We landed at the JFK airport in NY. The sign says “Welcome Home World Racers”

 

I’ve been back home for the past 2 1/2 weeks. It’s been so surreal being back. This week it’s hit me a lot more, I miss the race and I miss ouR squad…
 
I traveled the world for the past 11 months with a bunch of random crazy Jesus loving people. We all met July 24, 2010 in Georgia for training camp and that’s where our bonds began to form. 11 months later we are closer than ever, sharing our passions, desires and purpose in life. We encourage each other, build up each other, and just have an amazing time together.



 
Our motives are not to forcibly convert people, as some would automatically think when they hear the word “missions” or “missionaries”. Our goal is to show the love of Christ to the people that we meet. Whether it be through manual labor, feedings, preaching or genuine conversations  with random people.
 

We are not, what some would call, the “typical Christian”. We don’t like religion, but we value a deep and genuine relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and if people are willing to listen we’ll tell them about Him.

 


But I have to be honest these people are a bunch of weirdos that really don’t care what people think of them. They love Jesus with all their hearts and are willing to be fools for him. They are willing to walk up to a random person and talk with him/her and offer prayer if needed. They are willing to give up their pride in order to hopefully touch the heart of someone that is hurting. They are willing to sell their personal possession
s, leave their families and live out of a backpack for 11 months.

They are worshipers that cry out to God face down, standing up
 or pacing back and forth. They are adventurous souls that will do almost anything for fun, such as,
leap frog through the city of L’viv, Ukraine…

  

 …dress in skinny jeans that they can’t fit into (the guy on the left with the red jeans)
 
They work hard at what they do…..well, most of them 😀
 
 

 

 


These are my brothers and sisters that are willing to live in tents and bamboo huts to serve the people of India and Nepal.
 

 
(yes, they’re eating worms just for the heck of it!)


These are my brothers and sisters who braved through sickness such as, malaria, typhoid and parasites.


yes, at times we drive each other crazy or we with hold the truth from each other, such as pretending to have a broken AC unit in India when, in fact, it actually worked.
 



Let me just tell you this, we all have gone a little crazy on the race. We bargain like crazy (even if it means we get only $0.50 off), we talk about our bowel movements without hesitation, we get overly excited when wi-fi is mentioned, we wear the same sweaty smelly clothes for 4 days in a row ( more for some), we bicker and argue, but then forgive and love each other all over again, we stretch each other, we give each other wet willies, we’ve learned that the best way to kill time is to play pranks on each other (second to reading the bible of course ;p), we tell it like it is, we receive constructive criticism (some more gracefully than others lol) and we have discovered that there is more to life…more than what we see and what we desire.

We have a purpose. We are all destined to do great things, to expand the kingdom of God.  I love my dysFUNctional BEAUTIFUL Family!

 
 

 

 
 Here’s a video that one of our squad leaders made of us waaay back in sept 2010. We were such little babies!