We are less than a month away from returning home and the talk about our future plans has invaded our Squad. Everyone is excited and at the same time anxious about what our individual futures hold for each one of us. It is hard to come to the decision of what to do with our lives after all the amazing experiences we had these past eleven months. It has been a life-changing journey that has left every one of us desperate for a taste of more. More love, more joy, more hope, more growth, more change, more sacrifice, more relationships, more risks, more adventures, more discoveries, more God. And as incredible as the Race has been, we have all reached the consensus that this has only been the start of something greater.
When I came on this journey I perceived from God that this trip was going to be a launching pad into what the rest of my life would look like. I also perceived that I was to close every open door back home and come into the race free from any future commitments or attachments. For this reason I sold my car and I also quit my job and gratefully declined their offer to hold my position for when I came back. I have to confess how scary that whole process was and looking back at how it all played out I can recognize how much strength God had to give me to go through it without backing out.
I want to state that I really appreciate every one of you that takes out the time to read what I have to say, and it feels as if we have been journeying together this whole time. Although many of you may have heard that my next life step involves South Africa, most of you don’t know the story of how I ended up there and what I will be doing and I don’t want to pass over this opportunity to fill you in with all of the details.
Throughout the race, I’ve had to cope with the singularity that I’m the only one in my Squad that is not from the States. This has given me some advantages and disadvantages that have made my Race an interesting one. In Cambodia I had to travel to the capital and back a couple of times to get my Thailand visa. In Malaysia I also had to stay a week in the capital away from my team to process my Ukrainian visa, and in the Philippines I applied online for my visa for Zimbabwe. Just three days before our travel into Zimbabwe, I got the email from the embassy simply telling me that my application had been denied. No reason or explanation given. I think it was because I had already dealt with a couple of visa complications and partly also because there was nothing much more that was within my reach to do, that I was able to calm my heart, receive the Lord’s peace and open myself to His interruption to my plans.
Very quickly, with the help of my Squad Mentor, we came up with the plan of staying in South Africa while I visited the Embassy of Zimbabwe in person to process once more my visa so that I could finally enter the country. After an overnight flight, the morning of my birthday,
I said good bye in the airport to the rest of my Squad which proceeded to take their connecting flight into Zimbabwe. I was left alone, but I was filled with joy and expectant for adventure for I knew God was with me.
In the mean time, it so happened that my stay in Johannesburg coincided with the convergence of three other Squads that were coming through South Africa and took the opportunity to form an AIM conference they called “ReAwakening”. My mentor got me an invitation to the event and after two days of being alone in the country I reunited with 150+ World Racers that came together to worship God and stir each other up in faith. I felt really welcomed and soon I started making friends. I knew in my heart that this was a huge gift from God for me. I felt very special in His eyes.
Eventually, after visiting the Embassy and not having very positive results, we started to realize that I was going to stay in South Africa for the month. They gave me about ten ministry host options from which I knew nothing about. I basically made an “ini-mini-miny-moe” type of decision and in less than half a day I was heading to my new ministry site. The organization was called Impact Africa and right from the start it became very dear to my heart.
Their organization had a wide range of ministry outlets that went from having orphanages and safe houses that helped single mothers to keep their babies instead of having abortions, elementary schools that provided high quality education to many young children of the poor communities, to highschool programs and community outreach where the gospel was shared and people came to know the love of the Father.
In the center of this they had an internship program to which we were plugged into for the month. In it they created a community and an environment where love for the Lord and love for others could easily flourish. It was also a very safe environment to seek out our calling to serve the Lord through our gifts and talents and where they would pour into us to develop our strengths and guide us to discover our passions.
I look back and can easily say that it was one of my favorite months of the year. I felt alive and joyful everyday I spent there, and it drastically changed my relationship with the Lord and my understanding of His Kingdom. I left many close friends there even though I knew them for only a month.
As I was leaving, I started a conversation with my host for me to come back and serve with them for a season. In my excitement, I wanted it to be right away (during the rest of my Race) but thankfully the Lord lead me through a better path where I was able to grow and mature in my decision.
Now that my season with the Race is coming to an end, I am ready to jump into this next step the Lord opened up for me and pour my heart out for the South African people as well as for all of the interns that will come through the program at Impact Africa.
Amongst all the joy and excitement there is also a lot of fear of the unknown and doubt which I’ve been having to navigate through. Going to South Africa is a big step I am taking away from the life path I formerly lead. It feels irresponsable and risky and filled with uncertainty, but I believe that even though I feel unprepared I can rest in the Lord that He is guiding me. After all He equips the called instead of calling the equipped.
One big part of that initial equipping that the Lord is bringing into my life is developing a group of supporters that believe in my vision and work and that would like to partner with me on this next journey. I will be going on a trip to South Africa from October to December on which I will test out my new position within the organization and prepare everything for a year long stay on 2018.
Before making my specific needs known in a future blog, I wanted to let the Lord impress in the heart of each one of you the way that you wanted and were able to join me. It may look like financial support of a one time or a monthly giving. It may look like support in prayer. It may look like words of encouragement, prophesy, or scripture. I believe the Lord is very creative and knows my needs better than I know them so any idea that pops into your mind, as crazy as it may be, let yourself be crazy and creative with Him.
I’ll eagerly await to hear from everyone of you (through my Facebook account preferably) and praise the Lord together for what He has done. I’m sure many fun and amazing stories will come through this and I believe that God-stories are one of the currencies from the Kingdom of Heaven.
P.S.: three weeks ago I got an email from the Embassy of Zimbabwe telling me that now I have a visa. So that’s that! Hahaha
