HEY! I’m finally writing a blog updating you all on my journey in squad leading! To make it easy to follow along, I’m providing a billion pictures for you. You’re welcome.
The first 17 days I was with Team POWER(s) outside of Los Chiles, Costa Rica. What did we do? Well, we dug and dug and dug holes. We also washed off some concrete that the rain did daily anyways. Seriously though, there are some times when hosts ask us to do some quite interesting things, and we don’t understand why. But we do them, because we are here to serve them.
After that I spent the rest of the month with Team Comeback Kids (later known as Team Space Team) in the capitol of Costa Rica: San Jose. By the time I got there, the team finished the majority of their work which was prison ministry. During that time, I was blessed by an American host, with a washer + dryer (never seen an actual dryer on my race), and was blessed by the most hilarious and outgoing team.
The best part of my time in Los Chiles was ‘Siesta Time.’ Our host integrated a coffee break and 2 hour nap time in the middle of our work. His exact words: “I’m much more productive after a 2 hour nap.” We took it.
Never again will I hold a giant snake. And many don’t know this, but this snake is currently dead. And the reason why I was gagging was because there were things moving inside of it still. *gag*
*insert cheesy quote about heel clicking and how exciting the Race is*
During this fabulous month, our entire squad of 46 missionaries came together to do ministry as one body. Our ministry was to door-to-door evangelism all over the area of Chinandega. It was incredibly stretching and quite exhausting to do this ministry everyday. But we saw some incredibly fruit from that month.
This was a harder month for most of us because we all had to live together as well. Can you imagine hosting a home of 46 American’s who are from complete different backgrounds, cultures, and churches? Adding onto that is the reality that I’m one of the leaders. So with that, everyone wants to talk to you everyday. Part of me gushes. The other part of me longs for a quiet attic to curl up in. I love them too much though to not talk to them. *insert heart emoji*
Travel day outfits are strategic.
This child looked exactly like my niece when she was this young. It was the best.
Wonderful part of this month was the amount of times we were able to visit the beach for some extremely salty water.
idk. it just looks like a cool pic.
One of the woman on my squad says to me, “Huntie. I want a selfie of our mustaches together.” So there we have it.
This one girl was just running around with her beautiful red kite. It was like I was in the movie, We Bought A Zoo.
Month 3 was my favorite month and my hardest month on the Race. I began with Team Kaleo in Roatan Island being teachers at the Bilingual Education Center. My particular class was 5th graders – but I also substituted for the high school science class. I miss these kids probably the most than any other group of kids I met on the Race. I really hope to see them again one day.
After 2 weeks, myself and Team Kaleo went back to the mainland to join Team POWER(s) and Team Sonflower. Our ministry was to help with the Christmas gift giving program, help construction on a new structure on our site, and take care of the property that we live on. We lived with children who were the product of abuse, rape, and incest. Every single one of their stories were completely tragic and made it difficult to believe that these wonderful children came from that background. It was definitely a ministry that will be on my heart for years to come.
The oh so hilarious, Kaleo. And no, that lady on the phone is not on this team.
Here is a little look at what my classroom in Roatan looked like.
Miss you 4ever, Sid.
What happened on my first day in Talanga? I dressed up as Santa and gave our presents to the kids we lived with. Goal: achieved.
Hannah, one of my amazing co-leaders.
Christmas eve cookie decorating was the best! It really made me feel at home.
And lastly, saying goodbye to one of my favorites. *insert some type of emoji*
This month started on January 1st and it has been incredible so far. Something that every squad tries to do on their 11 month journey is separate the men for 1 month to do ministry together. When the ratio of men to women is a 1:4 it’s incredibly fruitful for all of them to have a month to go deep with each other. And it’s also quite rare when their alumni squad leader (ME!) is still on the field when it happens.
This month we are in Belize doing Unsung Heroes. We simply seek out people all across the country to do ministry with. Sometimes we ask if they can be a host to future World Race times. But our main objective is to seek out these hidden ministries to bring a light to how they’re bringing the Kingdom to Heaven. I can go on and on about how blown away I am by these men. But all I’m going to say, is that they’ve made my job easy by being open to grow, joyful always, and keeping me uplifted even when that’s my ‘job’ to do.
I have literally no photos for this month yet. So here’s us getting ready for a team photo.
Almost there.
Well that’s just cute.
Thanks for checking out the update! I’m super in need of finances for this journey. Please prayerfully consider supporting me financially. I love you!!!
