You guys! We did it! The World Race has come to an end and thanks to everyone who supported me I was able to go out to 11 different countries sharing the love of Jesus. This year has been so good, hard at times, but overall an experience of a lifetime 🙂
So I decided to answer some questions that many of you may have for me about my race. A lot happened this year, and I hope these help give you some more insight to some highlights and things I learned this year.
What were my favorite countries? Why?
My favorite country in Africa was Mozambique. From the moment I arrived in the village outside Guija, I felt a sense of peace. We got to pray over people in the area. We lived simply and I was on a really good team. My favorite country in Asia was the Philippines. Our ministry mostly consisted of chores and painting, but I got to know our local host family so well. They lived at the church we stayed at, so we got to do life with them. We also got to work with street kids, which was so incredibly heartbreaking, but such a wonderful opportunity. South America is tough because there were so many good months, but if I had to choose one it would be Argentina. Getting to know the kids there and build a relationship for 3 weeks was amazing. The community of families that live there are wonderful. They don’t have a lot and even they are reaching out to their neighborhood. They set a great model of what it looks like to love well and spread the love of Jesus to those living around them.
What were some of my favorite foods?
- Africa: Sema & mandasi (fried donut)
- Asia: Lumpia (fried spring rolls), bubble tea, bahme soup with pork, & fresh fruit smoothies!
- South America: Arepas, fried yucca, Aji de Gallina, Empanadas, & Churros!
Seriously so much delicious food around the world. Trying to choose favorites is so hard!
What were some of my favorite adventure days?
Going to the beach in Mozambique was really fun! For our lunch we got this HUGE seafood platter and ate so much. We just lounged on the beach enjoying the sun. Such a good day! One of my other favorite days was getting to go sand boarding in Peru! Most of you know I love snowboarding, so getting an opportunity to try it in the sand was so much fun!
What is the craziest thing I ate?
I tried a fried cricket in Thailand 🙂 and it wasn’t actually wasn’t that gross.
What are some of my favorite ministries?
- FormaVida- Bogota, Colombia- got to work with kids, had an amazing host family, and build consistant relationships all month
- Camp Hope- Quito, Ecuador- work with kids & adults with special needs & disabilities.
- Adulam- Great Buenos Aires Area, Argentina- worked in a community and built relationships, such amazing people and I got to hangout with kids all month.
What are things that give me life?
- Kids, kids, & kids!
- Worshipping in all different cultures & all squad worship.
- New friendships, good food, getting to explore new places every month
Biggest things the Lord taught me?
Wow where to even begin. This list feels it could be long, but I will just share the biggest ones with you all. The Lord taught me so much about love, true, genuine love for people. The Lord showed me what it’s like to have my heart break for others who are hurting and how I can love them. He showed me how to love those who are hard for me to love. He showed me how to fight for people, even when I struggle with them. That was a hard season on the race, and it is still something I am growing in. My confidence in the Lord has also grown a lot. My identity has been rooted in Christ for a while, but I still let fear have a hold on my life. The Lord helped me to overcome fears, like preaching, evangelizing, and saying hard things in love to teammates. I have grown in patience, and recently in the past few months, God has shown me what it is like to have peace. It’s awesome to see how much God worked in me and transformed me this year!
What was community like on the race? What was the most challenging part about feedback, vulnerability and constant companionship? What did you learn about yourself? About others? About God?
Community is hard. You are living with people 24/7. Even when you have “alone” time, you are not truly ever alone. So for a person who values time alone, I definitely had some hard moments. The good news, the Lord gave me the capability to be around people all year. The race has turned me into someone who thought I needed that time a lot, and it’s true I still need that alone time. Now though, I enjoy being around people and that’s because I had to learn to adapt while being on the race. The great thing about community though is they see you in all areas of your life- the good, bad, crazy and weird. They call you out on your crap in a loving way, most of the time, and you learn vulnerability. In order to grow, you have to let people in. I had to learn to let others walk alongside me. I never thought I was a person to like constant companionship, but I was blessed to spend all 11 months with Catherine. Now I don’t know what it looks like to not have her around everyday. The Lord showed me a lot about the importance of good community and how we need to depend on God, but he also brings people in our life to depend on them as well. Living life with others is so good. It definitely is hard at times, don’t get me wrong because people always have little quirks or things that will annoy you, but you learn to get over stuff or call it out if it needs to be. In the end, you might just get amazing friends and sisters in Christ from it!
What did God show you in the nations? Where did your heart break the most? Why? How is he inviting you to do missions as you come home?
People are hurting and broken in this world. I have seen it in country after country. People are searching and longing for more. I know people know this in America, but when you live in it for 11 months straight and you see the hurt day in and day out, your heart breaks. I remember praying over people in Mozambique who would sit on their mats all day under a shady tree because they either had no job or couldn’t walk. In the Philippines, getting to hang out with street kids who lived on the street involved in prostitution, drug & alcohol abuse and homelessness. It seemed impossible that a 13-year-old girl could be involved in prostitution. Or working with kids with special disabilities in Ecuador. Many of them were orphans because there families couldn’t take care of them or did not know how to. Yes they are being loved well by the organization, but there families left them. There is so much hurt and my heart was broken for different people throughout this year, but the amazing thing is there is hope. I got the chance to be love and show people hope this year. We serve a God who heals and fills the void in our lives. I know coming back into the States, there is hurt and brokenness here too. I want God to continue to break my heart for what breaks His and provide opportunities for me to show love and tell others about how good Jesus is.
Thoughts from my last few days on the race:
In the last days in Buenos Aires, my feelings were constantly changing. From being excited to go home, to being sad about leaving this WR family and not traveling to new places every month, to having stress about what’s next and then having peace about it. I felt like every moment, my feelings were changing. It was kind of exhausting, but I just pushed through it and made it to the end.
I am going to miss the all squad worship sessions. 35 people who have grown in Christ, worshipping God with all their hearts ready to go home and spread his love in the next seasons of our lives. Great are you Lord! During one of our last nights of all squad worship, we were singing the song “Great are you Lord.” While I was worshipping, I saw all the different people and communities I was apart of worshiping in every country we were in, and then I saw us all worshipping together.. It was such a sweet moment. We are the body of Christ worshipping Him and bringing others into it. The words in the song, “All the earth will shout your praise” – so good! Everyone will shout His name because God is so great. This is the God we serve, one who changes lives and can bring nations together! I know that this is the beginning of what’s next!
Thoughts after being home for a few days:
It is so strangely normal, which I was not expecting. I have been getting excited over such little things though, which has been really fun. For example, being able to throw toilet paper in the toilet, free water at restaurants, the feeling of freedom while driving, and so many others. I was a bit nervous coming home. Not knowing where I would fit into life back at home or how much things had changed. God is so good though. I have felt so loved, and I have been able to get right back into the swing of things. I have an amazing community at home and it was so good to join back into it again. I have been taking it day by day and enjoying it. I’m sure things will come up the longer I’m home, not sure what those will even be, so until then I am just loving getting to spend time with people, catch up and just take it day by day
“Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.”
Psalms 63:3-4
