One
common theme on the Race, is crazy travel days. You would think getting from
point A to point B wouldn't be very difficult, but it never fails that
something always happens. In Africa you might wake up while on a night bus and
find some chickens or prisoners sitting next to you. Random women might be
found sitting on your lap or random children might be placed onto your lap. You
might even get stuck because of a broken bridge. You just never really know
what to expect when starting a travel day.
To
go from Split, Croatia to Kiev, Ukraine was our longest travel time of the
year. We were leaving Split at 7:55am on Friday, and not arriving in Kiev until
8:00pm on Sunday.Our schedule was
6 hours from Split to Zagreb, 6 hours from Zagreb to Budapest, 26 hours from
Budapest to Kiev. Friday was also out International Night of Prayer, so we were
fasting during the day, and taking shifts to stay up that night praying.
We
started our journey on a fast train from Split to Zagreb, Croatia. 6 hours down
and nothing to exciting happened. Just a smooth ride where most of us either
slept or watched a movie.
2 hour layover in Zagreb. Check.
6
hour train from Zagreb to Budapest, Hungary. Nothing too exciting again, other
than we had to change train cars 2 different times, once because the one we
were in was going to Vienna instead of Budapest and the 2nd because
apparently we were in first class instead of 2nd.
We arrived in Budapest around
10:30pm, and our next train wasn't until the following day at 6pm, but we
didn't think we really had it in budget to stay anywhere so we had decided to
just sleep at the train station. We found a corner, put on comfier clothes, and
laid out our sleeping bags in this freezing train station. Right as we were all
getting ready to go to sleep (other than the person whose turn it was to be
praying) one of the workers comes up to the team, can speak know English, but
is clearly telling us that we can't sleep in the station. At some point someone
realized he was saying the station closed at midnight. So we pack our stuff and
do the logical thing.
Did we start trying to find a hostel or hotel???
No, I said we did the logical thing. We headed for the
subway station.
When
we got to the subway, there were two men peeing on either side of the station
entrance like gargoyles guarding it. So we decided to make the subway station a
last resort and first attempt to find somewhere to sleep.
The
last time we were in Budapest is when I had prayed that God would let us see
Kathryn even if it was just for 2 seconds, and He did. So as we were walking
around I started asking God for a safe place to stay. Then I realized that
every time I have done that this year, God has answered my prayer in exactly
the way I asked it. So I quickly I changed my prayer to please give us a safe,
warm place to stay that has a hot shower.
Guess
what???
He
did it again. We found a hostel that we could afford that had 5 beds left. It
had heat and warm water showers. WOOOHOOOO!!! The guy that owned the hostel
even let us chill out there until 6pm the next day when we had to catch our
train.
Travel
day half way over.
We
jump on the train in Budapest at 6:55pm and start heading to Kiev. The train is
nothing but sleeper cars, so there are no real seats, just beds. An exciting
turn of events, Megan's team was on the same train with us so we got to hang
out with them the whole way.
The first thing we noticed was the
hallway was extremely narrow. Our packs barely fit through. It was also boiling
hot, so we all congregated near windows. About an hour into the trip, the lady
working in our car went through and closed and locked all the windows. It was
hot, but hey we were in Thailand in their hottest month, so it wasn't too bad.
We
all started laying down and chilling out around 10pm. I was watching a movie at
11pm when we crossed the border and the border patrol came busting through like
we were under attack to check passports. I handed them mine and Lindsey's
passports and then went back to my movie. The lady that was working in our car
came through saying something that I didn't understand, and after playing
charades for awhile I just said Yes, so she moved on. Turns out this was vital
information she was trying to give me.
While
your stopped at the border, they change the wheels on the train. There is a
machine that literally lifts up the train while you are on it, and they change
out the wheels. So while doing this, obviously the train isn't moving. Come to
find out, while the train isn't moving, the bathrooms are locked so you can't
use them. I have 1 bedtime routine, I go to the bathroom right before I go to
bed. Midnight roles around and I'm tired so I get up to go to the bathroom and
find it locked. I ask the lady about it and she starts yelling at me in another
language. Danny apparently was also trying to get her to open the bathroom and
by the end of it, she was making fun of us for asking. We eventually understood
3 hours. Great, I was already about to wet my pants and I had to wait 3 more
hours which turned into 4.5 because they didn't open it until 4:30am.
Longest
travel day ever finally came to an end around 10pm on Sunday night. All this to
say, I'm in Kiev, Ukraine for the last 3 weeks of the race.
The
generosity that people around the world have shown still blows me away. This
past month in Croatia, our team was shown a whole new level of love and
generosity.
While in Split, Croatia we attended
church at the Café where we worked throughout the month. The first Sunday
there, we made a new friend named Alison. She is from England, and had sold her
house and everything she owned 6 years earlier, and followed God's calling to
Croatia. When we got there, Alison had just recently moved to the mainland part
of Croatia, and had just started attending the church we were working with.
