Hi friends! A couple weeks a go when I started walking the Camino De Santiago I told ya’ll that I wanted to answer any and all questions you may have and I have my answers for you! I’ve answered every question you asked. Fair warning there is a poop story, you asked so I told, prepare yourselves!
Q: Does somebody put baby in a corner or does baby put self in a corner?
A: Baby always, always, always puts herself in a corner. This question has backstory you’ll want to hear to understand. I walked the Camino with a small group of INCREDIBLE people, and that is an understatement! You can only imagine how crazed we became after waking up at 4am every morning to walk too many miles; one day we walked 18, another 14, 13, 12, 16, in total 137, like I said, too many miles. One of the days we were getting ready for bed (at 7pm when it’s still bright out) and were still pretty delirious. My friends Mads and Ash started to ‘roast me’, aka, impersonate me and talk about my mannerisms. Apparently I often talk and ask questions, but don’t wait for a response and just keep talking, and end up talking myself into a corner. To try to make that sound better I told them proudly that no one else would put baby (me) in a corner, baby does it herself. I’m sure it doesn’t sound quite as funny reading it, but I promise you, we laughed so hard we irritated our bunkmates, which made us laugh even harder!
Q: Favorite Veggietales song?
A: Definitely the theme song OR Hairbrush. We sang veggietales songs all throughout month 10 in Moldova while we planted onions and worked the fields, it was just too applicable.
Q: When am I coming back to Chiang Man to watch Atlas?
A: I’d be there in a heartbeat if I could! While in Cambodia I met a long-term missionary (ltm) couple that worked for aim and their baby at the guesthouse we were staying in. Kagan and Hagen are two really incredible people, and their baby Atlas is the cutest little nugget I ever did see! As all of you could guess, I made my way right over to make friends with this little babe and offered to babysit, and they took me up on it! Turns out they were the new ltm’s for Thailands aim base where we would be at the next month. For part of my ministry in Thailand I got to watch Atlas while Kagen took Thai classes, while we took him to the doctor for a check up, or so Kagen could take a break and go out into the city alone and just explore and have a breather. I can’t imagine what it is like to have a one year old baby, let alone in a foreign country! Atlas and I became fast friends, I miss him like it’s nobodies business! For all ya’ll who are dying to see how cute this baby is, I posted a pic for you at the bottom. Enjoy! 🙂
Q:What is one precious memory from the wr that you are going to hold close to your heart?
A: There are so many memories from the wr that I hold near and dear, too many to count really. One that comes to mind now is from month 5 in the Philippines. The next day we were going to have our first team changes, so our first team spent that night together. We didn’t do anything outrageous, we just laid in the mega bed we had made and talked and laughed and played heads up. It was simple and sweet and perfect.
Q:What is one phrase you’d use to describe your wr experience?
A: I have TOO many phrases, but this one is a line from a song I love called Nothing is Holding Me Back by Bryan and Katie Torwalt. “O Jesus, you make all things new”
That’s it. Jesus makes all things new. Making things new requires refinement and reshaping and molding, it requires putting broken pieces together, it requires something stronger than before to hold things together.
Q: What is is one way or many that people at home can love you well and help you process as you transition back to life in the states?
A: The short version without long explanation is this: Give me time to process; let me know I can come to you; ask me real questions and know I may need time to answer them; be authentic; tell me about your life for the past year, I wanna know about you just like you wanna know about me! Let me cry when it comes, and just be there; laugh with me; adventure with me! When I get overwhelmed, I might leave, walk around by myself for a few minutes, or drive my own car home, please don’t take it personal; I’m different, and I can’t wait to tell you how and what happened to change me, I just need time.
Q: How did you get through the hard parts?
A: I got through them by asking the people around me to surround me and by surrendering my struggles to the Father. The Lord placed specific people around me this year, and to make it through the hard parts I had to push away my pride and walk into humility, be vulnerable and ask them for help; and they did, they were waiting for me to turn to them and when I did they surrounded me and helped me through them.
Q: How can we specifically be praying for you as you prepare to come home?
A: Pray for me to keep my eyes open to where God is in every situation at home, that I won’t step out of boldness but instead run with it as I pursue the Father and the people I love. Pray that I’ll remember what I learned this year and know that mistakes don’t mean I didn’t grow, pray that I would continue to give myself grace (and learn how to do it better), that I’ll claim what I know to be true about who I am as a true daughter of the Father, that I wouldn’t isolate, but instead invite people into the journey of getting used to this new culture of America.
