Hello! We’ve made it to Ukraine! After two days of airports and
exchanging money in four different countries, we made it to Ukraine.
Europe.
This is my first experience on this continent and it has definitely
been quite the culture shock. My team and I have joked (but
seriously…) that we are very glad that we have Ukraine and Romania
on our route before we go home because we get to deal with a lot of
the culture shock we’re going to have at home, just with each other.
We’re not in Asia anymore…it’s incredibly difficult to eat on $4 a
day and it’s no longer culturally acceptable to wear the same outfit
three days in a row.
There has been an unquestionable new ‘pep’ in my heart though.
Perhaps that ‘new life’ I was pushing so hard for. Something lifted
from me as we entered this country. It hasn’t fully developed yet
and I’m not entirely sure what this new life will even look like, but
it’s here. It’s here and it has cost me a lot.
I’m in a weird place right now. Being in Europe…everyone is white,
prices are America high, standard of living is similar to home, but
I’m still on this Race. I still have two more months to go. Two
more months to push through, invest in and experience, but at the
same time, I’m becoming more and more aware of the fact that this
Race has an end and the end is coming soon.
I’m stuck between being excited about where I am, what I’m doing and
who I’m with and being entirely ready to come home, to rest…to
sleep for about a week. Everyday it’s getting harder for me to fully
be here, for me to fully invest in my new teammates.
I know that Lord has so much more for me here, but I never expected
it to be so hard for me to focus on that while I’m still on the race.
I want more, I want the fullness, I want this new life to develop
properly in it’s time, but I’m tired.
Ha-I suppose that happens right after you have a baby doesn’t it?
I love you all.
Oh, and I found a kitty…
and an owl…
