The World Race - Chelsea DiPaolo

preaching on mount kilimanjaro.

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Have I mentioned how beautiful Moshi, Tanzania is? Not only am I talking about the perfect-looking children. We can see the mountain peak from our backyard if it's not too cloudy. Our house also backs up into the WeruWeru River, which flows down from melted snow off of the mountain. Our new hobby is cliff jumping into the river. Another obsession that we've developed this month is making bonfires and eating s'mores--well, the African approximation of s'mores. The marshmallows are pink for some reason. It's not the same as home, but it's still pretty good. We have enjoyed worshipping as a team and having deep conversation around the bonfire. Our host dad, Everest, thinks it's a strange recreation, since they cook their meals over a wood-burning grill. We had him and our host mom try roasted marshmallows...they were puzzled. Everest asked us, "Is this a meat?"

The church we are working with is part of an association with many sister churches throughout the Kilimanjaro region. We have had the opportunity to visit many of the churches. I think our count is up to seven churches that we've visited. At each church one of us gets to share a word of encouragement. Just yesterday I preached a sermon that God laid on my heart from Hebrews about Jesus as our sympathetic high priest.

The church was a few people sitting on benches set up in the middle of some banana trees. This church had a "building" until three days ago, when some anti-Christian people came and knocked it down. In truth, the church "building" was only a large piece of tin held up by four posts, but to them, it was their place of worship. These people know how to worship. The pastor's wife prayed to open the service and began to cry during her prayer. It moved me, too. So many people here have such strong faith. Although (or maybe because) they have nothing, they fully depend on God. It's beautiful to hear their prayers and see their hearts.

The people here are also extremely generous. We went to another church a few days ago, where Halley spoke on the Sermon on the Mount. It was fitting since we were on the side of a mountain, as well. This church was small as well, although they did have a real building. After the service they gave us cokes, bananas, peanuts and avocados, and made us promise that we would come back sometime next week. They even sent us home with a care package of food. Something that I think about often is how I'll probably feel so ignored when I go home. Being a foreigner, and lets be honest, I'm defined by my skin color here, gives me automatic rock star status. I literally can't walk down the street without someone yelling, "Mzungu! (White person!)" at me. It's going to be weird to go home and just be a normal person again. I can't quite imagine what it will be like.

The last random snippet that I want to share is how blessed I have been by visiting Treasures of Africa. It's the orphanage ran by one of Colby's former coworkers, Lydia. We've visited twice, and I can't wait to go back again on Saturday. The kids are so sweet. So loved. Don't worry, I'll hug an orphan for each one of you that reads this and wishes you could be here with them, too.

I have been inspired by the community here--Lydia and Jodi and Brandon from the orphanage, Ryan and Stacy and their kids, Alice, Lauren, Mary--by their willingness to step out in faith and trust the Lord to provide for them. I've been inspired by their hospitality to us, inviting us into their homes for meals and fellowship and worship. I've been inspired by their genuine love for the people with whom they work. I can add them to the list of people I've met around the world who are living out God's dream for their lives. I think I'll pull that list out whenever I'm feeling discouraged--to help me remember I'm not alone in this thing. It's good to be in the family of Christ with such amazing people.

crying over cake and ice cream.

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

In case you haven't noticed, I've been gone a long time. It's crazy to me, because the time has flown by, but when I really think about it, eight months is quite a while. I could almost have a baby by now.

I'm not going to lie; sometimes I fantasize about food from home. When I say sometimes, I mean pretty much every day. In fact, in my dream last night I was eating M&M cookies...they were soooo good. It was such a realistic dream.

My team likes to play this game called, "If you could have any food from home right now, what would it be?" We had to change the game because Colby's answer and mine were always the same. So the game is now, "If you could have any food from home right now besides Chipotle, what would it be?" Colby and I have already made plans to go straight there from the airport basically as soon as we land. It's going to be amazing.

It's not that I'm starving. I think I actually gained weight last month, because the food was so good. I've discovered the joys of chapatti. If you've ever had a Chalupa from Taco Bell, chapatti is basically the bread shell of a Chalupa. They eat it with everything here: rice, beans, cabbage, goat meat, French fries, etc. It's a staple, and I love it in all its greasy glory.

Even though I think about food from home, I think I've forgotten how it really tastes, what it's really like. The reason why I say this is forthcoming. Colby's former coworker Lydia runs an orphanage here in Moshi. We got to visit the orphanage last Saturday, and then Lydia invited us over to her house for dinner this past Monday. She told us she was going to make American-style spaghetti with meat sauce. We were so excited.

We got to her house and saw the spaghetti and sauce, garlic bread, and...RANCH DRESSING. We haven't seen that since America. Lydia was kind enough to share some of her precious Christmas present with us. We felt so honored. She said she knew that we've been away from home long enough to appreciate it.

