Guess what? I’m finishing my last month on the race, Malawi. Can you believe it? All I remember is packing my bags and getting on a plane destined to Costa Rica. Now I’m sitting right in Chicago. All I have to say is I’m stoked. This journey has been amazing. I’ve seen, experienced and trekked the world through God’s eyes this past year. I can’t wait to return home and pour into the people in my city. Being a missionary is life-long. Thank you everyone who has supported me in prayer and finances. We were all able to be agents of God’s kingdom and for his glory. I could write tons of pages to explain this past year but I’ll keep it short to give you a glimpse of our time traveling.
Here are the things I’ll always remember:
- Joy in any circumstance because joy is from the lord. Happiness depends on happenings, but joy depends on Christ.
- Simplicity of living off what you actually need
- Prayer rooms in Malaysia
- Door to door evangelism in rural villages in Africa
- A whole village getting baptized in a watering hole
- Ways God has grown me and changed me
- God healing the sick
- Loads of miracles
- Living life for God and not the American dream
- Beautiful dirt trails all through the country of Africa
- Interrupting your own agenda to spend time with people is really important to Africans
Things I won’t take for granted: (things I have every single day in America but they use to be unnoticed)
- Alone time, silence, rest, slow mornings
- Nature, exploring, grass, fields, fresh air
- Clean clothes, clean feet, clean hands, soap
- Toilets, free toilet paper, electricity, warm showers, couches
- Good food, a working kitchen, oven, lights, A/C
- Home church, solid doctrine/teachings
- Mosquitoes WITHOUT diseases (I most likely will freak out at a mosquito for the next couple of weeks upon my return…don’t be alarmed)
Funny Memories:
- Rolling up to a really nice hotel in Cambodia…filthy. Everyone stared…we were directed out the back door
- Running from every stray dog… I’ve learned not to mess with foreign animals
- Making a slip-N-slide during a typhoon in the Philippines
- Getting super pumped for a Safari until we arrived at the “Local Zoo”
- Made some cool Buddhist friends in Vietnam, we went to karaoke…only song I knew and sung was “Come All Ye Faithful”
- Prank wars with my teammates in all of Honduras
- A monkey running full charge at me because I had food. ALL monkeys are evil.
- Trudging through waist deep water while carrying 40lb bags of sand and uncontrollably laughing on an island in Nicaragua.
Coming on this journey and now coming home leaves me on the same mission…We are racing for dead bones to rise and come alive. We are racing for people to experience the power of the Creator. We are racing the race that God has laid out before us in this season of life.
Love,
Tiffany
