I’m sitting here in awe of God’s beautiful creation as I watch the waves of the ocean hit the shore. I’ve spent some time in the water and found that if I wasn’t ready, the waves would take me right under. When I would surface the water I only had ten seconds to catch my breath before more waves took me under again. If I am being completely honest, this month has been a lot like the ocean in this sense. I never knew when the fierce waves would come, and I never knew how big they would be. Every time my team and I seemed to catch our breath (or take a break), another wave would hit us and we wouldn’t be ready.
When we arrived to Negombo, Sri Lanka, we quickly found that the men there had little respect for women. Our very first day in Sri Lanka we were pointed to two wrong trains by men who worked at the train station. We rode one train for an hour and a half before a local lady informed us that we were on the wrong train. Frustrated, we went back to the train station to ask for our money back because their workers told us the wrong platform to go to. As we explained to these men that their employees gave us wrong directions, they manipulated us and spoke down to us as if we had no idea what we were talking about. At the same time, they were sitting and pointing at us making sexual jokes with a bottle of open Gin sitting on the counter in front of us. This was only the beginning of our month in Sri Lanka, and we were really off to a rocky start.
Before I go any further explaining this month, I would like to share that our time in Sri Lanka was spent in what we call “ATL” on the worldrace. ATL means ….Ask the Lord. During this month our mission was to find our own ministry wherever we felt the Lord was leading us to go.
After a week in the mountains of Kandy, my team and I decided we wanted to head down south to some of Sri Lanka’s best known beaches. My teammate was able to get us a good deal on a flat. Unlike most other places we have stayed at on the race, our flat had a kitchen, our own bathroom, and our own beds. We were excited to finally relax and enjoy our time on the beach. After just one day of staying at the hostel, we starting getting weird vibes with our host. He wanted us to party with him, and after declining, he got angry with us. It was a rather odd situation that we were in, and my team and I decided it would be in our best interest to get out and move in with other teams. After calling our squad leader, we decided to head to another beach area called Weligama. We were blessed with renting a different house within our budget right beside another team. It felt comforting after a hard month to be with another team and a squad leader. Finally, I felt safe.
The next day, my team and I decided to head to a coffee shop to get wifi and then head to the beach. During my time at the coffee shop, I got some devastating news from home. Days before I left for the race, I discovered that my grandpa was fighting stage 4 cancer. At the coffee shop that day my family shared that his cancer has gotten worse and they didn’t know how much time he has left. Being on the race and hearing news about my grandfather and not being home with him has been really hard on me. I also learned that my family’s chicken business will be shutting down due to the Chicken Industry being low right now. If they kept the chicken business open they wouldn’t be making enough money to pay bills. So right now my parents are both looking for jobs.
After I heard all the news from home, my team decided to head to the beach. I was excited to sit on the beach and relax, especially with all that was going on. We braved the harsh Indian Ocean waves, then we decided to go climb a little island on the beach. As we made our way to the top I was in awe of the beauty of the ocean crashing into the island. For a moment, I felt all my anxieties from the month lift from me. Two of my teammates decided to climb rocks near the edge of a cliff and watch the ocean. That’s when it happened…
The waves hit the edges of the rocks and splashed my teammates. It looked fun and I decided I was going to join them. On my way over my team yelled “DUCK!” and a few seconds later I heard “DUUUCK!” again. Two large waves had hit one right after the other. I asked my teammate Molly if she was okay when she started yelling “JENNY!…. WHERE’S JENNY?” I looked at the rock and noticed Jenny was no longer there. I panicked.
I visually searched the ocean and saw that she wasn’t there. I was about ready to climb down the treacherous rocks to look for her when I saw her curled up in a ball on rocks 6 feet below where she had fallen. She stood up slowly to reveal several scrapes from her fall. It was probably one of the scariest moments on my race. My other teammate Molly got scraped up as well when the waves hit her. I honestly would have been wrecked had my teammates gotten hurt any worse than they did.
While this month had many hardships, there were a few experiences that revived my soul. I got to climb 1200 steps up to the Ancient City of Sigiriya, I collected shells from the Indian Ocean, I watched a Sri Lankan Dance show, and I got to see so much of the mountains and the Indian Ocean that make up a wide portion of Sri Lanka.
For the past few days, I have been trying to reflect what the Lord wants me to take from this month, but my mind has come up empty so many times. As of now there is only one thing that the Lord has put of my heart.
On the last night in Sri Lanka I began thinking about how my grandpa has had a successful life doing the things he loves. He grew up as a farmer, started a seed business, and started a chicken house. He has a family that loves him. He also has traveled to so many places on vacations and cruises. My grandpa loves traveling! He’s done so many things he loves! I began to think about my life and the things I want to accomplish in this lifetime. I want to fulfill the call that God has placed in my heart to spread his name wherever I go. I want to share his word that breathes life, hope, and love into people’s lives. I want to love on his people. And that’s exactly what I get to do on the worldrace. So while this month left me exhausted and confused, I’m continuing on this journey with a passion to fulfill the calling that God placed in my heart to spread his name to the nations. Despite the difficulties we faced this month I want to continue the race with zeal that comes from the father. His strength will sustain me.