As if that wasn't enough, after dinner Lydia brought out dessert. It was yellow cake with chocolate icing, coupled with cookies and cream ice cream. The cake was also a gift from home.

I tentatively took the first bite. It tasted amazing. I can't explain it to you. I don't even love yellow cake that much, but it tasted just like home. I exclaimed, "This is so good I could cry." I'm not going to lie; at this point my eyes did kind of well up.

I was going to keep it under control until Colby noticed and said, "Are you seriously crying?" I couldn't help it. I just got overwhelmed. It had been so long since I had eaten normal cake; cake in other countries really just isn't the same. It's not as rich or as moist. Plus, my birthday was the next day, and I felt like it was a little birthday present from God. At any rate, I got really embarrassed and ran out of the room until I could pull myself together.

I don't really know why I'm telling this story on my blog for the world to read. I guess just to say that despite my lack of communication at times, I do miss home and think about people and things at home. Lately it has been hard to stay focused on the present because it feels like these last three months are going to fly by. I think most of the team can identify with that sentiment, too. I've been trying to limit my time on the Internet because of this-I don't like the distractions.

Today God brought Hebrews 10:38-39 to my attention. It says, "But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.' But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved." The next chapter is the famous Hebrews 11. I want to be one of those people of great faith; one who doesn't shrink back from any challenge God has for me.

I love how the Message translation puts Hebrews 11:13-16, "Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that-heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them."

I want God to be proud of me. I want to continue to discover his purpose for having me on the World Race. By faith I will press into these next three months. Please continue to pray with me for relationships on the team, ministry, and personal growth.

a typical Sunday in Africa.

Mon, 8 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Life is, well, different here on the World Race. I think I've gotten used to the absolute chaos. Just now, as I went to sit down on the couch to write this on my teammate's computer, (because mine plunged to its death a week ago) I had to push aside numerous iPod cords, a DVD called "Matt Damon vs. Leonardo Dicaprio," the first Lord of the Rings book, two purses, and a box of off-brand frosted flakes. Only once I was situated did I realize I was sitting on someone's headphones. Oops.

Sundays are totally different here on the World Race. They differ from country to country, but I can guarantee that they're never like home. I love Sundays at home because they mean family, relaxation, and preparation for the week ahead, so Sundays on the World Race were a big adjustment for me. I think it's good that we hit Africa later in the race route, because Sundays in Africa are even more of a stretch. Let me sketch out a typical schedule.

6:42am: A rooster crows, waking you up. You cover your head with a pillow and fall back asleep.

7:00am: Your alarm clock goes off. You hit snooze.

7:12am: You actually roll out of bed.

7:30am: Breakfast! They serve spaghetti. And chocolate syrup.

7:50am: You come back to the room where the majority of your teammates are still sleeping, even though you're supposed to leave at 8 for church.

8:00am: No sign of your host dad to take you to church.

8:20am: Still no sign of your host dad. Instead, your team is sitting around looking at a map of the United States that someone found in the house.

8:30am: Your team is now trying to count how many states they have and haven't been to out of the 50. It kind of becomes a contest of who has been to more states.

8:34am: Your host dad honks for you to come out and leave for church. Four of you pile into the back of the van, but two are staying home sick. And you're off!

8:41am: You stop alongside the road to pick up a few people and give them a ride.

9:05am: You stop again to pick up more people. There are about 12 people crammed in the back of the van now.

9:15am: You arrive at church, only 15 minutes late, but since one of you is speaking, it's okay, the show can't go too far without you.

9:16am: Praise and worship begins. In Africa, there is a difference between praise and worship, but you haven't figured it out yet. The church sings about five songs in Swahili, and the four of you who speak English awkwardly sing a song for the church, trying to garner some involvement, but mostly receiving blank stares.

9:32am: The church members all start to pray. Loudly. For a long time. You try to pray, too, but it's hard to focus with all the yelling.

9:40am: You go up and give a lesson for the church. It goes well. Your translator does a nice job. A couple people say, Amen!" at various times throughout the talk.

10:03am: Phew! After a few more songs and a couple prayers thrown in for good measure, first service is over.

I'll spare you the gory details, but after the first service, the Sunday School, comes the actual church service, with the sermon. Then comes the baptism service, which requires the church to temporarily re-locate to the river. That service is really cool, with the church singing beautiful songs as the new believers are baptized. Then everyone heads back to the church for the next service, which is Holy Communion. After that, it's about 1:15pm. Don't get too excited to go home, though, because after church is the fellowship where everyone sits under the tree and drinks multiple glasses of milky tea or fresh juice and eats donuts. You eventually roll into your home at 2:45pm, and the church marathon is over.

Although this blog is silly, I really have enjoyed experiencing how the body of Christ gets together all over the world. It's neat to see the different ways in which everyone worships God together. I love seeing God move all over the world. As Africa is wrapping up, I'm thankful for the things I've experienced here and yet to experience before the month ends. I can't wait to experience church in Asia. I'm sure there will be some crazy things there, too.

you weren't trying to sleep, were you?

