So how was your trip? What country did you like the best? What’s the craziest thing you saw? What types of things happened? Did you feel safe the whole time?
Our team has been doing a lot of talking, about memories, crazy God moments, and just all the ridiculous stuff, that for the past 11 months has been our new normal.
So in the little bit I can explain here they are, some my favorites, and not so favorites, the things ill miss, and can’t wait to leave behind from each country.
LETS BEGIN
KENYA:
MONTH TITLE: spreading a little joy.
A highlight:
Went on a boat ride to see hippo’s put too many people on the boat which didn’t help the fact that water was getting in the boat, that we (at least I) were unaware of. A big thanks to our favorite 12 year old Ronny for scooping water out of the boat, and thank you to the boat for not sinking so the hippos didn’t eat us!
so very squished on a bench seat made for three.
Oh and I turned 22!
The ministry:
lots of door-to-door, home visits, and evangelism and a whole bunch of getting to know some awesome people and children.
UGANDA:
MONTH TITTLE: Mud fest 2011 (the muddiest place on earth)
A highlight: Bungeed jumped…with the amazing Olivia Coward
And then almost died rafting the Nile. (woops we went down a waterfall, an un-raftable class 6 waterfall,no big deal) ….oh I will forever have nightmares about the bad place. An amazing, ridiculous experience but Mark my words I will NEVER raft the Nile again.
The ministry:
Taught at schools the whole month. Lots of wild 4th graders. Did some home visits.
RWANDA
MONTH TITLE: Preach-a-palooza
highlights: Some firsts with our Rwandan friends while we were there, for one we got to take some of them out for pizza for their FIRST time ever, and getting to teach Bosco how to swim. Our adventure to the Congo and the fun that turned into was also something not to be forgotten.
The ministry:
Preaching all the time, everywhere. We preached on the radio, at church’s, in markets, at banks, and in homes. We got to take part in many overnight services as well, which are referred by us as “the overnights”. A whole lot of good times with our contacts this month.
My favorites in Africa
Chapati (yummy bread)
The babies
The african accent
The views, the fields the scenery there!
Every day being an adventure
Kids screaming MAZUNGOOOO
genocide memorial
Sweet milk moments (what we referred to when experiencing a quintessential im in Africa on the world race moment)
Not the actual squatty BUT the consistency of the squatty (just being honest when your sick it’s nice to know that the toilet will never get clogged bc of not being able to flush it)
The fact that we could fit 12 people and a baby in 5 person taxi.
Dancing all the time.
Church services
Qatar airlines
one of our first travel days
My not so favorites in Africa
Having to drink soda ALL the time
The porridge
Sweaty internet cafes
Getting served strange fish
The actual squatty and bucket baths.
The feeling of sleeping under a mosquito net.
The mud…shout out to Kampala!
Driving on the bumpiest roads
Matatu Alley in Kampala (hell may or may not actually be matatu alley)
The Migori rush/Migori riots
getting my pants soaked with a baday
Singing the same songs for churches alllllllll the time.
strange fish
PHILIPPINES:
MONTH TITLE: Welcome back to America.
Highlights:
Swimming underneath a waterfall. Getting to live in Manila for 6 weeks after just coming out of Africa. Arvin “BEAN”. The biggest highlight there could be! ALSO having an amazing thanksgiving meal headed up by the wonderful Cindi Williams.
Ministry:
Helped out at an orphanage with KIM ministries for 6 amazing weeks. Got to know beautiful girls at the JAZZ home who came from abusive and broken homes. Were able to be a part of community feedings and street kid ministry that month. And lets not forget all the digging we did, and putting together a full size trampoline.
THAILAND:
MONTH TITLE: Hoe Down Throw Down.
HIGHLIGHT: We were in Thailand for Christmas, which meant lots of Christmas parties. Our contact wanted us to sing some songs and dance at this one big Christmas party that would be giving out operation Christmas child shoeboxes that night. About 1,000 people were there. We thought well surely she must be joking about the dancing, but Nope, she wasn’t. Well a quick practice and there we were performing the hoe down throw down performed by (im embarrassed to admit it) Miley Cyrus. There’s a video to prove this.
