Wow. I can’t believe I’m coming home in 18 days. It is absolutely surreal. Part of me is SO excited to go home: I cannot wait to see my friends and family who I love so much. I am also excited to have God show me what He wants me to do next in life. I currently only know my passions and dreams, but at least that is a start. There is also a part that is ready to be done with the Race in general because there are some hard aspects about it.
However, I also know that I am going to miss parts of it. I am going to miss the family of 50 that I have lived with, laughed and cried with, made memories with, loved and was loved by, and done ministry with. It’s going to be weird not being with them after being with them 24/7 (quite literally). I also will, honestly, miss the traveling. Travel days are always an adventure and I love going to new countries. It is such a neat thing to meet the international church, do ministry, experiencing the culture to so much more. I love trying different foods, experiencing different things. Also, I will miss the general hilarity of the Race–there are things that happen on the Race that don’t happen anywhere else. My fellow World Racers often say “That was just a typical World Race moment.”
I also am looking forward going back to the states and I’m so pumped to eat some of my favorite foods, I can’t wait to tell people about my adventures and what I’ve learned, and more. However, I also know the transition will be hard. I am still Hannah Gund, but I also have definitely changed. I have grown in intimacy with the Father, I have seen and experienced some crazy and hard things, my world view has changed and expanded.
So what can you do? I guess the main thing is show interest. Currently, I just want to share the things I have gotten to do, the ministry I did (from teaching English, to loving on children who don’t have much), the things in different countries that I have learned and seen (from S-21 in Cambodia, to what it’s like to be a Christian in Vietnam, to hearing the plight of South African farmers), to what I have learned about God and the Christian walk. I want to share what I have learned so that you can also learn from my experience.
Also, please try not to ask “How was your Race?” I will probably answer with “Good, but challenging.” It’s like if I asked you “Sum up your whole last year in a sentence.” If you want to know, it would be helpful to ask direct questions about it that I can answer-and even those may be complicated answers.
Here are some sample questions (but feel free to ask me anything!)
-Who were some people you most connected to on the Race?
-What was your favorite ministry?
-What was your favorite country?
-What was your favorite team?
-What were some of the the lessons you learned?
-What were some cultural norms in said country?
-What were some favorite/least favorite foods you ate?
-Who was your favorite ministry host?
-What was one of the coolest things you got to do on the Race?
-When were you awed by God?
-What is some of your favorite memories?
-What is some of your funniest stories?
-What was your experience with blank population?
At the end of the day, I am incredibly thankful for the friends and family who have supported me on this journey financially, in your prayers, sending a thoughtful word, and more. I am excited to go home and as much as this transition may be hard, I am excited for the things I have learned to be integrated into the Hannah that will be going back to the States (at least for a time). Also, know that I care about you also. You may not have traveled to 11 countries for 11 months, but I WANT to hear about your new job, your new baby, how your life is going, how you are doing, and more. Please let’s have a conversation about both our lives.
P.S. If any of you have a group or church you would like me to share my experience with, please let me know. If you have a small group, church, or something else, I would love to. Just email me, Facebook me, or comment in this blog. And you don’t even have had to financially supported me to ask. I don’t want to be boastful in my experience, but I want to share what I have learned and experienced because there is so much we can learn from. For instance, I got to experience the church in a closed country–why is that important? Because I saw God protecting His church and I got to see the Christians still living on fire for the Lord.