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Lately my team has been talking about how we think we'll be able to survive anything after the World Race. Not that it's this awful thing, but sometimes when I stop to think about our conditions, I have to laugh. Life is crazy.

I mean...we're kind of in extreme conditions. The room where Hope and I sleep is always filled with a random assortment of creatures, and the people we live with listen to Jambo Kenya radio station each morning starting at 5am. Many of my teammates are sleeping on mattresses on the floor of the church or tenting, which are both fine options, but they deal with constant rooster crows/growls all night long, as well as this creepy music from the neighbor's house that sounds like a skipping recording of Alvin and the Chipmunks. Did I mention that the kitchen is a mud hut with a fire in the middle, or the fact that the electricity goes off and stays off for as long as it feels like it at any given time? I've already talked about the bathing/toilet situation, and as I write this blog, someone is chopping down trees that keep crashing to the ground or against the church, causing me to jump every so often.

All this to say: I think I'll probably be the most resilient and resourceful person ever after I get back. I can't imagine that I'll have anything to complain about. One of my friends says that he plans on living in his car for a while after the Race-and he's not joking. He said before coming on the Race, he was thinking about getting a cool sports car when he got back. Now he wants to get an Astro van so that he can put down the seats and fit his Thermarest in there.

One thing that I love about the World Race lifestyle is that it's random by nature. I never know what's going to happen to me on a day-to-day basis. For example, over the past week I visited people's homes in the community where I drank countless cups of milky tea, held baby goats, and sang songs in Swahili. I've led people to Christ through door-to-door evangelism. I've prayed healing over old people and babies. I've preached and sang at open-air crusades and small groups. I've helped cook dinner for my team. I've cracked up at the Bishop's outrageous stories about encountering African wildlife. Every day holds a new explosion of unexpected joy.

This month has been so fun for me because, as I mentioned, we're with Hope's team. This means that I've gotten to sing a lot with Adam, who is such an anointed worship leader. The church loves the songs that we sing. They surprised us on Sunday by calling us up in front of everyone to do some special music. Like I said, the World Race is random by nature. Most days we just have to go with the flow.

Jonah the praise and worship leader suggested that we record some of our songs, so yesterday Adam, Halley, Nick, Jonah, and I formed a little band and did the recording. I think my favorite thing ever is the fact that we're recording it to a cassette tape. Also, I love that Jonah plays the drums on the keyboard. Oh, and the fact that we're all playing/singing at the same time, with only one take...so you just have to do your best every time. No pressure.

I don't think I realized how much this meant to our Kenyan friends until I walked up to the church this morning and heard my voice wailing, "You Won't Relent." Yes, they were already playing the tape...blasting it, in fact. (Halley told me that they starte5d playing it at 6am. Sorry, everyone.) It's really hilarious and a little bit disconcerting to think that they'll be playing that tape forever. I wouldn't be surprised if we wake up to hear it playing on Jambo Kenya tomorrow. I bet every World Race team that comes here after us will be graced with the musical stylings of the Ninjargh (Ninjas+Pirates) worship band. I hope they enjoy it, especially the part where I completely mess up the harmony on the second verse of "Mighty To Save." All well....to God be the glory, right?

I can only hope that long after the World Race is over, I will be able to find so much joy in every single day. I'm cautious to start thinking too much about life post-Race, but it's hard not to do so. I've already started making plans at least for the summer and praying about what my next step will be. I'm confident that God will continue to lead me, and I can't wait to see where I go.

fearless.

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I'm sitting here eating gummy bears, listening to John Mayer, and trying to think of something to write. I feel that I should write, since it's been some time since I've updated my blog. My issue is that I don't really like to blog unless I feel very inspired, and I haven't felt very inspired lately, as far as blogging goes.

The truth of the matter is that it is extremely hot here in Mpeketoni, Kenya. So hot, in fact, that I find it hard to focus my thoughts on any particular topic. My team is here with Team Pirate/Journey, which is great fun because that means I get to fall asleep each night next to my best friend Hope. What's not great fun are the animals that share a room with us and pretty much torment us all night long. For the past week we've heard strange unidentified scurrying and fighting noises. We could never figure out what it was. Well, last night Hope and I walked into the room to see a mother hen with three chicks. In the next instant we spied a rat running across the bed. So. Cool. I got to sleep with chickens last night.

We had the opportunity on Monday to go to the coast and swim our little hearts out in the Indian Ocean for our free day. What happened was that we all underestimated the strength of the African sun, which resulted in varying degrees of sunburn and ultimately led us to require another day off, to recover from our first day off. Besides the sunburns, we've been suffering from other strange infirmities such as rashes, swollen lips, strange bug bites, and the like. This is Africa, as they say.