Ministry:
Christmas evangelism, taught English sang Taylor swift songs with Thai highschoolers and had a lot of really good relationships built. This was an all ladies month; all of our men were of doing some sweet man ministry. Good month but hard because of the location we were in.
CAMBODIA
MONTH TITLE: Sweat.
Highlights:
One of my favorite months. Getting to go and be exposed to the lives of workers of families in a brick kiln, was something that deeply affected me.
Our team got to go to Angkor Wat which may be one of the coolest things for me. Took a 5 hour bus ride there, that stopped a million times, and due to a lack of seats Brian had to sit on his shoe on the floor the whole time, then on the way back we rented a taxi van because it was late, stopped at KFC to eat and then the van broke down, the traveling that day was insane, Angkor Wat though was great!
Ministry:
Taught English everyday this month. Got the privilege to spend time with the families at a brick kiln, and give them food. Re-built a home for a widow, and built relationships with the community.
helping re-build a home for a widow using banana leaves.
MALAYSIA
MONTH TITLE: Buy a Bear Save a Life.
Highlights:
Being on an Island was quite the treat, one of our off days we were able to go hiking through a national forest to a white sand beach. Along with hiking Penang Hill (but having to watch out for crazed monkeys ready to attack at any moment). We lived with another team this month and got to celebrate Valentines Day together with a rooftop candle lit dinner for 13 racers and a beautiful lady named cat that we met that month working at the hospital that was a completely unforgettable valentines day.
Ministry:
We did fundraising this month with Penang Adventist Hospital (came in handy with all of my infections that month) We fundraised for the heart foundation at the hospital by selling little teddy bears for 10 riggit each. Singing original classics by Lills and Bills such as “Buy a bear save a life” and “10 riggit can save a life” We raised over $8,000 in 10 days woot woot. Got a pizza party for that one! We also were able to participate in a community outreach each Wednesday night with a homeless shelter.
fundraising team 🙂
CHINA:
MONTH TITLE: Diet
Highlights: Getting to live in one of the apartments with a group of children at the orphanage made the whole month for me. Getting to take them out on 2 on 2’s (2 adults/2 kids…simple enough) always turned into a good time. The children Andrea and I lived with were all not walkers because of their physical handicaps so instead of looking for strollers or wheel chairs we decided to carry two 6 year olds around town for the whole day….ha, I thought I broke both my shoulders and arms at one point….and of course the great wall of china.
flying a kite on the great wall!
Ministry: Worked and lived at Eagles wings orphanage. Another huge part of our month and ministry that month was dry walling an apartment for the babies to move into. Intense does not even begin to describe that process…none of us had ever done any of the sort before, thank God for some quick learners!
(side not: The babies are all moved in, and the apartment is done!)
My Favorites In Asia:
The food! Thai night markets and street food, and Noodles, Noodles, Noodles!
Bean!
Bakery trips
Mekong River
The cutest kids in the world.
Worship nights in the Philippines
Plane rides, not always buses.
Our made up hotel, room of sanctuary at Kim ministry
Fruit!!
street kid ministry
The Great Wall.
Bicycle rides in Cambodia
Thai culture
"Underground Worship" in China during debrief
All the cool temples.
Spending a month with Yung
Sharing the gospel with a Muslim lady and then her offering to pray for me
Rice field in Cambodia.
The beach in Penang
eating a fried grasshopper
Milk tea!
Jeepneys
24 hour Bangkok airport experience!
Goodbye party in Cambodia
(our cheesy pic. for 24 hour Bangkok travel day makeovers!!)
thanksgiving!
BEAN!
goodbye party in Cambodia.
My Not so favorites in Asia:
No English anywhere.
An elephant has still not picked me up.
Sweating every second of the day.
Sleeping in a sweatbox in Cambodia, no fans, no electricity only you your tent and sweat.
dirty water
On foot boarder crossing from Thailand to Cambodia
Not knowing what will be in your dumpling when you order one. (kinda fun though)
Throwing up in a squatty in Cambodia
ALL MY INFECTIONS: leg infections, Staph infection, in grown hair infections, infection that is still currently on my leg, armpit bump/cyst/boil infection, strep throat that went to long and caused oh you guessed it another skin infection!
