This whole writing blogs thing is very tough to do. I constantly find myself sitting at a computer thinking of how in the world I can write down my experiences in a way that would explain it to my readers. I have come to the conclusion it simply is not possible. The only way to truly gauge my feelings, emotions, and the things I see would be to witness it with your own eyes. To feel it with your own heart. So since I have had a major let down in the blog writing department of my World Race experience I am going to write this blog of a short recap of my experiences in each country thus far. I hope in doing this you will gain a small look as to what these past 6 months has looked like for me.
Pre Race / Launch:
Heading in to the race I wasn’t nervous about traveling around the world but more nervous about living in community with other Christians. In my life Christians have been the cause of great pain to me. I have been burned badly by many and some of my deepest pains and hardest trials in life have come at the hands of other Christian people. I had no clue what life would look like living with the very kind (although not the same) of people that hurt me the most. Would I be accepted? Am I “Christian” enough to be able to hang with these people? Would this turn out to be bad? Would it ruin my experience? Although God had done some incredible things in my life during Training Camp and the month in between I still had many lingering fears and questions.
Month 1 – Guatemala:
This was truly my first experience in a different country. And it was a fantastic one! I had many adventures during this month that I will never forget. I had the opportunity to help at a senior center. It was an amazing experience to be able to spend time with each one of them and show them love. I made a goal to learn spanish to a point where I could pray for someone in Spanish. Before the end of the month I prayed for the entire Senior Center all in Spanish! I scaled off the side of a 4 story building to paint the side of it! I climbed a water tower that overlooked the city of Quiche! I rode up and down a mountain in the back of a pickup truck standing up! I had the chance to go to Lake Atitlan, which is a lake surrounded by 3 volcanoes! I rode on a crazy chicken bus for the first time! I had the opportunity to see how true indigenous people live! Out of all the wonderful and beautiful things the Lord did and allowed me to see the greatest of those was the love and acceptance my team showed me. I felt like I was part of a family. Kat Gavin, Hannah Brown, Devon Kester, Holly Smith, Victoria Castillo, and Joe Ferguson will always hold such a special place in my heart and in my life. They brought so much healing to my life. Because of their love and their great friendship I experienced restoration from years of being burdened by hurt and pain. This was an amazing feeling. Our contacts Sally and Erv are some incredible people that I had the blessing of sharing some great conversations with. If you ever feel the need to bless a ministry financially or in prayer, these some great people to do that for.
Month 2 – Nicaragua:
Moving in to month two I was ready to see the Lord work in some amazing ways within our team and with the ministry we were partnering with. I had the blessing of coming alongside the Esposito family and joining the incredible ministry they have started. Wow was I in for an incredible month! Month 2 was filled with prison ministry, sports ministry, mens bible study and discipleship, feeding programs, and bible clubs for kids! On the very first day of ministry I had the opportunity to share my testimony and a short message with a group of inmates at a prison and 3 of them ended up giving their life to the Lord for the first time! It was an incredible experience and way to start out the second month of my race. Unfortunately I was hit with some very sad news during this month as a dear friend of mine back home took his life. It was very hard to deal with this news being so far away from home. My team as well as our contacts did an incredible job at supporting me and loving me during this hard time. It was great to continue to feel that love and acceptance from Christian people. My view of Christians continued to be changed and altered for the better. During the month I had the opportunity to preach a few sermons, continually reach out to inmates at the prison, and create close friendships with some of the local guys. I was very blessed with some of the friendships that I was able to create. I had some incredible adventures during this month. I went to a place called monkey island where a bunch of monkeys live! I went volcano boarding. This was crazy and probably one of the coolest things I have ever done! I actually sledded down an active volcano on a board. it was amazing!! We took a couple days and went to the beach where I was able to see the biggest waves I have ever seen. I was also able to see a west coast sunset for the first time in my life. This was on my bucket list. Twenty five years and I had never seen one. It was well worth the wait! This turned out to be a month I will never forget and am for certain some day I will be returning here. It was very hard to leave Nicaragua and I almost stayed there and did not continue on in my Race.
Month 3 – Philippines:
I left Nicaragua and jumped on a 16 hour plane ride to the Philippines. This was my first time on the other side of the world and in a completely different culture. Coming to the Philippines was very hard as my heart was still in Nicaragua. We stayed in a hostel the first couple days and I was challenged by someone to make this month my best month of ministry yet. This actually, at first, pissed me off. I thought how could he say this to me after the incredible month I had last month. I found out we would be working with kids all month at a place called Kids International Ministry (KIM). I was not excited about this month at all. The Lord has a funny way of working though. The first few days the Lord changed my attitude drastically. I would physically, emotionally, and spiritually feel the Lord beckoning me to just spend time with Him. So, that is exactly what I did. In those days I felt the Lords love like I have never before. He fueled me for what would be an AMAZING month. I had the privilege of sharing my testimony of overcoming parents divorces, adoption, sexual abuse from a youth pastor, and addictions with a large group of girls who have been the victim of different kinds of abuse. To hear their response to what I shared encouraged me so much. I will never forget that night. My favorite ministry was hanging out with the kids who live in the community around the Ministries headquarters. I played a lot with them which ended up opening up to them trusting me. When we would get done playing we would all get together in a circle and I would talk to them about Jesus and then we would all pray together. This proved to be so beneficial to them and to me. They would continually ask me questions and be excited about praying together. Out of this I formed a friendship with a nine year old girl named Patricia. I will never forget this girl and I miss her so much. The Lord put this girl on my heart in such a HUGE way. I saw her every single day I was there. We laughed together, played together, and prayed together. At first she was not open to talking about God or praying at all. By the time I left she would want to pray with me. She even prayed in english with me before I left! She invited me to her home and her family had a going away party for me. I will never forget this little girl and her family. I cant wait to see them all again someday. I was able to have a lot of these type of relationships with kids in the community. I met with many of them for bible studies and prayer times. It was truly amazing. I made some incredible friendships with some of the other missionaries that were staying at the KIM base. I also took part in a bible study/feeding program for youth. I formed some awesome relationships with the kids there that I will miss very much. I preached a sermon at a church nearby. As far as adventures go I didn’t get to travel a ton that month. But seeing the country side as well as downtown Manila was beautiful enough for me. I did go to a place called Daranak Falls and got to see the coolest waterfall I have ever seen. The Philippines was an incredible month and I can not wait to go back and visit!
