Dear Future Racer,
The World Race is like something you’ve never experienced before in your life. Therefore, I am writing this blog to give you some advice to endure the next 11 months of your life. You will learn so many things if you just continue to seek the Lord for His guidance and keep an open mind to what this beautiful world has to offer.
Community living: Living with 5 or 6 other like-minded people in obscure living circumstances is definitely going to reveal parts of you that you never knew were there. People will see the real you, call you higher (to be more like Christ) and love you anyway. Community living is so uncomfortable. You learn to let down all of your walls because that’s all you really can do when you have 6 other people that see you for who you really are. However, it is a really beautiful thing to be able to live with people who are willing to do with life you everyday and hopefully won’t grow tired of you. They will help you to learn about how the Lord sees you, more about the Word, how to be vulnerable, or even just teach you how to see the world with a different pair of eyes.
The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers. A sense of awe came over everyone. God performed many wonders and signs through the apostles. All the believers were united and shared everything. Acts 2:42-44
Ministry: I remember at training camp when they gave us time to ask alumni racers questions about how ministry was set up or how life would look in different countries and their answers were always ask your ministry host. So basically the best way to go into a new country is to not have any expectations. For example, if your set up sheet says you’re going to a village, that may mean you have an outhouse for a bathroom but still have wifi. “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.” -Forrest Gump That basically sums up every country. They tell you one thing, but it’s probably not going to be the way you expect it. You may have a schedule, you may not. For example, when we were India, our host told us that we were leaving at 5:30pm, but he wouldn’t even be ready until around 6. It also helps to not even ask too many questions because the truth is no one really knows the answer until it even happens.
Therefore, stop worrying about tomorrow because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34
Feedback: A daunting and intimidating word that is thrown around so much on the Race. Feedback can be such a beautiful tool to help encourage and build one another up. Don’t be afraid to say what needs to be said because it can help someone grow and will show them that you love them and want the best for them. There are so many times where I wished I had said something to a teammate, but I didn’t because I was afraid of how they would react. Don’t feel like you are responsible for peoples reactions. They will react how they want, but it has nothing to do with you. By the end of the Race this will become something that is so natural and will help you see how to love others better.
Conduct yourselves with all humility, gentleness, patience. Accept each other with love, and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties you together. Ephesians 4:2-3
Homesickness: It’s going to happen. You’re probably shaking your head right now, but trust me I was in the same place you were a year ago. I got homesick about month 8. Our living circumstances were not very good at all and we didn’t really have a lot of ministry that month. So you can imagine we had a lot of free time. Time to think about things at home. One thing that helped me through my sickness was to look at where I was in that moment and thank the Lord that he had given me the opportunity to serve him. For the opportunity to be in such a beautiful country with people I loved. There were other times I got homesick on the Race, but month 9 was significant because it was probably my hardest month. However, it helps to be thankful even in the tough times because it could always be worse. The Lord delights in us and when things get hard he is still right there with us holding our hands.
Don’t be anxious about anything; rather bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. Philippians 4:6
Distractions: You will get distracted whether it’s by a cute person on your squad, the enemy, wifi, etc., but don’t let it distract you completely from why you are on this journey. A distraction on the race is something that could sway you into the behavior of just going through the motions and not putting your full potential into your team, ministry, or relationship with the Lord. Distractions come up pretty often because you have a lot of free time and the enemy knows just how to get you. Personally, I get distracted by wifi, but the enemy also knows my weaknesses. So don’t let the enemy get a foothold and remember to stay constant in prayer. I also want to challenge you to stay present and be willing to listen to your teammates. There are going to be some tough times and your teammates are going to need someone to verbally process with.
Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind so that you can figure out what God’s will is–what is good and pleasing and mature. Romans 12:2
I could go on and on, but I feel as if these are some of the essentials. You can do this and you have so many people praying for you! It will be hard, but the Lord has promised to never leave you nor forsake you! The Lord is so proud of you for all that you are going to do! Bring Kingdom wherever you go and never be afraid to share the Fathers love.
Love,
Emmy