Africa has a way of breaking you down. After the aforementioned beach day, a few of us girls decided to bathe. Bathing equals pouring water in a basin and splashing it over yourself, and it helps if you have someone else there to wash your hair. Emily was super dehydrated, and mid-bath she stepped out to go throw up in the toilet, which is actually just a hole in the ground with two bricks for your feet. It seems like the type of thing that you might console yourself by saying, "we'll laugh about this later," but the weird thing is that we were laughing while it was happening. It's just kind of what you have to do.

I don't write this to complain, and I'm not depressed or anything. I actually laugh really often these days, and my favorite Psalm at the moment is Psalm 103, which says, "Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."

I've been thinking about this a lot: the World Race teaches you to get over yourself. Just last night, I stood up on a podium in the middle of a marketplace in this small town in Africa and preached about God's light. I can't say I ever thought I would be doing that. I was thinking about a Taylor Swift song. She sings it about a boy but I think it can apply to God, too. She says, "I don't know how it gets better than this. You take my hand and drag me headfirst, fearless. And I don't know why but with you I'd dance in a storm in my best dress, fearless."

I guess when you're at a point where everything is so crazy and out of your control, you have nowhere to go except to God. I think most of us on the team are in this place where we're comfortable enough in our relationships with each other to not have any pretenses, which transfers to our relationships with God. I know personally that I've been letting go of stuff left and right, and it's absolutely freeing. Don't get me wrong, it's been tough to walk through brokenness and let go of pride, but the truth of the matter is that I'm excited to be in a place where I'm not holding anything back from God.

Before I sign off, I would just like to reassure everyone that I am personally healthy, and there's nothing to worry about. God is taking care of us, even the ones who have been suffering a bit. Please do pray for restoration for some of us and continued health for others...the hospital here is kind of sketch. :)

snapshots.

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Being in Uganda is sort of indescribable and our time left here in Gulu is so short now-a weekend left. I want to soak it all in and somehow be able to share it with everyone at home. I find it to be a difficult balance to strike. Here are a few snapshots:

*One of my favorite things is to see a child with this star struck face just staring at me. It never fails that if I smile at the kid, he'll smile back. Sometimes it's a little work to get the smile, but it's seriously the best reward. These kids are beautiful. Their faces just shine joy.

*Another thing about the kids: they love dancing to the praise and worship music played during church. One night some of our team was supposed to be keeping the kids occupied during praise and worship practice, but the kids heard the music and escaped and ran down to the church to join the party. I loved watching their pure joy expressed through movement. It was so precious to me, and I'm sure their praises are so precious to Jesus.

*The feeling of community is so strong here, and I'm starting to cozy into it. It was beautiful to see the people at church on Sunday-Walter, Santo and his family, Godfrey, Kenneth, Noris-all these people we've shared with. God is good. His love and pursuit for those people reminds me of His same love and pursuit for me. (Below is a picture of the "church" we're working with!)

*I still have so far to go in my relationship with Jesus and in my love for Him, yes, but I'm making strides all the time. People that I meet like Pastor Stephen inspire me-He is someone who is always ready to talk about Jesus or the Word and who so clearly loves to serve Him. He's encouraging to us and often reminds us of the sacrifice we have made to be here. He likes to say, "in order to leave home for one year, it requires you to count the cost." Some days I realize how much I didn't realize I was leaving behind when I left in August.

*I have loved being useful here. At any given time I might be asked to call upon some skill I have, whether it's singing or working with kids or speaking in front of people. The pastors here are so willing to draw from our strengths and knowledge to benefit their church. Anthony got to preach a sermon on Sunday, Colby led the church in prayer for unity, and Halley got to minister to kids by teaching Sunday School. We've all been used in specific ways, and it's fun to see our team come alive through this.

*God continues to show me the power of prayer and His heart for me. He must be wondering when I'm going to stop being surprised at His goodness. One good thing about this month has been sweet baby Phillip, who we've been living with. We love him so much.

quick update.

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Team Ninja has been VERY BUSY so far this month! We are working with a church in Gulu, Uganda called Victory Outreach. It has been so much fun and also stretching for us as a team and for me personally. It is cool all of the things that they are having us do. We are working mainly with one of the pastors called Pastor Stephen, going out into the community and serving in different ways. We visited hospitals to pray for the sick, we saw a community nursery school and played with the children, we helped out with the praise and worship band practice, and we put on kids programs. We go out weekly into the community surrounding the church to do 1 on 1 evangelism in the villages, and we are speaking and praying at open air crusades. I wish I had more time to go into detail about everything, but suffice it to say that God is moving here, and I have loved the opportunities that He has placed in our paths.

