“I met my wife on the World Race”
I found out about the World Race (WR) through my friend Matt. I went on my first mission trip in July 2013 to Haiti. I experienced God in such a real and tangible way there. My experience in Haiti confirmed my desire to return to the mission field and wanting to be a missionary.I did not think I would be applying for an 11 month mission trip 3 months later.
Matt has been a close friend of mine for over 10 years and is my big brother in Christ as well. So naturally I told him how I thoroughly enjoyed Haiti and want to do more mission work in the future. He sends me this WR video on Facebook (click link to watch) —–> VIDEO
I thought to myself OH GREAT! If I had not seen this video I would not have known of the WR. I, unlike most of my squadmates, did not know any WR alumni. My church (Abundant Living Family Church) hosts many mission trips so I was content with serving at my church while I waited for the next trip to Haiti.
I saw that WR video 2 weeks before the application deadline.
I felt this was God-sent and not just a coincidence. Yes, I looked at that hefty price tag of $14,000 again and again and thought how could I raise such an amount? My family isn’t poor, they are quite succesful, and so are my friends. But would they really donate? Especially after some had just donated 3 months prior to my Haiti trip.
I still vividly remember my first interview with the World Race which was over a year ago.
The application asked all the general background questions: Age, mission experience, family, education, criminal background…etc
The interview followed the same sort of questions. He (men interview men) gave me additional information about the WR & his previous experience since he was an alumni. Which were pretty cool and he gave me a lot of insight on different things. He mentioned the “no dating rule” during the WR. I put that in quotes because all racers know that “rule” is more of a suggestion.
Interviewer: “I see you marked single in your application”.
Raf: Yup
Interviewer: 3 couples from my squad got married after the WR. (Like I said, rule ignored)
Interviewer: “Who knows Rafi maybe you will find your wife during the World Race as well”
R: …crickets
R: oookay
Personally, I wasn’t interested in hearing about such statistics. Knowing I have less than 2 weeks to be accepted, pay $3,000 in the next few days (as a down payment), then purchase a flight to Atlanta for training camp the following month. Fundraising the remainder of the money, buying equipment, making sure my bills and such are in order… etc. Nope, I could care less about relationships that came about from the WR.
Of course, my friends from home also talked about potential relationships as a result of this mission trip. So rewind to February of this year which was month two. My squadmate tells me what happened at training camp four months prior.
When she saw one of our squad mates
God told her that is the man she is going to marry.
That is quite the mind-blowing experience to have before our mission trip even begins.
And come to find out later the guy God showed her received the same message from God as well.
Boom…. That’s 1 couple down.
Naturally, with ample amounts of time, we discussed many things, relationships naturally come up.
Who, when, where, and how?
Who did you date last?
When was it?
Where did you two meet?
& How did it end?
Some of the girls in the squad (who I had yet to converse with about such topics) “heard” a different version. One girl, Elaine, was so sweet about it –
[Hey Raf I would like to get to know you better. One thing I
heard about you is that you don’t want to get married]
I cleared that up with Elaine. I told her I most definitely want to get married. It was quite a funny and interesting way to commence our conversation. I have to say Elaine is someone I had a great time getting to know this year. I do believe it is a great blessing to find a wife/ “helpmate” as the bible says.
I did not think twice about what the women may be like on the squad. Maybe if I would have found out about the WR and had got accepted months prior my mindset about the women in my squad may have changed. I would have joined our “Y squad” Facebook sooner. Seen their profiles and/or chatted with more people in the process. Which may have lead to some friendships going into training camp. But I am glad everything went the way it did. God’s plan with always be better than ours.
I signed up for an 11-month mission trip that would grow and stretch me in many ways. I wanted (and still want) to grow closer to God. I believe this mission trip was the first step toward preparing me for more mission work.
Later in the year one squadmate told another
God told me you will meet your husband in Costa Rica.
Of course, we were all pretty surprised to hear such a thing. Did they hear God right? Would it happen while we are in Costa Rica? Or is this what will happen if she returns to Costa Rica on another trip?
Well it happened! She got confirmation after she met him. The month we were in Costa Rica my teammate met the man God said would be her husband (he was not a member of our squad).
Boom! Numero dos
There is one more relationship within the squad who, God-willing, is headed toward marriage after the WR. They both are great people who I am excited to see supporting one another in marriage and in ministry.
That makes three, just like my interviewer stated happened within in his squad. There might even be more. These are just the three that have shared these stories with myself and others.
I know some people say “well that doesn’t happen often” or they ask “why doesn’t that happen with everyone else”?. Maybe only God can give you the answer. But I am leaning towards if everyone waited longer we would hear more testimonies such as these.
44 members in my squad – 7 men – 37- women
My squad is full of great, strong, intellectual, beautiful, Jesus loving women.
With that being said I did not meet my wife on the World Race…
at least not that I know of 😉
“He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from
the Lord“
Proverbs 18:22
I hope you enjoyed my blog!
Thank you all for keeping up with my mission trip.
It means a lot!
God bless
Love – RAF
