Let’s take it back to Malawi-
Where am I?
In a mini bus, crammed with over 20 African brothers and sisters, all of them carrying a huge mystery bag. Could be maize, could be a baby goat.. nothing would surprise me anymore.
Who am I with?
My partner in crime and team leader, KelsAy KrAus.
Where are we heading?
Did the bus ride EVER take 45 minutes to get to Mzuzu?
How did Kelsey and I kill time?
You mean aside from talking about our favorite go to game- “If you could have ANY meal right now, what would it be?” * To play this game you must be very descriptive, so much so you can almost taste it!… Kelsey and I have mastered this game….
But anyways, we played the game, “Where do you think we will land in the States when we return home?”
Both of us mentioned common places squads from Asia have flown into, like New York, D.C., Atlanta etc. Oh… and L.A.
Kelsey: LAX would be too perfect!
Nicole: I’ve never been!
Kelsey: Me either!
Nicole: If we land in LA, we’re not going to leave…
Kelsey: Can you imagine us just continuing our trip in California?!
Nicole: Yes. Yes I can…. We would backpack the whole state. Have a month 12, but in Cali!
Kelsey: We just survived around the world, Cali would be a piece of cake!
Nicole: Seriously, no language barrier, phone service!… Wait, can we please do this?!
Kelsey: If we land in LA, we are doing this.
This conversation lasted the entire 3 hours it took us to get to Mzuzu. Kelsey and I sat in that smelly, hot, bumpy mini bus laughing and smiling from ear to ear just imagining all that we can bring to California after this year. We had some uncomfortably long stares from bus riders, but they were just jealous they weren’t laughing with us!
Let’s jump ahead to Mozambique-
It was our last night (or so we thought!) in the country and the 3 teams met up to leave the next morning for our long travel day. Our squad leaders announced that we should have received an e-mail from AIM with all the information for flying home……
MOMENT OF TRUTH.
I didn’t even have time to open my e-mail before I over heard people talking about landing in LAX!!!
I shot up out of my chair and ran out of the building. I could not control myself, I was so excited!
It took an entire 5 minutes for me to START calming down.
“THIS IS TOO PERFECT!!”
“WHAT A WAY TO END AN AMAZING YEAR!!”
I pulled myself together and walked back into the room where everyone was talking about LA. I scanned the room for Kelsey. She didn’t even have to look at me. She knew. Our entire conversation we dreamt up in that Malawi mini bus was actually going to happen.
* END SCENE *
This was a hard conversation to have with friends and family back home, especially mom and dad. After all, it is more time away from them.
Kelsey , Caitlen (our newest member) and I decided that California wasn’t going to be a vacation. This trip is going to be special. Sure, we’ll do touristy things (like we do in every country), but our mission trip doesn’t end when we … hop off the plan at LAX 😉
What does Cali look like for us?
We don’t exactly know.
What do we know?
We will be:
-Back packing -living off our same $5 a day budget -volunteering at soup kitchens -volunteering in general -meeting strangers and loving on them –doing random acts of kindness each day – learning people’s stories –encouraging others –bringing joy
With that said, we will be traveling from L.A. to San Fransisco. We are missionaries straight off the field with hearts on fire, but no money!
*This is not me complaining…I LOVE living off close to nothing.
But lodging will no longer be covered by AIM and we have exactly 3 weeks in California.
If you are someone OR know someone who would love to host 3 lovely ladies (who can cook and tell rockin’ stories!) and live anywhere from L.A. to San Fransisco, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!
I am already being picked up from the airport by a friend I haven’t seen since middle school!
–SHOUT OUT to Cami Lopez. I’m so beyond excited to see you!-
This experience is just too special, I would love to end it with you and your loved ones.
The dates: Land in LA on November 25th, Fly out of San Francisco on December 16th
This entire year has been a testimony to dreams coming true…. Literally thinking up all this craziness in my head and watching is come to reality. IT’S SO COOL!
I’m just going to say this now. 2014 might be coming to an end, but this lifestyle is here to stay.
#ridethewave #enjoy & #givejoy
