I had known about being accepted to go on the World Race for nearly 10 months, and the entire time it seemed “so far away.” After saving my 11 months worth of packing for the last possible week, my last night at home was actually here. Mom asked what I wanted to do to go out with a bang, and of course, my answer was to rent Zootopia and order Chinese takeout. Wild, eh?
We went about our day running last minute errands and rearranging my 50 pound pack for the 379th time.
Later on, Mom asked, “Are you excited!?” I was pumped- “Yeah, you bet I am! …Wait, you’re talking about tonight’s Zootopia and takeout… right?” Noooo, she was actually talking about me packing up and leaving the very next day to travel literally around the world to share the love of God and grow with my squad on the World Race. Oops. “Oh, yeah, I’m excited for that too.” It absolutely sounded unconvincing. I was excited, I just have a one track mind. I get excited for things “in order,” and right then I was craving some Kung Pao Chicken.
The next days were spent driving down to Atlanta with Mom & Dad for “launch,” a couple days of different trainings and sessions geared to World Racers and separate sessions for their family members. It was so incredible having my parents there to experience the worship as well as receive comfort from alumni parent panels and Adventures in Missions staff members.
When it was time for mom and dad to leave, it didn’t feel real… again. It felt like I was going back to school for a semester or just departing for a study abroad trip. We hugged goodbye more times than I can count but I didn’t cry… yet. I had 48 of my newest friends just inside the hotel we were staying in, life was great and I was still on the high of all things shiny and new.
About 2 hours later, my team was having team time with our squad’s leadership team and they asked us how we were feeling. THAT’S when it hit me, hard. Even in that moment when I had left my family and packed my bag and arrived in Atlanta, I wasn’t thinking about the fact that I would be in India in a few short days. We still had AC, wifi, and western flushable toilets and THAT was exciting to me.
Honestly, my blood didn’t start pumping with the reality of curry and the worst traffic patterns ever until I stepped on Qatar airlines. I was the minority. The signs were written both in English and Arabic. The smell was new. The languages all around me were indistinguishable. And we got 3 meals and “airline made MacFlurries” because the flights were that long.
Buckle up boys and girls, we were going to INDIA!
Fast forward to I don’t know how many days later because of a cancelled and rescheduled flight and changes in time zones and I’m happy to share that W Squad made it safely! Yesterday and today were packed with intentional and much appreciated cultural trainings, and then all 7 of our squad’s teams break off to different locations around the country starting tomorrow!
This season I’m hoping to find better balance between the excitement of tomorrow and the joys of today. Tonight I’ll start by replacing my Disney film for the company of my teammates and the Chinese takeout for some good old fashioned chai (Not “chai tea”).
Stay tuned for our next coffee-shop-with-wifi updates!
