Alright!! Better late than never right? I had too many questions and it gave me a headache to think about answering them all, so I narrowed it down to the TEN most common (and then kept a few of the fun ones too). SO HERE IT IS! Everything you wanted to know about my experience on the race so far… and maybe some things you didn’t (;
The serious ones…
- What was it like sharing the gospel with people who speak different languages?
- Easier than I expected. Turns out the gospel is just as easy to show without words as it is to describe with them. Month one and three were french speaking countries, and we had translators there. It was pretty easy to develop great relationships with the people there. Asia varied a little. It was hard to tell the gospel with words to the locals there because none of us spoke Thai, Malay, etc. and they were months where we had no translators. Those were the months that I really learned what it looked like to show someone the love of Jesus only by how my team loved them and loved each other. At the end of the day, a smile, a hug, laughter, music, and just being genuine with people had as much effect, if not more, than my words.
- Favorite Country
- Okay I have to do this by continent because they’re too different to compare. Ministry aside, my favorite country in West Africa was Cote d’Ivoire. The people were the sweetest, the food was great, the culture is beautiful. We lived in a village that month and I absolutely loved it. In Asia, it’s a very close call between Thailand and Malaysia… but Malaysia wins. It was one of the most beautiful places I’ve been. My team fell in love with the beaches, the people that we met there, the food, the lifestyle, all of it. It was the first place on the race that I felt absolutely sure that I would go to again. I’m at the end of my first month in South America so I only have one choice for favorite right now, but it’s not a bad one! Argentina has been STUNNING in so many ways. The climate, the people treat you like family. It is such a culture of family, community, and love. The food is incredible and there are so many adventures available here!
- Favorite ministry
- Philippines!! One of my harder months emotionally and spiritually, but incredible for ministry. We were partnered with an organization that hosts missionaries from around the world. They have a very established rapport with the community and it helps to assimilate us into the work very fast. We got to work in many different areas: teaching, organizing libraries, painting murals, construction, gardening, children home, and the clinic. I loved working in the clinic, doing everything from measuring pregnant bellies and taking ultrasounds to removing IUD implants and giving stitches! The last week of the Philippines, some of our squad went to another city to work with Bella Goose, a coffee shop that helps get women out of sex trafficking, it was an amazing and eye opening experience. That week may have been my favorite part of the race so far.
- Expectations. Are they met? What were they?
- This question made me laugh a little because I SWORE before I came on the race that I didn’t have any expectations. I was adamant that I was coming into this year with an open mind and that I didn’t want any preconceived ideas to get in the way of what God had planned for the year. Butttt I was wrong. I had so many expectations. Mainly that this year was going to be much more exciting. Don’t get me wrong, it’s had some incredibly exciting moments. But a majority of the race is just living life in a different part of the world. My “expectations” were’t “met” per se, but in some ways they were vastly exceeded. I’ve grown personally more than I thought I would. Everyday has not been filled with mind blowing miracles and ministry, but I’ve had mind blowing experiences that were amazing for different reasons. Bottom line here is that the race has been everything and nothing that I expected.
- Easiest part
- Ahhh it’s so hard to answer this!! Nothing? Everything? I don’t know! If you asked me last month I would say travel days are surprisingly easy, but then we had a three day travel day that was actually four days that was filled with sleep deprivation, anxiety, and busses and maybe it’s not so easy! I think the things that have been surprisingly easy have been finding good food, language barriers, and community living. I was under the impression that food was going to be sparse and not great, but so far that’s only been true a few times. Most of the time we have great food and plenty of it. Language hasn’t been very hard, there are hard moments, but overall it’s pretty easy to communicate with people. Living with at least five or six girls CONSTANTLY has proven to be much less of a struggle than I originally thought. It’s actually been really great to live in close community like this for the year (not any more than a year, though haha). Even the months that we have seven to eighteen of us in one room with one toilet, one shower, and half a mirror, it really hasn’t been too bad.
