We made it to Bangkok, Thailand yesterday, and I already love it so much! I don’t know what our ministry will be yet, as we were originally supposed to go to Chiang Mai, but air pollution levels were dangerously high, so we are in Bangkok for now. Since we moved continents, I wanted to share a blog that gives an overview of my thoughts of Africa!
What are the best foods you had in Africa? The worst foods?
Our very first night in Cote d’Ivoire, our host made this salad that had carrots, avocadoes, potatoes, green beans, and other veggies mixed with mayo, and we ate it with pita bread. I’m not sure if I was just tired from traveling, but it was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten. In Ghana, I loved the eggs our host made in the morning with shredded carrots, peppers, tomatoes, and onions. In Togo, one of my favorites was boiled potatoes and their version of baked beans and bread. In general, I’ve never known how much I love avocadoes. We often had baguettes with avocados, tomatoes, onions, and sometimes eggs in them, and I LOVED it.
The worst food has probably been banku, which is a ball of fermented corn and cassava that tastes real sour, and the sauce has fish in it. To that, I say no thank you.
The saddest food night of my life on the Race was the night we had mashed potatoes and gravy in Ghana. I knew the gravy had fish in it, so I was perfectly happy to eat the mashed potatoes as that is one of my all-time favorite foods. I scoop a huge load onto my plate, and halfway through, discover there is mashed fish in them as well. I had told my teammates to just not even tell me if I’m eating fish and don’t notice, but one of my teammates was super vocal about the fact there was fish. And to answer your question, no, I do not really like fish at all….
What has been the hardest part of the Race?
I think the hardest part of the Race has been Togo in general. It was just an emotionally tough month, and I felt overwhelmed by a number of different things, though there were still so many good things about Togo that made it completely worth it. I’m assuming my harder months are yet to come!
What was your favorite part of ministry in Africa?
Honestly, there are a ton of things that come to mind, but I will just share the first two things that came to mind. But really, I have SO many good things to say about our ministries and the opportunities I’ve had so far.
The first thing that came to mind was the Crusade we did in Ghana, which was basically a church service for three nights in a row with the goal of bringing people to Christ. It was outside under the stars, and during the really loud worship, I walked a little ways off for privacy and just stared into the sky and talked out loud and sang to God, and it was just so good. I loved being under the stars and having privacy and space to just talk out loud to God about anything and everything and sing any song that came to mind. This experience has helped me realize how powerful it is to speak out loud!
My other favorite thing was how many kids church songs I remembered in Ghana and the joy that came with remembering them and then also getting to sing and do the actions with the kids and seeing how much they love the songs I always loved as a kid.
What are your thoughts on the living conditions you’ve experienced?
Not nearly as bad as expected hahahaha. Okay, to be fair, some teams have had more intense situations, but I have seen very few bugs, had AC or fans every month, had running water two of three months, electricity, good food, and beds. It’s obviously not home, and there are still some uncomfortable things for sure, but I have felt very blessed to have the situations we do. The WiFi situation was pretty bad though as it was incredibly hard to find fast enough WiFi that allowed you to get everything done you needed to. And we have always have to walk at least 15 minutes to it (Togo) or drive an hour one way to get it (Ghana). I have learned to set very low expectations for WiFi so I don’t have to be disappointed every time. So I promise if I don’t reply to your messages, I’m not purposely ignoring you!
What has God been teaching you?
I’ve talked about some of these things in my blogs, but so far on the Race, I’ve learned about the importance of prayer and worship, how my identity is separate from my behavior, how I have a choice in the way I act even if I’m struggling or going through something, and how to have healthy communication AKA don’t hold every frustration inside. I definitely have so much more to learn within these things and so much more to learn about so many other things, but I’m excited to keep building on what I have already learned.
What are some of the funniest moments you’ve had so far?
The night of the cockroach in Cote d’Ivoire when my teammate woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, walks out of our room and then frantically runs back, hits the door to make it swing open, but I see nothing but her shadow on the door and hear nothing but her heavy, panicked breathing. Eventually she jumped back into bed and told us what had happened, but the whole time she was outside the door, we had no idea why she was freaking out. Apparently the cockroach was blocking her way back into the room. It still makes me giggle when I think about it.
