Summarizing my 11 months on the WR..

Overall it has been a wild roller coaster ride.

It has been the best, hardest and wildest year of my life. 

It has challenged me in ways I never expected and didn't challenge me in the ways I expected. 

It has made me laugh until I peed my pants (multiple times) and made me cry so hard to the point of having no more tears. 

It has made me dream new dreams and forget old dreams. 

I have drank coffee in every country, sometimes four times a day. 

I learned how to make 6 different meals using the same four ingredients & how to say hello in 13 different languages. 

I washed my clothes, dishes, & bathed all in the same lake. 

I have eaten some of the tastiest food and some food that I could barely get down. 

I witnessed people give their lives to Jesus with excitement and heard others say God was made up. 

I have sat with witch doctors hoping to bring truth and with families who have never seen a white person before seeing me. 

I have loved so deeply that it brought pain and disliked something so much it made me angry. 

I have seen moms drug their babies so the baby is quiet when the mom is begging for money on the street. 

I have spent less then a $1 on dinner and .60cents on bubble tea. 

I have slept on the floor outside of a restaurant at night unaware of what was going on around me in Africa. 

I left with 5 sisters and gained 29 new sisters. 

I have looked at water that was a light brown in color and deemed it okay to drink. 

I have seen riots in Africa and have been tear gassed. 

I got malaria twice and diarrhea has become a normal thing. 

I have used a squatty that was almost completely full & swarming with maggots. 

I've climbed on huge rocks looking over the ocean in el Salvador. 

I've witnessed my dinner get killed right in front of me then helped cook it. 

I was instantly brought to tears when I found out I would have a bed, normal toilet & shower at my month 8 debrief – thankful doesn't even touch the surface. 

I have learned to embrace the rain and how to use a squatty. 

I have seen many healings right before my eyes and prayed for others that never happened. 

I have gone over a week without showering and felt okay about it. 

I have been in the sketchiest hospitals and had a doctor listen to my stomach then say, "it sounds like a circus in there." Thank you parasites. 

I have learned what it means to live simply and have slept without a pillow for most of the 11 months. 

I dropped a dirty toilet brush in my squads bathing water and still bathed with the water. 

I have squished in a 12 seater van with 15 squadmates plus all of our packs for over 24 hours while driving through Mozambique. 

I have met people I will cherish forever through door to door evangelism. 

I wore the same five shirts for 9 months and haven't worn socks for 10 months. 

I have a love/hate relationships with markets – the prices are good but the smells make me gag. 

I've drip dried many times after peeing because there was no toilet paper and have squatted at a historical building at night. Whoops. 

I've been so delirious that I forgot where I was and what was going on. 

I shared the gospel with a family that had never heard the name Jesus. 

I have learned to tune out chatter because it's in a language I can't understand. 

I've eaten bugs, snakes, and rotten yogurt.

I have held back tears as I bandaged wounds on street kids who can't go to a doctor. 

I swam in a pool while it was storming and got stuck under waves while swimming in the ocean. 

I have held one day old babies while praying over their moms. 

I have shouted prayers from balconys overlooking city's and prayed under my breath at temples. 

I have led a bible study at a prison in Malawi and was stumped by some of the questions they asked. 

I have seen a drunk guy fall to his knees praising Jesus and had another try to kiss me. 

I have stood outside of a brothel praying as I watched men drive in to buy girls. 

I have organized a library and taught English. 

I had my heart stolen by african children and for that will never be the same. 

I have rode every mode of transportation there is – tuk tuks, planes, buses, motor bikes, janky taxi vans in Africa, the bed of trucks, double decker buses, oxen pulling a wagon, & so forth. 

I bottle fed a puppy during the night and shoveled big poop in the morning. 

I have held kids tightly against me while singing them to sleep. 

I have wished away some of my days and wished others would last forever. 

I have developed a bigger heart for the lost and have seen how The Lord pursues them daily. 

I have woken up to 20 African kids surrounding my tent and other mornings woken up in my own room. 

I have experienced the Lords faithfulness and wondered why He was being silent. 

I have watched lion King in Africa and walked through corn fields to a river to baptize people. 

I have learned that I'm…
but a vapor,
a flower quickly fading away, 
a wretched sinner, 
but in that God.. 
cherishes me,
calls me His own, 
pursues my heart daily, 
knows me better then I know myself, 
and yearns to be with me. 

& that is only a small snippet of my year.