To sum up, we like communicating. It's just very difficult for us to reach out to you. We do what we can, but it is easier on us and much more encouraging when we are reached out to. We aren't a part of your every day lives anymore, and we know you have busy schedules and have adapted to our absence. But we still need to know we are loved by you, we still need to be cared for even though we are half a world away.
Just keep reaching out to us, and we will respond to you every chance we get."
