11 months of traveling has finally coming to an end. I am officially home from this journey of my life; this journey that has opened my eyes, changed my heart, and solidified my passion for Jesus Christ.
Despite this incredible journey… I have been most definitely ready to come home!
I have missed you, my friends, my family, my church, my home, my city, my life! I can’t wait to wrap my arms around all of the people I love. I am excited about not being disconnected because of bad wifi. I am excited to be able to understand and communicate in the same language as the people around me. I am excited to be in charge of making decisions for myself, from what food I want to eat to where I want to go… I don’t have to have 7 people agree to be able to do it! The list goes on and on about all the things I’m excited about… but there are a lot of things that terrify me too!
One of the biggest things that scares me is what do I do now with this trip? How do I not forget the incredible ways the Lord has changed my life? How do I go back to such a steady culture while the only constant for me this past year has been change? How do I even start to explain to each of you what this year has really been to me? How can I get you to understand?
This year I have realized how incredibly blessed I am to have so many people who love and care about me, even when I am literally across the world! Despite this being an incredible blessing, it has also made me feel a little overwhelmed when I think of trying to answer some of the broad questions about this trip of a lifetime. I’m scared you’re going to ask me things and I’m going to leave something incredible out, OR for me to tell you the whole story we would be talking for 2 days straight.
So I’ve created some questions that might help both of us. These are moments over this past year that mean a lot to me, make me laugh, or are just incredibly unique experiences. The goal of these questions is to help me narrow down the broad question of “summarize the most transformative year of your life to me” that I hear when you say “How was your trip?”
So here are some broad things you can ask me about my entire trip.
Ask me about a photo you’ve seen or a story you’ve heard about.
Ask me about who I was before the trip and who I am now.
Ask me where I started with prayer and where I am now.
Ask me about my teammates, squad mates, or squad leaders.
Ask me about the constants around the world.
Ask me specifically about a month that you have found interesting.
India:
Ask me about our food in India and how to was made.
Ask me about butter cookies and Chai Tea.
Ask me about what my team looked like in India.
Ask me about the inspiring life of Dr. Pudiate and how it changed the Hmar people forever.
Ask me about the medical camps, the hospital visits, the construction.
Ask me about our adventure to the waterfall.
Ask me about what I learned about my false self.
Ask me what I learned about prayer.
Nepal:
Ask me about our travel day to Nepal (it was awful fyi).
Ask me about Yak ranch without any Yaks. Don’t let me forget to tell you about my bed.
Ask me about our host and how he shares the gospel. Ask me about his wife, our relationship, our bible study.
Ask me about the bathroom in Nepal. It was quite a unique experience.
Ask me about our food? Don’t forget the ketchup.
Ask me about the night we laid under the stars.
Ask me about my quiet time with God. Ask me what he was teaching me.
Ask me about the bus rides to Polkhara.
Ask me about what our ministry was.
Ask me why I gave my bible away.
Ask about our adventure days (paragliding, sunrise at the pagoda, waterfall, monkey temple, etc).
Ask me about my full circle moment.
Ask me about my teams new name in Nepal.
Vietnam:
Ask me about my initial feelings when we arrived in Vietnam.
Ask me about our 24 hour bus ride.
Ask me about our host Phuc.
Ask me about the time Skate and Taylor almost died.
Ask me about our English students.
Ask me about my quiet time with God.
Ask me about Christmas.
Ask me about our receptionists.
Ask me about our adventures that made me feel like I was in a movie (Hoi Ann, Marble Mountain, the Monkey mountains, the bridges,etc).
Ask me about the sketchy ride down monkey mountain.
Ask me about trying to surf for the first time.
Ask me about the best food I ate. Ask me about the weird food I tried.
Ask me about our Christmas party.
Ask me why I had my whole team jump into the ocean in the winter time.
Ask me about New Years.
Cambodia:
Ask me about our ministry and our daily schedule.
Ask me about our hosts family.
Ask me about the kids.
Ask me why I died my hair purple.
Ask me about the food that we ate.
Ask me about the rice fields, our going away party, and karaoke.
Ask me about my birthday and my birthday presents.
Ask me about all of our team conflict.
