Hi! Thank you for taking the time to get to know more about the World Race and about who I am and what I stand for. This is such an exciting time in my life and I can't wait to share this journey we are about to embark on. With our backpacks on and loaded with a tent, sleeping bag, don't forget those walking shoes, plate and cutlery, mess kit for cooking on fires, one weeks worth of clothes, shower stuff, and of course OUR BIBLE we are ready to experience God like never before! 11 countries in 11 months…here we go! I encourage all of you to visit www.operationworld.org to learn more about these countries and how we can pray together for their people.
Our first destination is going to be ROMANIA. We are going to experience the life of a gypsy and I know myself that I am going to love these people! My dad jokes with me about me being a gypsy since moving away from home haha. On top of that we will teach English…we might need to brush up on our skills, and lead sports camps.
Next we'll jog over to the UKRAINE, where, after past oppression under the USSR communist regime, we will join them in their newly formed joy. I can't wait to see their passion for a new life through many ups and downs!
This next place we'll actually have to fly to. In INDIA we will encounter people who suffer from poverty, human trafficking, forced prostitution, and religious persecution. This is going to be a tremendous eye-opener. Also, the amount of people, a sixth of the world's population to be exact, 29 spoken languages, and a multitude of religious beliefs will with no doubt open a whole new world inside of us to be explored.
NEPAL is home to Mt. Everest…what do you think…you want to climb it while we're there?! This country is comprised of 0.5% Christians with a majority of the population practicing Hinduism and Buddhism…what an awakening to a small town American girl!
East Africa here we come! We'll be traveling to RWANDA…I am only speechless…800,000 people killed over the course of 3 months, 16 years ago! God is going to break our hearts in a new way.
This next place is what I've hoped for for so long…our charisma can fully come alive when we reach KENYA. I've longed to dance, sing, laugh, enjoy community, music, and art as these colorful people do. The Kenyan people are hungry for Jesus so hold on because we are going to dance and sing as if on streets of gold, whether in the Maasai bush, the Nairobi metropolis, or the Kibera slums.
Dancing on over to UGANDA, or the Pearl of Africa, we may encounter still much needed healing and reconciliation after the Lord's Resistance Army, which heavily recruited child soldiers. I was first introduced to this tragedy in college, as it was a significant part of our ministry at Purdue Christian Campus House, and have heard the stories of many children who were fleeing from or subject to recruitment. We would be so blessed to be able to stand face-to-face with these children and get more of a glimpse into their lives thus far.
Leaving Africa now and traveling to Asia. THAILAND has nearly the same percentage of Christians as Nepal at 0.7%. Mostly Buddhist and a small percentage of Muslims inhabit Thailand, where 600,000 people live with HIV/AIDS and nearly 2 million people are forced into prostitution. My God I can't imagine this degradation and further the result of many father-less and mother-less children! We need to meet these people with understanding, give them knowledge and wisdom, but most of all hope that this life is not the end of their soul and their white garments await them.
One of the Seven Wonders, Angkor Wat, is located in our next destination, CAMBODIA. Angkor Wat was a Hindu temple and monastery built in the 12th century and later became a Buddhist complex. Today Cambodia is mostly Buddhist and the government struggles greatly to stop human trafficking. Similar to Rwanda, Cambodia lost a great multitude of people nearly 30 years ago. 1.5 million Cambodians died at the hands of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge regime.
Freedom of religion is what we will be challenged with next, in VIETNAM, a country with less than 10% Catholics. This is a reality that has recently hit closer to home for me after having a discussion with an amazing friend from Kazakhstan. He grew up without freedom of religion until the age of 11, in which two missionaries entered Kazakhstan and introduced the gospel of Jesus to him, beginning his obedient walk with Christ! On top of this new reality we will be enjoying some delicious beef noodle soup haha.
To end this journey we will spend our last month in the PHILLIPINES, where Tagalog is their national tongue. The Catholic Church is dominant in these islands but Islam is growing. Here will be able to challenge the Christ-followers to live radically for Him and rise up!
Wow! What a journey! God is going to reveal some breath-taking, heart-breaking, and just plain ordinary things to us, helping us pursue His global purpose, as we live in obedience to Him. I PRAY that we gain a deeper understanding of people, world cultures and religions, as well as the world’s greatest needs.
Let us “take back our faith from the American dream” together!
