What Actually Happened This Year?

14 months.

That’s how much time has past since I announced to the world that God called me to leave my home and travel the world for a year as a missionary. When I began this journey it was so difficult to imagine the end. A year isn’t that long you know? But for some reason the World Race was all about the beginning, not the ending. The end was too far away and too abstract. Sure, we talked about what it might look like, but I’m pretty sure in my mind, the race would just go on and on and on without end. 

Well, everything must come to an end, and this crazy adventure is one month away from being history. Are you getting sentimental? Yeah, well, just imagine how me and my squad feel! We’ve started to reminisce about the memories, people, ministries, miracles, personal growth, hilarious, and difficult moments. It’s so sweet to be able to look back with friends and praise God for all He has done. For all this is the Lord’s doing and it is MARVELOUS in our eyes! 

So, to begin this processing process I figured it would be really cool if I brought you, my audience, into the process (how many times can I say “process” in one sentence right?). In other words, I want to reminisce with you. I want to give you a quick look – a snapshot of the past 10 months of ministry so that you can raise a Hallelujah with me, my squad, and the Lord! Without further ado… here we go! 

 

Month #1 – Colombia

 

Wow, what a start! We hit the ground running in Medellin, Colombia with the MOST energy coursing through our bodies. Good thing too, because Colombia had so much in store for us. We stayed with Pastor Willie and his wife (Mamma Christina) as we served their in their church ministry – Nueva Vida. It was our first taste of communal living. 14 people, one floor, one bathroom, and one kitchen. Luckily, we also had an amazing view. One of the most incredible aspects of working with Pastor Willie was his ability to lead us in activating our Spiritual gifts. He guided us through ministry while giving us freedom to be led by Holy Spirit. We participated in church services (I preached the first Sunday of the World Race haha!), spent a lot of time impacting the youth of the church, helped with multiple children’s programs, evangelized, visited church members in their homes, prayer over people, cast our demons, and had our hearts stolen right off the bat by the amazing people of Ministerio Nueva Vida. 

 

Month #2 – Ecuador 

Ecuador absolutely took communal living to the next level because this was our first all-Squad month! This means that all 26 of us were in one house living, eating, and breathing together. This is where it comes in handy to be a man on the world race. Due to the fact that there are usually way more women than men, we men got our own bathroom, four person room, and because the house was spacious, our time in Ecuador was quite nice. The big downer was that a lot of people got very sick… I somehow avoided the worst of it. Thank you Jesus. 

For ministry my team partnered with Cru Quito. This led us to work with three amazing American missionaries who helped us sneak onto college campuses for the purpose of sharing Jesus with anyone who was willing to listen. It was challenging work each day, especially when you get rejected time after time. However, God blessed us with so much fruit! Multiple college students placed their faith in Christ during our time there which is just AWESOME ! 

 

Month #3 – Peru  

I don’t even know where to start with Peru. This was my hardest month of the race, but it is the month that has the best stories! Our ministry took place in the jungles of eastern Peru where we ministered to the precious people of the little village towns of Rio Tambo and Cubantia. In Rio Tambo we lived with the most precious little family. A widow with her three children and a young girl who has the sweetest heart. Our ministry was to love on them and influence the school kids by teaching Bible stories and playing games with them. In Cubantia, we followed the same school ministry outline but we actually got to meet the President (what we would call the chief) of the people there! So cool! Oh, and we were able to share the Gospel with him as well!These people have very little contact with foreigners, let alone Christians so the fact that God opened up the door for us to minister in these places was truly remarkable. After that, we headed to Cusco (see my other blog for that fiasco) where we met Tim and Holly. The couple who had the BIGGEST impact on my life throughout the race. I was also able to impact them as well. Due to losing my passport, I had time to make a fundraising video for them which resulted in God’s giving them the funds for a vehicle! Losing my passport turned out to be an awesome opportunity. 

 

Month #4 – Bolivia

Due to the passport adventure, my time in Bolivia was cut short, but the time I spent there was so sweet. It was the last month with my first team (team LIT) and we basically got to be big brothers and big sisters to at risk youth. Our ministry had a young girl’s home and a young men’s home (ages about 11-17 years old). These homes served as rehabilitation and discipleship centers where their goal is to reach them good values, show them genuine love, give them a safe place to stay, and help them renter society with hope, a new perspective, and opportunity. The boys and girls stole our hearts and saying goodbye to them was pretty freaking hard. I don’t think any of us will forget the impact they had on our lives. Oh, and we also got to paint a mural for the children’s center (another branch of our ministry). 

 

Month #5 – Argentina 

Argentina began with team changes! My team went from Team LIT to Team Grafted In. With it came new challenges, new growth, and new friendships. Ministry took us to the boonies of Argentina where we lived as a part of Marcos and Paola’s family. Marcos is one of the hardest working men I have ever met and he loves the Lord as well as his family in such a beautiful way. He believes his ministry is to adopt as many children as he can, give them a loving home, and eventually introduce them to Christ. His wife Paola is incredible too. Somehow she cooks a TON of food every day and for every meal and managed to stuff us full every time! Her joy is constant, her smile is the sweetest thing ever, and she sings all the time along with her 9 children! We called them the Argentinian Von Trap Family. We had the incredible opportunity to help Marcos lay down foundational elements for the new house he is building for his family. It was amazing to not just love on and help their family, but it was the absolute best to be made a part of and loved by their family. 

 

Month #6 – India 

India. Just typing it gives me all the feels. It’s such a unique and special place. It was certainly our behemoth. Up until month 6 we had been in South America and though it’s not all the same by any means, it came to feel familiar. So the prospect of changing continents had everyone jazzed. Yes, India is vastly different than any place we had traveled to yet, however it wasn’t my first time there and it was great to be back. 

