I don’t quite know how to begin, and this could get very
messy very fast, so bear with me.
It’s been quite some time since I’ve blogged about ministry
and life on the Race, or at least it seems like it’s been ages. Maybe it hasn’t for you folks back home, but
the time warp that is the World Race makes me feel like it’s been a solid
couple months since I told you exactly what it is I’m doing and how God is
moving. This could take some time, so go
ahead and make yourself comfortable. Get
a mug of tea, a blanket, maybe put on some of your favorite tunes, or grab a
snack to get you through. At some point
I’m going to have to go down memory lane to countries like Malaysia and Kenya
and fill you in about stuffs. That’s
right, I said stuffs. But that might
have to wait for another day, or another two or three days (blogging can take a
good while sometimes…mostly because I feel like my brain leaks out of my head
while I sleep and I can’t seem to rummage up the proper words to tell you about
life).
Currently I am sitting on a couch of sorts in a district of
Kathmandu, Nepal listening to my Nepalese brother Subas play worship songs on
his guitar while Leslie sings along. How
do I describe how I made it from Iringa, Tanzania to Kathmandu, Nepal? I’ll give it a try: 8 hour bus ride from Iringa to Dar Es Salaam;
a hot sticky night spent at the Econo Lodge in Dar; 5am wake up call, get dressed,
grab bag, and rush out the door of Econo Lodge to catch the 7am ferry (2 hours)
to *insert exciting music here* … ZANZIBAR!!
Tanned (baconized, even), swam, slept on the beach, had a couple cold
beers, and enjoyed loads of quality time and ridiculous laughs with the
squad. Let me just say that R Squad
quite possibly makes me laugh in the most outlandish ways, and I couldn’t have
put together a better place to spend time together before reality set in (an
unforeseen reality if I may say so myself).
The morning of March 27th we had a squad meeting. Now, we new that change was coming because
before we left for Zanzibar our squad had been told that two more of our
friends were going home – the wonderfully weird Tara Davis, and Kathleen
Schmidt, my teammate and friend. With
their departures my team was down to 3 ladies, and while 3 is a company, a
World Race team it is not. So, we had
some idea of what was coming, but despite our pondering, thinking, and praying
none of us could have foreseen what was coming, myself included.
Sigh, again I feel as if I do not take a minute to organize
my thoughts I will ramble on for eternity, and the power is out and my battery
is less than half charged so I can’t physically ramble on for eternity on this
hunk-o-junk that is my laptop… *Sarah takes a moment*
Joni and Michael stood before us, shared some words of
encouragement and wisdom with us, and then – the moment we’d all been waiting
for – Joni started reading off the names of the new teams. You know when God says “Behold! I am making
all things new!” all over the Bible, well He really means it, and He means it
right now like He meant it every other time before. Six new teams were made up from the 29 people
remaining in our squad.
Our squad has seen change, some big changes. My original team has also seen change, so
much change I feel like I might crumple into a mad ball of weeping and
unintelligible mumbling if there is more transition in my team. Within the turmoil and jumble that is
transition God saw completion coming to form, He saw wholeness. Where I only had questions, He had some
mega-huge answers.
With new teams established we got on a plane and left Africa
(can I get a woot-woot!?!) to head to Nepal.
New teams, a new continent, a new season. We flew from Dar Es Salaam to Doha, Qatar and
from there to Delhi, India where we had a layover from 2:30am local time until
1:30-ish pm. Before the squad checked in
to our next flight to Kathmandu we had a team meeting. So we gathered together and Alecia, who I
have been blessed to have on my team since September, told us that she was
leaving the Race, that God was calling her home. It was totally unforeseen to me, but God knew
what was going on and He knows exactly where she is going. As hard as it was to say goodbye, I felt a
hope in my spirit.
As we checked our luggage and went through immigration and
security, I looked at the three ladies with me and couldn’t help but
smile. Our new team is Janell King,
Carmen Oswalt, Leslie Redman, and myself.
We’re still in the process of finding a name for ourselves and learning
more about each other, and I don’t know what these next four months hold, but I
know that God is good. I know that He is
sovereign. I know that no matter what He
makes all things new. I know that above
all else He loves me.
It’s love, it’s love, it’s love.
What else really matters besides that?
