It’s been ten years since I participated on the World Race. Sometimes I still feel like that same girl with a dusty backpack who would wake up forgetting what country she was in that day, and other times it feels a world (and a decade) away. The Race was such a significant part of my story, so while this new position with Adventures in Missions is not World Race centric (the Race is one of many programs at Adventures), there are a lot of the 187 of you that are new here, so I wanted to play a little bit of catch up.
In July 2011, I left with the 23rd World Race squad for Quito, Ecuador. The 50 or so of us spent the next year serving the Lord together across multiple continents and countries and became like family. In 8 of our 11 months, we partnered with ministry leaders local and native to that country, rather than American missionaries, which I think is both special and important.
We launched from Miami, Florida and our ministry route was Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Albania, Romania, South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia. We also were able to visit other countries such as Italy, Hungary, Qatar, and more. Since we were known as the W squad (23rd), I always thought it was cool that our route made a W across the world 🙂
See, isn’t that neat? Okay, so here are some basics:
What did you pack?
Backpack, tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, bible, water bottle, malaria medication, laptop and camera for storytelling, and clothes for a year.
What did you eat?
Everything. Here’s one recipe from Bolivia…please note, after the ingredients list, the first step was “find young men from the countryside to help…”
What did you DO though?
And how did it impact the kingdom?
Well, here we go:
Month 0: Training Camp
Training Camp is intense. Besides learning to use your camping gear for the first time, meeting new people, and preparing culturally, you really do encounter God in a new way. Adventures wants their participants to be spiritually healthy before they go, so the first half of camp focuses on that. And when you confront the lies you believe about yourself and about Jesus, things get heavy (and then really good.) Besides that, you’re living in tents, sleeping in busses, eating cultural foods, using cultural customs, learning to share the gospel, learning to avoid getting pickpocketed, learning to haggle in a marketplace, and more. You learn ministry skills, are given team exercises and leadership tests, and you realize you packed WAY too much in your backpack. We also have a ton of fun together. When you’re confronting lies you’ve believed your entire life, eating things like fish head soup, “getting your luggage stolen,” and being physically, emotionally, and spiritually tested, you need to have a dance off, you know? I absolutely loved training camp. I absolutely loved my squad.
Month 1: Ecuador
Ministry Focus: We focused on assisting Ecuadorian pastors with construction improvements on their facility in the Andes Mountains. I love that Adventures typically partners with local and national workers. In fact, we were so deep into Ecuador that most people in the village didn’t speak Spanish, but rather Quichua. This was all done through our ministry partners at Inca Link. You can check out their ministry here: https://www.incalink.org/
Favorite Short Story: There was a family there that I fell in love with. One of their children had an infection in her pierced ear. I was able to rally support from my financial partners to get some basic medical supplies and her ear healed up. I actually was able to stay in touch with that family for a little bit, and if (when) I return to Ecuador, I’m going to attempt to visit. The picture above is me saying goodbye to the kids.
Fun Memory: I cut my toe on some rusty metal while playing on a roof and needed a tetanus shop. It involved riding down the mountain in a pickup truck, taking a bus to the city, lots of Google translate conversations, and buying some syringes and a vile of the vaccine for $5 and my friend giving me the shot in a coffee shop.
Month 2: Peru
Ministry Focus: We started off in the desert preparing a ministry home, building bricks out of mud. Because of something that happened that threatened our safety, we were moved to a town where the desert met the ocean and continued some ministry with Christian Surfers. You can check out their website here: https://christiansurfers.com
Favorite Short Story: When we were still in the desert, we were in a minor earthquake. That wasn’t why we left, though. Something happened and we had to pack our bags and drive away silent and under cover of darkness. God was very faithful during that uneasy time.
Fun Memory: Surfing in the Pacific Ocean. By surfing, I should clarify that I managed to stand up once.
Month 3: Bolivia
Ministry Focus: Building a children’s home in Cochabamba. You dig a lot of dirt on the Race.
Favorite Short Story: We were really tired of digging at that point. One day, we went into the city and we saw all the children that were desperately in need of that children’s home. The ministry we were with provided a place for them to safely bathe until the home was ready. It made the digging worth it.
Fun Memory: Our road trip from Peru to Bolivia took 24+ hours and involved cliffside roads in a double decker bus, boats to floating islands, floating the bus across Lake Titicaca (I know…), and Lebanese Food at 14,000 feet in the mountains.
