As the race comes to an end, I would like to share with you some randoms of the year! I can't believe in just one week I will be headed back to America. This year has been an amazing experience and I am so incredibly grateful for each and every one of you that have made it possible! Thank you all so much for your support financially, prayerfully, and emotionally! I love you!
Enjoy my 11 elevens!
(In no particular order)
Enjoy my 11 elevens!
(In no particular order)
11Countries I visited this year
Guatemala
Honduras
El Salvador
Romania
Ukraine
Tanzania
Kenya
Kenya (Thanks to the Ebola virus in Uganda, we stayed in Kenya another month)
Thailand
Cambodia
Malaysia
11 Best things
Meeting amazing people around the world
Seeing God move in people’s lives
The ability to literally be Jesus’ hands, feet and mouthpiece
Holding orphans
Playing with kids in the dump
Former street boys becoming my brothers
Befriending prostitutes
Seeing how beautiful God is through His creation and His people
Experiencing new, amazing food in each country
Learning more about myself and my identity in Christ
Community – Being surrounded by amazing friends who have become closer than family
11 Hardest things
Community
Saying goodbye each month to the people I’ve built amazing relationships with
The loss of my dear friend Stefan
Missing my family and friends back home
Seeing the poverty throughout the world and not being able to do anything about it
Being broken – seeing people through Christ’s eyes
Tanzania (month 6) … everything about it
Not being able to pick up a phone to call home and the times when internet is so horrible skype won’t work (3 months in Africa and most of Cambodia)
Feeling helpless when you can’t do anything more for someone
Missing things back home…graduations, funerals, weddings, birthdays
Never being alone and not being allowed to go anywhere alone
11 Favorite foods
Tostidos with beef, green beans and carrots (Guatemala)
Pupusas (El Salvador)
Bean soup (El Salvador)
Breakfast burritos with eggs, beans, cheese, tomatoes, and avocados (Honduras)
Beef Stroganoff (Romania)
Pizza with ham, mushrooms, onions and corn (Romania)
Chocolate Crosants (Romania)
Borch soup and every single thing we ate in Ukraine ***Best food on the race***
Banana soup (Tanzania and Kenya)
Pad Thai (Thailand)
Chicken fried rice from a street vender (Thailand)
11 Most beautiful
Punto Palma Beach, Guatemala
The waterfalls in El Salvador
El Tunco Beach, El Salvador
Sugar cane and corn fields in Kenya (wish I had a better picture)
The view of the national reserve where we went on our safari in Kenya
The view of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda from “the rock” in Kenya
Rice fields surrounded by palm trees in Cambodia
Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Palm tree forests in Malaysia (To the left is only a small portion
compared to all the palm trees forests I saw throughout all my
traveling throughout Malaysia)
Pangkor Island, Malaysia
Tea plantations – Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
11 "What the hell?!" moments
Mouse in my bed…while I was in it….twice
One motorcycle, 3 people, 2 of us caring live chickens, a bag of corn, and a bag of mangoes
Squashed up against a bunch of people in a Tanzanian taxi and looking over at my squadmate Dan who had an old lady’s arms wrapped around his neck
Any public transportation in Central America or Africa: if there is 1 inch between the person in front of, next to or behind you then there is room for more people! Butts on shoulders, sharing a 1 seater with a stranger, crotch in your face, arms around someone you don’t know…you name, it’s happened…get cozy
Newborn baby rat falling from the rafter in our house and almost hitting my leg
Peeing on the side of the house because the bathroom is too far of a walk
9 people in the bed of one pickup truck for 2 hours
Walking down the street, I got hit by a guy on a bicycle which then caused me to roll into a ditch
While in our squatty potty outhouse, I thought “My shoe won’t get him in the corner but if I blow on the cockroach he will run away” so I procede to “Blow him away” and instead inhale a poop fly
2 rats chasing each other in the rafters fell to the ground causing all of us to run, scream, and jump up on chairs
Looking around the corner at the neighbors house to see a dog hanging from the rafters by its hind legs, fur just torched off, blood dripping from its nose then within an hour being offered cooked dog to try during dinner
11 Photos dear to my heart…A picture paints 1000 words
11 Most said phrases
I’m processing
Don’t speak that over me
But what I heard you say was…
I say amen to your process
I receive that
Is there a bathroom there? (asked about a location that no one has ever been to)
Thank you (The only response to feedback)
Where’s your heart at?
Hey, does anyone have toilet paper?
I’m stepping into a season of…..
Well, what’s the consistency of your poop? Oh you must have…(insert disease here)
11 Things I learned
God is good all the time whether we understand it or not
Constructive feedback given in love is necessary for growth
The world is incredibly beautiful
My identity lies in Christ alone
I prefer squatty potties over western toilets (NEVER thought I’d say that!)
God has given me an intense passion for troubled teens
I want to spend the rest of my life involved in ministry
I should have toilet paper with me at all times
I am worthy, I am enough, I’m worth the wait, I’m God’s beloved daughter
God’s redemption is beautiful
Living with massive spiders for a month doesn’t get rid of the fear
11 Favorite memories
Guatemala and everyone/everything within that month (minus being horribly sick…that sucked!)
El Tunco, El Salvador and Pangkor Island, Malaysia….I’m such a beach bum!
Each and every moment I spent with my boys in Honduras
The feast we had at Anya’s house in Ukraine….Sitting around the table amazing people while eating amazing food
All the kids singing me the Mosquito and Butterfly song in Kenya
The day of riding elephants and bamboo rafting in Thailand
Petting the tigers in Thailand
Showering in the rain both in Guatemala and Kenya
Safari in Kenya
Motorcycle rides through Kenya
Laying under my mosquito net with Jill, raining pounding on the tin roof, and having an amazing talk in Kenya
11 Things I’m looking forward to when I get home
Seeing my family and friends
Surprising my niece for her 10th birthday
Eating lucky charms and cheese and bacon and pot roast and steak and broccoli and shrimp and…..the list goes on
Hot showers…in fact make that a hot bubble bath with candles, chill music and a glass of wine…then drying off with a REAL FULL SIZE TOWEL
Sleeping in a comfy bed
Going wherever I want whenever I want (considering I have means of transportation haha) and not needing a “buddy”
Fast internet, Pandora and Netflix
The smell of CLEAN laundry and having a washer and DRYER
Beach sunsets
Calling people whenever (when I eventually get a phone)
Air conditioning
