As I sit here reflecting on a crazy nine months, I ponder where to begin. Should it be riding elephants in Thailand? The many bike adventures in Cambodia? Living on the best beach in South Africa? Then, I realized what I had to talk about. For none of this would have been possible without Christ. Nothing else matters.
Throughout these past nine months, God has given me the opportunity to do some amazing things, as well as teaching me things about him that have shaped the core of who I am. In Thailand, God taught me a lot about leadership. Most of my team was feeling homesick, and had a hard time being present. Others were struggling seeing other teams teaching in schools and feeling like we didn’t have ministry. Between Mike and myself we helped the rest of our team as they struggled to see why we were there or not being present.
God also gave us so many awesome opportunities in Thailand. We had the weekends off every week, and we did some pretty awesome things. We got to ride elephants one week, another week we bought an adorable puppy. We were constantly going to different schools to see our host coach his soccer team. The Lord blessed me with such authentic community in Thailand, and I am so thankful for every single member of my family there.
In Cambodia, God brought me through a season of intimacy. Cambodia was the first time where I read my bible almost every day for a month. It was here where I felt true community with 13 other racers. We were essentially confined to this orphanage for an entire month, with semi-daily visits to the local “café” to use wifi. But the highlight of Cambodia for me definitely had to be our bike ride adventures. Since all we had to do in our orphanage was read our bible and play with the kids when they weren’t at school, we had a lot of free time. So most days, the guys at the orphanage would take the bikes the orphanage had and go explore the vastness of the rice fields that surrounded us. We would bid into the rice fields and have modeling photo shoots. We would bike down the only dirt road for miles on end. We would go jumping off of bridges. It was moments like these that make my heart ache for adventure. The Lord really showed me what true community looks like.
My time spent in South Africa was “interesting” to say the least. I started off my time in South Africa by going immediately to the doctor and being bedridden until Christmas. I strayed away from my daily walk with the Lord in my time in South Africa, but it was here where God showed up the strongest in my trip. Halfway through my third month in South Africa I was at Victory Church at the night Youth Service when I was hit so strongly by God’s presence. We were singing “No Longer Slaves”, and when I sang the words “I am surrounded by the arms of the father”, I jut felt as if God was giving me a warm embrace and hugging me. When I felt this hug and love from God for the first time in months, bringing me to my knees, tears of joy and love flowing from my eyes. God taught me humility when playing for the Victory Gap Year soccer team, as they were not the best team in the league and lost the one game I played for them. God gave me awesome relationships in the community that made leaving South Africa so very difficult.
We also had some pretty awesome adventures in South Africa. I got to go cliff jumping off a 50 foot cliff. Others went bungee bridge jumping while a group of us went on a river adventure. I got a taste of surfing, but almost drowned and got sucked out in a rip current so I said no more. I got to go shark-cage diving in Cape Town, as well as climb Table Mountain at sunset. I ate the infamous “Gatsby Sandwich”, and got to go on a horseback ride. Life in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa was probably my favorite part of the trip, and I will miss it more than anywhere else!
Our trip to Nicaragua started off with my parents coming and visiting me for 5 days on something called “Parent Vision Trip”. Our family, along with 5 others on our team, got the opportunity to serve alongside each other for 3 days. Our first day was cutting weeds with a machete at our hosts ministry site. We got to see the vision of our hosts, and the heart to restore the family in Nicaragua. Every meal we would sit down together as a family in a small area with 70+ people and just have a family meal together. After dinner we would have a worship session lead by Racer’s, followed by a message by our PVT co-ordinator. Our second day of ministry was a prayer walk through a poor community 15 minutes outside of Granada. We got to talk to a group of college-aged boys and pray over them. We prayed blessings over a few families, and I got to practice my Spanish. Our final ministry day consisted of us going to a local church and playing with the kids, and after serving them lunch. Our final day involved us going to a volcano and swimming in the pristine lake inside, along with my parents washing my feet and praying over me. PVT was an amazing experience for both me and my parents.
The final leg in Nicaragua was probably one of the most influential months on my trip. My new team and I lived on an island in the middle of a lake the size of Lake Michigan in Nicaragua for three months. We lived at a child refuge center (called CICRIN) with 3 other teams on our squad, 27 in total. This group living situation was hard to get used to, but proved to be such a blessing. Our main ministry rotated based on the day. We did a lot of prayer walking and building relationships within the community surrounding us. We also helped out in classrooms at CICRIN’s school, loving on the kids and helping the teachers. We also cleaned up around CICRIN, because it was a largish property. We lived with 3 staff and 25 kids, ranging from 5-15. My favorite part of the week was the church service we put on every Sunday. A different team would lead worship and give a message every week, an it was here that I felt like I was truly a part of a church. I loved the simplicity of it all. That was God’s main message to me in Nicaragua was simplicity. Through a conversation that I had with a local missionary working with Adventures in Missions, the way I looked at my relationship was changed. The basis of any good relationship begins with a friendship. And that is how I started to view my relationship with God. I now view it as a friendship. This has helped me so much in reading my bible every day and praying, because if I am friends with somebody I am wanting to talk to them and catch up every day. Which is exactly what I have been doing ever since my second month in Nicaragua. God also showed me simplicity in the church. We weren’t focused on the number of members we had, or a set schedule down to the minute of when everything would happen. We let Jesus be the center of everything, and worshipped his name, and prayed when we felt lead to by the Spirit, and let the Spirit guide our message to one another.
I also had some amazing adventures in Nicaragua. Our team took a weekend trip to Costa Rica, where a member on my team (Jill) had an uncle who owned a hotel in San José. We got two nights of luxury, which was a steep contrast to our living conditions the past month. Parker and I got the opportunity to return to Granada and hang out with a couple of our friends. We went to a surf town called San Juan del Sur twice, and discovered the best donuts on the planet. If you are ever in San Juan del Sur, you need to go to Dia De Los Donuts. We also went surfing. Well the other guys went surfing, I took some pretty neat pictures. Our last week in Nicaragua we got to live directly on the beach in León, which was absolutely gorgeous. God captured my heart in León, and I will forever miss the peace of watching the waves crash and not having to worry what tomorrow brings.
I have been home for over a month now, but the Race is still on the forefront of my mind. God has blessed me with so many new and amazing friends, along with a lifetime of memories. But, the best thing he gave me was himself. I can say without a doubt that the Race grew me in my faith exponentially, and has helped show me what it looks like to live as Christ once did. I cannot begin to say thank you to everyone that helped support me on this trip. You all gave me the opportunity of a lifetime, and helped me grow closer with the creator. It brings tears to my eyes to think where I would be if I had not gone on this Gap Year trip. Again, thank you so much to everyone who either supported me financially or through prayer. I assure you, your prayers were answered.
Below is a link to my final video on YouTube. I hope you enjoy it 🙂
