So I asked for you all to ask me some questions about the race, life after the race, random, etc! Questions are super fun to answer & they help me process! So thank you!! If you have other questions that I didn’t answer in this blog feel free to comment down below your question or message me! I’d be happy to answer 🙂
So without further adieu, here are your questions and my answers:
1. Favorite country so far?
Hmmmm well I am realizing every country we’ve gone to has it’s own special thing about it. But when I look back so far my favorite has been Ukraine! Why? I am glad you asked: because of the people we were working with and the relationships we built. Felt like a family. And just had soooo much fun! Pulled a few all nighters. One night at a camp we were at- we sat around a fire singing and talking till like 3am and then they asked if I wanted to go on an adventure to the mountains at 3am! The rest of my team was asleep- but I decided to go with these locals (all around my age) and we had so much fun. And then the last 2 nights in Ukraine we played tag , uno and stayed up till the sun came up. Just enjoying each others company!
2. Is it hard being that awesome ?
I see it more like a super power ya know? So ask yourself, would superman think it’s hard being awesome?
3. What advice do you have to teens who want to do the race in the future?Great questions! My advice: If the Lord is calling you to it. DO IT. Life is too short not to. You’re gonna have a bunch of reasons (fear, the unknown) telling you not to- don’t listen to them. The Race was NOT what I expected it to be. That’s another thing- they say not to have expectations and you can do your best not to, but with reading other blogs from racers currently on the race- you form some type of expectation. The race will be the experience God has planned for you and it’s always different for everyone. Make it a goal to being thankful on the race- that’s what helps keep you present. I started to deal with homesickness way sooner than I expected and what helps is realizing ‘Holy cow I am on a rooftop in Thailand. How did I get here” Life on the race and some of the things you do is not normal compared to our life in America but it quickly begins to feel normal so it’s important to pause and realize where you are, what you’re doing and what’s around you. It’s gonna be such an amazing time in your life. It’s FUN but it’s also hard in it’s own different ways for each person. Often you’ll have to CHOOSE growth. It won’t always happen as naturally as you think it would- you got to press in and choose it. This is the PERFECT time to do NEW things. Beautiful things happen unexpectedly when we just do something new.
4. What’s been the hardest thing to overcome?
Another great question: Hardest thing for me was fear in certain things. When we first got to Asia I started to deal with anxiety for the first time in my life because I was way out of my comfort zone with food. I’ve been really cautious with what I’ve been eating on the race cause I don’t wanna get sick. Which it’s wise to be careful because our bodies aren’t used to a lot of things overseas. But in Asia it got to the point where I was operating out of fear. So that was hard to overcome! But with prayer & scripture and doing little things to break out of that fear- it helped!!
5. Is there Anything you wish you did/didn’t bring?
hahah there’s a lot I wish I did/didn’t bring. Different clothes, different sleeping bag, and a tent that doesn’t weight 29473 pounds. I’ve never used my tent on the race yet (besides in Greece but we chose to cause wanted to camp on the beach). So I’ve been carrying around a heavy tent and haven’t used it yet. Granted next month for a week I’ll be using it cause we will be camping out in the mountains. Packing for the race is hard because with each route and placement for ministry it’s different. Like some teams on my squad have used their tents. But where I have been we have always had beds/mattresses.
6. How do you stay looking so cute on the race?
That’s sweet!. Well because of our route and where we have gotten placed- there is always a place to shower and stay clean ahaha. A lot of us have talked about how we don’t get how people go days without showering on the race- assuming it’s wherever they get placed for work. But we’ve been blessed to have access to showers and what not.
7. What are you trusting God the most about your transition back?
I am trusting God most with community & job! I left a great job and an amazing community to do the race- it was one of the hardest things to say bye to. But I believe God will put me in a great community again and have a job where I am supposed to be! I don’t think he’d ask me to abandon those things and then just leave me hanging!
8. What has been the funniest thing/story?
Ah so many. But why does your mind go blank when you’re asked questions like this. What came to mind that when I think about that makes me laugh now is either when our van broke down in the middle of the road on our way back to Romania from Greece! hahah. There are just a lot of random funny moments that happen ahaha.
9. What are you doing after the race?
Right now my plan is to spend about a month with my family in Florida!! Then make my way back to Tulsa! I don’t feel like I am done there and I just love Tulsa! I actually just applied to a job in Tulsa. What’s funny is I actually accidentally sent in my application as “Mr. Taylor Brisebois” ahahah! I also want to work on finishish a book I started writing before I left for the race.
10. What has been the most beautiful architecture you’ve seen?
POLAND!!! The buildings in Krakow were so beautiful!! 🙂
11. What is the most important thing you’ve learned on the race?
Hmm gee, what a great question. There is a lot of important things I’ve learned on the race and I know I’ll realize more as I process more when I get home but what came to mind is this: Even in living your wildest dreams- difficulties will still come and it can still be hard but you realize you can push through. God has equipped you for it.
12. What do you wish you had known before going on the race?
I wish I knew that I could have brought my normal clothes ahahah. I mean they did say ” You’re living your life just in 11 different countries, so bring what you usually wear (with exceptions)” but I guess because I didn’t know ahead of time exactly what the dress code would be where we would be and what not.
13. What was the most unexpected thing about the race so far?
I thought we would have “roughed” it a lot more than we have! haha
14. How do you feel like you have grown in your faith/personally so far?
I feel like I got a greater understanding of my “friendship” with Jesus & how He cares for me. I also feel like when I stepped up into a leadership position to lead my team, I had a mirror held up in front of me and I became super aware of my faults. Not that our mentors or squad leaders were the ones holding the mirror, it was Jesus haha. I feel like he used this position as a heart check and to be more aware of the areas where I’m like “Oh snap, that’s not okay”. Cause once something is brought to your attention, you can make a change.
15. What are you most excited about in the next 3 months?
ADVENTURE! New places, the cold weather, mountains and Jesus showing up in new ways! Really believe for more miracles these last 3 months! Next month(in about 3 weeks) for a week me and a few others from my squad are gonna go up into the mountains in Ecuador and camp out with a gap year that is there and we are helping with construction of a safe home from victims rescued from Human Trafficking so I am SUPER pumped about that. I haven’t used my tent once and I’ve been craving to just be out in nature! Hoping we can have a few fires and sing around the fire (my favorite thing to do camping)
16. How can we be praying for you in the next 3 months?
Health, to finish strong and for God to do incredibly cool new things! And for my transition back into America.
Well, that is all folks! Thank you for your questions! 🙂
And again if there are questions you have that I didn’t answer, feel free to comment them down below 🙂
Till next time, which will be soon.
Much love, T 🙂
hahaha bye
