On the way to Eldoret Kenya I was sitting beside Danielle. She hadn’t journalled memories in awhile and didn’t want to forget them so she was writing her memories out. I* hadn’t in awhile either and so I started writing some good memories of my time on the race. Pretty soon I had almost sixty and we were already at Eldoret! It was really good reminiscing and not wanting to forget some of the great moments so fare. Here are a few that I will share.
1. In Dublin Drea and April made the second best salad I have ever had in my life! Just using our mess kits and the local grocery store, I am still amazed at their culinary prowess.
2. We went to a big celebration thing with a band and fireworks and we all started dancing and getting really into it and the band dedicated a song to us. It was so much fun. Also there were giant mascots dancing with us, a big cat and a giant mouse.
2. At launch training camp Shawn prophesied over me that I have a heart of gold and it meant a lot to me.
4. Standing at a bus stop in Ireland and just making conversation with an older lady and when she heard I was from Saskatchewan it was amazing. She knew an extraordinary amount about it and said that she always wanted to visit there. I love it with all my heart because it’s home and so many of my favourite people in the world are from there. But it really astounded me that someone would really want to come to probably the flattest and most rectangular shaped province on earth.
5. Meeting Mark Marx, and watching my leg grow out half an inch in front of my eyes! Seeing amazing miracles and falling more in love with this generous and healing God.
6. Staying with Abby and his family in Romania. They showed us just amazing hospitality letting 14 of us crash their place for a month and cooking for us every meal. They had the freshest food with garden vegetables and a great hill for their backyard that was great to go up on an pray. They made doughnuts for us one day and I had 22!
7. On the hill on night Grant and I had a man’s night with some of the guys from H-Squad. Roasting big hunks of salami over a fire they built on the path. I can’t think of anything that better epitomizes manliness :). They shared stories from the race of all the craziest things they had done. From jumping off a forty foot cliff in Malawi after church into the lake, to starting a giant monkey fight in Asia by throwing food to the monkeys, staying in a mansion for a month where they just asked God to provide a place to stay, riding motorcycles in Thailand and having a crazy three bike pile-up but God completely protecting them. They said if there’s anything we can tell you guys as you are starting out on the race “Never miss an opportunity, if something seems even vaguely filled with potential for adventure, take it!” I’ve thought a lot about that and that’s how I want to live the rest of my life. It’s really opened up a lot of great adventures on the race so far.
8. A lady in o0ur romanian village had been hit by a car and I remember going to her funeral to support the family even though we didn’t even know them. We also went to pray and command her to be raised from the dead. She wasn’t, but her sister was crying and thanking us so much for being there. She said to us “A day will not pass that you are not in my prayers, thank you so much for being here.”
9. Eating the very best pizza slice of my life in Belgrade, Serbia. I can’t even describe all the incredible flavours coming together to create pure deliciousness in my mouth. They have bakeries everywhere called “Pekara” in Serbian. Probably one or two on every block. They would sell really low-priced and amazing pizzas, and olive bread, and cheesy sticks amazing.
10. Perhaps I’m including too many food ones on this list but for a man time in Belgrade Casey and Grant and I went for “Pljeskavicas” they are these amazing 2/3 pound burgers that are filled with melted cheese in the middle. They sold 1 kg or 2.2 pound ones as well! we never took up the challenge. That’s probably my only regret from Serbia :).
11. Meeting Dragon outside of a church. he had been struggling with alcohol for years. We prayed for him and befriended him and he gave me this gold coloured heart. He said “You are some of my only friends, you have a part of my heart”. He was weeping as he was praying and said he felt really good afterwards.
12. In Turkey we met some amazing world travellers at the hostles, two guys biked all the way from England to Turket and were planning on going to India and maybe China. Oney guy named Andrew just started travelling around tand he would just knock on doors and ask if he could stay at people’s houses. He said it restored all his hope in humanity. The hospitality was unbelievable, some people would urge him to stay longer they would let him use the family care to go sightseeing and just bless him so much. I learned a lot of good travelling advice there.
13. We got to travel by ferry to Asia and back once or twice a week in Istanbul because it has both continents in the city. So now I can say I have been to Asia about 7 times!
14. We got to see so many biblical cities and regions in Turkey and then of course in Israel it was amazing. I was overwhelmed by God’s kindness when we got to go to Antioch (modern day Antakya). It’s the place where Paul and Barnabas were sent out from. We got to go to the actual church where Paul spent a year at before being sent out. We sang some worship songs with some christian tourists from Singapore. It was a really special memory for me because I love to imagine how Paul had prepared himself for so long and still didn’t really have any idea what was ahead of him in life but said “I’ll go”. I feel kind of like that sometimes.
