Guatemala

Our first month on the field was spent in the mountains of Chichicastenango, Guatemala. This town is located northwest up in the Guatemalan highlands. Oh and fun fact, this town hosts one of the largest markets in Central America. On Thursdays and Sundays the streets are filled with colorful booths and handcrafted traditional textiles. This country really has preserved a lot of its cultural traditions, which made Guatemala one of the most unique countries I experienced on the race. With Chichi being a primarily indigenous Mayan culture, most of the people used their own spoken dialect known as K’iche.

While in Chichi, we partnered with New Generation church, led by Pastor Juan. His goal is to give hope to the children of Chichicastengo, the ones who feel forgotten or feel they have no purpose. To inspire change in a generation where children have dreams, and are given the opportunity to reach them. Most importantly, Pastor Juan has a heart to love these children and show them that a life with Jesus will give them the hope they need for the future.

During our time here we helped teach the children Spanish, and English. When we weren’t sharing bible stories or working on language skills, we were out on the fields playing soccer. It was a time where we could truly pour into such amazing children.

Honduras

For month 2 in Honduras, we partnered with Catracho missions located in the mountains of Granadilla. This was one of my top favorite months on the race. We camped in our tents on the side of a mountain which was an experience in itself. There was no electricity or internet, and to get to the closest town was about an hour drive down. I think one of the biggest lessons I learned from this month was what it means to truly be content and how to be comfortable in the uncomfortable.

Ministry in the mountains consisted of a lot of manual labor. Just about every day we would walk over 4 miles to carry wood used to build the church. We also helped build chairs, bunk beds, benches and tables for the church and boarding house. One week we helped run VBS for all of the children in the village and a Beauty for Ashes event for the mothers. It was truly a special month, one that I will never forget.

There were so many funny and crazy moments from this month, but I think the craziest was on our adventure day to the Panajachel waterfall. Our squad decided to check out the waterfall tour, thinking we were going to be like walking behind it or something just really chill. Well we were greatly surprised. Our first warning sign of what we had just signed up for was when they had us all put on helmets and vests. Then we start walking to the waterfall and begin swimming across the current closer to the bottom of the fall. Our tour guides literally then have us cross the entire river directly under the waterfall. At one point we all literally thought we were going to drown. We were panicking and laughing at the same time. I wish I could put into words how wild it was, but I can say it was a once in a life time experience and the closest to drowning I’ve been.

Costa Rica

Our team was placed in San Jose. Every Wednesday we went on prayer walks in different neighborhoods around the city. On other days we would assist in teaching English lessons to the locals or help out with dance classes. Our ministry hosts also ran a pregnancy center which we were blessed to be apart of. To pour into the young mothers and speak truth into their lives was really special. This was probably the hardest month on the race for me. Ministry was on the slower side and I was really struggling with homesickness and the realization of how long this journey would be. To be completely honest this month has been kind of a blur to me but I know the Lord was still moving and working.

I think one of my favorite memories from this month was the day me and my teammate Katie went surfing together on the beaches of Cahuita. The water was beautiful, the waves were good, and the sun was out. Neither of us had surfed before but we got up on our first try. It was really fun and just a nice time to relax and enjoy some time off away from the struggles I was facing at the moment.

Nicaragua

Our month in Nicaragua was an Ask the Lord month. Basically once we made it to the country we were encouraged to pray and rely on the Holy Spirit to lead us. Our team prayed and were lead to go to Bluefields for the first two weeks, where we partnered with a YWAM base. During our two weeks here we spent most of our time doing evangelism, prayer walks, and house visits. Although ministry was not super organized, we were able to pray over many families and bring encouragement to those who felt hopeless or lost.

The final two weeks in Nicaragua we spent in Granada. On Wednesday’s and Fridays we worked with a dump ministry. This was one of my favorite ministries on the race. Our team rode out to the local dump where the pastor lead a church service and feeding program for the people who lived there. This was a really humbling experience for me. Most of the families were living off of $4. We saw parents and children picking through the garbage for food and clothes. Many of the men who we met had been working there since they were children as young as 8 years old. But as hard as it was to see these people living like this, it was amazing to see the joy that each one of them had. And as hard as their lives have been they still put their hope and trust in the Lord. They were grateful for what they had been given and loved one another through it all.

One of my favorite moments from this month was back in Bluefields. It had been a really tough day. I cried a lot, team dynamic was hard, I missed my family, and to be honest I was ready to go home. I was really really down, I had felt unseen and unloved. I decided to go sit outside by myself on a bench away from the house where I could cry in peace. I was praying, crying out to the Lord, asking him to show me that he was there. Suddenly it began to rain lightly. I looked up and saw a man walking on the street and I had the feeling he saw me. A few seconds later I noticed he was walking my way. He came over and started talking to me in Spanish. He said “Que pasa - What’s wrong?”. I could barely speak I just started crying harder. Then he came and sat down beside me and asked again what was wrong. In broken Spanish and the help of google translate, I was able to speak a few words through the tears. He answered back to me and basically said that yes, life is hard but it is beautiful, its those hard moments that shape us. Then he said “God loves you so much”, and then he walked away. I cried so hard after that and for the first time in a long time I felt like God had heard my cries, and he sent this sweet old man as a sign to me that he sees me and is there always.

