This is blog is an interview I did with two guys on my team. We talk about growth, living in community and a few other things! Both Philip Ebere Wilson and Ben Ross Chung are really great guys who I hope to stay friends with for a very long time. Enjoy.
Elijah Truth Bontrager: So what brought you guys to The World Race?
Philip Ebere Wilson: I’m gonna be honest, I saw a Facebook ad and at the time I was in high school and I did not know or have any plans of what I wanted to do after school, and God really laid on my heart that this is what he wanted me to do and so I signed up a week after hearing about The World Race. And I got accepted a week after that.
Ben Ross Chung: So I found out about the race from one of my moms coworkers and at the time I was applying for the peace corps, but they only accept college graduates and I am not. and at the time I really wanted to leave the country and The World Race let me do both of those things. At the time of me applying I was actually agnostic but I really still want to help people.
Eli: What is one thing about community living that took you by surprise?
Ben: So community living has been really challenging for me. I am just introverted by nature so just living with so many people is very very tiring, and there’s no real space that you can go I just be alone. So that has been a really big challenge.
Phil: Back home I come from a big family, and I was not excited about community living. I’m always one who would be introverted at home and I was actually surprised at how well I think I adapted. it is interesting living with a bunch of guys your age but I have enjoyed it more than I was expecting. So that was the biggest surprise. How much I really enjoy it.
Eli: What is something you want to grow in over the next 6 months of the race?
Ben: One thing I want to learn in the next 6 months is learning to engage and communicate with people in my space, and do it well. Because when I go to college and get my own place I’ll probably have roommates and in the future I will need that to have a happy family.
Phil: A lot of my life has been seeking the knowledge of God‘s personality without seeking him as a actual being that I can talk to you and have a relationship with. So one thing that I hope to grow in is more intimacy with God and experiencing things that might not make logical sense to me in my mind. But I’m just having faith that he is who he says he is and that I can communion with him.
Eli: In what ways do you think you have grown the most so far on the race?
Phil: The thing I have grown most on the race is I think I’ve realized that not every Christian has the same relationship with God. And we all have a different identity in him. and that I’ve been able to kind of search out the gifts that he’s given me and try growing in my own identity and finding the ways that I can relate with him personally.
Ben: A big thing that I have grown in, in the past three months is just learning to actually have a conversation with God rather than talk at him. And leaving room for him to speak back to you it is very important. And that is something I am just learning now, and I am already seeing the fruit of that now. So that has been really awesome.
Eli: What is your favorite thing about our team as a whole?
Phil: One of my favorite things about team silverbacks is how quickly we were able to become a team, and that throughout the three months that we’ve actually been living with each other. We don’t totally despise each other
Ben: My favorite thing about Team Silverbacks is just how much we have really together as a team. Because we started out with a lot of hesitation to grow together. I don’t think of ever been this close to people I met just four months ago in my entire life. And it’s just been really impressive to see everyone open up and be vulnerable with each other.
Eli: You are on a desert island. You get one person from your team and one liquid.
Phil: The one person I would pick to be stuck on an island with me would be Carter Blackwell. He has experience with trees and stuff. I will choose something really boring by saying just really refreshing water. But I can’t think of anything else.
Ben: I would bring Elijah Bontrager *fratsnap* because I feel he would be really entertaining and if worse comes to worse I can eat him. I would also bring apple cider cause it’s really tasty.
Eli: What will be the first thing you eat when you get back the to states?
Ben: Probably Korean barbecue or sushi.
Phil: My heart says Chick-fil-A spicy deluxe with extra pepper jack cheese and bacon. But my brain I should say is anything my mom cooks for me because I love you mom.
Eli: Well men this has been a major pleasure. Thank you both very much.
