1. Final Debrief
For final debrief, we drove about 5 hours in a mini bus to a beach resort. The African sunsets are so pretty here and the water is so clear. We have 2 twin beds for 5 people, but they’re still beds! I had been sleeping on the ground all month in a tent. Just one night, I woke up with a ton of ants on my pillow, and they were biting my arm which was nuts, but they never came back after that, so I think I must have brought them in. And the toilet doesn’t always flush, but it’s a toilet and not a hole in the ground haha. It’s really nice having the beach right outside. There isn’t really much around, but they have a few street vendors and some restaurants. It’s really a cute and quiet place. We got here about 2 days before debrief started, so we just got to rest and relax. On Sunday, we worshipped and then had reunions with all of our old teams. I’ve been on about 4 different teams now. My favorite meeting was with my first team that I had from months 1-3. We all said that we feel that our first team was like our true team because it was our first one. Kinda like your first love. It was also bittersweet because two of our members went home to America before the Race ended. We prayed for them and we talked about memories we had from when we were on a team. It was really touching because one of my teammates was holding my hand, and I felt teardrops fall on my hand and she had went through a lot those first three months and throughout the race. After that, our squad leaders washed our feet to show humility and servanthood as how Jesus’ washed his disciples’ feet. I laid on the beach and went swimming later. I also had a couple meetings with some of my squad leaders. That night, people showed and did funny skits about experiences that we’ve had on the Race. It was really entertaining.
On Monday, I had a very relaxing day. I actually listened to a couple sermon podcasts and watched a movie. I also met up with a teammate and she told me that I was a role model to her this year which was really touching to here. We had a session that night with our squad coaches giving us some final words of encouragement and teaching. Then we did testimonies, and then everyone prayed for everyone. It was such a beautiful and refreshing night. I felt that I was feeling God because I was crying during some of the prayer, and I didn’t really know why other than I was feeling God’s love. On Tuesday, we had our team debrief with our team, squad leaders, and squad coaches and talked about our last couple months and a little about the entire Race. After that, we had a squad outing, and we went on some boats to an island to go snorkeling. It was so fun! The water was so clear and the fish were actually really cool! I was just expecting to see like brown fish, but there were some bright blue fish and some spotted fish and some a little bigger and some a little smaller. It was really fun to swim with the fishy! Then, we all went on the boats to this area where you could jump off these cliffs. Many people jumped off, but I thought it was a little too scary and dangerous for me. I knew my mom would be so proud of me for not jumping off the cliffs! Haha. Then, we went back and as we were boating, they threw out dead fish on the lake to these birds that looked like bald eagles and the eagles came from high in the tree to the lake to get the fish. After that, they had a dinner for all the team leaders, and then we had a session with worship and messages from our old squad leaders. It was great to hear how they were doing and their advice for us returning home because they used to be World Racers themselves and have transitioned from the Race to America before.
At debrief, I noticed that I felt how I feel a lot of times at weddings. I felt like I was really happy, then sad, having a blast, then really bored, didn’t want it to end, couldn’t wait for it to be over, excited, etc. I also had this strange feeling that it seemed that with each day of getting closer to going home, it seemed like it was getting farther away. It also hit me for kinda the first time that I was actually going to miss my squad and certain people on my squad. I had mostly been just been focusing on being excited to go home before that. I have really appreciated spending this time with these people, and I’ve met some good friends.
