Month 1 of the race has been nothing short of wonderful. It has been a month full of adjustments, full of basking in God’s grace & creation, & full of learning new things about myself & these teammates I get to do life with. I have officially jumped headfirst into this crazy season & it’s pretty hard to believe I’m already in month 2! So here’s a recap of month 1 & some of the cool things God did!
Countries:
- Spain
- Somewhere in North Africa 🙂
Planes: 2
Buses: 4
Trains: 1
Ferries: 1
Hostels: 10
Taxis: about a million
Miles hiked on the Camino: 97 (might as well have been about a million tho)
Roaches found & killed in our North African home: 17
- Spent the night in the Madrid airport & got woken up by the Spanish authorities. The airport simulation at training camp is NO JOKE. This led to some great squad bonding.
- The Camino led us down trails of vineyards, sunflowers, mountains, lakes, & the quaintest villages.
- The Camino also kicked my BUTT.
- Got to pray over countless number of European travelers, witness healing in their bodies & spirits, & got to know their stories.
- Have now formed a habit of checking for bed bugs everywhere we sleep.
- We got to guide a young & beautiful woman in renewing her relationship with the Lord. (This night alone could have made all 97 miles worth it. To read more about this experience feel free to read Kelly’s blog Kingdom on the Camino)
- Learned a whole lotta life lessons on the Camino (Lessons from the Camino)
- Spent a beautiful debrief time in Mijas, Spain with the whole squad in a house overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.
- Walked through streets of blood on the first day in Africa with rams’ heads being roasted over a fire. It was quite the welcome. (To read more about this crazy & borderline frightening day read Gina Marie’s blog Culture Shock: Blood, Horns, & Window Cranks)
- Spent my birthday moving into our apartment for the next month! There’s a roach problem & there’s no AC or wifi, but man it is the cutest & quaintest thing.
- I’ve learned that not having immediate access to WiFi will increase your emotional health by like 100%
- Rekindled my love for popcorn. (We heat it up on the stove & eat it every. single. day.)
- Learned that not having an agenda for the day is actually pretty difficult, but the Lord is challenging us to rest in that while we watch Him move.
- Our team began a relationship with the most joyful woman. (We’ll call her Fatima.) She’s taken us in, introduced us to her family, cooked for us & shared with us what it means for her to be Muslim, while we got to share our own faith with her. We have fallen in love with her family!
- I’ve learned that regardless of language barriers young women can always bond over henna & painting nails.
- Started challenging myself creatively & have come to terms with the fact that I am terrible at water coloring.
- Ate our weight in homemade couscous & tried on a Moroccan wedding dress! (This day was one of my most favorite days EVER & there will definitely be a blog about it soon!)
- God has given me a new & radical hunger for His word.
- Worshipped God in an international church in North Africa surrounded by believers from all over the world. It was the first time going to a church service since Launch & it was so rejuvenating! We hope to begin serving there soon.
- I have learned that North Africans win in hospitality every dang time!
So there ya have it! Month 1 is in the books. WILD. Our team is so ready to see what else God does here in North Africa. Every day my love for this new & crazy culture grows & I am anxiously awaiting what else God reveals about these precious people. So if you could, pray for new relationships to form between our team & the locals & pray for growth in the relationships we already have. We have loved getting to spend sweet time with Fatima & her family & cannot wait to see what God has planned for them. Pray also that we may be of service to the international church! We are ready & willing to work! As always, thank you so so much for reading & praying!
Below is a 1 second a day video I made from our time in Spain.
1SE – My Timeline (20180825-220843) from Landry Petersen on Vimeo.
