If you’ve asked any past racer what their biggest piece of advice is, they’ll tell you, “don’t have any expectations going into it.” And I have two things to say about that statement. First of all, it is practically impossible, and second, it is completely true.
I remember sitting in study hall senior year, as my friends are getting roommate assignments, class schedules, and maps of campus, and I would sit next to them and scroll through blogs after blogs, soaking in world race life as much as possible. I was enthralled by the photos of mountain ranges that racers called home, I was captivated by videos of racers laughing with pure joy as they swung a jump rope for their little friend, and I was so fascinated hearing voice recordings of squad worship nights. I dreamed about the race daily, imagining what life would be like in Romania, India, and Costa Rica.
Long story short, as much as I tried to go into the race free of expectations, the truth is, most expectations are ones that you didn’t realize you have until they don’t get met. For example, I spent hours in prayer over the few months I lived in Georgia, surrendering expectations to the Lord. I surrendered the desire to wake up to a beautiful view every morning, I surrendered my heart for children’s ministry, trusting that whatever ministry I was asked to do, whether with children or not, the Lord would be faithful to accomplish His purposes, and I surrendered my expectation of worship, knowing the Christ can be glorified through speaker worship the same way He is when we worship with guitars and lead singers. and still, I arrived in Costa Rica and was let down by the fact that I didn’t have an indoor bathroom, and a few months later I moved to the Dominican Republic, to find myself sad that there isn’t a coffee shop within walking distance like there was before, both simple expectations, both times when my own disappointment surprised me.
The race is filled with moments like that, but I would argue that what fuels the statement “don’t have any expectations going into the race” is less of the moments where you walk into a bathroom and are surprised by the fact that there isn’t a mirror, but more of the moments when you walk downstairs and find a rooster in your bed. Not disappointing, just very surprising, and not at all expected.
So if you’re a future racer reading this blog, I want to shed some light on the phrase “don’t go in with any expectations.” I want you to know that there will be missed expectations no matter how hard you try. I encourage you to keep surrendering all of it to the Lord, and I encourage you to do that with the knowledge that even more often than the missed expectations, there are going to be the things that seemingly come out of left field and you learn to somehow call normal. And to explain a little further, and hopefully bring a smile to your face, here are a few of the things I never expected.
To start it off, I wrote a blog back in January about a street side vendor named Carlos. One afternoon while my teammate and I were spending time with him, he mumbled something in Spanish and left the stand, only to come back after about an hour of us manning his table. Ministry on January 22nd involved selling jewelry for a man I had met just the day before.
Another morning in Costa Rica, my squadmate Mary and I had plans to go meet up with someone for Bible study. The girl we were going to meet is a college student from Philly, studying in Costa Rica right now, and just recently found the Lord. We went to meet up with her, but due to no wifi, no service, and wrong directions, my ministry on February 8th included walking 5 miles before 9am, to spend 25 minutes in the Word with our new friend.
Also in Costa Rica, we did a controlled burn in the middle of the rain forest. Yeah you read it right, a group of four of us made a big pile of semi-dry leaves and set fire to it under the trees in the rain forest. Ministry on February 15th was four teenage girls in charge of a bonfire under the trees on base in Costa Rica.
Towards the end of our time in Costa Rica, our base host signed us up for a soccer game. I’ve written a blog about this one too, but to reiterate, when I say soccer game, I mean under the lights, refs, fans, jerseys, you name it. Ministry on February 23rd meant putting on an old East Texas Baptist University soccer jersey, and playing wing defense against a local women’s team.
When we got to the Dominican Republic, two of my squadmates were diagnosed with staph infection. The local clinics here are small, so my squadmates were sent to the hospital for their appointments, and they took me as their translator. On March 31st, my ministry was stuttering my way through medical Spanish to help a friend.
Last weekend, my team had the chance to spend the night in a beach town, and as we were walking towards the ocean, a man stopped me to ask a question. I turned around to hear, “Are you from Salt Lake City?” And as I answer “no sir,” a conversation was prompted, where I had the chance to explain to him that although, yes I am wearing shorts over my bathing suit, I am a Christian, not a Mormon. My ministry on April 10th included sharing the gospel with a man who thought he knew a way to heaven apart from Jesus.
Lastly, probably the thing highest on the list of things I never would have expected, was at the start of ministry last week when my team was told “this week for ministry, you are learning a lyrical dance to the song ‘No Longer Slaves’ and you’ll be performing it in three days.” So ministry on April 17th meant lyrical dancing in front of about twenty people, and recording it to play for a youth camp later on.
And those are just a few of the stories I could share with you, where I’ve been involved in things I never expected this time last year, when I was reading blogs and looking at instagram posts. Instead of settling in to Costa Rica, after spending three months in India, I spent last week doing my best to be graceful as I stumbled through dance ministry.
So to wrap up, the statement “don’t have any expectations on the race” is practically impossible because of how many times you’ll find yourself saying yes to things you wouldn’t picture even in your wildest daydream, and it’s still completely true because those “yeses” that you say begin to become normal to you. Suddenly putting on a jersey that represents a school you don’t go to, to play a sport you’ve never played, isn’t out of the picture. Instead it becomes something you smile about and praise the Lord for, thanking Him that He can work even in the things that feel most random to me.
If you’re a past racer reading this blog, I’m sure it reminded you of similar experiences on your race, and I pray it gave you the chance to laugh a little bit. If you’re a future racer reading this, I want you to know that my biggest piece of advice to you is to go into the race with as little expectations as possible. Yes, I said it too, and I know it’s hard, you won’t be able to surrender all of it, even if you think you did, but even then, every expectation you surrender is worth it, and every expectation you surrender makes your future “yes” a little bit easier. If you’re reading this as someone who will probably never end up on a trip with World Race, I pray that at the very least it brought a smile to your face, and widened the window a little bit, allowing you to see just a bit more of what “normal” life has looked like for me the past four months.
And lastly, no matter who you are reading this, I pray you can join me in praising the Lord that His glory can be shone through even the smallest, most random things. He works all things, even broken Spanish in a hospital building, for His glory and for our good. thanks God!
