What a question! Here’s some insight into my life.
Fun Travel Days
Currently the whole squad is in Baku, Azerbaijan waiting to hear when our ship is sailing! We are trying to hop aboard a cargo ship to cross the Caspian Sea. Problem is there is no schedule, and sailing depends on the weather. I think it takes around 30 hours to cross the sea. I also heard that the night sky is a sight to see since you are in the middle of water with very little light.
Crossing the sea is just the beginning. We will arrive in Kazakhstan where some teams will take a 50 hour train ride across the country. For six of us, our team will board a train to Uzbekistan! Uzbekistan has recently opened its borders and oh boy, it’s exciting that we get to go! We will be the first ever World Race team to enter this country. Uzbekistan is a Central Asian nation and former Soviet republic. It is known for its mosques, mausoleums and other sites linked to the Silk Road, the ancient trade route between China and the Mediterranean.
There will be more about Uzbek later.
What’s next after the Race?
Well… God has put a lot of things on my heart.
Science.
Throughout the Race I have had a renewed passion for science. Little things come up over and over again such as way too much excitement over a chemistry book in our Lebanon apartment and a magazine article about metamorphosis in Palestine and all the different kinds of vegetation on a hike in Greece and reading ingredients on food labels and thinking I can draw the organic structure of all these ingredients.
Teaching.
Yeah. I’ve always denied it. I never wanted to be a teacher, but people continually call it out of me whether I am at home or here. I can’t escape that it is a gift, and that I do enjoy it. Since being on the Race, I’ve seen just how valuable teaching is anywhere you are in the world. I had teachers in high school and college who had such an impact on my life; I can only hope to have the same impact on the lives of my students.
Youth.
I don’t know how to explain this one, but God has shown me how much I love being in the lives of youth. This started before I left last August and has continued. It was especially amplified during our time in Greece at the refugee camp.
(So what’s next? Maybe get a job in a science lab and finish my masters in teaching)
Brazil.
And the latest thing is that I have the opportunity to go to Brazil in July with a church from back home. I don’t even know how this came about; I just know it kept coming up over and over and over again. Each time it came up I would pray and ask God what He wanted me to do. Pray for the people going? Pray for Brazil? Pray for more people to go? Go?
It started by just praying for Brazil and the people going. Then I felt a little nudge to go. But it’s $3,000. Check the bank account.. Nope. Not happening. It’s not there, and I just had to fundraise almost $20,000. I’m not doing anymore, so I continued to pray for the country and for people going.
Then I remembered a note I had made in my Bible, so I went to the scripture and re-read it.
Numbers 11:18-23
“And say to the people, ‘Purify yourselves, for tomorrow you will have meat to eat. You were whining, and the Lord heard you when you cried, “Oh, for some meat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will have to eat it. And it won’t be for just a day or two, or for five or ten or even twenty. You will eat it for a whole month until you gag and are sick of it. For you have rejected the Lord, who is here among you, and you have whined to him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”
But Moses responded to the Lord, “There are 600,000 foot soldiers here with me, and yet you say, ‘I will give them meat for a whole month!’ Even if we butchered all our flocks and herds, would that satisfy them? Even if we caught all the fish in the sea, would that be enough?”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Has my arm lost its power? Now you will see whether or not my word comes true!”
I read this passage and felt like I was looking into my future. God said He would feed all the people, but the people didn’t see how it was possible. All the animals and fish they had wouldn’t have been enough. It’s like me looking at my bank account. There’s not enough to go to Brazil.
But if you keep on reading, God sends a wave of quail! And soon enough the people have more than enough to eat! God provides!
And the Lord said, “Has my arm lost power?” Certainly if He can provide almost $20,000, then He will provide $3,000 more.
Lesson: Even when it seems impossible for something to happen because you just don’t see how it’s going to happen, God has quail. And nothing is impossible with God.
I can’t see where the quail is coming from, but I’m trusting God will send them.
Please join me in thanking God for all He has done so far and in asking for Him to send the quail. Also, let me know how I can pray for you.
God has put it on my heart to go. If He puts it on your heart to send me, you can help financially by sending money to my PayPal (paypal.me/BrishnaHedstrom) or Venmo (@BrishnaHedstrom)