On Wednesday, I hung out with Megan to catch up and also, my old teammate from the first 3 months, Grace, got baptized in Lake Malawi. It was really heartwarming to see and witness. Our old team leader and now squad leader baptized her as well as our old teammate Jake and another one of her friends. Congratulations to her! Then, everyone got ready for the final debrief banquet. It was fun getting ready for it and seeing everyone dressed up because we’ve never all dressed up before. I wore a dress that I had bought in Nicaragua. We went out to dinner at a different lodge. Then we recognized and honored our squad coaches and leaders with prayer, certificates, and gifts. Then, we had voted earlier about things like the “Funniest” and “Most Likely to…” awards for our squad, so they announced those which was really funny, and then our squad leaders gave some speeches. We then threw some rocks and sand in the lake to symbolize when the Israelites put 12 rocks in the sea to show that God had parted it. We did it to represent our 11 countries that we’ve been to as well as the one we’re going to next and to mark the end of our World Race trip. I had a few tears come down. After that, we had a big dance party. It was so fun! We got back to our place at about midnight I think, and I saw that a few of my squad leaders were still hanging out, and one of my squad leaders likes to dance and he had just learned some new swing dance moves, and he asked me if I wanted to swing dance. So I did with him and my old teammate Jake and another squadmate Erin, and it was soooooooooooo fun!!!!! We put on some music too. My squad leader had just learned how to do some flips and jumps, and I’ve swing danced before, but I’ve ever really done the flips and jumps, so it was so fun to learn how to do those. And it was just so fun because it was unplanned, and just us, and late- we danced until about 2am, and then I went to bed. I liked staying up late because I like staying up late, but I’ve been going to bed so early on the Race. I could’ve danced all night haha. That really put the icing on my final debrief cake. Haha.
I realized I forgot to mention our last day at our ministry site, I know this is out of order, but on our last day at our ministry site, we ended up showing a movie to many people in the village. We had mentioned wanting to try to show The Lion King on the projector that they had and give a message, but we had never confirmed it, and then our contacts invited everyone without telling us. It was a little frustrating because it was our last night, and we were planning on spending it with the staff and going to bed early. Then, it turned out that none of us actually had the Lion King and we all thought that someone had it which was really unfortunate because it would’ve been perfect to watch it in Africa and one of my teammates said she knew how the Lion King can relate to the Gospel and she was going to share that. So we were wondering if we could do a different animated film, but our contacts said that they wanted a spiritual film, so one of my teammates had one. But the film was in English and then the volume didn’t work. The film was about God’s love, but the images were so weird if you didn’t know what they were saying. I wouldn’t have thought it was about God’s love. So we ended up stopping the movie and just having a dance party. I was sooooo exhausted and had a headache and frustrated because one the contacts told me not to leave to go to bed because they wanted us to dance in front of everyone to start the dancing, and then everyone wanted to dance with me and noticed everywhere I went. I was frustrated because I felt like sort of like an animal at a zoo and I was the main attraction. That’s been hard for me being in Africa, but I realize that we were visitors and that we look different and that they mean well in all the attention they give me. Anyway, that night was just a series of miscommunication and misunderstanding, but that’s ok it, it happens sometimes. The next morning we said goodbye to all the staff, and I left a lot of my things there for them to use since I won’t want/need them in America.
2. Traveling Home
Anyway, on Thursday, we packed up from our beach resort to go to the capital of Malawi which is Lilongwe to stay at the hostel that we stayed at the first night that we got to Malawi so that we could be closer to the airport. We had a bit of a last hurrah in our world race experience. The busses were supposed to arrive at 1pm, but didn’t come until about 3pm, and then we were so squished in the busses, it was nuts! We crammed all our bags and ourselves in the busses. Then when we tried to back out, the bus wouldn’t back out so we had to get out and push the bus. Then the bus only went a couple miles before it broke down, and we had to push it up a hill and then ride it down the hill with it in neutral. It was pretty scary because it was just rolling and all of us were squished in it. God has really protected us. Then, we had to wait for about an hour for a new bus to come get us. Someone had a lighter so we actually built a campfire and sang worship songs. I had a good talk with one of my old squad leaders. We’ve experienced similar experiences before, but we hadn’t experienced anything exactly like that yet, so it was fun to end the Race with a bang haha. We didn’t arrive in Lilongwe until about midnight. I actually was going to try to meet up with someone who’s a friend of one of my friends who is actually from Malawi and is in Lilongwe for the summer, but we didn’t get there until midnight like I said. I slept in a tent there, but they actually already had them set up for us equipped with a sleeping pad and warm blanket which was really nice. There was a ton of ants last time and there still was this time too. It was pretty cold that night, but the blankets helped. We put this ant powder down, but a ton of ants still got in our tent at night. I will not miss the African ants! Haha. Despite all the unfortunate circumstances, I was in good spirits looking forward to starting the journey back to America the next day.
