“Be interruptible”. I cannot tell you how many times that was said to my squad at training camp/at launch/ and over and over again on the race and this last travel day(s), we got to experience what being interruptible truly meant.
We were told leaving Quito, Ecuador we would have a long travel day to get to Peru and that we should plan accordingly. So I thought “Okay, so I’ll buy an extra bottle of water and a bag of chips and make sure my phone is charged so I can listen to music”. Now while that is all fine and dandy, I quickly learned that those items would not be enough. We were told that our first bus would be leaving Quito at 8pm on Thursday evening and we would drive all night to the border and 12 hours later we would arrive at the Peruvian border. When we crossed from Colombia into Ecuador it was a simple, easy process so I assumed the same would be true crossing from Ecuador into Peru. I was wrong. We stood in line for over 4 hours in the hot Peruvian sun waiting to get our passports “checked out” of Ecuador and “checked into” Peru. And once that adventure was done, I bought a Gatorade and an ice cream sandwich for celebrations sake and got back on the bus thinking the worst was behind us. Again, I was not correct.
We had a quick 45-minute trip to the town of Tumbes, Peru where we would wait for the next bus that would drive us to Lima, an estimated 20 hours. The squad got off the bus and crossed the street and settled down and we waited. Our teams leaders went off to buy our tickets for the busses later that day (it was about 2 pm) so the rest of us had nothing else to do but wait. 
After spending the night before on a bus and the grueling customs lines, it isn’t difficult to find rest wherever you can, even if it means on the side of the road somewhere in Peru. A group of 58 white people in South America attracts attention and it wasn’t long before the Tourism Police showed up. No one knew why they were there at first (because of the language barrier) but we then learned that we were in an “unsafe area” and they wanted to make sure that we weren’t targeted for theft or anything like that. Awesome. As if I wasn’t concerned enough with sitting on the side of the road in the same clothes I had been wearing for going on 20+ hours, now we also have to be aware that we are targets for theft. Super bueno.
After about 4 hours of sitting/sleeping on the side of the road we learned that there were no busses leaving for Lima that day and out first option was at 3 pm the following day. So that’s really good because now we had a plan but we were left with one tiny detail that still needed to be figured out, where were we going to sleep until our bus departed the following day. But once again, the Tourism Police stepped in and helped us out. They knew of a hostel nearby that was safe and inexpensive and they would drive us there because now, it had started to rain.
So we loaded up our packs and our people into different police trucks and headed over to the hostel. It looked like a scene straight out of a movie. There were flashing lights and tons of people moving in and around us with the rain falling and picking up with each passing minute.
I couldn’t help at one point to look around and just smile and laugh. This is what my life has become since going on the race. I have so little control of everything that goes on around me yet the Lord is so faithful in providing for me even in the ways I couldn’t have even imagined. If everything had gone “according to plan” we would not have even met the Tourism Police. We would not have stayed the night in a hostel in Tumbes, Peru. We would not have gotten to take a shower and change our clothes (God is so good y’all) and I would not have the memory of having a police escort with officers who spoke only Spanish yet were determined to have a conversation on the drive over.
Be interruptible. Be flexible. Know that your plans ALWAYS come second to His plan and sometimes when a prayer goes unanswered, like that our bus would be soon, it may be because He has something better in mind.
Don’t worry, the next day we got on the bus and started the trip to Lima. The ride ended up being 24 hours instead of 20 due to river flooding that we had to wait for it to subside but in the end we all got safely to Lima. And the views from the bus were pretty incredible 
My team and I this month are partnering with YWAM (Youth With A Mission) and we will be working with several churches and organizations here in Lima. I am excited for the ways God’s going to show up and change our plans these next few weeks because I’m sure that what He has in store for us is more than any of us could possible imagine.