Quickly I want to share an experience we had with a family in one of the villages surrounding the church. The 19 year old daughter, Nancie, accepted Christ at an open air crusade that we had last week. She came to church the following Sunday and then came home and preached to her father from the Bible. She told him that there were some evangelists in town from the US (meaning our team!) and that she was going to invite them over to her house. We went over to her house and got to spend the evening with the family. God spoke to us and through us. I felt God very clearly speaking that He wanted to bring renewal to the household, but it wasn't something that He has going to force, it was a gift that had to be accepted. My other teammates had the opportunity to share, as well. It was very cool to see how God was speaking.

Nancie's father, Santo, spoke and told us a bit of his history. He accepted Christ at an earlier time, but he hadn't been in fellowship since 1986. He pushed God to the side and experienced some terrible things due to the rebel attacks in his village. He said he believed that God was moving and he wanted to accept God's gift of renewal. Pastor Stephen invited him to come and worship at Victory Outreach Church. When Santo accepted the invitation and said he would come, his daughter Winnie gave this crazy cry of pure joy. She said she believed in God's love for her and her family because she had never fellowshipped with her father before. It was such a cool thing to experience-God's power changing the lives of this family. Our team felt blessed that God let us see this miracle occur.

We are going back to the household this week, too. I can't wait to see how God works once again. This is just one example of the ways that God is moving here in Gulu, Uganda. Please continue to lift up our ministry and our team. We are so thankful for your prayers!

never a dull moment.

Sun, 3 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

My World Race is just about half over. Five months down, six to go. My team left Turkey expecting to fly to Kenya and spend the month doing ministry at the Challenge Farm, as I talked about in my last blog.

It has been so much fun being here in Nairobi. We've gotten to be with the K Squad, who we launched with in August and had training camp with in May. We love the rare treat of getting to see each other, because our race routes are different. It is fun to interact and see how God is moving in their lives and share stories. It's extra wonderful for me, because my best friend April is on K Squad, and we love love love getting to see each other.

We had fun on New Year's Eve. Our whole squad hung out at the hostel and played games, talked about lessons from the year, prayed, and worshipped. At midnight we all had sparklers and were generally excited about life. On New Year's Day, we organized J Squad vs. K Squad football games for the men and the women. I'm sorry to say that the J Squad ladies lost, but thankfully the men won. It was so much fun just getting to play, and we had a huge crowd of Kenyans watching in wonder as we played this strange game. These past few days have been refreshment that I desperately needed in order to be able to go strong for the next six months.

Since being here, things with ministry have changed. My team and one other team from J Squad are spending January in Uganda. We had a fourteen-hour bus ride to Kampala and then traveled on to other cities in the North of Uganda. My team is in Gulu, working with a church. We were bummed about the change, because we were looking forward to the orphanage, but this has been amazing so far.

This is how Africa is, apparently. I've heard about it, and now I'm experiencing it, which is okay. It's good. Our main contact, Onesimus, told us that in America, people have a watch. In Africa, people have the time. I've seen this already happening. Going to the bus station to buy tickets to Uganda, we stood and waited while they were writing out our tickets and simultaneously helping ten other people.

These changes and circumstances are good. They help me to grow. They help me to remember that I'm not in control-God is. They help me to remember that God can use any situation, as long as I'm willing to be used by Him. Onesimus also jokingly recommended that we wear a rubber band around our wrists, and every time something changes, we should pull on it and stretch it out, to remind ourselves to be flexible. It will be good to be here for these three months. I'm excited to let Africa settle deep into my soul and change me.

everyone's getting married, and i'm just going to africa.

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

'Tis the season to get married or engaged. Seriously it seems like every time I go onto facebook, like eight more of my friends are either engaged or married. Congratulations to Bethany&Tyler who got married on the 20th and Allison&Ed who will get married on the 31st. Bethany and Allison have been my good friends since high school, so it's really sad for me to miss their weddings, but I have been able to talk to them on the phone and support them from afar. My older sister Shanna just got engaged, too, right before Thanksgiving, along with my cousin Zac. Congratulations to both of you guys, I'm so excited for you. It's going to be a crazy fun summer with both of your weddings.

As for me, I love my life exactly how it is and where I am. I'm leaving tomorrow to go to Kenya. Our first night there will be in Nairobi for New Year's Eve. What a way to kick off this 3-month stretch of time on the African continent. After Africa we will head to Uganda for the month of February and in March we will be in another country in Africa. We will get the opportunity to pray into that and ask God where He is leading us for that month, kind of like when we went to Albania.

In Kenya, we will be working at Challenge Farm, near Kitale. It is an orphanage and school that has over 100 kids that have been rescued off the streets of Nairobi, the capital city. They have rough backgrounds, but their lives are being redeemed through this program. I can't explain how excited our team is for this opportunity. I have no idea what to expect for Africa. I mean, it's kind of this big deal, right? Africa. I've heard so much about it. I'm trying to go in with no expectations, but I'm sure I have some that will get blown out of the water. I don't know what kind of internet access we will have, but I will make contact when I can.

