In 6 days I’ll be back in America…crazy, only 6 more days. I feel like I just landed in Quito just a few days ago. In a few short days this crazy journey will come to an end and I will be back to a life in America that I sometimes struggle to remember what it was like. Soon I will no longer have to share a bed or a room with anyone else. I’ll be able to just get in my car and go as I please. I will be able to wake up and make every decision on my own, without someone telling me where I need to be or what I need to do for the first time in a while. I’m so excited to get home and get back to “normal” life, but in the end after all the excitement and newness of home wears off I know I’ll want to be back on the opposite side of the world eating beans and rice, living in a jungle tree house, loving on dirty orphans in Africa, and taking cold bucket showers.
Top 11 things I’ve missed this year (besides people and my dogs)
1. Good healthy food
2. My car
3. Ice cubes and cold water
4. Fast internet
5. A washer and dryer
6. A real bed and a real pillow
7. Air conditioning
8. Alone time
9. Church in English
10. Being able to go for a run
Top 11 Best Off Day Adventures
1. Waking up on my birthday to the jungle boys holding balloons and saying “feliz cumpleanos” and then spending the day Ecuadorian jungle at the river with the jungle boys, jumping off the bridge and swimming in rapids and finishing the night off with some home-made pizza
2. Riding elephants in Thailand and taking a bamboo raft down the river
3. Going white water rafting in Bolivia and then having a wild monkey climb up my leg
4. Seeing the sunrise and sunset at Angkor Wat in Cambodia
5. Hiking the top of Mt Dajti in Albania
6. Going snorkeling in Cambodia
7. Hiking in the Drakensburg Mountains in South Africa to see the second tallest waterfall in the world
8. Going on a safari in South Africa and petting a wild cheetah
9. Hiking through the Andes in Peru
10. Hiking for 6 hours through the Ecuadorian jungle to a waterfall that we never found
11. The countless waterfalls, rivers, and lakes I’ve swam and bathed in this year
Top 11 Memories from This Year
1. Exploring Qatar and going “swimming” in the Persian Gulf at 3am
2. Reading the random verses of the Bible to boys at our camp in South Africa and after every verse they would pause, smile, and say “oh that was good”
3. Going to the bush in Mozambique
4. Finally moving all those dumb rocks in Ecuador
5. Racing the kids in Swaziland at the care point
6. Playing soccer in a monsoon in Cambodia
7. Going to Burma right before their first real democratic elections
8. Celebrating 11/11 at 11:11pm with IMMORTALS and kitchen time until 3am
9. Hanging out with the jungle boys each day In Ecuador
10. Hearing God speak to me on the top of a Bolivian mountain
11. Beheading a chicken with a machete
Top 11 Things I’ve Learned This Year, Plus a Few More
1. The world is a lot smaller than we all think, and traveling it isn’t that hard either – you can always find someone who speaks English
2. It is possible to poop in a grocery bag – don’t ask – there have been many times this year where we all have lost our dignity. We might need to be re-civilized
3. God wants to conquer our struggles but he isn’t going to do it alone. He wants to grab our hand and walk with us, defeating them together
4. Squatty potties should be introduced to America and so should be the “squirter”
5. Coca-Cola and Justin Bieber have reached every corner of the globe
6. Even living as a “missionary” you still have to put effort into your relationship with God. It isn’t just one sided
7. We are free, yet many times we choose to sit our own prisons when the door is wide open for us to walk into Christ’s freedom. He has conquered our sin so why do we continue to live in them?
8. Washing clothes in a bucket is easy but no matter how much detergent you use it never gets the bad smells out
9. A/C is a beautiful invention that needs to be used more often in other countries
10. Cold showers are great when its 100 degrees outside
11. South America, Africa, and Asia have yet to learn what “safety” means
12. My calling isn’t to be a missionary or have a “Christian” job and I am one-hundred-percent okay with that.
13. It is possible to actually enjoy countless months sweating yourself to sleep, taking cold bucket showers, eating beans and rice, and living in a tree house
19 countries
15 flights
Countless hours spent on buses
I’m coming home
See you soon America…