In Ghana, our host Calvary told us there were dwarves that would come out if you whistled after dark. We were not willing to believe this at all (for obvious reasons) but he never let up, and one of the other pastors also said the same thing. Hmmm, okay, we’ve tried and tried to learn the truth, but apparently there really are dwarves haha. Anyways, our host was showing us one night how the dwarves walk. He insisted on someone getting a piece of cloth so he could wear it like a toga, and then he proceeded to crouch down, shuffle quickly, and pump his arms as this is how the dwarves do it. We definitely have videos, and it just makes it even better if you know Calvary because he is one hilarious man. Wow, I miss Ghana and our awesome hosts!!
One day for team time in Togo, my teammate decided we should make a team cheer/handshake. Rak Pak is my team of 6 that I have been with the whole Race so far, so whenever we have team changes, we wanted to still be united to each other. We came up with a little step routine and chant, and we were just having a jolly good time laughing about how weird we were being. Someone from one of the other teams popped her head in to see what in the world we were doing as there was a lot of clapping and stomping and laughing. It was a good day.
What are the weirdest things you’ve seen? Weirdest thing you’ve done?
I’ve seen: A bunch of men riding in the back of a truck on top of a lot of steers with huge horns, men urinating anywhere they choose on the side of the street in the middle of the city, police standing on the side of the street and whistling and pointing at cars to pull over, mini gas stations in Togo that look like little alcohol stands, people walking in between cars and selling sunglasses, tissues, rugs, glasses, calculators, Tupperware, bobble heads, water, and anything and everything else.
I’ve done: Probably just different bathroom situations, mostly involving bus rides. The bus stops in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road, and you just hike and squat and get back on the bus. Hiking into the wilderness itself isn’t that weird but being on a nice bus and having this be your bathroom stop is just very strange. Also, the bathroom at one of the bus stations was down a narrow alley and at the end there was just a huge nasty cement trench, and all the women are in one place. There was a little cubby that half hides you, but we were all a little taken aback. The African women noticed and were totally showing us how it’s done. Mmmm, I’m okay, I’ll figure it out on my own. What an experience.
Most unexpected day at ministry?
Let me tell you a quick story about the day of kings and boats in Togo. Our host speaks a decent amount of English and had told us we would be going to a village where we would take a boat to get across the river, and we would be walking with kings. We were like, we’re walking with kings, as in royalty? And our host said yes. Wow, okay, so gullible us, I guess we will believe Togo has kings! (We never have access to WiFi to actually look these things up in the moment). How cool we get to walk with them and hang out with them and even take a boat to get there!
On the way to the village, one of the three cars we took broke down for about 45 minutes, and after that finally got fixed, my car stopped a total of 7 more times before getting to the village. The drive should have taken around an hour but took over two due to the car breaking down, the driver stopping to buy bread, stopping to get gas two different times, getting stopped by the police and our driver being interrogated for about 15 minutes, stopping to pay a toll, and man, I was starting to wonder if we would ever arrive.
Turns out we didn’t take boats to get there because our host said it was better to drive for our safety. And when we got to the village, we were so late that we all introduced ourselves, sang a few songs, and then left. And what we thought would be ‘kings’ actually were ‘kids’. Our host’s accent is so thick when he says kids that it sounds exactly like kings. LOL. And on the ride home, we weren’t more than a mile down the road and a different car broke down. We squished a few more people into the car I was in and the other car, and the people in the broken-down car just waited. On the ride home in my car, we got stopped by the police again, but were on our way quickly again. And then we got stopped by someone wanting money for tolls, but it was so weird because it was just a man without a uniform blowing a whistle at us from the side of the road. No apparent authority, but my driver backed up a couple hundred feet to talk to him. He got out of the car and was arguing with them for a WHILE, and they put cement blocks in front of our tires. Hmmmm, we can’t even understand anything that’s happening. Finally, we got going again and made it home around 3 when we were supposed to be home before lunch. What a day!!! Honestly, many days at ministry can hold a lot of surprises, so you have to learn to throw your expectations out the door and put a smile on your face when things don’t go as planned. These moments make the best memories anyway!
What have you missed at home?
I mean I obviously miss people, but I think the only item I have truly truly missed from back home is my bed. I have only really missed it on two occasions, which is good. Overall, I have not missed home too much thankfully, but I know I am only three months in! Not at all to say I don’t love all of you because I do!!!! Life just feels pretty normal on the Race so far, so I am very thankful that I am not severely homesick and wishing I wasn’t here. I am still so excited to be on the Race but excited to come home in November and see all my people!
More to come on Thailand later!!
