Over the past 6 and a half months I’ve had some opportunities to do some really incredible things. I was thinking about what to tell people when they ask about my year when I get home. As I thought, I kept listing these things I’ve seen and done and the ways that God has moved. But the more I thought about these things that most of us think are adventurous and exciting, they really are just normal life for most people.
I’ve spent time in the world’s driest desert. Been to the world’s largest copper mine. Spent time traveling up and down the Amazon river. Spent time on the edge of the Nile river. I’ve eaten alligator. Seen a town that’s been completely abandoned and half-covered by a mine. Been to the top of Machu Picchu. Spent time traveling through three continents now. I’ve spent time at the genocide museum in Rwanda and slept in the back of an Indonesian restaurant in a room smaller than mine back home with three other men. Honestly, the list goes on and on and, while these things are awesome and exciting, for these people we’ve shared these moments with, they are reality. They aren’t traveling through looking for any place to crash. They are living this life everyday. But they have joy. They have love. They are grateful.
But as I started to think about these things and how I’ve been blessed to be a part of this adventure, I start to think of the people I’ve met and encountered in these places. I’ve met people living in that desert that have very little but have more joy than most. I’ve seen families become entrapped in a poverty cycle due to the harsh working conditions of the copper mine— families that only see their dads for one or two weeks a month and, when they come out, they’re not always there. They can throw money at their kids but aren’t present because of the harsh conditions. On the amazon, I’ve met people who aren’t traveling or adventuring, but living. They are stuck along the river because that’s all they know and it’s all they have. They would trade anything to do something as simple as hopping in the car and going to McDonalds. Most of them can barely afford the small weathered shelters with no walls or plumbing. I’ve gotten to eat alligator, which is more uncommon, but not entirely foreign. For them, though, it’s just dinner— it’s what God provided that day for them to eat. The town that’s abandoned and half-covered by a mine, it’s spectacular to look at now, but many years ago, families lived their. The workers lived their. And they were forced out. They had their homes stripped from them while working their tails off to barely put a meal on the table. Then, it all got taken away. The genocide museum in Rwanda— this is a historically devastating event in this country’s history. It’s brought a lot of good, but it’s still a hard topic and there is still a lot of pain. While we were fortunate enough to share a room in the back of an Indonesian restaurant, we also noticed the couple who owned it slept the same way. They shared the other room with mattresses on the floor, no ac, and fighting the mosquitos.
It doesn’t matter where we are or where we go as a group, these things we experience that look so incredible or fun are a reality for most of the people we encounter. I don’t want to say it’s not fun because, it is. But it’s also hard. Seeing the conditions most people live in. The meals they eat daily. We are extremely blessed. Even traveling on the small budget we are on, we are blessed more than most in the places we visit. Wherever you are in life, there’s always going to be someone ahead of you. But with that said, you are always going to be in front of someone else. So, that means that there is always someone looking at you and your situation thinking of how lucky or blessed you are. They see the things that you have and think, “If only I could get there, then, things would be ok.” Be grateful for what you have and where you are, because I’m learning that life is not always what it seems. And while adventure and travel seem incredibly exciting, and sometimes it really is, remember that these places are a reality for most people and right outside the tourist spots, there is pain and brokenness.
