The Race has begun. Dud Duh DUH!
I left my family at the airport after a heart wrenching goodbye. Right before I left we had the chance to go on a mini vacation at the Oregon Coast. We had an amazing time and made some awesome family memories together. It has only been a few days and I already miss them so much.
After leaving my family I was promptly halted by the TSA at security. (note to self, do not forget about a jar of honey in your bag and then attempt to bring it through security) haha although it ended up ok, the lady was very kind and understanding. Unfortunately I did not to get to eat it.
After passing through security I felt a little broken inside. I decided to read notes people had given me in attempt to bring up spirits. Yeah that was a mistake. After reading just one of the letters I ended up breaking down and crying in some random gate at the Portland airport. Luckily not to many people were around to notice.
After my 8 hour plane ride ended and I arrived in Atlanta I started making my way to grab my luggage. As I was walking through I saw a shiny object in the form of Chick Filet. I have only had Chick Filet once and I absolutely loved it. I had not eaten in a while so I decided heck yes Im going to eat there. The line ended up being really long so when I finally got my chick filet I found a nearby table and ate my delicious burger. Keep in mind at this point I had still not grabbed my bag and it had been a whole half hour. It finally clicked in my mind that I was forgetting about something incredibly important so I started sprinting down the Atlanta airport to reach my bags. When I made it to baggage claim I looked around and there were maybe two or three bags. . . and none of them were mine. At this point I started to freak out a little bit and after searching for a while I realized there was a spot they placed the bags that hadn’t been grabbed so it all ended up ok. After this I walked to the central part of the airport where we had all met up for training camp, looked around and saw . . . no one from World Race. I had kind of just assumed it would be the same situation as last time so I did not think to check where we were meeting. So i pulled out my computer and figured it out. I ended up finding another racer and together we took a shuttle to Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites. So yeah I guess you could say that getting there was a bit of a struggle.
I was at the Hotel very early and was one of the first of my squad to show up, however slowly I started to see my racers and that was just what I needed to boost my spirits. It was absolutely fantastic to see all these friends again and it made my heart so happy. Later that night we had a session in which we worshipped and had a talk presented by one of the World Race staff. After that we went out as teams and parents of racers in team Geronimo and ate a dinner together. It was awesome to get to know my fellow teammates parents and ask them questions. Later that night I went back to the room I shared with Sam, Russell, and Aaron, then promptly fell asleep.
The next day we were in Sessions most of the day taking breaks for lunch and dinner. The talk that stuck out to me most was one presented by, well I actually don’t remember her name, but she talked about the importance of pressing into the pain. When you are working out and it hurts that usually means your doing something right, and you have to press into that and take yourself to that “other place” Well the same thing can be said spiritually and mentally speaking. She told us to set goals wether they are fasting, working out, waking up early with a bible study, living only on the provided budget, or basically anything else that doesn’t come easy, that you would have to work for. I challenged myself to Wake up early and read the 7 pages of the bible a day, to journal if only a little bit every day, and to fast every Friday. I am going to need Your guy’s help and prayers to stay committed to these goals for these next 9 months, because I am weak, I am human and only through God can I hope to accomplish these goals. the home, the school who we are working with. thought i was getting away from school.
Later that night we had a team meeting and we got to learn what exactly the ministry we will be working in for the next 3 months is. It is called Engadi ministries. It was established in order to grow a generation of young boys into strong men of christ. The boys are brought to this “ranch” outside the city where they can get an education learn valuable life skills, Hear about Jesus, and turn their backs on destructive lifestyles. Without any intervention these boys will on average join a gang at the age of 14, father 6 sons, rape 3 women, kill 10 men and die at the age of 24. So if these boys are pulled away from this at an early age then that is not only one life saved, but 3 women who are not raped, and ten men who are not killed. These boys from the age of grade school up to college are brought to one of the two boarding schools of sorts and slowly discipled into into men who can go back into their community and influence it for the better. However because of some legal issues and corrupt government officials these homes for the boys have been shut down for the time being. We are all hoping and praying that God would come through soon in the courtrooms and Engadi could resume their ministries. I would ask that you guys would pray for that as well.
We will not be working directly with the Engadi ministries however, our job is to go into the local school and teach ESL to the local elementary and middle school children. Through this we are giving the children chances for a brighter future, forming relationships with members of the community and building up confidence in Engadi Ministries. The way we teach these kids English is completely up to us, we get to work as a team to form a teaching style that can get the kids speaking in basic english conversations. I just graduated from high school and I was hoping I would be away from school for a bit longer, I guess God had different plans.
