In my final 25 days away from home I am posting 5 blogs designed to answer questions a lot of you probably have about this 11 month journey and the soon transition home.
Blog Schedule:
25 days left: Where are the highlight videos for months 7, 8 and 9?
20 days left: Answering 20 Questions about my world race experience.
15 days left: The 15 things I’m looking forward to the most about being home
Today 10 days left: 10 Words to describe the 10 Countries I’ve been to
5 days left: My 5 favorite things about the World Race
In the beginning their was…
Month 1:Serbia
Word: Live
We’re doing it Live! I remember going into this first month with such excitement and anticipation. When we got there all of our thoughts where like “What now?” Investing in both the community in Sombor, and the community we were cultivating as a team was all new for us. We where winging it and though at the time I thought “I’m going to look back on this month and think it was the unstructured and unorganized month on the race.” In reality, thriving in the unstructured and unorganized became the norm.
Month 2: Romania
Word: Background
At first I thought about using the word established. Hope Church Romania was our first glimpse into what an established large ministry looked like. I loved being able to build up and encourage the long term missionaries who lived there to help make their home lives easier. But what I took away the most from our time in Romania was our hosts focus on intercession prayer.
As a whole I loved being able to serve in the background, whether that be through helping the long term missionaries home life or interceding on behalf of others.
Month 3: Malawi Nkhata Nhkata.
Word: Onion
A wise ogre once said “onions have layers”. Just like onions, Malawi and specifically the town of Nkhata Bay had a lot of layers to it. This first thing you see is the beauty. Nkhata Bay was undeniably the most beautiful place I’ve stayed on the race. Malawi also had the nicest people and it’s known as “The Heart of Africa.” However, the longer we were there the more brokenness we found hiding behind those breathtaking views and warm smiles. Yet in that brokenness, their was often a sense of hope. Hearing the prisoners worship, every time we joined their service was inspiring. That was the strongest I felt the Holy Spirits presence the whole month. Going there on Christmas Day will be an opportunity I’ll never forget.
Month 4: Zimbabwe
Word: Preach
Through my years as a youth leader and working at camp, I had many opportunities to preach to a crowd about what God had done or was doing in my life. I very much enjoyed these opportunities but I didn’t know why because I have always identified myself as someone who hates public speaking. While in Zimbabwe I had the privilege to speak in multiple schools and God confirmed in me that though I may dislike most public speaking, He undeniably instilled in me a passion for public preaching. Talking to a crowd about how great God is, is something I now find easy and enjoyable. I’m excited to see where God takes me in utilizing this passion.
Month 5: Botswana
Word: Flashback
In Botswana we partnered with Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru) at the University of Botswana. Having been a part of Cru while I was at West Chester University, it was really cool to have my world race life combine with a piece of home. A good portion of our ministry was going to campus and evangelizing to the students there. Outside of Cru’s given ministry time some of us would also go back to campus most nights to play pickup basketball with some of the students. The combination of college, Cru, sports, and sharing my relationship Christ was like a month long flashback to my time at West Chester.
Month 6: Cambodia
Word: Brothers
We had a great opportunity in our first month of manistry (all men’s ministry team) to team up with the media man of Adventures in Missions in Raf, with the men of F squad and four great men who were our hosts for the month. As a whole the month was a really cool opportunity to invest in each other as brothers, invest in the Lighthouse ministry and in the lives of those who lived at the boarding school we stayed at.
Month 7: Thailand
Word: Heart
Sending Hope Home, if you’ve been following my journey you know how much this ministry and specifically the girls who live at this orphanage took hold of my heart. Their hearts and their love for others is unmatched. I hope one day God sends be back there for sometime as a piece of my heart will forever reside there.
Our squads Parent Vision Trip was also in Thailand. Having my parents come out to visit and get a glimpse into what life on the race is like was unforgettable.
Month 8: Malaysia
Word: Flexibility
Manistry month two was all about being flexible. We went into the month thinking we’d be with the V squad men all month and sports ministry everyday. What ended up happening was a ministry partner of theirs needed help in a different city. 3 days after getting there the V squad guys left for a week to help their ministry partner. Then while they were coming back, the 4 of us guys on my squad left for a week. As a whole we only had 6 days together opposed to the expected 3 weeks. On top of this, when we were at our assigned ministry host , half of our sports days got rained out. That all being said, though the month turned out to be vastly different than expected it was still an amazing experience. While we were in Ipoh, we worked with FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). Sports ministry was what I had been looking forward to the most when I signed up for the World Race, so having a month of it with a great organization with great caring staff was awesome. Also the week were gone we joined a man named Jit. Jit was running his own ministry and hearing him share stories about His faith and God’s provision in his life was beyond inspiring. Also shout out to Jit for being the original inspiration for this blog idea.
Month 9: Panama
Word: Challenging
Panama was personally my hardest month. It had the unfair challenge from the start of taking the place of Nicaragua and being our first Central American country. I had been looking forward to going back to Nicaragua ever since I left 8 years ago and Central America was always accredited to being the culture I’ve been looking forward to the most. Also, simultaneously events occurring at home such as missing working at camp and two of my closest friends weddings made being away mentally challenging. However, after moving past the mental block Panama turned out to have several highlights including camping in a village, living at the beach and having a great last month with my second team.
Month 10: Costa Rica
Word: Family
Costa Rica brought me home 2 months early. We stayed in the same house as our hosts. In past months, when this has happened, its always been a cool opportunity to live with their family, but this time we were a part of the family. We had family dinners every night and had quality time with one another before and after. On top of this, our ministry partner, Conexion, has got to be my favorite on the race. In a prior blog I expressed how if I was to choose one ministry to work with for a year, it’d be this one. We are currently in our second month here and though our host family has gone home I continue to love being here and could not have asked for a better way to spend my last two months. Along with Thailand, I really hope God opens the door to come back here again sometime soon!
If you have any questions regarding my experience in these countries, please feel free to reach out or ask me when I get home in 10 days!
