Africa is here!!! After 6 days of travel we have made it to Lusaka, Zambia, I am so excited to be here and to start our ministry. However in the journey it took to get here God’s kingdom has been evident and His ministry was already happening. It all started at Launch. We had four awesome days of training as the World Race staff poured into us. The staff brought us into the mind frame that the next 11 months will be a time to show God’s love to the World, but also a time of spiritual growth to deepen our relationship with the Almighty Savior!! We learned about God’s kingdom already reigning inside us and how we get the opportunity to share that with the world and we went through many safety seminars. During our nights of worship we entered into God’s presence and just soaked Him in with no distractions and with one purpose to praise His name. Before we left, World Racers who just got off the field came to pray over us and send us out. And so our journey began.
We got on our first flight from Atlanta to Detroit, Michigan next we flew to Amsterdam then to Narobi, Kenya. In Kenya we had a twelve hour layover and we could not leave the airport unless we wanted to pay for a visa. It was a very interesting night, we were all messed up with our time schedule because we picked up 8 hours. So while you were getting off work at 5 pm, it was 1:00 am in Kenya. I was one of the unfortunate people who could not sleep. My fifteen minute power nap that felt like a 3 hour snooze was all the shut eye I could muster. We played games and explored the airport to try and pass the night away. Then we boarded the plane to Lilongwe, Malawi. We arrived there mid afternoon and we had two big buses come pick us up, but with 46 people plus 46 bags there was not enough room to sit comfortably. So began the game of how many world racers can we cram into a bus and this was round one. So the bags were loaded in the back and we stuffed ourselves into the first rows of seats.
Round 1
After a short but compact drive we arrived at our first hostel and set up our tents. Then to our surprise our first meal was .. rice and beans. Next was a trip our trip to Zambia, a 2 hour trip across Malawi, and round 2 of the packing game. Like any other game each round increased in difficulty this time the buses that came were three 15 passengers vans. Our squad consists of 46 people which was 1 more person than they could hold, but we also have people sized bags. There were people sitting on top of people, on top of bags, and half way hanging out the windows.
Needless to say we conquered round 2.
At the boarder of Zambia we switched buses and the teams split up. Team Zealous love headed to Chipota to stay camp overnight. Our final destination was Lusaka the capital of Zambia and we still had a 8 hrs bus ride to get there. The next morning we had to get to the bus station for our long bus ride but to get there we had to get past round 3 of the packing game. And this round was by far the worst. We had three 7 passenger vans for 28 people and bags. Our van had 14 people in two rows. I literally was sprawled out on top of people with a knee in my back and my knees in one person’s face and my feet in another.
This was our last “Pack It” game and I think we did a great job.
This time of closeness was really great for our squad though it was uncomfortable in the physical we really came together with good conversation and fun. Then for our last bus ride it was a 8 hour ride to Lusaka, but we all had our own seats!!
Even though the travel was long and our riding situation was not ideal. I am so thankful that we got to Lusaka exactly like we did. Africa is a beautiful place, and I cannot even begin to describe it’s splendor. There are endless rolling hills of green and big trees dotting the landscape. Its so relaxing just to watch as you ride by. We had to spend hours just looking out the window, but in that time I found Jesus in the mountains, Jesus in the clay huts, and Jesus in every person that we passed, Because Jesus is already in Africa and He is in America we just have to be willing to open our eyes and see Him, even in the traveling band.