India was split into 2 major phases of ministry. First, we trained to the coast where we taught English at this school by the Bay of Bengal. It was crazy because it was so quiet, still, and tranquil… not exactly what you expect when you think of India. The second phase was partnering with an amazing Pastor and his family and assisting them in their ministry. This included home Bible study and involvement at their church. They were so welcoming and we immediately fell in love with them. Also, we were fortunate to get two amazing cooks while we were in India so our food was INCREDIBLE! 

 

Month #7 – Nepal 

Nepal was where I experienced the most intense ministry of my life. We worked with The Agape Mission International Asia (TAMI Asia) who’s focus is on at-risk women and children in Kathmandu, Nepal. Throughout the month we would go into slum neighborhoods where children are often sexually, verbally, emotionally, etc. abused and are living in rough conditions to minister to them through Bible stories, games, and songs. We also had opportunities to talk with women who were being trafficked to tell them that God loves them and that our ministry host could offer them a better life. I praise the Lord for ministries like TAMI Asia who not only minister to these beautiful individuals but who have actually rescued dozens of women and children from their conditions. 

Nepal was incredibly impactful in my life and in the lives of my teammates. We connected really well with our hosts and were reminded of how many warriors are in the kingdom of God serving in mighty ways. 

 

Month #8 – Armenia 

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Armenia. Truthfully, I didn’t know too much about it and it was to be our ATL month (Ask The Lord) where we wake up every day and pray about what God would have us do. No plan, no ministry host, and no set schedule. Just me, my teammates, and Holy Spirit. As it turned out, this month proved to be incredibly restful. We were able to spend a lot of time with the Lord and each other while building relationships with people in our hostel. Most of our ministry was “drive by” ministry as we called it. We passed out drawings and Bible verses to people in the streets. One day we baked cookies and gave them to whoever God highlighted along our path.

Aside from ministry, God also called some of our team into a week of fasting. I haven’t mentioned this on social media yet, but it was a huge part of the month. For one whole week me and a few others fasted food. Wow. It was soooo tough, but so worth it! God ministers to you in incredible ways when we deny ourselves with the intention of connecting intimately with Him! I also got to fly home to America and surprise my sister for her graduation so yeah, that was pretty cool too! 

 

Month #9 – Georgia

Georgia, if you didn’t know, is a country right next to Armenia (not the state of Georgia in the USA lol). Because it is a new country for the World Race, it turned out to be another month of ATL. At the beginning of the month we changed teams yet again (our new team was Team Splash) and set off to seek out what the Lord had for us in this new country. We eventually landed in a small town named Kobuleti which is right on the coast of the Black Sea. Our ministry this month was largely focused on building relationships with the people in our hostel, in the town, and in the park. 

My favorite relationship was the one God allowed me to build with the greatest shwarma maker of all time! We bought a shwarma from him almost every day! I couldn’t speak his language, but we became friends non-the-less. Human connection truly is amazing. The fact that I can come to call someone friend and share Christ’s love with him even though I can only communicate in basic phrases and hand gestures. The other aspect of our time in Kobuleti that was really cool was the favor God gave us with the kids in the park close to our hostel. One day we went to play volleyball as a team and it turned into playing volleyball with at least 12 kiddos! After that, we went to the park almost every day with a jump rope and a soccer ball to connect with these precious kids and possibly talk to their parents. God eventually allowed the girls on my team to share the Gospel with these kids which was so cool. One of the kids literally translated as the girls taught! How awesome is that!? 

 

Month #10 – Romania

If there’s one word to describe Romania, it would be the word “interesting.” There were many amazing moments, there were many hard moments, there were many weird moments, and there were many moments I will never forget! This month turned out to be our second all squad month, so we were all living together which always proves to be a fun and interesting time. We also were partnering with a ministry once again however, instead of dividing up as teams, we were all sent different directions based on our different ministry interests. 

Most of my time was spent evangelizing in the city of Craiova where we were staying as well as preaching many times in the Roma (Gypsie) churches in the area. One of the services was so crazy, I was there for 7 hours! Now, I’ve been in a lot of church services, and I’ve been in a lot of long church services, but this was by far the longest one I’ve ever attended! I didn’t get up to preach until about half past midnight! It was great being able to exercise my gifts of preaching and evangelism (even though it was very tiring) but it doesn’t even come close to my favorite part of the month. 

As it turned out, God gave me incredible favor with the people of Romania. I was able to connect in a way that was clearly supernatural. I made many, many connections and was able to impact many people with the Gospel, but 2 stand out as huge praises! One was my friend *Christopher. I so wish that I could tell you his story right here, but I’m trying to wrap this blog up so for now, all I’ll say is that God was able to use me to remind him that though he has experienced great loss in his life, God still loves him, values him, and has so much in store for him if he enters the family of Christ. The other was *Selena. We made friends with her because she was the barista of the coffee shop we visited almost every day. Me and my squad mate Sara eventually got to share an evening with her where we both witnessed Holy Spirit heals wounds from her past and assure in her soul that she is righteous in the eyes of the Father because she is His daughter! I could go on forever about these, but God be praised for the amazing work He is doing in the lives of individuals all around Romania and the world! 

 

Month #11 – Spain 

We now come to month 11 which isn’t over yet. This month we are doing ATL once again while walking the famous, Camino de Santiago (the way of St. James). I am so excited to see what God has in store for me, my squad, and the pilgrims we will meet along the way. Please pray for us as we finish our final month, and as we reflect on the past year. 

Thank you so much for reading and for all the support you have offered me along this journey. I hope you enjoyed this brief snapshot of these past incredible 10 months. Until next time. 

Adios! 

 

* fake name for the sake of this blog