I can’t believe it’s already nearly December!!! The past three and a half months have flown by. The Lord has been doing a lot through my squad so far on the World Race since we first left in August.
Month 1 – Serbia (August)
After a lot of traveling, my team and I arrived to our first ministry location – Kamp Mrcajevci (pronounced ‘Mer chai yev see’), located just outside of the village Mrcajevci. Here, we served through a lot of physical labor, but also in the kitchen and with the campers. We helped move wood and brick piles and clean cabins among other maintenance work. We also helped in the kitchen preparing food. During our free time we interacted with the campers as much as possible and some of our team was even able to help with the American Football camp that ran during one of the weeks. Our ministry hosts, Karl and Julie Bannert, oversaw the camp and helped us adjust smoothly to our first foreign country.
http://www.campmserbia.com/about.html
Month Two – Romania (September)
Month two brought a busy schedule along with a lot of joy! This month my entire squad lived together for the entire month in the city of Alba Iulia. As a whole we worked with various ministries under Hope Church and PIEI (links listed below). Specifically, my team worked with Harmony Church and its Pastor, Marcel Cordos. Our ministry this month was teaching english to children and adults from the church and the community. For nearly every english word we taught, we learned a Romanian word back! Ex: ‘Buna dimineata!’ (Good morning!). We were also involved with the churches weekly youth group where we were able to interact and play games with the teenagers. We also had the opportunity to go out in the community and evangelize to the locals and tell them about Jesus and our faith. Outside of ministry time, we had teachings and worship sessions nearly every day from our squad leaders and squad mentor.
Hope Church – http://www.hoperomania.org/
PIEI – http://www.piei.org/romania/
Month Three – Bulgaria (October)
This month, my team had the privilege of working with another team from our squad. Together, we worked with Mission Possible in the village of Dobromirka at their conference centre there. Our ministry involved: Cleaning and preparing the centre for an incoming retreat, kitchen work, and putting together baby boxes (large boxes containing basic necessities such as, blankets, clothing, formula, etc…) to send to poor, local gypsy villages. At the end of the month were able to visit some of the gypsy villages with our hosts, Val & Emi, and hand out blankets and worship and pray with the locals. We also had the pleasure of visiting and praying over the residents at a local nursing home.
Month Four – Malaysia (November)
Currently, my team is in Penang working with Choon Ean Goh, our ministry host and founder of LUMA (Lighting Up Media and Arts), the organization we are working with this month. We have been helping with preparing for local events such as art shows and curatorial forums, where we help with logistics (such as the sound system) and set up and tear down of the events. It is also ‘Manistry Month’, which means the men on my team are in a separate ministry with the other guys from my squad for this month. I and the other ladies on my team have the pleasure of being paired up with 3 other women from another co-ed team for all of November.
FAQ’s
Who is on your team?
Dosson Stubblefield (Alabama)
Connor Oberg (Colorado)
Kristen Poljansek (Kansas)
Jonathan & Devon Carothers (Mississippi)
Patricia Ladd (Alberta)
Meet my team: http://patricialadd.theworldrace.org/post/meet-team-atlas
’Team vs Squad’ – Whats the difference?
Squad: A group of 40-50 people who travel on the same route – 11 countries in 11 months.
Team: When the squad arrives in a country, it breaks into 6-8 teams who are assigned to specific ministries all over the country. Each team is made up of 6-7 people and will stay together as a team generally for the first few months before being getting team change.
What/who is a Squad Leader?
Alumni World Racers who have been called back on the field to lead and guide current Racers for a period of time (5 -11 months). They are there to invest into the emotional and spiritual health of the squad and individual racers.
Where are you off to next?
Glad you asked! Next month, my team and I are headed off to Chiang Mai, Thailand. We will be working with Adventures in Missions (parent company for the World Race) at their base here in a variety of ways. More details to come soon!
*ROUTE UPDATE*
Our route has changed again!
Due to very few partnerships in Namibia (Month Nine – April), our leadership team has decided re-route us from Namibia to Zimbabwe, in order for us to better serve as a squad.
Thank you for your continued support and prayers!
*For more info on the ministries listed, please follow the web address below each description*
God Bless,
Patricia.