Albania

Albania has a special place in my heart. This was our first country with a new team - shout out to team Lilac, I love y’all always. A week before coming to Albania we had thought we were going to Columbia, but overnight Covid changed the plans and we were heading to Eastern Europe. This was a blessing in disguise, for one, because on our layover in Miami we were able to see our families for a few hours before finishing the second leg of the race. We had a second 12 hour layover in Germany so we all got to go explore for a few hours before catching our final flight to Albania. It took over 50 hours to get there but it was worth it. Once we got to Albania we were taken to our ministry location in Pogradec. This was a cute little town located right by the lake. It was snowy and quaint and the perfect place to spend Christmas.

Our ministry changed day to day, but my favorite ministry was when we drove up into the mountains to different villages. We would deliver Christmas gifts and care packages to the children. Throughout my life I have helped with operation Christmas child, and during this month I got to be on the other side of this organization. I got to see first hand the joy the children had when receiving their gifts which was really special. Every Saturday we shared our testimonies during church and on Thursdays we helped lead the women’s Bible study. With it being the holiday season, ministry was a little on the slower side. This meant we had to get creative, some days we would put together little goodie bags filled with treats and handwritten bible verses, and we would hand them out to people in the community. Other days we went on prayer walks and visited our favorite restaurants where we got to pour into our favorite servers. I really loved it here and loved getting to know the people in this little town.

My favorite memory from this month was the day we drove into the mountains to one of the villages and got stuck. Basically we had gotten up there, delivered the gifts and shared a message. On our way back down the mountain our van got stuck in the snow. So our ministry host told us to get out and start walking. After an hour of walking we see the van coming down the road we all jumped of joy and finished the drive. We had laughed so hard from all the events that had just occurred. As we finished the drive we had saw the sunset over the lake with the mountains in the background, which was absolutely beautiful. Then we saw a shepherd and his herd of goats walking down the road which was pretty cool. It was just a fun day, and everyone just went with the flow with no complaints.

Romania

We spent two months in this country. For the first two weeks our squad was placed in a little town known as Draganesti-Olt. Me and a few other squad mates went to this little village where we passed out gifts to children, did house visits, prayed over families, and helped with a children’s program. Those two weeks were some of the sweetest times on the race. We worked with the sweetest young family who had two baby girls. We grew so close to them and were able to help out at their church. And I can’t forget our mom Tatiana who cooked the best traditional Romanian lunches for us during our visits. After those two weeks, we moved to Craiova where we helped out with Pastor Raul and Hope Church. During those two weeks we led daily worship nights, hosted game nights for local high schoolers, used our administrative skills to bring more people to the church, and we went to the Roma (gypsy) communities to share the good news of God. After those two weeks, we took a break and had our third on field debrief in Brasov which has been one of my favorite places to visit on the race. About 5 days before we left for debrief we had heard the news that war broke out in Ukraine which bordered Romania. Our squad was eager to help out in any way possible. We had some training during debrief on how to work with refugees and then we were sent out to help.

It is crazy to look back and see how all the changes to our race had led us to this place where we were able to help those who truly needed hope. It was one of those Esther moments “for such a time as this”. When we got back to Craiova my team and another team, worked with Raul to get people out of Ukraine and to safe places around Europe. It was amazing to see how Hope Church was truly bringing light to the darkness. Raul and his team worked so hard to help anyone who needed it. They sent convoys into the danger zones of Ukraine to deliver food and pick up families. While we were there donations poured in which allowed Raul to rent 4+ houses for refugee families. Food, clothes, transportation and shelter was provided to the Ukrainians. Raul connected local business owners with refugees who were staying long term in Romania, in order to help them find jobs to support their families.

There were a lot of special moments from this month. I saw the way God brought peace in the midst of chaos, light to a world that is so broken and lost. I saw strangers come together to help one another and be a home for those who have lost everything. One of my favorite days was when we threw a surprise birthday party for one of the little Ukrainian girls. It was her seventh birthday and her parents had felt upset because for the past two years her birthday was affected by Covid and this year she was celebrating in an unfamiliar place, far from home, in the middle of a war. Our team decided to throw a surprise party in the church for her and her family. Other Ukrainian families came, with presents and cake for her. It was a special day because even in the midst of so much uncertainty we saw everyone come together to celebrate. It was a day full of joy, laughter, dancing, and happiness. It never ceases to amaze me how much joy children bring to life. It was a day I will never forget.

Africa - Lesotho, South Africa, & Eswatini

This was a month that I will never forget. We started the month out in Malealea with the boys because snow was keeping us from getting to our host in Mokhotlong. For the few days we spent there we did evangelism in the villages. Once the snow cleared up we made our way to Mokhotlong. We partnered with Pastor Obed of Harvesters Hillock Church. Due to Covid our ministry was very restricted. When we arrived, we found out we would not be able to work with the orphanage and HIV patients at the hospital, which in the moment was very disappointing. However, the Harvesters Hillock Christian School allowed us to partner with their teachers for the few weeks we would be spending here in Lesotho. This was a huge answer to prayers. Although ministry was not what we were expecting, it was such a blessing to be able to work with the school. Me and my teammate Emmery taught the 3rd grade class together every morning. They were the sweetest, craziest, funniest kids ever. They bought so much joy to my heart and made each day worth it. In addition to working at the school, we also gave 15 minute devotionals each morning at both the school, and the hospital center. On Sundays we went to different churches in the area, sharing our testimonies and the word of God. We also had the opportunity to host two Beauty for Ashes events for the women and teachers at our school. It was a really sweet month. Walking into it, I was frustrated and disappointed with a lot of things but the Lord blessed our time and made it better than I could have ever imagined. I am so thankful for the people we met in this beautiful country.