Month 4: Albania
Ministry Focus: We were the first World Race squad to enter the country of Albania. We worked with CRU and developed friendships with people our age as a means to share Christ. You can check out their page here: https://www.cru.org/us/en/communities/locations/europe/albania.html
Favorite Short Story: We went cliff jumping into the Adriatic with some of the college students. After a few months of a lot of digging dirt, it was actually quite spiritually significant to remember that ministry can be full of total joy, and that authentic relationships really do make a difference.
Fun Memory: Our time in Albania was quite spiritually dark, actually. We felt heavy and discouraged, even with the aforementioned story above. So one weekend we decided to take a boat to Italy. This was pre-smart phones and pre-Instagram, and we had no idea what we were doing. We literally just got off the boat and Italy and asked, “should we walk right or left?” We walked left. It ended up being an amazing weekend of refreshing and everything you imagine Italy to be.
Month 5: Romania
Ministry Focus: I hurt my ankle in the first few days, so my ministry in Romania looked a little different. We were living on a working farm that used some of it’s land for foster and adoptive families to have a home and a safe place for their children. It’s no secret that orphan care in Easter Europe has a dark history, and we were grateful to be able to see a place do it well. You can check out their ministry here: https://assistinternational.org/cf/ As I said, though, I got hurt and couldn’t work the farm. There were 22 of us teamed up that month, so it became my job to cook and provide hot, nutritious meals for everyone working hard outside (it was winter that month.)
Favorite Short Story: We celebrated Thanksgiving together, and it was my favorite Thanksgiving of my life. We cooked a LOT. As a community who was away from all their families that month, this was a sacred time.
Fun Memory: I have two. We went to Hungary for a day to celebrate the holiday, and it was delightful to explore the Christmas markets in the snow. Second, as you may know, the World Race is “11 countries in 11 months.” We like the number 11. While in Romania, we stayed up on November 11, 2011 until it was: 11:11:11 pm, on 11/11/11, on #11n11.
Month 6: South Africa
Ministry Focus: Caring for children at a home for abandoned babies. We were integrated into the daily care schedule. Imagine the manpower needed to care for these children, especially many with special needs. The family that runs the home began when they were fed up with Christians not caring for babies of another race during apartheid and decided to step up. Often these babies were left in a field, or a bag, or for dead. TLC took them in and cared for them until one of three things happened: 1) they were adopted (we got to see an adoption!) 2) they aged out (at age 4) and their family adopted them themselves or 3) they passed away due to injuries or disease sustained during their abandonment. Let me tell you, there’s nothing like seeing a cemetery on the grounds of a home for abandoned babies. TLC’s website can be found here: https://tlc.org.za
Favorite Short Story: Clearly, as mentioned above, there were some really heavy elements of this month. That made it all the more special to watch adoptive parents meet their child for the first time. I’m still friends with some of these parents on Facebook and continue to watch their kids grow up!
Fun Memory: Christmas Day! We got to hide presents under the kid’s beds while they were sleeping. It still makes me weepy to think about it. (See above)
Month 7: Mozambique
Ministry Focus: We lived in a village called Mango Village outside of the city of Beira. We worked with three Mozabiquan ministry leaders. As a team of all girls, they became like our brothers. They had a dream for their village to create a building that offered childcare and education in a place where it was not accessible. We largely focused on clearing the land (i.e. using a machete to clear the grass.) Today, that building stands and functions as a great support in the community.
Favorite Short Story: We were able to join the local leaders in two other ministry efforts. I preached my first sermon in the church you see above! Somehow, the prosperity gospel had reached Mozambique, and there were widows in the church struggling to understand how God could love them. As someone who has experienced pain, I was able to speak to that. Second? We encountered a woman who didn’t have the money to send her kids to school. I posted on this very blog and YOU sent all her kids to school, for a YEAR! The power of storytelling, you know?
Fun Memory: Waking up to village children who had wedged themselves under the rainfly of my tent and were watching me sleep. Or, sleeping on the road while the border was closed. When I tell people we camped in Africa for a month, they often don’t believe it. This was a month full of bucket showers, cooking rice and beans over the fire, relieving ourselves in a hole that was often full of maggots, camping through a monsoon, getting worms stuck in the flesh of our toes, getting salmonella, and hearing witch doctors outside our tents with their drums. It was intense and I loved it.
