Here are some more questions that people had about my race.
Did you feel that your actions create more change among people? Or did your witnessing create more change among people?
As a whole, I would say my actions. But it really depends on the person who I am interacting with. Around the world, people have been amazed that we were willing to take a year out of our lives to volunteer our time to help people. So the act of stepping out into the unknown to obey the Lord spoke volumes. On top of that, we worked with people who didn’t even speak the same language as us, so sometimes our actions were the only means of communication. I remember a specific time in Malawi, we were walking around the village, and we came to a house and the grandmother was having a lot of pain in her knee, so we stopped and asked if we could pray for her. She spoke absolutely no English at all. But her eyes lit up the second we turned toward her and grabbed her hands to pray. People just want to be seen and known, so in that moment, she couldn’t understand what we were saying, but because we chose to love her and acknowledge her for those few moments, she felt Jesus.
I know these past 11 months on the World Race will be treasured and experiences shared with many, but is there a particular one that made a life changing impact on you that God has moved upon your heart to share with others?
The other day, I spent time with my squad mentor and my co-squad leader, debriefing our time as squad leaders. And looking back, I didn’t realize how much saying yes to that role back at the end of month 4 would change the course of my life so much. Stepping into that role with those responsibilities allowed me to learn about who I am as a leader. It actually allowed me to see that I am a leader. Prior to the race, I never viewed myself as having enough influence to be followed. Apparently, our leadership team saw something different, so they asked me to squad lead. I said yes because the Lord told me to, but I had every doubt in my mind that I would fail, every doubt that our leadership team was crazy for choosing me. But here we are 6 months later, and I can now confidently say that leading B-squad has been one of the greatest blessings on the race. I learned so much from them. They gave me a safe place to grow into who I am as a leader. I am a leader who leads with vulnerability, humility, and confidence. (not always, but I’m still working on it).
What is something you are looking forward to bring into the classroom that you maybe haven’t before?
Freedom. I want to be free to teach how the Lord wants me to teach. One thing that I struggled with before in the classroom was the pressure to mold to the “cookie-cutter” teacher persona. I want to be able to be myself in front of my students. I want my students to see the real Chelsea, so if that means stopping a lesson to tell a tangent, irrelevant story because it will get the kids to laugh then I will. If that means trying new things and owning up to the mistake by verbally apologizing to my students, then so be it. I realize that I probably won’t teach like a “normal” teacher and my classroom might look a little different, but I am totally okay with that. I want to be free to be myself in front of my students because I need to be the example. If I am myself, then they can be free to be themselves.
What did you miss the most about the states apart from the people?
Is it bad that my first thought was a dryer and a dishwasher? Lol. I cannot wait to be able to put my clothes in a dryer and not have to worry about how I have to get my still wet clothes off the line outside because it’s about to start raining. Also, I can’t wait to put dishes in a machine that will wash them for you. What even does that feel like? I also have missed the freedom to go where you want to go. I didn’t miss driving that much, but I did miss the freedom to be able to get in the car and go get froyo just because you wanted it.
What do you think will be the hardest transition coming back?
Living outside of community. I’ve spent the past year living 24/7 with other humans sleeping a few feet from me, sometimes shoulder to shoulder. So coming back to the states, I won’t know what to do when I am by myself and when I have my own room. Living in community has been such an incredible experience to learn from others. People have seen all my sides. The good and the really really ugly. I’ve had to learn to be vulnerable. It’s been amazing. I’m really going to miss my B-squad family a lot.
