I thought it would be fun to start month 10 (!!!) with a sort of 'highlights' list! I hope you enjoy it 🙂 I welcome any questions.
Best Food:
Cambodia (I say that as I ate so many delicious fruits and veggies, otherwise Malaysia and Thailand would have won).
Worst Food:
Uganda
Best Run:
Along the rice fields in Thailand.
[This photo is taken at a bean field in Thailand]
Worst shower:
Tonight! At our last hostel in Uganda. (It began with incredibly low pressure, but warmish water. It diminished into nothing after I fully lathered my shampoo. I was grateful to be brought a barely filled bucket to at least finish what I started until I found 4 small red worms wiggling on me!!)
Most Generous People:
Malaysia
Most Remote Ministry Location:
Maasai Mara in Kenya
Most Friendly People:
Philippines
Favorite Day of Ministry:
Helping at a Babies Home in Uganda where I had a baby in my arms within 10 minutes of arriving
Favorite Night of Ministry 🙂 :
Going to "Bar Street" in Thailand where I got to meet and talk to people caught in human trafficking. I felt so alive and inseparable from His Love!
Most Adventurous Month:
Honduras (It's when James officially became our team's Adventure Coordinator. We went to the hot springs and pool with the family, then to the Copan Ruins, a beautiful lake where we cliff jumped, giant waterfall and to the beach in El Salvador).
Biggest Accomplishment:
Climbing my first mountain in Guatemala. It was a volcano at the lovely Lake Atitlan.
Cleanest City:
Kigali, Rwanda
Favorite Team Tradition:
Stopping for a fresh pineapple after a hard day of physical labor.
(Thanks for always buying/sharing Nathan!)
Shortest time in a Country:
We had lunch in Tanzania while on a safari mostly in Kenya.
Best Shopping:
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Lastest Night Packing:
It was the night before–or should I say morning of–we flew out from Nicaragua to the Philippines.
Longest Travel Day:
Going from Cambodia to Kenya. It was 60+ hours before we arrived at our ministry site and that's subtracting the days we spent in limbo waiting for our contact to return our calls. However, Nicaragua to the Philippines would be a close second.
Best Holiday:
Thanksgiving in Nicaragua. (I took first place in our own Turkey Trot!)
(Brant came eventually! :))
Worst Holiday:
Christmas, even though my team went to a nice beach in the Philippines.
[This was December 26th, which was a better day].
Worst Airport:
Nairobi, Kenya
Favorite Living Conditions:
Angono, Rizal, Philippines. I lived in my tent on the top of a 3 story building in a flooded squatters village where the sunset was absolutely gorgeous! Plus we got to cook for ourselves & I found out we had many good chef on my team!
Most Impressive Teamwork:
How Mates put away an entire funfetti cake in 12 minutes in Honduras.
Most Devastating Day:
Learning the history of the Killing Fields in Cambodia, although reading Aboke Girls in Uganda was also incredibly difficult.
Longest Layover:
12+ hours in India
Funniest Memory:
In the middle of the night in Honduras, as we slept in a small one room church in only the Lord knows where location, Shayna screamed because there was a mouse by her. She yelled for James to get rid of it. James, disorientated from waking up to a scared teammate and quick critter, began to chase after the mouse in the dark with a small head lamp in his underwear and as he completed this challenging task proclaimed "I'm down with mouses!" My respect and love for James doubled that night 🙂
Most Natural Fit:
Thailand. I don't know why. It just clicked for me.
[Angela and I separating garlic cloves with our Thai mom]
Craziest [Realization]:
The fact that 12 hours on a bus (one way) seems like no big deal and is a good way to spend your weekend.
[Adventure]: White water rafting the Nile, with the giant waterfall that we went in, under and through as a close second. It was just so unexpected!
My First Squatty (of the Race):
Thailand, month 5, not bad!
Most Ignorant About:
Child Sacrifice going on in Uganda as you read this.
Hardest goodbye:
Our first goodbye. We had some sweet kids at the orphanage in Guatemala.
Sweetest 'Sister' Day:
It's a tie between baking delish cookies in Malaysia where we also ate a lot of cookie dough; it basically turned into our dinner & the girl day we spent at the Mall of Asia in the Philippines. We had a sleepover and watched 13 going on 30 🙂
Favorite Mode of Transportation:
The boda boda's (motorcycles) in Rwanda. They gave you a helmet, there are traffic lights and people actually follow them!
Hardest Day:
Launch. Day 1. September 5th.
Best Day:
Too hard to determine.
Love to my old Mates, my Team Cool Runnings and the rest of L-Squad. I couldn't and wouldn't be doing or enjoying any of this without ya! :)))
[Team Mates minus Brant above & Team Cool Runnings below]
