Before I came on the World Race, I was asked ‘what is it?’ I had no idea on how to answer that question. I am not sure I can fully answer it even at this point, but I can try.
The first thing I want to say, the World Race has more down time and you have to have more flexibility than most times in life. I think of the day we left our place in China for Beijing. We left on January 15th to take a 30 hour train ride. All of my teammates were in the same cabin. We got to have some incredible time just to bond and relax. Upon our arrival in Beijing, my team left for the Great Wall. My team was split up since we were the last to arrive. We had a few minutes to choose who was going to different parts. We had to choose 4 go to the lost wall and 2 to go to the tourist part of the wall. I ended up going to the lost part. We found out that day that our train to Hong Kong would not leave on the day we had planned. The train was all filled up. A quick decision by the leadership was to spend the time in Beijing doing a short debrief/encouragement time with the team. We finally left Beijing on January 22nd to go on a 24 train ride to Hong Kong. We spent one day in Hong Kong in order to catch up on e-mails and mail packages home. We left Hong Kong on January 23rd and arrived in South Africa on the 23rd. We were travelling back in time and even though we spent 30 hours travelling, it was still the same day. We finally arrived in Swaziland on January 26th. We left on February 6th for Vilaculos, Mozambique.
I feel like I have been travelling for a month straight. I have been out of ministry for a while and have had a lot of time for reflection. This month has made me realize what the World Race truly is about. It is a time for personal growth, a time to learn about yourself, a time to take a break and let God work, a time to change forever, and a time to just learn so many things that you never thought you would learn. I feel like God is working through each of my teammates, we are growing in ways that we could never have in the states. Right now we are in a course about healing. We are learning about ways we have been hurt in our life and learning how to heal from it. We are given time to grow and to reflect. We are learning to live simply by only having our packs. I find it strange to wear something for just one day. I am starting to think that 5 days is a normal time limit for clothing. I don’t even care if I get to shower everyday and it is not a huge deal when I get a cold one.
The smaller part of the trip is ministry. I do believe that the ministry is important. Ministry helps in the personal growth and I get to learn about so many cultures. I have truly enjoyed my ministry opportunities in each country. I love getting to play with the children, teach, help out the people, or anything that is asked. I love to meet each of our contacts and live in a country for a month.
God is the most important part of the trip. God has blown me away. He works in ways that most of us have not seen. We get to see him provide and work through people. I love to get up and not know what will happen. This allows me to see how God will work.
If anyone would ask me if they should go on the world race, I would say yes. It will not be any easy year, but God will come through and change you. I would tell them to get ready for the greatest ride of their life.