- Hardest part
- Not having toilet paper anywhere? No, haha that was a struggle but definitely not the hardest part. I feel like everything overseas is just a little bit harder. It’s harder to find bus tickets, book hostels, find a bathroom, find a grocery store, all that stuff. Leaving ministry hosts and friends each month is really hard. Packing up after you just started to settle and feel like you’re at home in a place is hard. But the hardest part of the race for me has been fighting off the expectations that I didn’t know I had. That I would see more growth in myself than I’m seeing, that i would see miracles happen that I haven’t, that I would find a place that I “click” with that I haven’t, that I would change the world and I can’t, that I would be a leader and I’m not. The hardest part of the race is seeing the things in everyday life that are amazing. It’s hard to embrace that it’s not going to look like what you thought it would. It’s hard to fight off shame and regret, feeling like you didn’t do enough when you’re at month eight and you feel like you have nothing to show for it. It’s hard to be the one planting the seeds and not getting to see them grow. It’s also hard only being able to find margarine when you really just want some real butter.
- Has it felt like a mission trip or vacation?
- HAH. Definitely not a vacation! But not like a typical mission trip either. Honestly the race feels like living life but in different places. Sometimes ministry is really intense and you definitely feel the “mission” side of the race, sometimes it’s like living normal life and looking for the opportunities to show Jesus in a normal day. It’s really just a revised version of living normal life, but not normal because you live in a hostel with 30 other people and one shower and you have to pack up and move every 28 days.
- What is it like “evangelizing”?
- In a word, awkward. It’s definitely out of my comfort zone to approach people and tell them about Jesus, especially people I don’t know. Surprisingly, it was more awkward to talk to people who spoke english about the gospel than it was to have it translated. I think when I’m being interpreted, I feel like I can hide under the “missionary” title. Now, I don’t feel as awkward “evangelizing” because I’ve realized that it doesn’t have to look a certain way or be a magical combination of words. in Africa, our hosts wanted us to go around “door to door” and tell people about Jesus, I hated it. I felt scripted and disingenuous. Even though I did want people to know Jesus, I didn’t like the idea of going into peoples homes with a script. Once I started to understand that evangelism didn’t have to look a certain way, I began to change how I went about it. Instead of going door to door with a “script” I went with the intention of just building relationship with the people inside. I think the idea you have of what evangelism is will shape how you approach ministry. If you have the idea that evangelism is about getting people “saved” and that is your only end goal, then it can be extremely frustrating and defeating when you realize that you don’t often see people come to know Jesus. However, if your idea of evangelism is to show people who Jesus is, and in the meantime develop genuine friendships with people, knowing that God is ultimately the one who speaks into hearts, then you can go through the months with the peace of being the one planting the seeds.
- How have I grown in my relationship with God? How have I grown as myself?
- Oof. I’m still trying to figure that out! My squad jokes that this year is a “pressure cooker” for growth. It’s impossible not to change when you experience all of the things that we have this year. My relationship with God has grown significantly stronger. I could talk for pages about how much I’ve learned about grace and loving God, others, and myself. But that would take too long. In a nutshell, I’ve been learning what it looks like to walk in grace and simultaneously strive for holiness. As for growth within myself, I’ve learned so much about who I was made to be. I’ve learned that it’s impossible to be on the race without becoming fully immersed in the enneagram test, so I have been studying what it means to be a healthy 7 wing 8 haha. I’ve also learned that I’m capable of more than I had imagined. I have gifts that I can choose to keep to myself or allow God to use for His glory, even if that scares me. I’ve also grown more confident about my future and in pursuing what God wants to use me for.
- Am I scared to come home?
