I have lived in a variety of communities. I grew up in a small town of 750 people with my parents and sister. I’ve lived in a house with as many as seven other girls, dorm rooms, apartments, pods, stayed nights and weeks in cars and vans in parking lots and at music festivals, tent living while camping out, lived in a city of 250,000 people, but this community…the World Race community…is different than anything I’ve ever experienced.
Crunching together, a small group of us around a laptop with headphone splitters and little speakers surrounding us on our pile of sleeping bags in an attempt to sneak away for a bit and share a movie. Every meal is eaten with at least 15 other people. Our bedroom is a room with ten bunk beds, and it’s gotten pretty toasty in there at times so some of us migrate to the larger room and sleep on the floor out there. During our quiet times and devos you can look around and spot a handful of your friends within a few feet some in a hammock, some on a swing, some with headphones in dancing, some walking and talking, some laying in the grass. Waiting in line for showers, falling asleep on one another on the crammed buses, making meals together, cleaning the base together, handing out bibles together, going on walks, playing pickup games of futbol in parks with neighborhood kids, learning skits, walking 25 minutes to a nearby basketball court to play basketball for hours, sharing our stories in churches and prisons, hosting vacation bible schools…it’s incredible. Even the moment when you show up at the prison and they tell you you’re not allowed in if you’re wearing black shirt, so three of us were directed to walk to a house across the street to rent a shirt. That’s right for $1 we each rented a shirt from a woman who literally gave us clothes from her closet and Lindsay looked like a jr. high girl, Anna looked like an Amish grandma, while I was given an old man dress shirt that was two sizes too small. Classy I know! You know who your friends are when they love you through these hilarious moments life throws your way.
There’s no place to hide in this community. There’s no way to not be yourself and it’s a hard realization when you start to see some of the not so great aspects within yourself surface as you’ve been on a bus for hours, you’re lacking sleep, you’ve had nothing but chicken and rice to eat for the last several meals, you haven’t really felt clean in days, and even as you try to take just a minute and sit there, kids use you as their personal jungle gym. There’s moments when it’s really hard, but something truly beautiful is birthed in this experience.
There is something to be said about going through this experience alongside a group of what were strangers a few months ago and now they are family. They are close friends. They are the ones there when you feel like you’re going to break. They are standing next to you when moments take your breath away. They are there when you need a hug and they’re there to tell you when you need to get your act together. I would do anything for these people. There is so much love and care within our community to call things out of one another to empower each other to be the best versions of ourselves. It’s not the easiest journey, but it’s more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. I feel incredibly blessed to be a part of this. There is so much to share but it’s hard to put it all into words. I can take pictures and share them with you, but it doesn’t do it justice. The days fly by, and I feel like I could write a blog after each day attempting to describe everything I’ve seen and done. It’s not uncommon for us to not know what day it is because life is a whirlwind but in the best way possible. I feel like one of the luckiest people in the entire world. I have seen families who hardly have any clothes to wear with houses made of sticks and tin and floors of mud. They walk hours to get to wherever they’re going but to have the privilege to do life next to them- to hug them, spend time with them, hold their kids….what a gift. Thank you to all who have supported me thus far allowing me to have this life-changing encounter. The love and encouragement is such a blessing. I couldn’t possibly thank you enough!
Tomorrow we will travel by bus into Costa Rica. We will stay in Jaco, Costa Rica for the next four days for debrief then on the 5th we will begin ministry in San Jose, Costa Rica. The entire squad (39 of us) will be together next month and we will be living out of our tents in a gymnasium so that will be fun! Right now it appears our ministry will consist of a variety of activities so I’ll keep you posted.
Please pray for our squad leader, Tyler, as he stepped on a nail this past week having to go to a hospital to have it removed from his heel. Several of us have been fighting colds as we encounter different situations and levels of sanitation. Please pray for safe travels, open hearts for ministry, energy when we’re exhausted, and for all of us to be available to what God has for us this month! I love y’all!
But seriously how cute is this girl….