Living with 30+ people in the Philippines/ while this was great at times, it was mega hard at times.
The 4 am chanting by monks that happened over loud speakers in Cambodia.
The rats in Malaysia.
Losing my towel during month 4 and therefore having to use my clothes to dry off for the rest of the race (7 whole months)
trains in china, at least the overnight ones with no beds.
Waiting over night for a taxi during the winter outside in China! (oh and I was throwing up in a bag that whole time)
The spitting in China
Here we are smiling, not realizing the 3 hour boarder crossing into Cambodia with our packs on we were in store for. Always ends up as a good story though
Trying my best to conquer the impossible by falling asleep in my seat on our train in China.
UKRAINE:
MONTH TITLE: Surprise parties
Highlights: Ukraine was such a wonderful surprise; we had no idea it was going to turn into one of the most amazing months of the year. Getting to live with our host family for the month while they loved the crap out of us and served us the whole time made us the most blessed people ever. Learning the ukulele that month was up there for me.
Ministry: Going to parks with lots of instruments and rollerblades and just singing to make people happy. Hospital visits and home visits. Gardening and fixing fences.
ROMANIA:
MONTH TITLE: Bed bugs.
Highlights: We took a three day trip up north in Romania with our contact to Alba Lulia. The area was amazing and looked like it was straight out of a magazine about European country side, at least I thought so and the neighbors giving up their home for those three days and giving us a place to stay. We spent one day in a 2,000-year-old city visiting a roman fort. One of the coolest memories I have is a group of us going into a huge 1,000-year-old church and singing in it just for fun and listening to the amazing echo it created.
Ministry: We were with two other teams this month and worked with a church, with the king of all ministry delegation, Raul. We helped in after school programs in gypsy communities and with children at the church. Cleaned some houses, prayed for all the missionaries in the church and were also able to hand out bibles.
MOLDOVA
MONTH TITLE: Cherries
Highlights: We went on a family visit across town last week. We were walking over there when we came across a huge baby pit bull that was definitely not trained yet. After trying to jump in front of cars multiple times and almost commuting doggy suicide he survived and was fallowing us the whole way, jumping and barking and trying to kill other dogs. Eventually we made it to the house and guess who came running through the gate behind us, the dog! He saw a cat at this families home and with all his energy he went charging towards that poor thing while we are watching hoping that the cat doesn’t die and little four year old boy comes around the corner running with a terrified look on his face, the poor thing was just playing in the back yard when this crazy dog comes charging in. Luckily all things ended well and his mom had a good laugh (as well as us) our contact kept telling us over and over again that we helped to make such a good memory for him to think about and then laugh. Haha we do what we can.
Ministry: Eating cherries ha! VBS with the church, home visits, playing volleyball, helping plant and cut wood for families. Church visits. And some more of teaching English.
My favorites of Eastern Europe
Compote
Yalta, Black Sea
The Russian language/culture and all the Elaina’s everywhere (of course the spelling is Elena)
Romanian Gypsy kids
Borscht
Eating Cherries
Balalaikas
Learning to drive stick shift
Running
Tea, lots and lots of tea!
Coffee vending machines.
Not being completely obvious as a foreigner.
Vladamere and Nadia
My not so favorites of Eastern Europe:
Sweaty sleeper trains
The smallest bus seats in the world over night to Romania
Getting eaten by bed bugs in Romania
Having our door kicked in
The 8 pounds I gained since Asia. It proves to be true that if you eat only bread and cookies for every meal 3 months straight you WILL gain weight.
Mayonnaise
Streamer toilet paper
Constant smell of old clothing (this currently coming from Lilli as I type “I feel like I’m sleeping in an attack, this shirt smells so bad”)
oh my! This of course does not explain my whole 11 months but you have a pretty good idea.
The world race you were a whole bunch of a whole lot. (really can’t think of the right adjective) You, and the amazing people I have gained as sisters and brothers will be missed ever so much.
now this is a good time! haha these moments and beautiful ladies will be very much missed
But I am excited to go home, use a towel and change into something clean!!
lots of Love -Elaina