Ask me about our debrief and how I was ready to give up.
Ask me about my one on one with Liz or my painting date with Alyssa.
Ask me how I saw god and where I was standing.
Ask me about my new job role and why it terrified me.
Botswana:
Ask me about our incredible food!
Ask me about my depression.
Ask me how our host changed over the month.
Ask me about the YWAM team that lived with us for a week.
Ask me about the night of spiritual warfare.
Ask me about the Rhino park.
Ask me how I fell in love with the stranger on the bus to South Africa.
South Africa:
Ask me about our OUTSTANDING HOST and how they forever changed my life.
Ask about our first day of ministry.
Ask about the impact of white people in the townships.
Ask me about the House of Wells staff.
Ask me about what I was learning this month.
Ask me about petting the cheetah or surfing.
Ask me about how I tried to be fully myself.
Ask me about my whole team spitting poop.
Swaziland:
Ask me about my Swazi name and how I got it.
Ask me about living with 21 people in a house.
Ask me about what I convinced 4 people to do with me after church one day.
Ask me about the waterfall and village we went to.
Ask me about my realization that I trusted God.
Ask me about my two marriage dreams back to back and what they meant.
Ask me about Lindo and our week during PVT.
Ask me how our logistics plans were going.
Argentina:
Ask me about YWAM and what all our different ministries were.
Ask me about our host and her friend Eugenia and our empanada making night.
Ask me how I want to now make spaghetti.
Ask me about the sunrises and sunsets and how I missed my mother.
Ask me about Aconcagua.
Ask me about how our new team is and the changes that needed to be made.
Ask me about El Campo.
Ask me about why the movie The Insanity of God made me not want to follow Jesus anymore.
Ask me about me realizing I don’t need dependent relationships.
Ask me about how weird our old team was when we came back together.
Ask me about our day in Buenos Aries.
Ask me about how God does logistics.
Ask me about the man in yellow.
Chile:
Ask me about our snow day/ travel day.
Ask me about our grandparents/ choir ministry and how fat it made us.
Ask me about why we kept forgetting our host families didn’t speak English.
Ask me about the Andes Mountains and my hitchhiking experience.
Ask me about our interns and how they impact me.
Ask me about our adventure in Valparaiso and the sunset.
Bolivia:
Ask me about Apollo, the waterfall, and the bull head.
Ask me what I learned while hiking 32 miles in the midlands of the Amazon Rainforest, specifically the hike back.
Ask me about the butterflies.
Ask me about the village of Mojos and about the people that I came to love.
Ask me about some of the things we ate (Euka, grub, chicken feet, leaves, wild berries, meat with hair on it, fresh corn milk).
Ask me what ministry in Mojos looked like
Ask me about the night we sat under the stars with Susana or when we did it as a team.
Ask me about our hosts Phil and Odell (real life Tarzan).
Ask me about Sandra and her family and all the oranges we ate.
Ask me about snakes, pumas, and the baby cow.
Ask me about the butterflies.
Ask me about how long it took to get to our next country.
Ecuador:
Ask me about Pastor Carlos and Mary. Ask me about all of his joke. Ask me about his church.
Ask me about Melody and Coral. Ask me about how I love PK ministry.
Ask me about whale watching in Puerto Lopez.
Ask me about our regional coordinator Kate and how we celebrated her birthday.
Ask me what I realized about how God gave up His only son for us and how that information completely changed how I live my life.
Ask me about Gracitla, the old woman who saw Jesus and whose legs were healed.
Ask me about how Fast and Furious evangelism became a beautiful teaching.
Ask me about Arce de Noé, the church, and how it has become one of my favorite songs. Maybe I’ll even play it for you.
Ask me about how I felt about preaching until my teammate and Ephesians 3 blew my mind.
Ask me about how “next to” and “ice cream” sound similar in Spanish and caused chaos with 50 four year olds.
Ask me about Baños and the waterfalls.
Ask me about how I overcame my fear of biking.
And of course feel free to ask me questions about home. I will not have many answers about what I am doing “next” but I am willing to share whatever I have or whatever I am learning at the time. I love y’all and can’t wait to do life with each of you again!!!