Please continue to pray for safety and health for my team, as well as unity. We will not be working with another team, so it will be a good opportunity for the six of us to bond just as our family. I'm excited about it. This past month has shown us incredible growth both personally and as a team, and I'm excited for that to continue. As for me, I am starting an intense study on Hebrews 11 that will last all of January, so please pray that God would reveal a lot to me through this next month. I'm excited for all I will learn. Thank you for your love and prayers; you impact my life through them.

dear santa...

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

i'm pretty easy to please.

all i want for christmas is...you.

light in the darkness.

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I never thought I would come to Turkey. I mean, most people could probably say the same thing. But, seriously, I never thought I would come here. I say that because I heard about this country on a pretty regular basis for the past four years. I was involved with Campus Crusade for Christ in college. Each stateside campus has a partner city somewhere overseas. Ours was in Turkey, so each year they would have a meeting about our partner city and the need for people to serve there. They pushed Spring Break trips and Summer Projects, none of which I ever wanted to attend.

I heard all of the statistics, and they went over my head...

"Most unreached country in the world with the fewest number of Christian workers, 99% Muslim, less than 3,500 Christians in a country of 70 million people, you can hear Islam's call to prayer from just about anywhere you are in the large cities."

...sitting in those meetings, I would think, "my heart is for the poor in Latin America or orphans in Africa, not Muslims in Turkey."

God, of course, had other ideas for me. Now that I'm here, this place is capturing my heart. This city where we're living is a huge, mystical place. There are tons of mosques with their minarets reaching up to the heavens. The city is split in half by a body of water, and I love when I get to cross over from one side to the other. There's this spectacular view of the sprawling city, and with the right mix of fog and sunshine, it's indescribably beautiful.

The other day my teammate Anthony and I went out to try and engage in conversation with people on the streets. First, we went up to the top floor of a really fancy hotel, to see a view of the city from the rooftop bar. Staring out over the city, it hit me deep inside: there are millions of people in this city, and every single one of them is dying to know the love of God through Jesus. In that moment, God spoke to my heart, and it broke for these people.

We walked out of the hotel, and I had a desire to go and share my faith with every person sitting on every park bench in the city. I could say that I went out on a crusade and two thousand people got saved, but that's not the case. Between the two of us, Anthony and I had one productive conversation during the next hour of sharing. That didn't discourage me, though. Far from it-I was psyched that God would allow us the opportunity to talk to one person about Him. It's not about how many people we reach during any given amount of time; it's about our willingness to go out and be obedient to God's call. It's not about seeing results; it's about taking God at his word when he says, "my word that goes out from my mouth...will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55: 11).

That's what my team is doing this month. We are going into unreached areas of the city, talking to people, and passing out Bibles. I'm incredibly excited about this opportunity. As we go out today, our first day of sharing in the designated neighborhoods, I will go out in expectancy, excited to see how God will work through our obedience.

PS: Although we love Turkey and its people, we DO NOT love the Turkish people's drink of choice: Ayran. Thanks to our contact's advice, we tried it out. It's this cottage cheesey/sour milky type concoction...and it's SICK. See photo evidence:

okay, God. i get it.

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I know this is a little long, but bear with me. It's cool.

It all started in Romania. Well, I guess it all started on March 9, 1987, but we're not going to revisit the day of my birth in this blog. So, I'll repeat myself: It all started in Romania.

On September 12, I wrote in my journal about faith. I scrawled down two parables found in Luke 11 and 18 where Jesus sheds light on this subject. I had been having trouble understanding why I wasn't seeing God work in amazing miraculous ways. After reading these verses, I wrote, "all it takes is asking. you don't have because you don't ask. i guess i should figure out what i want and then go after it. i want to grow in my prayer life. in intimacy with the Lord. i want to grow in faith. ask for more faith. be more assured. live a life of holiness. there's so much room to grow."

After this, though, I still wasn't sure where to go from there. I felt like I didn't have the key to unlock all of God's power. I felt like there was something that I was lacking. I kept praying for a revelation. And for more faith.

One night during the Awakening conference at the end of September, I felt so filled with the Holy Spirit and God spoke to me. On September 23, I wrote, "we are the body of Christ and we have access to all the power of the Holy Spirit. i guess the key that i've been looking for during these past two months is that it's already in me. i have the power because i am the body of Christ. and so it's just what it looks like-walking in it."

The following month, in Albania, God did amazing things, and my faith grew. My name means "key" in Albanian. I thought it was funny that I had been asking God what the key was that I was missing. I guess it wasn't enough for him to reveal it to me privately, because over and over again I was reminded that my name means key. Each time someone said it, I imagined God laughing at His own little joke with me.

