Before I get into details, take a minute. We finished this thing. My race is over. Our race is over. Let me take just a brief moment to seriously thank you for really walking through this journey with me. Each of you are amazing and I am so thankful that I have the support group that I have had this past year. Seriously, thank you.
NOW. If you haven’t thought already, I’m sure sometime in this blog you will think to yourself, “Dang! The last little bit of his trip went really fast!” and the honest truth to this is that I am actually home about three weeks earlier than expected. A hard decision, but I am home early. Nonetheless, I am walking away from this journey knowing that I finished. Knowing that I gave it 110%. But in this time, The Lord was calling me back home. While in Ecuador, I began to get sick the last two weeks. Started out as what just felt like stomach cramps maybe, and turned into what was a cyst on gallbladder. Which led to a double kidney infection, an inflamed gallbladder, and even an infected liver. Lots of vomit, and a ton of antibiotics later, once the doctors in Ecuador started talking gallbladder removal surgery I decided that it was probably best for me to make my way out to America to seek better medical attention. Luckily for me here, I am simply taking a lot of antibiotics and my body seems to be nursing back to health. Praise the Lamb.
Amongst that, pray for my family. We are entering a time of mourning. A time of remembering my Aunt Joyce. She ran her race, and late last night she took her final breath. We are sad. Yet, rejoicing that she is with the Father. Mixed emotions, as you can imagine. Pray as my family grieves. Pray for my sweet momma as she lost her beloved sister.
LETS TALK RE-ENTRY. Coming home after traveling the world, serving the Lord, and making the most amazing connections with people — is a feeling that you can’t even fathom unless you’ve done it yourself. Its crazy. You’re so happy, but at the same time so sad. So stressed. Anxious. Needy. Excited. Overwhelmed in the best and worst ways. Its a crazy feeling. My normalcy was ripped apart when I left my house 8.5 months ago. My world was shredded and I did not even try to put the pieces back together, instead I said to Jesus, “Lets build something beautiful this year.” We did just that. I spent the last year chasing Jesus into every corner of the Earth that I could find. Coming home I feel so loved. I feel so seen. I am thankful. Im in a little disbelief that its over, of if it even happened and that was all merely a dream. Either way, this was by far one of the most amazing years of my life and truly my most amazing journey.
PRAY FOR ME. I am a mess, scatter everywhere. I am working to figure out what life in America is really gonna look like now that I have experienced change. College decisions are now on the Table. I leave for Pine Cove so soon. Some of my best friends are graduating. So many important things coming my way. I am asking you to pray that I find purpose where the Lord has me. Whether thats here, or in Africa — that I would know that we are missionaries WHEREVER we go. truly. amazing.
Thank you for reading. Thanks for joining me. Thanks for riding the craziest adventure of my life thus far. Our race is over. We finished. Way to go. I love every single one of you.
-Logan Martini, World Race Alum
