This blog is a little recap of the past five months on The World Race! Enjoy!
Honduras
After an overnight bus ride from our launch site in Washington DC, we boarded a plane and flew from NYC to Liberia, Costa Rica where another bus waited. We started off our adventure living together as a squad (all 57 of us) at Zion’s Gate Ministry in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. In addition to several outreach opportunities in the nearby city, ministry focused mainly on making and building relationships with many teens who call Zion’s Gate their home. Ty also took on some special projects as requested by our ministry contact Tony. It all started when he volunteered to re-rope all of the swings on the property to make them safer for the school kids that play on them. It followed with the completion of a tire swing, three large trunks for the boys to put their clothes in, shelving for the bathroom, and installation of a shower curtain for Tony’s wife Nidia. The relationships we built this month blessed us beyond belief, showing us that even though someone may come from extreme poverty, they can be so rich in spirit.
Guatemala
Our second month of ministry was quite different from the first. This month, our team stayed with two other teams at Mochelero’s, translated as “Backpacker’s Hostel” in the beautiful Antigua, Guatemala. Ty was a part of a team that went to a nursing home we lovingly referred to as “Grandpa House”.
“We loved on these knowledgeable old souls and got more back than we gave. We talked with them, drew pictures, played ball, and all of us played guitar and sang and grew in our musical talents. We walked two miles there and back five days a week. Some men and woman were already in advanced stages of disease and hardships, but we loved on each and every one of them. It was amazing to bring smiles to their faces.”
Becca had the opportunity this month to put her teaching skills to use. She worked directly with our ministry contact Luis and a team of four others with a program called Nueva Generacion, teaching Dating and Sexuality.
“Every day was different. Overall, we spoke to nearly 500 students each week about healthy relationships, God’s design for marriage, and the consequences due to lack of sexual control in dating It was such an important message for these teenagers to hear, as they live in a society dominated by macho-ism and male influence.”
Nicaragua
Not many can say that they have had the privilege of living for a month on a volcanic island! During our third month of the World Race, we lived and served at CICRIN children’s home, an orphanage on Ometepe Island, Nicaragua. As you can see in the picture(taken from the airplane as we began our travel to our next continent!), the island had many adventures to be held. Some included our nearly 14km trek into town and back on almost a daily basis. We still laugh about the various forms of transportation we found, be it the rickety school bus donated to CICRIN, the piling in of the back half bed of a small pickup truck used for errands (hanging on for our lives!), sometimes walking, waiting for a prospective vehicle to pass and hitch a ride with, or even once, jumping in the back of a horse cart and slowly but surely making our way to town. Other days involved late afternoon swims in the shark infested waters of Lake Nicaragua (no, really! look it up!) to cool off after long days of work, which included rotations of helping in the cafeteria, tending the garden and helping weld and rebuild the roof of the “Ranchero” down by the lake, an outdoor classroom-like pavilion previously covered with a rat, spider, scorpion, and snake infested thatched roof.
Most importantly, each day was an adventure of itself. CICRIN is more or less a foster home to about 20 children, ranging in ages from 4-20. As you can imagine, this place is full of high energy, creativity, and a lot of love. If the children were adoptable this month, we say that we just might have come home with all of them!
“One night, when I was already in bed, I heard a knock on the door. Ty got up to answer it. When he came back, he said that it was one of the teen girls asking for my help. She led me back to the girls’ house, and I spent the next several hours helping the girls get ready for the next day’s Independence Day Celebration. I will never forget that night. Sometimes the smallest things make the biggest differences.”
Romania
As you can imagine, a new continent brought new ministry. We also began the month off with a new team! This month, our team stayed with two other teams at Living Hope Church, in Pitesti, Romania. At this time of year, the weather of Romania is much like that of Wisconsin (the science teacher in me says that is because it is at about the same latitude!). Originally, our route had been planned for countries all in their summer months, so a trip to a second-hand store was essential.
There is so much going on for God’s Kingdom in this city! Part of our ministry was an afterschool kid’s English program in one the most impoverished and violent neighborhoods of Pitesti. At about 4pm or so each day, the crew would go out to invite children and their parents to join us for an hour-long program, where they would learn basic English, songs, and bible stories. On Sunday evenings, a larger gathering was held, and was joined by a worship band, games, and more bible-specific teaching.
Another part of the ministry was service projects around the church itself. Due to over usage (it happens when trying to host 21 extra people!), the septic system took a dive and nearly two weeks were spent digging holes, making trips to the local supermarket to use the bathroom, and waiting for the plumber to come fix the broken pipes!
Becca was part of a very special ministry this month. She traveled with two other girls by bus out to the village of Brosteni to help with a weekly church service for children held at the home of a couple and their two sons. They also visited the family several other times during the week, encouraging them, helping with cleaning, and just building relationships. During our last visit, Gabby even let them name their five puppies!
Moldova
Becca was excited to have the opportunity to minister in Moldova this month because she had a student in her class this past spring from the country. Our ministry site was located in the small rural village of Gura Bicului, a farming community about one hour from the country’s capital city of Chisinau. This was the first month that our team was not with any other teams, a dynamic that allowed for unity, trust, and going deep in our faith.
The ministry consisted of working in the kitchen of our contact’s banquet hall and café, including helping wash dishes, cleaning, preparing for events, and even some food preparation. We also spent time reaching out to the elderly, helping chop wood, clean, paint, and once again, do dishes J
Becca had the opportunity to practice her teaching skills this month as well. Each afternoon, between 5-10 children filled the upstairs café and gathered together to learn English. Our lessons were intended to be fun and practical. One day, when given the opportunity to watch a movie, the children decided that they would rather learn more English! It was so good to see their eagerness and hunger to learn. One lesson consisted of learning the names of places in the village. On Friday of that week, we sent the children out in groups for a photo scavenger hunt and then created a video for them with all of the pictures they took. The last week of ministry was spent learning kitchen utensils and food items. This seemed to be their favorite lesson, as they would beg to play the learning exercises over and over. We finished up the ‘unit’ with baking chocolate chip cookies!
We are currently in Thailand. This is the only month that Ty and I are separated. God is doing huge things so far as He surrounds us with communities of men and women that are encouraging and challenging us in the Lord.
In order to finish the final leg of our race, we must raise the final $8696. Our deadline for this is only a few short weeks away – January 1st, 2013. After much prayer and counsel, God has confirmed to us that He desires for us to finish the race strong. We cannot express in words how impactful this experience has been on us thus far, and we know that He only has more challenges and celebrations in store for us along the way. Please prayerfully consider making a TAX DEDUCTIBLE donation in order to help make this possible!
