This week’s shoutout goes to my mother, on her birthday! Happy 44th birthday mother!
So let’s get right to it! You asked the questions, and I got the answers!
Q: “Why was your month in Sombor, Serbia your favorite month?” -Zoltan Vegel (my ministry host in Serbia).
A: This seems like a loaded question, but Serbia really was a wonderful month; getting to build relationships, playing in the snow, spending time in such a pretty little town like Sombor was great. Oh and I completely massacred our ministry host at ping-pong. However I will give a man his due, by the end of the month he had my game figured out, and beat me best of 15- so he was the ultimate champ.
Q: “What is the thing that surprised you the most?” -Kirby Vinson
A: I always thought that because Europe had some history of Christianity, or at least Judeo-Christian principles, it wouldn’t be quite so dark a place as say South America or Southeast Asia. The reality is that it is even darker, at least in my opinion. The dark shadows cast by communism and the Orthodox religion have encompassed seemingly all of Eastern Europe.
Q: “What would the spirit animals of the other men on your squad be?” -Kirby Vinson
A: Tim MacWilliams: A panther; he’s scary, loves disappearing into the mountains, and pretty quiet, in a stealthy sort of way.
Zach Taylor: Like a baby goat; he’s all smiles, playful, and loves hugs.
RJ Taylor: A white-tail deer in Central Texas that’s been shot twice; just as the white-tail is perfectly suited to its environment, with it’s agility to jump over barbed-wire fences, eyesight that can catch even the slightest movement, nose that can detect the faintest scent, and ears that can hear the faintest pin-drop, so to is RJ Taylor perfectly suited to the World Race environment. With his guitar-playing, dancing-in-the-aisle worship style, and his love of feedback, intentionality and other things I suck at, he is the ideal racer. Plus some deer take a couple rounds to go down and RJ once shot himself twice with a pellet-gun.
Jonathon Shears: A sheep; because it’s the opposite of a wolf and he loves wolves. Asa professional wrestler his wrestling name was Sheepgar.
Q: “Have you learned any skills that could be demonstrated in a talent show?”
-Kirby Vinson
A: No- but I can start a fire with a potato chip. Potato chips will burn forever.
Q: “If you had to walk up to someone in Europe and lick their left cheek, which country would you hope they were from?” -Kenneth Bonte
A: That’s easy, Sweden. I’d hope the person is a woman. Scandinavian women are beautiful. If that clean energy stuff they’re all about translates into personal hygiene then it will probably be a pretty clean face. And historically they’re a more docile region, so I’d be minimizing my chances of getting slapped afterward.
Thanks for the questions! And prayers for me and my NEW TEAM as we travel to Africa!
-Peace and love,
Matt