When I woke up in the morning, I had some tears come down because I was so happy to see my family soon. So then we took a flight from Lilongwe, Malawi to Nairobi, Kenya with the plane stopping in Lusaka, Zambia as well. I was glad to go to Kenya because we were going to go there originally and also I have some friends from Kenya. I also remember singing this random song in elementary school about Kenya, and Kenya is the language were you can say hakuna matata like from Lion King haha. We had an 8 or 9 hour layover in Kenya. Many people from my squad and I ate pizza together there. I wrote about 20 notes to squadmates during the layover and on the plane. I really realized how many friends I’ve gained from this trip and how I’ve created a bond with many of them and will miss them. I got a couple notes too that were sooooooo sweet. My squad leader and I also swing danced a little in the airport which was soooooooooo fun again! I love it! Then, we got on a flight from Nairobi, Kenya to the small country of Qatar in the middle east for a very sort layover. Then we took the plane from Qatar to Chicago! That flight was a 13 and a half our flight. It was really good except one time we experienced a lot of turbulence that was scary. I was able to sleep for about 2-3 hours on the plane I think because I was so tired. It was so exciting when we started to fly over America and when we could see Chicago.
When we landed, my whole squad cheered, and we all sang the National Anthem and then some started singing “God Bless America”. We then went through customs and got our bags and said our goodbyes. My friend and old teammate Ara and I both had flights at 7:40pm- hers was to San Francisco and mine was to Minneapolis, so we checked in together and were going to hang out, but then I thought it was better if we split up then because we were in different terminals. So I was alone and free for the first time in a long time! I was walking around the airport, and I kept thinking that I was hearing and seeing people from my squad, but then I realized that they were just other Americans haha. I realized that for 11 months usually the only time I heard English especially American English and the only times I saw Americans were when it was someone from my squad, so I realized that in the airport I kept thinking that it must be someone from my squad because they sounded and looked American haha. I got McDonald’s to eat since it was there and cheap, and I hadn’t had McDonald’s really for about 7 months and only had it a couple of times before that. I didn’t feel very tired until I sat in the gate waiting for the plane, and then I noticed that if I closed my eyes I was about to fall asleep. My flight was just 15 minutes delayed.
So then as I was boarding the plane, I thought I saw one of my friends growing up named Sean. I thought it could be him since it was a plane going to MInneapolis, but I wasn’t sure because Minneapolis is huge. I was going to try to check once we got in the plane, but we ended up sitting right next to each other! We were in the same row and just the aisle separated us. I still wasn’t sure if it was him, so I finally said his name, and it was him! What are the odds! Ha. He was getting back from a 2 and a half week trip visiting his parents in South Carolina and had a layover in Chicago. It was good to catch up with him, and I ended up talking to him the whole plane ride since the ride was only like an hour long. I told him a little about my trip, and he actually told me that his and his wife’s 4-month-old son died last month. He was their first and only son. He said that was why he had been visiting his parents. I feel like maybe God wanted me to sit by him because I was able to pray for him later in the airport and mentioned that we could all hang out some time. It reminded me that my mission trip still isn’t over. He told me that he thought maybe doing some sort of volunteer or mission trip would be good for him and his wife. If you’re reading this, you can pray for them too- I think that having your child die is the worst thing that can happen in life. So since I was talking to him, it distracted me a little bit from thinking about how I was about to see my family for the first time in 11 months in the Minneapolis airport and I wanted to mentally prepare myself before I saw them which I kinda did, but not really….
