1. How long I can go without doing laundry (at least 15 days; longer in Africa)
2. How to say “My name is” in 2 different languages
3. I don’t have to wash my hair every other day (more like every 3 or 4 days…)
4. I am a lot stronger than I think
5. How to rely on other people
6. How to effectively budget meals for 6 people
7. How to have quiet time (headphones are a key part of this)
8. How to blog well
9. How to eat food I hate without gagging every time (this one is TOUGH)
10. How to live without wifi for longer than a couple of days
11. If you fall and cut your knee open in Africa, you won’t die (immediately at least)
12. How to share one charger even when 3 of you need to charge all your devices (inevitably at the same time)
13. How to stay cool
14. How to live with 5 other girls (sometimes all in the same room)
15. That sometimes you have to put your tent up indoors because #mosquitoes
16. That traveling is HARD (especially when there are almost 60 of you)
17. Being away from my family is rough
18. That it’s super important not to drink the water in Africa (shout-out to one of our African moms who literally threw Haylee’s water out into the bushes when she thought it wasn’t clean)
19. It’s not hard living without a TV
20. It’s hard not being able to go and do things as I please
21. Building relationships with people is one of the most important things
22. Blogging is important (I’m still working on staying caught up on that one)
23. Sunburns are real (and painful)
24. Cold showers are great on hot afternoons (but not great early in the morning)
25. Water is a necessity
26. The Lord provides
27. Humidity in West Africa is ridiculous (if you’ve seen Friends, just picture Monica’s hair when they go to Ross’ dinosaur convention at the beach. That’s my hair right now. Nope, I’m not kidding. And no, there aren’t any photos to prove it. Sorry)
28. If it’s humid enough, you’ll start sweating even if you are sitting still
29. Walking with all of your belongings for the whole year on your back gets easier with time, but it’s always hard
30. Bunk beds are a blessing
31. Cooking for 6 people is an interesting task
32. Kitchens are fun for team time, hanging out, listening to music, watching movies, journaling, and really anything at this point
33. You don’t flush toilet paper in any of the countries we’ve been in thus far (I know, gross)
34. It takes a while for some stomachs to adjust to new foods…
35. …and sometimes they never do.
36. As long as you can smile and make a fishy face, you can make children laugh (I’m skilled in this at this point)
37. Wifi can’t be found everywhere regardless of what they tell you
38. Track phones work everywhere
39. Sometimes you get asked if your team brought the Word, and you say yes and get up and preach (even if you have nothing prepared)
40. Ministry looks different in every country: sometimes it’s teaching in schools, sometimes it’s working in a prison, sometimes it’s getting up in front a church and singing whatever song that you can think of on the spot
41. Some days you can’t get through the day without thinking about wanting to go home
42. Some days you don’t even think about home (those days are fewer and farther apart)
43. You will get to see movies in English but not everywhere (shout-out to Lima, Peru for having Beauty and the Beast in English!)
44. Sometimes you get to buy traditional African clothing to fit in with the culture
45. Braids are an everyday thing in Africa (I’m telling y’all the humidity is real…)
46. Covering visible tattoos is a thing in Africa
47. Being sick on the race is NOT fun
48. Skype/Facetime/Whats App/Snapchat are the best things (when you have wifi…)
49. Hearing the Lord’s voice is one of the coolest, most beautiful things I’ve ever experienced
50. Skits are necessary (BE PREPARED)