Month 8: eSwatini
Ministry Focus: Adventures works with many national Swazi leaders to establish care points where children can receive food and other care. I love that this ministry is led by leaders from eSwatini who can direct effective strategies to help. The poverty in this country truly is extreme, as is the HIV/AIDS crisis, and it’s one of those places that can’t be ignored. You simply must check out this website to see what the efforts continue to be: https://www.eswatinirising.com
Favorite Short Story: While this wasn’t our main ministry focus, we got to partner with two other ministries while in eSwatini: Hope House, where we got to hear the most beautiful love story of two refugees from Rwanda. If you’ve seen Hotel Rwanda, you know how significant it is that someone form the Hutu tribe and Tutsi tribe fell in love in the 90’s. Their story was humbling to say the least, and they’d found a home in this safe house. Second, we partnered with Beyond The Game, an organization of NFL player’s wives working in schools.
Fun Memory: We went on a hike and found a cave. When we went in, we found ancient cave paintings on the walls! I also remember washing my hair in a torrential rainstorm.
Month 9: Thailand
Ministry Focus: Thailand is a unique month of the Race where your normal teams get all jumbled. The guys went off to an unnamed place and did some things with Free Burma Rangers. If you haven’t seen that documentary, change that. And check things out here: https://www.freeburmarangers.org The ladies, on the other hand, split up and worked in various ministries combating human trafficking. Some of us worked in red light districts with the girls in the bars, while others worked with children who were rescued. I’ll never forget holding a one and a half year old in my lap that had been sold in a street market.
Favorite Short Story: “Favorite” is not the right word here. “Significant” maybe? The picture above is actually horrific. We were on a walk through the red light district when we passed this scene and heard what this older man was saying to the young girl (who was crying.) He said, “It’s okay sweetie, the first time’s the hardest. You did a good job. It’ll stop hurting soon.” Considering our ministry was regarding human trafficking, I’ll let you fill in the details yourself. We could do nothing in that moment. I snapped a picture because it’s a moment I never want to forget, and a fuel for justice I never want to lose. To learn more about our partner organization that is changing the narrative so there are fewer stories like this, check out Remember Nhu here: https://remembernhu.org
Fun Memory: When you’re working in difficult situations such as the above, fun and rest is IMPERATIVE to ministry. You have to refuel to keep going, otherwise your soul will shrivel up. So while it feels weird to transition to a fun story, I love this one. On one of our off days, I was walking through some of the jungle at a local tourist spot, when all of the sudden a baby elephant came up to me and “kissed” me on the cheek. By that I mean, it’s long snout touched my face and breathed in, in what I imagine can only be compared to a vacuum or toilet plunger. It was sweet and adorable, and Thailand remains one of my favorite countries in the world to this day. It has unmatched beauty and adventure, and desperately needs the kingdom of God to reign.
Month 10: Cambodia
Ministry Focus: We were working in a remote village, using our time with a Cambodian pastor who ran an underground church, counseled people who had lost so much in the genocide, and continued to spread the gospel to unreached parts of Cambodia. In fact, he took us to an island that had never heard the gospel before. I’ll never forget standing in that house and having that conversation. I’ll also never forget the cow that shared our little boat with us on the way over.
Favorite Short Story: I remember sitting in a secret bible study with the underground church, full of people that had endured violence and genocide. Their faith was incredibly humbling, as they quietly read scripture, and we split fruit across a banana leaf during communion.
Fun Memory: Well, we lived in a treehouse in a mango tree and didn’t bathe for a month. That was wild. We also ended up being accidental guests of honor at a wedding that we stumbled upon in the jungle. Also wild. More than that, we got to watch the sun rise over Angkor Wat. If you don’t know what that is, Google it right now. Add it to your bucket list. You’ll thank me later.
Month 11: Malaysia
Ministry Focus: It is illegal for Malays to publicly be Christians. We actually worked with an Indian population in Malaysia, including serving refugee children in their school. For some reason, much of this month is a blur for me, probably because we were *very* tired by the end 🙂
Favorite Short Story: Church ministry in other cultures is not your typical, Starbucks-eque, polished American version (thank goodness.) We arrived at church one Sunday and were immediately told “please lead six songs for worship.” At the end of worship they asked, “who is preaching?” So I did.
Fun Memory: We ended our time on the Race at final debrief on Pangkor Island, Malaysia. I had a broken elbow (typical) and only use of one arm. For some reason I thought it’d be wise to ride on the back of a motorcycle on a trip around the island, using my good arm to hold a camera. Sorry, dad.
So there you have it! A summary of one of the most formative years of my life. I’m really excited to get back on the team with Adventures in Missions in just a couple weeks. I’m still looking for monthly financial partners. If you’re in, click “DONATE” on the top left to be a part of something that I will believe will be significant for the kingdom of God.