3. Home
I knew my family was going to meet me at the baggage claim, and I walked toward it with Sean, and then I saw my mom, and I told Sean I saw her and had to run, so I started running toward my mom and my mom started hurrying toward me and we hugged and it was sooooooo good to be in each others arms. Tears started to form. I then hugged Katelyn, my younger sister, and Bethany, my brother’s fiancé, and I saw that Madelyn, my twin sister was recording everything on the video camera. I said hi to her and she didn’t look that emotional, but she then gave the video camera to someone else, and we hugged and she started sobbing! I had some tears come down too. Then I hugged my dad and my brother who were cool, calm, and collected as usual ha. It was so amazing to be together again. My family brought me flowers and Tootsie Rolls which are my favorite candy. There wasn’t many people at the Minneapolis airport at that time. I asked Bethany to show me her engagement ring since I hadn’t seen it yet. We then went to the car to go home, and my dad surprised me because he bought a new car (by car I mean a huge SUV!) and didn’t tell me because he wanted to surprise me. His whole life he has been driving cheap, small cars, and he always said that he was going to buy a “Black Lincoln” car one day, and he bought a Lincoln car! It’s not black though- he said he didn’t care for it to be black since his other car is black. It’s a huge SUV though with like all of the extra features available. I was like, What the heck? because my brother started putting my bag in the trunk, and I didn’t think that was our car when we walked by it ha. I guess he bought it about 2 weeks ago. We came home, and my family had a “Welcome Home” sign up for me which I knew they’d have. Madelyn and Bethany made it. My dad also made me a welcome home sign that he typed and printed out all by himself and put on his door which was so sweet because my dad is growing in his technology knowledge. They also had Coke waiting for me at home too. I then talked to all of them and gave them their souvenirs. For some reason, I wasn’t tired anymore and I stayed up until like 3am that night. I took a long, hot bath which was awesome. I like having the hot and running water. The next day I slept until about 12:30pm. My bed felt so comfortable, and I remember it not feeling comfortable! Ha. After that I was able to fall asleep and wake up at normal hours and didn’t have jet lag or anything which is surprising.
I’m surprised because it feels like I never left and that not much has changed. The biggest change so far is my dad’s SUV. Everyone has welcomed me back so nicely. I almost feel like everything just paused while I was gone, and we were told that that wouldn’t happen. Maybe I will notice more changes later though? I was surprised too because I thought I’d need a few days to get going, but I felt up and ready to go the next day. I realized though that the whole year was a year of needing to make adjustments, so maybe I’m just used to adjusting now. The next day, my family and I went out to eat at Olive Garden which was so nice. I also went and got a deluxe spa pedicure with my mom which was amazing after traveling the world for 11 months- my feet were so tired, dirty, and calloused. My parents said that could be my birthday present. My mom also gave me a chocolate bunny that she saved me from Easter. They’re so sweet! I also got a cell phone and a computer a couple days after that with money that my dad is lending to me. I went to Super America gas station and was happy to find out that they still sell 32 ounce Cokes for .59 cents, I was wondering a lot if they still did that haha. I also went to Caribou Coffee and Taco Bell which I missed the 11 months I was gone. AND I went to TARGET! I missed Target A LOT this last year. Target has everything and you know exactly where to find it and that it will be there haha. Target really reminds me of home because I feel like we were always at Target when I grew up. I drove my car for the first time too, and it didn’t seem that weird! I remember it feeling more weird after I came back from my Europe trip when I was gone for only 2 and a half months. I’ve been trying to organize some things like I unpacked, applied for health insurance, trying to transfer some music on my computer, etc. We’re having a bridal shower for my brother’s fiancé this weekend, so I’ve been planning that a bit. One of my friends is having a welcome home party for me next weekend which is so sweet. I’m also applying for teaching jobs because I’d really like to get one for this upcoming school year. Please be praying for that! Then, my twin sister and I want to move out together and get a cat or a dog. I’m going to the World Race reunion/processing meeting called “Project Searchlight” at the end of June in Georgia for a little less than a week, so I’ll see some people from my squad there. I was debating on going or not, but it’s completely paid for, so I decided to go. I think I’m going to write a blog after that and probably one after about 6 months to keep you updated and that will probably be my last one!
So yeah, I’m home and I’m healthy, happy, and safe and my family and friends are healthy, happy, and safe. I feel truly grateful and truly blessed. God has been so faithful.
My family and I eating at Olive Garden in Minnesota, USA the day after I came home. From left- Madelyn- my twin sister, my mom, Bethany-my brother's fiancé, Kevy- my brother, my dad, Katelyn- my sister
