part 1 of the journey that is the world race

here
is an overview of the first three months of my journey.  it is really hard to pick just a few pictures
and stories of what has happened in these months, but here is the best pictures
and descriptions of the first 3 months of my trip!!  please enjoy!!

also,
i want to thank you so much for supporting me thus far on my journey!! it has
meant a lot, not only to me, but to all these people who i have come in contact
with over this year.  just as a reminder,
i still have about $2700 more dollars to raise, until i am fully supported!!
thank you so much!!

january:  in new zealand we worked with inner city kids
doing a summer program.  it was amazing,
because we handed out free eggs to the families and we had the kids come to our
house and we hung out with them everyday. 
because of your support that you have already given me, we were able to
feed the kids lunch everyday and also take them on various field trips to
places they have never seen, even though they live only 20 minutes from
them.  we also did a bible story everyday
with them.  it was to teach them
encouragement, that they one day can get out of their neighborhood and go off
the school.  it was so much fun!!

february:  in australia we were in a location called
byron bay.  byron bay is the most easterly
point in australia.  so because of this,
there is an abundance of backpackers that come through here.  it is also known as one of the best surfing
places around.  so in byron bay most
people believe in something.  most of the
times the people are looking for some kind of spiritual intervention.  so our job was to talk with these people and
offer them a different kind of spirituality. 
it was our job to talk about jesus to these people.  they were in need of something to feel the
void in their souls.  so how we did this,
is we played beach volleyball and fed them in the park.  we would set up 2 volleyball nets and have
tournaments.  we would go around the
beach and ask random people to come and play volleyball with us.  it was a great way to get to know people and
ask them why they are in byron bay.  it
was also a great way to tell people why we were in byron.  that was a great ministry.  we also would cook in the evenings in the
park for all the people of the community. 
that was a great opportunity to talk with different people.  i met someone who i still think about and
pray about everyday.  roma was someone
who i met at the park.  i got the
opportunity to share with him about my past life.  he is somebody who is just confused about
life, so i offered to help him.  i was
somebody who he could talk with that wouldn’t judge him.  it was probably one of the best relationships
i developed in byron.  i also met someone
else at the park that i continue to email with today.  and so because of your support you have
already given me, we were able to have bbqs in the park and i was able to build
relationships with different people.

march:  the philippines was probably my favorite
country.  we worked in the slums of
manila.  we worked with the people and
the children of this village.  they were
a very poor community that did not have a lot or really have a lot to live
for.  so what we did was amazing.  and we were able to do all of this, because
of the support that you have already given me. 
we were able to do home visits and give everyone we met a bible, if they
didn’t already have one.  we also were
able to do a medical mission, because these people don’t ever get a chance to
make it to the doctor when they are sick. 
we also got to do one of my favorite things, which was hang out with the
kids!  we did a feeding program everyday,
which involved feeding the kids, playing with the kids, doing a bible lesson,
giving them toothbrushes and singing songs. 
it was by far one of the best times i have had on the race.  there were so many kids that came too.  i think the biggest group we had one day was
well over 100 kids!  god is so
amazing!  in the village area we also did
2 different bible studies.   the guys on
my team did one with the men of the village and the girls and i did one for the
women of the village.  each time we did
this, more and more people came!  we also
were able to give more and more bibles out to the people!  we also did a church service every week.  my team was actually the first team to do
this in this village, which is just amazing!! 
and of course i keep in contact with our contact and she said they are
still doing the church service every week and the bible study keeps growing,
that they have added a youth bible study!! 
god is just amazing!!  i thank you
so much for all the prayers and support for this village!  we also met a little boy named jason (whose
picture is below), who had a really bad cleft palate.  it was so bad that he couldn’t even eat and
get the vitamins and minerals he needed to grow and be healthy.  we prayed for this little boy to get healthy
and to get better.  as a team, we bought
him special bottle nipples, that his family could not afford, so he could actually
drink milk.  even after we left the
philippines, we continued to pray that jason could get free surgery to correct
his mouth.  of course at first he
couldn’t, because he was so underweight, but since my team and i bought him
special bottle nipples and some extra special baby formula, he was able to put
on enough weight to get the surgery!  and
so in september, he finally got the surgery! 
he no longer has a severe cleft palate!! 
he gets a chance to grow up and become a healthy boy!!  praise god!! 
this is just one of the many stories i have seen in the
philippines!!!