The next time I journaled about this faith issue was at the end of October, during debrief. This was when God really exploded it in my face. During corporate worship one day, one of my squad mates Anna told me that she was praying for me. She told me that she saw me as David in front of Goliath, and that although my team would face hard issues, I would be the one who would be able to stand up and believe that any "Goliath" is nothing compared to God.

Later that week, my squad leader Aaron (who has a great gift of discernment and exhortation) prayed over me and told me that I have the gift of faith. I wrote in my journal on November 1, "Aaron said i will be the one who speaks out and tells everyone else that God can do it. i've never thought of myself as someone with great faith, but through God's gifting and anointing, i am." During the month of November, I learned a great deal about prayer and how powerful it really is in activating the heart of God. This was another answer to prayer, because I had told God back in September that I wanted to grow in prayer.

When we came to Turkey at the end of November, I kept feeling really defeated and homesick and down. After letting myself wallow for a few days, I finally decided to get over myself and simply stand in victory. I spent a long time looking up verses on how we are conquerors and have victory through Jesus. Each one of the verses that I looked up had something to do with (you guessed it) FAITH. The power is our faith. Through faith we conquer.

That night, Aaron and Dan (our new squad leader) prayed over and me, and Aaron reminded me, "Just as the sun rises and sets on each day, the sun will set on this time of discouragement. I told you that God has given you the gift of faith to bless the squad and your team, but you have to exercise your gift on yourself. Have faith that God is going to come through in your life."

This morning, my team did an exercise to practice hearing God's voice and speaking truth into each others lives. Each person had to pick a name out of a hat and, without looking at it, pray and ask God for truth for that person. Once we wrote down what we heard God saying, we looked at the name and gave it to that person. Anthony had me, and without knowing that it was for me, wrote, "You bring life to this team in more than one way, but what is sticking out to me at the moment is your faith! Hold strong to your faith throughout this month. It will be tested, as it has been, and it's okay because God is enough. You are a powerful light in the darkness and that light is light through a strong (!) spirit of faith."

When I got the piece of paper, I just laughed, and cried a little bit, too, because God is so funny and so good. I asked for faith, and He has given it to me. Once again, I stand in awe.

kill the 'stache. raise the cash.

Wed, 2 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

(this blog is mainly stolen from my teammate Nick, with a few changes...)

The girls of Team Ninja NEED YOUR HELP!

What has Colby done?

Our fearless leader Colby decided to shave his beard off before the conclusion of "No Shave '09." This would be a forgivable action, except that he left a "CREEPER 'STACHE!"

We tried all we could possibly think of to convince him to shave it off, but he has refused over and over again. Our dread and disgust sparked creativity in the moustached man, after hearing our pleas and bitter insults thousands of times. Finally, Colby came to us with a solution to the problem that has been plaguing us for days. He has come up with his terms for when he will shave.

Are you ready? Colby has agreed to shave the "Creeper 'Stache" when and only when two thousand dollars have been added to Nick and Lacey's World Race support account. You might say that this is an outlandish statement. I think it's genius. He knows how badly we want him to shave, and so this becomes motivation to support Nick and Lacey in their support-raising cause. The terms have been set down. Will you help to end the reign of terror, disgust, and shock?

It only takes a moment of your time to help end the madness! Click the link now!

https://www.adventures.org/give/donate.asp?giveto=worldrace&desc=For%20Nick%20Pauley

P.S. I would also like you to enjoy my newest video creation. It's mostly silly.

'tis the season.

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

It's Thanksgiving today (well, in America, it's still Thanksgiving...but here in Israel, it's already the 27th). We had a great day as our squad, with the girls cooking at three different houses and all coming together to create an amazing feast. I'm seriously so proud of the results. We played games and worked on a surprise for Christmas and said goodbye to one of our amazing squad leaders, Caroline. It really was a great day. I loved spending it with my J squad family.

And yet--I miss my family at home. Last night we had a squad worship night in the middle of the desert. It would have been this amazing experience for me, except I just couldn't get into it. Everyone around me was praising God and speaking life over each other and praying, and I was sitting there absolutely crying my eyes out. I couldn't think of anything else except about how much I wished that I could be at home with my "real" family. I felt so jealous knowing that my sisters were all at home hanging out, and I was left out of what was going on there.

After the night was over, as we walked back, I talked with my other squad leader, Aaron, about what was going on in my heart. I told him how all I could think about was how much I wanted to be at home. I told him, "I just want to go home and be with my family. I'll come back--I promise. I just want to go home for a little bit."

Aaron talked to me, trying to console me and identify with how I was feeling. It gave me peace when he told me, "If God wasn't doing something amazing in your life, I would say to heck with it, go home. But I know that God is doing something amazing in your life, and I think you know it, too."