- Scared? No. I’m a whole mix of emotions when it comes to coming home. Firstly that I don’t think that “home” is really a place anymore. I’m very excited to see my family and friends, I’m actually very excited to work again, and drive my car, and sleep in a bed, and cook in a real kitchen. But I’m also loving every minute of the race. Yes, I’ve been homesick, I’ve wanted to quit and just get back to my people and my comfortable places. But at the end of the day I wouldn’t wish this time away at all. I’m really excited to see what God has planned for me when I get home. I’m excited to see where saying “yes” to His will gets me. I know that it’s lead my to crazy places on the race, but the race doesn’t end when I get home. The lifestyle that I’m living here, one that looks for His direction at every turn, is what I want to continue living back in the states or wherever He takes me. I’ve heard that the first month of being home from the race feels like “month 12” instead of home. I hope it stays month 12 forever and I don’t lose the fire that is constantly stoked by this community. I’m sad to not be around the people who have become as close as family to me this year, but I also know that wherever I am that is in His will, I will have family and I will have community because that’s what He made me for. So no, I’m not scared.
The funny ones…
- Where’s the craziest place you lived?
- That would probably have to be Masamba, Indonesia. My team lived in a literal treehouse in the jungle of Indonesia. It was clammy weather- hot and humid during the day, cold and wet at night. I slept in my hammock, we bathed in a river, washed dishes in the same river, lived with about a dozen men that became really good friends, played cards all night, never had dry clothes, got mold all over our bags. It was crazy, but it made for quite the memory.
- Most eaten food on the race
- It’s been so different each month but my most eaten snack on the race has been Pringles. I have eaten so. many. pringles. I never eat them at home, but for whatever reason, every time I see pringles in the stores I get two cans. I think it has a “homey” feel. I’ve also been drinking copious amounts of coffee, and eating a lot of bread. OH. Rice is the thing that I eat the most of month to month. I don’t think I’ve had a month where I haven’t eaten rice at least a few times a week, if not every meal (cough cough, africa).
- Weirdest food
- Balut was probably the “weirdest” thing, we also ate chicken intestine, goat pretty frequently, alligator. Can’t remember everything, lots of weird fish things.
- Poop story? (really y’all?)
- Ah geez. I mean it’s nothing too traumatic. There have been several instances where it’s been the side of the road in Africa when it’s the only option on your 13 hour bus ride. Or you get trapped in a very sad “bathroom” with no toilet paper and just a hose to rinse off. One time a river had to suffice, but I’m not getting into that. I’m done with this question.
- Most interesting language barrier problem
- I guess this was a language barrier problem, haha. My team was in Thailand trying to find a place for dinner. One of the workers at our hostel had become a friend and she wanted to go out to dinner with us, so we planned to go out one night together. She spoke no english, and we spoke no Thai. So through gestures we thought we were going to follow her to a place to eat dinner. Turns out she took us to her local Buddhist temple to give sacrifices and worship Buddha. Well, we don’t worship Buddha so we had to, very kindly, find a way to tell her that we would accompany her but that we thought we were going to dinner. We ended up just burning incense in the temple and then going back to order food in for the night.
- Do you regret bringing your guitar?
- Hahahahaha my teammates would say absolutely yes, but honestly, no I don’t regret it. In fact, I’m so thankful I brought it. Yes, I’ve wanted to chuck it off the side of a ferry, or “lose” it in the airport, or just leave it because it is a PAIN on travel days and it turns me into quite an unpleasant person to be around. BUT I’m very thankful that I still have it. It’s been a bridge that crosses the language barrier, a go to entertainment for kids, it’s enabled me to lead worship in churches all over the world, which is incredible. It’s way more a blessing than it is a pain, and that’s saying a lot.
- What do you miss most about home?
- Family, friends, my cat. Little things- like being able to drive anywhere I want by myself, having my own income (thanks dad!!), my comfy bed, a hot shower, air conditioning, grocery stores, chick fil a, cooking dinner with my friends, my church, my jobs, Wilmington, Eno river, couches, having a place to put things besides my pack. It really isn’t the big stuff that I miss as much as the small comforts and independence.