Q: Funniest poop story
A: lol. Did you know 90% of racers poop their pants on their race? Only 10% make it out without it happening to them. Month ONE in Colombia my team and I were taking bets about who it would happen to first- pooping your pants. No one said it would be me! We were sure it would be someone else and definitely once we got to Asia. We were wrong. Less then a week later four of us got food poisoning from some not so nice chicken at a cute little food truck park. Those nachos were so good, but NOT worth it. That night while we were having team time and feedback I started to feel like I was going to throw up, most of our girls had been playing basketball before that and they didn’t smell very good and I thought that was why I was feeling nauseous. I said “Uh I’m not trying to give you feedback I love you a lot but I think your smell is gonna make me vomit.” I didn’t know my team well yet and I didn’t want to throw up in our ONE SMALL bathroom and so instead I took a PAPER bag outside (where they could still hear me) and I threw up, and threw up, and threw up. My friend Carly came out to see if I was okay as I was dry heaving on all fours over a bag full of throw-up that was starting to fall apart. Yikes right? So Carly and Leah took that paper bag and dumped into the toilet (I should have just used it I know, lesson learned the hard way) as I laid on the floor in down dog position in our room saying “I don’t know what’s happening” over and over. I continued to puke, and have diarrhea (the double headed dragon, we called it) for hours, and then another girl started to throw up, and another, and another. We all had the double headed dragon, and only one bathroom; as I tried to get up to go to the bathroom, a girl got up and ran in puking, and so I tried all I could, but, alas, I pooped, and it as a horrible horrible experience that still makes me nauseous to recall. We had arepas for dinner that night, a Colombian dish I loved, and I will NEVER eat them again.
Q: Which country would you return to first if you could go to any/all?
A: I would go to Ukraine for the people, then to Cambodia for the country, Spain for the country and food and ‘tinto de verano’, and then to Indonesia for our host and the beauty in the land there and for sizzle wraps, some of the best mexican food ever.
Q: What was the best place you got to go to, what did you miss from home?
A: I loved so many places on this trip, but I think the best place would be Bali, or Cambodia, or SPAIN- wow I love it here! I missed the people and the comforts of home, but I’m happy I was away from them because I know I grew apart from them more than I would have if I stayed.
Q: Are you ready to come back to ‘normal life’?
A: Yes, I am. I wouldn’t say I am 100% ready to come home, but I’m ready to not be here because I know the race needs to end even though I wish it wouldn’t. I have loved the race, it has simultaneously been the best and hardest/worst/crazy good with lots of growth year in my whole life.
Q: A place I will never forget?
A: Every place, but right now I’m thinking of Ukraine and Moldova, Eastern Europe. I was terrified to go to Eastern Europe because of an experience I had when I was in college. I learned before the race that it was the place I was afraid of, but going to those countries was what made me believe it. I saw Jesus in Ukraine, in our host Polycarp and our translators, more than I have in any country I think. It was Ukraine where the Father taught me about his love for all his people. Redemption was sweet that month, I learned about unconditional love, and I fell in love with his people.
Q: Tell us a specific person/life you touched and what you learned from that experience?
A: I became friends with a young mom in Bali that went to our church, she has the most beautiful baby girl, and I loved them the moment I saw them. They had my heart in a moment, and she was so happy to have a friend in me even without speaking a lot of english. When we left that country I left a big piece of my heart there with her and her family. Abba sent us to Bali, and maybe the reason he sent me was to meet her, and if that was the only reason I am happy. That taught me that love is love everywhere, everyone wants friends, and if you’re open you’ll find them everywhere.
Q: What will you miss most?
A: Definitely this community and this group of people, all 23 of them including our leadership team. I have learned so much from them and I don’t even want to leave them lol.
Q: Who is your favorite host?
A: Oh Pakwita! Why do you ask such things. There were a lot of you that I loved. My teams and I cultivated real and close relationships with our Colombia, Indonesia, Ukraine, and Moldova hosts and that was an incredibly special thing.
Well friends, those are the qs. I love ya’ll so much and I really cannot wait to see all of you so soon.
Love,
Mack
