Today we made the wise decision to sleep in a little, eat breakfast and hike out about 7 am instead of 4 am. I thought I wouldn’t sleep much last night because of how cold it was, but I slept great which was much needed after days of mediocre sleep.
As we hiked out, the sun was mostly up. Laura, Emily, and I walked along in high spirits through the rolling grain fields that line most of the Camino. For the first hour or so, we talked and laughed about one hundred and one things! I love those two. It was a fabulous start to the day.
After that, I popped my head phones in and listened to more podcasts. We caught up with the other group that was ahead of us just as it started to sprinkle… “Oh, no. I am already freezing. I don’t want to be wet and freeze. That would not be good.” I started praying, and I’m pretty sure everyone on the trail did too. It seems to have worked because it didn’t get worse than a mist and eventually cleared up.
As we hiked, we talked about how the books of the Bible were chosen. I am sorry to say that I could only come up with three or four of the ten I had to put down on tests in school… I will Google them later.
We also talked about learning styles, favorite memories, and our vision for when we come home. Good conversations are the key to making time pass on the trail.
Once we got to the city we are in tonight, I processed a little of Ukraine. It was an odd month for me. I did enjoy it, but it was our first step back into a success-driven don’t-step-on-someone-else’s-toes, apathetic western culture. It’s hard to live missionally in this culture. Ministry was also sparse for me since I was doing a lot of logistics stuff that month.
However, God taught me a lot about service through our fantastic host, Clinton, who ended up being our friend. He honestly loved us well and befriended us making us feel at home right away. Not many hosts befriend the Racers because of how short a time we are with them, but Clinton did. He would sneakily serve us through his time and random gifts of American food and other things. It was wonderful. God used it to remind me what it means to love people tangibly but also enjoy being around them at the same time. It was good.
Side moment: Clinton is freaking awesome! My whole team 100% agrees, and we talk about/brag about him a lot! He is an amazing human who loves Ukraine and the people there extraordinarily well. He has a passion for God that is evident in what he says and does. He was actually on the second squad to ever go on the Race quite a few years ago and has amazing stories. He even brought Dr. Pepper from the States for us before we even got there. This man is amazing. Clinton, I know you are reading this so thank you for being you and being awesome! God used you to help us cast vision for what Ministry might look like and to bless our team. Thank you.
Ok, back to the regularly scheduled program: God also taught me a lot about experiencing other people’s feelings. We went to Auschwitz that month. There is a blog with all the feels that I wrote, and as I thought about it today, I realized that I need to embrace the ability God has given me to feel other people’s feelings and figure out how to serve the Kingdom well with it. I need to learn how to hone it and what its purpose is…. I’m pretty sure I don’t have an answer to this yet.
After all this processing I took a 3-hour nap in the warmest coziest bed I have been in in a long time. It was the most wonderful thing! I really hate cold. It is 99% not my favorite, so to curl up and sleep was a gift from God.
This evening has been filled with logistics and watching Avatar the Last Air Bender in celebration of our one year anniversary of knowing each other. One year ago today, our training camp started. It’s hard to imagine not knowing these people and not having them as part of my life because I know them so well. They have been the people of the last year of my life. Oh, all the feels right now. Shew, goodbye is going to be hard in two weeks…
Tomorrow is going to be hard, so I’m going to call it a night!
Until then Buen Camino,
Elise