After church, Alison offered to
take our team to the beach and show us around town a bit. We thought this was
super sweet, especially since we had just met her. So we went together and
spent the day at the beach. After we left the beach, Alison offered to give us
a key to her house so that we could do laundry, hang out during the day while
she was at work, take showers, have some quiet time away from the rest of the
team, etc. She even told us we could sleep in her bed... as long as she wasn't in
it.
One of the last nights we were
going to be in Split, Alison invited us over for dinner. She cooked a delicious
meal for our entire team. While we were there, she realized I was wearing a
knee brace and started asking me about it.I explained to her what had happened and told her that I
still didn't really know what was wrong with it because I couldn't get any of
the countries I had been in to give me and MRI.
(I don't think I ever wrote a blog about it, so for those of
you who don't know, I hurt my leg while rafting the Nile River, but they
haven't really been able to tell me what is fully wrong with it.)
Alison
decided that while I was in Split I needed to get it taken care of. Her friend
that we had met earlier in the week, Renata, was coming over for dinner, and
because her husband was a former soccer player/manager, she thought he might be
able to help me out. Renata jumped at the idea of helping me. She took all my
info and offered to drive me once she knew where we were going. Alison had even
offered to help me pay for the MRI. This all totally blew me away. While we had
formed friendships with these two women, they were relatively strangers,
bending over backwards to help me out and to take care of our team.
The
MRI didn't work out, because while we were there, the Split soccer team had a
huge game in Russia and literally all the doctors were gone. But, the
generosity the two of them showed was astounding. It gives me a whole new look
on what it looks like to take care of people, and what it looks like to really
give everything you have over to God. All Alison's possessions and everything
she had, she shared with us. It was incredible. It's funny how we go into all
these countries to minister to people, and at the end of every month, I feel
like I have received so much more than I have given.
Ok,
so when most of you read what my answered prayer was, you are probably going to
think it is pretty silly. But for me it was a big deal, and completely made my
day, so thought I would share it with you anyways.
Our
team left Romania on Thursday night and arrived in Budapest, Hungary. We were
only going to be there for one day. Budapest is a really cool city, and since I
had never been there, you would think that I was excited to see the city.
However, I had one thing on my mind and only one thing that I was praying for
from the second we hit the ground, 'God please let us see Kathryn even if it is
only for 2 seconds.'
Now
if you have been reading my blogs or talked to me this year, you probably know
who Kathryn is. She was on my team for the first 8 months of the race, but
right before we left for Romania, she was switched to a different team. In the
beginning I didn't take the change all that well, but by the end of the month
could totally see it was in God's plan for everyone that was involved.
Kathryn
and her new team are doing ministry in Budapest this month, and it had been a
month since we had seen her, and this was our last possible chance to see her
before final debrief, which was another 5 weeks away. (I know it doesn't sound
like that long, but when you have lived with someone all year, it seems like
forever). So I am not exaggerating when I say, that is all I did the entire
morning while walking around Budapest, was beg God to let us see her even if it
was just for 2 seconds. Then we found out that our train left at 1:00pm, so it
looked like it was official that we wouldn't see her. So I called her team
leader, Megan and told her that our teams were not going to be able to meet up.
I had accepted it, and decided that I was fine, and it would just make debrief
that much better.
We
got to the train station at like 12:50. We were loaded up with all our stuff
(day packs on the front, and big packs on the back), when all of a sudden out
of know where, someone leaped on me. Any guess who it was? Kathryn!!!! And to
make the day even better, she had two of my other favorite people with her, Liz
and Megan. Totally made my day.
Then
we left part of our team at the train station, which was a little bit of a
stressful time, but as Danny and I were sitting on the train talking, I was
telling him how excited I had been to see those 3 girls. And then it hit me,
God had answered my prayer.
After
the 9 months I have had, I can't doubt God's power, or that He is active in our
lives, or that He does work miracles and wants to, or that He provides. But,
today in church I had an epiphany. As I am getting ready to come home, and
trying to start making plans, I have been putting God back into the little box
I used to keep Him in. The box where I know God does miracles, and I know He is
good, put I really only pull that little box out when I need or want something.
When
thinking about what my life is going to look like after the Race, I have
literally probably considered every option. I started off by thinking about
going on another Race. And then, that evolved into going on the Sex Trafficking
Race. But God said no to both of those (after I gave up worrying about how I
was going to raise the money). The only God has told me about what is coming
after the Race is that I am going to be home for at least a little while, and I
am supposed to be in school. So I have started making my plans with those 2
guidelines in mind.
The
new plan was, go to community college to ease back into school, and find a job
(or two) because after a year of not working, I don't really even have a bank
account. And then, this morning in church, I realized I don't need God in my
plan at all. I mean obviously I would still have my relationship with Him, and
ask for His direction in my life, but where is there room for God to work?
