I wrote this at the very end of my time in Guatemala, the last country on my World Race route. I didn’t have time to post it, so I’m posting it now. Enjoy!
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So this is it, the end of my World Race. I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting lately, daydreaming about all the incredible things I’ve been missing from home that will soon be within arm’s reach…like a washer and dryer, my flat iron, and (most importantly) hand towels.
But amidst all these wonderful things I’m aching to get my hands on (like cheddar cheese…I never knew I could take cheddar cheese for granted), I’ve also found myself reminiscing about the funny, awesome, and quirky moments I’ve had on the World Race.
Here’s a list of the things I’m most looking forward to when I get home and also the things I’m really going to miss after I leave the mission field:
What I’m Looking Forward To
Seeing my mom and her cats
I can’t wait to get home so I can grocery shop and cook for my mom. I want to start eating clean, and I have a lot of recipes to try out after the Race. I’m really looking forward to those bonding moments we’ll have over dinner. I also can’t wait to walk into my mom’s apartment for the first time and watch as Corn and Boots (her cats) try to work out who I am. Boots always used to nuzzle up to my shoes and sleep on them…I’m curious to see if she’ll still do it now that I’ve been gone nearly a year.
Going back to work
This is exciting for me for several reasons. First, I’ve been with the same employer for eight years, so all the people there are like family. It’s truly home away from home for me, and I’ve missed my boss and work family more than I ever imagined I would.
I’m also excited to have a steady income, and I’m praying about the different ways I can bless others through it, either in my homeless ministry or at church. I’m also planning to use my biweekly tithing to bless missionaries and some of the ministries I’ve worked with on the Race. I love giving gifts, so I’m thrilled about this aspect of going back to work.
Bathrooms
That’s right. I went there. 🙂 Seriously, though, I am really excited about all things BATHROOM when I get home. It’s gonna be so grand to step out of a hot, clean shower, onto a lovely, cushy bathmat, and be able to wrap myself in a big, fluffy bath towel.
I’m also pretty pumped about little things, like having access to hand towels (yessssa!), toilet seats on toilets (this concept hasn’t caught on in some countries, believe it or not), and being able to flush toilet paper down the toilet (SCORE!).
No more dirty floors. No more having to shower with flip-flops on. No more having to put on shoes just to walk into the bathroom because the floor is too nasty to walk in there barefoot….
Yep. There are a lot of reasons I’m excited about bathrooms. Let’s just leave it at that.
My Favorite Foods & Restaurants
Bacon cheeseburgers with thick, greasy fries…grapes and cheese (cheddar, by the way, my fave type of cheese—the likes of which I haven’t had in 11 months)…ribeye steaks, medium rare, with garlic mashed potatoes…Chipotle burrito bowls with guac and sour cream…Chik Fil-A everything…grilled cheese sandwiches with gourmet cheese, tomato soup, and a glass of cold milk (yummm!)…my mom’s baked salmon….
Oh, and TEXAS BARBECUE. Lots and lots of Texas barbecue.
We’ve got a lot of awesome food in and around the San Antonio area. I can’t wait to hit up my favorite restaurants and dig in!
Phil Hardberger Park
There are many parks around San Antonio. Phil Hardberger Park is, by far, the most gorgeous, and it’s right across the street from my mom’s.
I love to jog, and this park has jogging trails winding through a forest with all kinds of wildlife—rabbits, birds, deer—wandering through the trees. We don’t have colorful fall foliage in South Texas, but around Thanksgiving, all the trees of Phil Hardberger Park begin to shed, and the dry, crunchy leaves sound like rain as they fall off the branches and scatter. This is my favorite time of year to go for long, leisurely strolls, which is exactly what I plan to do when I get back.
Summer is the season I most enjoy working out. On hot summer days, the backside of the park (which is shrouded in thick foliage) is totally still, without much of a breeze circulating. The static air gives potency to the fragrant flowers growing in the forest, and it’s not uncommon to catch a whiff of wild honeysuckle as I’m jogging through that part of the park.
And no matter what time of year it is, the way the afternoon sun glints and gleams through the branches of the trees is breathtaking. I’ve taken hundreds of photos, trying to capture that beauty, but pictures don’t do it justice. You have to be there, in the midst of it all, to really be able to grasp it.
I am so, SO very excited to see Phil Hardberger Park when I get home…can you tell? 🙂 It’s how I’m planning to spend much of my free time when not working, taking care of Mom, or doing homeless ministry.
Speaking of which…
My Homeless Ministry
I left a lot of people behind when I came on the World Race. Some of those people were part of the homeless community.
In the months leading up to the Race, I spent the majority of my time driving around San Antonio, looking for homeless people to serve. I kept a bag of apples and oranges in my car at all times, and when I was able, I would bring other foods like beans or sandwiches. After one cold spell, I went around the city, passing out blankets and warm clothes.
I can’t wait to jump back into this ministry, and I’m planning to increase my food and supply budget this time around. I’ll be receiving donations for this, so if you believe in what I’m doing for the homeless community and want to be a part of it, you can Paypal me at: [email protected]. You can also email me at that address if you’d like to come along side me and participate in this ministry.
