I knew there would be bad days on the race. I knew that in amidst all of the adventure and serving others around the world that I would have days that just plain sucked.
The thing with The World Race is that things are constantly changing. Each month has brought something totally different. And there's no way of knowing what the next month is going to hold or how to prepare for it. It's like pushing a reset button each month. You get a whole new set of experiences. Last month in Rwanda was my favorite month of the race so far. It was just an all-around sweet time. And then Uganda came around and hit me like a ton of bricks.
Most of this month felt like a bad day. It was difficult. It was trying. We had been living in a remote village, stripped of comforts. Most mornings I woke up exhausted because it was too hot to sleep comfortably, and there were constant noises of lizards and who knows what else crawling around on the walls, as well as goats and other animals outside. Temperatures danced in the high 90's each day, which feels much hotter with no access to AC, and so my clothes were consistently wet with sweat. The hot wind was always kicking up dust from the dirt roads, ending up in my hair and all over my clothes and skin. I kept thinking I was getting a nice tan until I'd bucket bathe and realize it was just the dirt. The giant spiders, lizards, and cockroaches in the outdoor squatty got old. My stomach did not agree with the ugali (corn flour and water mush) and beans that we ate day after day. And to top it all off, I fell off a bus. It bruised both my ego and my butt.
I know that these have been much needed bad days. I struggled to appreciate such days in the thick of it, but I know it has been in these bad days that a refining process has been able to take place. My character has been built and my perspective has grown. It is not what I expected from this month. I go into each month with a vision – things that I want to see, experience, feel, learn, and grow in. What happened this month was completely different from what I came into wanting. And that's OK. I know that what God wants for me is immeasurably more than I could ever want or imagine. What I experienced this past month will be something that will only carry me closer to His glory.
In just a couple days I will be starting a new month, the eighth month in this journey, in Thailand. I know it will be a completely different month from this past one, although I don't yet know how. I am excited for it though. I will be getting the opportunity to talk with prostitutes, sex slaves, and lady boys in the bars of Chang Mai, Thailand and tell them how much they are loved and how much they are worth.