Do I need His
help to get into community college?... No
Do I need His help to find a part-time job?... maybe but not
really
Am I having to trust Him to provide?... No, I'm taking care
of that
And obviously God can move in anything, so maybe this is His
plan for me right now. But, whatever it is, I am ready to COMMIT and trust in
Him no matter what that looks like. Excited to see what the next part of my
life brings.
After
9 months of traveling, McDonald's has become a delicacy. You would think that
our team was at some 5-star restaurant the first day that we saw it in Targu
Mures. And since our ministry is in town, it has also become the most common
place for us to take our lunch break (hey its warm inside and it is freezing in
the park where we usually make our PB&J sandwiches.)
A
few days ago in McDonald's, we had a little surprise. As usual, our group was
probably the loudest and taking up several tables. A couple walked by and heard
us speaking English and immediately stopped to talk to us. Turns out they are a
couple from Texas who are living out here in Targu Mures for 2 years, working
at an orphanage.
Now,
I don't think I can fully convey to you the excitement we feel when we meet
people who speak English. After months of translators and playing gesturing
games trying to figure out what people are telling you (or yelling at you), we
tend to get super excited when someone speaks English. But this couple, (Jenny
and Jeff) don't just speak English, they are AMERICANS. We went nuts. You would
think we had just found our long lost relatives in McDonald's. And they have a
precious 2 year old boy, and I don't think we have seen any American kids since
New Zealand.
So
tonight, they invited us over to there house for dessert and coffee. It
definitely makes the list for one of the best nights on the race. Talking with
them about their ministry and their experiences was super encouraging, and
other than Racers, they are the first people I have met in a while who can
actually relate to things that we have seen and experienced.
This
month was not one of the easiest ministry months. It involved a lot of passing
out fliers and attempting to communicate with people without a translator. I
think God knew that we were all needing a little bit of encouragement, and
arranged for us to be at McDonald's at the same time.
When we got to Targu Mures, I decided I loved McDonald's,
now it might be one of my favorite places in this entire city.
Well
I have gotten lazy on the blogs again, so I am just going to give a quick
update on what our month in Uganda looked like.
We
lived in a place called Kishanje, which is in the most beautiful, hilly place I
have ever seen in my life. It is 2 hours from electricity/Internet (so we are
going to pretend like that is why I didn't post any blogs this month). At the
top of the hill is a ministry call Juna Amargara, and they run a primary
school, secondary school, orphanage, clinic, and vocational school. Our main
ministry this month was supposed to be to disciple some of the secondary
students, but they happened to be on break while we were there, so as usual our
ministry changed a little bit.
We
ended up doing a wide variety of things. We moved massive piles of bricks to
help with construction of the school. We played games and songs with some of
the primary school students who were around. We did door-to-door ministry and
prayed with sick people at the hospital. The guys were able to get some pretty
steady discipleship going, and the 6 of us girls all did a Bible study with one
girl who was left there.
The
last day of ministry, we drove 9 hours to another place called Fort Portal, and
attended/spoke at a conference. Who would have thought that when we left 8
months ago we would be key speakers at a conference. Which the conference was a
very humbling experience for me. I was the last person from our group to speak,
and I was giving a testimony on fear. But, as it turns out, either the
translator didn't understand me, or she translated it wrong, because the entire
room full of people laughed the entire time I was talking.... And I wasn't saying
anything funny. What was really funny about it was I was talking about Fear of
People, and then I get laughed at by about 200 Africans. But, it ended ok, and
I just have to trust that maybe the people who spoke English in the room needed
to hear what I was saying. (I think the translator might have translated my
fear of what people think as being literally afraid of people, which might
explain all the laughter).
I
know this blog doesn't give much detail from the month, but this was one of my
favorite months on the race. I'm excited to go to Europe, but I'm not really
ready to leave Africa yet. Hopefully God will send me back sometime.
Hey everybody! Well, were are headed into the final stretch
of the mission trip. On the 26th we will be in Ireland for The
Awakening and then headed to our last 3 countries which are Romania, Moldova,
and Ukraine. It's hard to believe that we are about to hit our last continent.
Europe seemed so far away when we started the Race 8 months ago.
I
am writing this blog to ask for your help. My teammate Kristi is not fully
funded for this mission trip yet. She has been posting blogs and sending emails
home, working really hard at trying to raise the money, but there hasn't been
much change.
Kristi
is a very important part of our team. We haven't been apart for more than 24
hours in 8 months, and I am really not ready to say goodbye to her yet. I've
gotten to watch Kristi grow in some amazing ways this year. When we started the
race, she was super quiet, and it was honestly a little hard to get to know
her. Now, she is leading the group when we play with children, she is preaching
and giving her testimony everywhere we go, and just growing into who God made
her.
So,
if you are looking for somewhere to donate, or have the ability to donate,
please do so to Kristi Kaeli. The donation is tax deductible which we all know
is a plus.