As you can see, there’s a lot of stuff I’m looking forward to when I get home. But now it’s time to take a look at leaving the mission field….
What I’m Gonna Miss
Community Living
Community living is one of the things I’ve struggled with on the Race. It’s hard to live in such tight quarters with people, never being able to go anywhere alone, and feeling like you constantly have eyes on you and everything you do. You just can’t seem to have any peace and quiet.
But you know, it’s actually the thing I think I’ll miss the most. Because even though I can’t go anywhere by myself, and even though I’m pumped to have some me-time when I get home, I’m really gonna miss having people to pray over me at the drop of a hat. I’m gonna miss spontaneous worship sessions around a campfire, prophesying over each other during team time, and praying for words for my teammates.
Standing beside my team leader’s bunk bed and asking her to interpret a prophet dream just isn’t going to be my life anymore.
I won’t be able to have a seat on someone’s bed and just talk about what the Lord’s been teaching me lately.
And, I mean, sure. Sharing a bathroom with twenty other people will be a thing of the past (praise the Lamb)…but so will watching Facing the Giants and Pitch Perfect with some of the best friends anyone could ever ask for…so will group game nights filled with laughter and singing and games like Head’s Up…so will deep conversations during long walks to town and adventures to hunt down internet cafes with wifi.
Of everything I’ve experienced on the Race, I think community living is going to be the thing I miss the most. It’s been the hardest, but it’s also been the most rewarding.
Street Food
Before Bolivia, I would have never thought to eat the street food of these Latin American countries. Our ministry hosts always warn us not to—one even told a team they could be eating cat meat. But once you’ve been on the mission field for a while, you kinda just start going with the flow.
And when the “flow” is buying delicious salchi papas from the kiosk down the street, nine out of ten times you find yourself saying, “Eh. Why not?”
Granted, I have ended up with an amoeba on the Race. And my teammates and I have had the occasional stomach issue. But all in all, street food is just so good it’s hard to pass up.
Some of the best pizza I’ve ever had was right here in Santo Domingo Xenacoj (Guatemala); the same place sells AMAZING chocolate covered churros (deep fried dough rolled in sugar), and up the road is a vender who sells incredible potato-stuffed flautas.
In El Salvador, I fell in love with pupusas. In Costa Rica, it was our ministry host’s Caribbean Ginger Juice and her coconut rice recipe. In Bolivia, it was quinoa pizza and salchi papa hamburguesas.
Food has been one way I’ve experienced the culture of these countries, so it’s been a pretty big part of my journey. Needless to say, I’m going to miss the street food. I’m especially gonna miss team outings to go buy street food, and then standing around in plazas and parks as we chat and eat.
No Longer Being “the Gringa”
Okay, so being a gringa (white girl) in a Latin American country can have it’s downside. Men catcall and whistle a lot here (not cool) and a lot of people stare (awkward). But people are also really, really nice to us just because we’re foreigners. It’s like we have some “get into their hearts and homes free” card, just because we’re white people from another country.
The kids are absolutely astounded by us, too, and I’ve come to get a taste of what Hollywood stars must feel like when they’re being chased down by paparazzi. In Peru, the kids dashed outside and followed us around anytime we walked by. Here in Guatemala, they smile and wave and watch us closely.
And in all the countries I’ve been to, the kiddos tend to know a couple of phrases in English (things they picked up in school), and they like to try them out on us: “Gud mahrning!” they might say. Or, “Helloooo! Gud-bye!” they call as we pass them.
They’re not shy, that’s for sure. Today, two little boys saw me doing a workout video outside. They wanted to know if I was training for something and if I would train them, too (this was all in Spanish, by the way; one of our Spanish speaking squad members translated for me).
I’m not training for anything official, but I do plan on running some 5Ks when I get home. So I said yeah, I’d do “training” with them. And for the last part of my workout, as I was running hills, the boys ran with me.
It’s moments like this I’m really going to miss.
Leaving the World Race isn’t an easy thing. Everyone assumes we’re excited to go home, and they’re right. I am SO EXCITED for so many reasons. But by the same token, the World Race has been my life for the last eleven months, and I’m going to have those moments when I get a little teary-eyed thinking about my past teams; I’m going to get a little weepy sometimes when I don’t have six other people to sit around with and listen to sermons.
It’s going to be strange, hopping in a car and driving somewhere instead of walking. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I have such a wide selection of foods to choose from at the grocery store. I don’t know how I’ll react when I’m able to send someone a message on Facebook and then be able to actually meet up with them later that day.
It’s going to be a mix of joy and sadness, but I know my Lord and Savior will be there with me every step of the way. Many thanks to everyone who’s been praying for me and supporting me financially. And please allow me to say:
THIS IS NOT THE END.
No, this isn’t the end of my journey. It’s only the beginning. I’ll be blogging about my re-entry, my homeless ministry, and all the things God is doing through me in this next season. I want to encourage you, and I hope you’ll continue following me as I run with endurance the next part of this race God has marked out for me.
“You know that the rulers of this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:24-28
