These are not all about me, so don’t be alarmed that I am ridiculously gross!*
Although, if I’m honest, most of them are! J
Bathing:
- You got excited to finish a container of deodorant/shampoo/soap so you can lesson your pack load.
- Bathing with cloudy water in a bucket was normal and hair washing happened every three to four days because you just can’t find good shampoo.
- The water may or may not have been darker than your skin, but you felt clean after showering anyway.
- Your 1 towel had been washed 11 times in 11 months.
- You smelled the slightest bit of perfume from a mile away and assumed the person is rich.
- You smelled like a dirty clothes hamper when you started your day.
- The same construction clothes were worn everyday for a month, but were washed one time. They were needed for work, but didn't have time to dry!
- You legitimately considered getting stuck in the rain a good enough shower.
Speaking:
- You walked around saying, “Ingles?” in order to find someone to translate for you at a shop, bus stop, train station, market and everywhere else.
- Your English-speaking partner says, “Why I come here” in response to being overwhelmed by your English speaking ability.
- You spoke in broken English sentences and asked if the person understands what you said regardless of whom you are talking to.
- Words like dogspeedonyou and yellowbluebus actually meant goodbye and I love you.
- At a wedding when a Romanian say,”YoFock”, it means, “I do”…….
Eating:
- You had a smile on your face while unknowingly eating an entire meal of dog (YES DOG, not dog food or something bad, sincerely street dog meat), while your Vietnamese host family was beside you actually enjoying it.
- White rice was breakfast, lunch and dinner.
- You don’t generally like vegetables, but ate any and all of them because otherwise your diet would have consisted of plain rice and plain potatoes. I am convinced it was grass in Cambodia.
- You ate African doughnuts every morning for breakfast as your only option besides the veggies and chapati you had for lunch and dinner.
- You accepted ALL food from strangers and got agitated when your teammate turned it down.
- Peanut butter was liquidy and “good” is a relative term.
Travelling:
- Travelling for 24 hours was a dream travel day compared to the normal 48 or awful 70 hours of travel from ministry to ministry each month.
- You got to ride trains across European countries.
- You got the best night of sleep in over a month on a 16 hour train ride on a makeshift bed that you visibly saw 3 cockroaches crawling on before you laid down. (India)
Life:
- In depth conversations of bowel movements and stomach sickness happened daily (I still chose to opt out if possible, but it became more normal everyday!)
- Monkeys became a horrible annoyance rather than a cute little zoo animal.
Things I would Never Trade:
- A family of friends that love me and help to grow my faith.
- Teammates who challenged my relationship with the Lord by asking the hard questions.
- The opportunity to expedite my need for Christ’s grace.
- Time with my Bible and in learning.
- Friends literally around the world that I dearly hope I get to see again.
- Pastors in different continents that have given me life advice!
- Beautiful children that now have sponsors because my family and friends stepped up to the plate!
- Seeing faith walked out in a million different ways, with a million different theologies, but with ONE God that we can agree in.
Thank you ALL so much for your prayer, support and encouragement over the last year of travel and ministry. I am now back home in Ohio (USA) visiting loved ones, unpacking, working and trying to remember all that has happened in my life over the past year. Please contact me by email, here on my blog, or call me at 740-606-8810 if you'd like to catch up or get a personalized update!
*Sorry if I haven't gotten your way yet…life has been unexplainably busy since I've been home!*
