Race days: Interesting. Challenging. Character building. “The spices are nice” 😉 (
Please see “Runways” blog for understanding that phrase.) So let me describe the ‘good spices,’ and also a little bit of the challenging areas too.
Africa
Race – 8/24/07
Two days before we left Africa, we competed in our first race day. Theoretically, race day is somewhat similar to the Amazing Race TV show. In a scavenger hunt fashion, we literally ran and rode around Pretoria and Johannesburg, South Africa, searching for clues to lead us to the next location. We ran A LOT. I was grateful that I’ve been keeping up with my running routine!
A significant challenge was limited transportation. For instance, although our team was the first to the train station, we waited for an hour for the next train. Also, personally I felt that we spent too much money on transportation for one day. The financial aspect was my biggest concern, since my team has been intentionally wise and diligent in spending team money. (We use personal money for internet time, snacks, some of our meals, our entertainment, etc.) Fortunately, as a result of this race we now have two race coordinators (Jessie and Jenny B.) who set the goal of making races interesting and low costs.
Highlights of the day included squishing in the back of a tiny golf-cart-type vendor vehicle at the zoo, taking pictures of us and four of the Big Five animals (lion, elephant, rhinoceros, leopard, buffalo) and other specified items. We were able to speak to the kind lady that drove us around about our goal of traveling around the world, telling people about Jesus, and also hearing about her goals. Another highlight was meeting two peace seeking western African men at the top of the tallest tower in South Africa, praying over them, encouraging them to know Jesus as the True Peace for all nations.
Results: We ran to the finish line shortly after team Awaken. However, due to a penalty they received earlier in the day, we (Team Concrete) won the first leg of the race!
Prize: $50 of team money “to be spent on whatever we want” and $50 to give “to another team for ministry money.” We gave the $50 of ministry money to Team Awaken. We also decided that the first of our winnings should be consecrated back to the Lord; thus we dedicated our $50 portion to ministry funds. We plan to use it here in Thailand. (Perhaps for a cookout on the beach for the bar-ladies we will be ministering to?—Or a similar relationship-building ministry with them. I’ll keep you posted).
PS- On our way home from Jo’berg, we switched trains 4 or 5 times as announcements were made in Thai, not knowing which train would actually take us home. It was a mad rush – a race alongside the Thai people. I’ve never seen such masses of people running between trains. It was humorous and a much needed tension breaker, a great way to end the day. 😉
