My World Race travels have concluded, so I thought I would give a brief summary of what my trip looked like for all of my lovely supporters. I know it’s hard to keep up over a whole 11 months, so I’d like to make things convenient for you, and maybe save myself from some redundant questions. And I recognize that this blog is a bit long for a “brief” explanation…but this was 11 months.
First, a list of all countries visited (this includes those that we drove through, took trains through, and airport layovers where we left the airport. Bold countries are the ones where I did ministry)
Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo (if you consider it a country), Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Qatar, India, Nepal, Thailand, Burma (Myanmar), Laos, Cambodia, Philippines, Swaziland, South Africa.
Travel from Atlanta, USA to Lezh, Albania:
Flew from Atlanta to Istanbul, Turkey with a layover in Amsterdam. Then we traveled by bus for 28 hours through Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, and finally into Albania.
Month 1: Albania (July)
We were together as an entire squad assisting with a summer camp. Many of the children came from Muslim backgrounds, and we loved on them while rock climbing, swimming, playing sports, and more.
Travel from Albania to Bulgaria/Serbia:
We took a bus that traveled through Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, and Bulgaria. As a squad we stopped in Sofia, Bulgaria. Then the Serbia teams traveled to Nis, Serbia by train.
Month 2: Serbia (August)
My team was doing “Unsung Heroes” in Serbia, which means we travelled around searching for new contacts and people who are serving Christ without recognition. We love to find and recognize people for their work and hopefully help them gain more support to help continue their ministry. This month I also started working towards getting my India visa (quite the saga really). This meant I had to travel back to Sofia, Bulgaria mid month to get my visa, only to be disappointed that I couldn’t get it because I didn’t have physical plane tickets in and out of India. This month I also fell in love with Serbia and I am now looking into moving there long-term. Ultimately my team did some work in Nis, Belgrade, and Novi Sad (the 3 largest cities).
Travel from Serbia to Romania:
The Serbia teams started taking the train to Bulgaria, however we missed a train switch, ended up heading towards Macedonia and were kicked off the train at the next stop. It was about 3am and we had to wait for the next train that ultimately just brought us near the Bulgarian boarder. We found a bus that brought us to the boarder, walked through immigration and God miraculously provided a ride for us to the house where we were meeting our Bulgarian teams. Then we all took a bus to Brasov, Romania for our first debrief.
Month 3: Romania (September)
This month my team was assigned with 4 other teams to serve in Dragonesti-Olt in a variety of ways. We worked with Hope Church with street evangelism, childrens clubs, home visits, church maintenance, and whatever else they needed. Each morning started with 2 hours of prayer, worship, and intercession, and after lunch we went out to do active service.
This was also my last chance to get my India visa, so I went with my squad leader to visit another team in a different area of Romania for a few days before we went to Vienna, Austria to get our visas. During that short visit we were in a serious car accident, the van rolled around 5 times, 2 girls were seriously injured, and I managed to walk away with a concussion. We made it to Vienna, stayed there about a week (and celebrated my birthday) and got our visas just in time to meet back with the entire squad in Bucharest for a debrief (with team changes) and left for India.
Travel from Romania to India:
We flew from Bucharest, Romania to Hyderabad, India with our first time having a layover in Qatar. Our layover was close to 24 hours so we were put in a very nice hotel and given food vouchers, and basically we were pamperd until we flew into India. When we landed we got to stay in a convent for a few days before taking a 12 hour bus ride to Ongole which is near the southeast coast of India.
Month 4: India (October)
Village ministry was the name of the game this time. We slept in a church and enjoyed time with our host family and the girls that they had taken in. Every day we went to a different village praying for people house to house, then we would host a church service with music, two testimonies, a short message, and conclude with praying for the people at the service. This was our biggest culture shock, which made some aspects of life very difficult, but challenges help bring growth.
Travel from India to Nepal:
We flew from Hyderabad to Kathmandu with a layover in New Delhi. We delayed our connecting flight about an hour while we went through a second security check in Delhi, but made it with little issue.
Month 5: Nepal (November)
Sunrise over the Himalayas, two terrifying bus rides through the Himalayas, mountain hikes crossing 14 rivers, and carrying building materials up a mountain defined this month. For one week we hiked up to a mountain village with no electricity to help with the construction of a school. We also helped with the construction of an orphanage in a different town. This month was marked with lots of hard work and many beautiful sights. We also were able to have an American style thanksgiving at a restaurant that decided to have a Thanksgiving special. They even were showing a football game on a projection screen.
Travel from Nepal to Thailand:
We flew from Kathmandu to Bangkok with a layover in Malaysia. Half of our squads bags did not make it to Bangkok when we landed (mine included), but we were able to get them the next day and we all dispersed to our ministry sites on time.
Month 6: Thailand (December)
This month my team spent a week in Chiang Mai. During this week I did bar ministry, which involved building relationships with the girls in the bars, the bar owners, and even the people selling stuff on the street. My team then traveled to Mae Sot, which sits on the boarder of Burma. We worked with Burmese refugees, playing with kids, teaching English, and helping with various projects that the missionaries had going. One day we even went into Burma and spent a day in a leper village loving on people who were outcast by their society. This month I got to experience head lice for the first time ever. We also got to celebrate Christmas making puppy chow (or muddy buddies) and watching a Christmas movie as a team, and we were even able to talk to our families. This was also my last month with my original team.