It's in the hard moments like this that the World Race takes faith. Faith that God is calling me to be here for a reason. Faith that says, "I would give up ANYTHING if it led me into a deeper relationship with Christ." Faith to believe that this is all worth it. One of my squadmates, Audrey, wrote this amazing blog from a time when she was really struggling with being here. She was just about ready to hop on a plane and just give up, when she heard God speaking to her. Here's an excerpt from her blog:

After spending the majority of the day crying I was laying on one of the little foam mattress things that we use as our beds here. I knew that going home was the wrong decision, but I didn't care. I felt like God was speaking to me while I lay there:

"Ok so it's too difficult for you to finish out the last eight months of this race and too difficult for you to miss three major holidays with your family, but can you do one small thing?"

"What small thing God?"

"Stop crying."

"Well, yes I suppose I could do that, it isn't very hard."

"Could you do another small thing, like sit up?"

"Yes that's pretty easy."

"Can you stand up?"

"Yes"

"Can you pick up all the tissues that are around you and throw them away?"

"Yeah I guess so."

"Now can you worship me for even five minutes, just sing some worship songs?"

"Yes"

I love this. I can totally identify with how she was feeling, because that's how I felt last night. I love how God spoke to her, and what He said. It's so true. God calls us to be obedient in the small things, and as we do that, He brings us into a better understanding of His character. As we know Him more, we are able to serve Him in bigger ways. We see that He is so worthy of everything that we have to offer, and that He will never let us down.

And so, I press forward. One big holiday down, two more to go. I cling to the family that God has provided me with through J squad and Team Ninja. I fall more in love with these people every single day. I also fall more in love with Skype. I was able to "hang out" with my family for an hour and a half and be involved in a new tradition called family concert. Halley, Lacey, and I sang "Shabbat Shalom" for my family. It was a big hit. Today I am thankful for both of my families, Skype, and God's love. I am blessed.

linked to God.

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Last week we spent the day touring Jerusalem. It was incredible. Once again I couldn't believe my life as I stood on the Mount of Olives and looked out over the city, taking in the Garden of Gethsemane, the City of David, the Dome of the Rock, and other famous sites.

The most impactful site for me was the Western Wall, which is also referred to as the Wailing Wall. The bottom part of the wall is left over from 19 BC in the second Temple Period, during the time of Herod. The Jews believe that God's presence came to rest on this wall when the temple was destroyed, because it is the wall closest to where the Ark of the Covenant sat. Since ancient times, people have believed that in this spot they have the most direct access to God's ear.

The tradition is to come to the wall to be in God's presence and pray, but also to write down a request on a piece of paper and stick it between the cracks in the wall. If you happen to not be able to make it to Jerusalem, fear not! For a small fee you can email your request and have someone write it out and stick it in the wall for you! (http://www.writingtogod.com/) ((Totally weird.))

When I was there, I had a piece of notebook paper and I stared at it for a while, not having any idea what I would write, if I had one chance to be heard by God. I was looking around and trying to imagine the types of requests that the other people there were presenting to God.

The thing is that I write notes to God pretty much every single day, in my journal. I talk to God countless times throughout the day, out loud or in my head. Every single time that I pray, I never doubt the fact that He is listening. That He cares. That He actually already knows every little thing about me yet it's so important for Him to hear it from ME. ME! Who am I? But God listens to ME. Not only does He care about my life and my needs, but I'm starting to believe more and more that my prayers move God's heart.

And so, back to me at the Western Wall, staring at my piece of notebook paper, and looking around at all the other women at the wall. Something in me shattered. It reminded me of the whole reason why I decided to come on the World Race. People are in such need. The people closest to God's heart are the mourners, the broken ones, the lost, the hurting. God has called all of His followers to partner with Him in ministering to those people. This can look radically different from one person to another, and this can change over the span of a lifetime, but for now, God has me here on the World Race to do this work.

Going to the Wailing Wall was such a good reminder for me. Being in month four, the Race is sometimes starting to feel too normal. I'm used to it. I'm realizing that even though I'm traveling around the world, I'm still me. Life is still very much the same day by day. I still wake up every morning and but my pants on one leg at a time. Every moment isn't a grand revelation.

But in those moments of revelation, like the one I experienced at the wall, God gently reminds me of my purpose. "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us...now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation." (2 Corinthians 5:18-6:2)

God so desperately wants to let those hurting and broken people that He cares about them. He wants to speak to them and save them and heal them. And how does He want to do that? Through those who have already experienced His transformative power. Through me. Through you, if you're a believer. We are the body of Christ. We are called out of the world to be the ones representing God and His power. This is something that I'm growing in a little bit more each day that I'm on the Race.

dance parties all over the world.

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I have a serious blog brewing, so look out for that, but in the meantime, enjoy this silly video that I made.
What can I say? I love life.

nick and lacey.

Sun, 8 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

You might recognize Nick and Lacey if you've been keeping up with my blogs. They are the married couple on my team. They're still lacking about $10,000 in support, but they are absolutely confident that God is going to provide for them. As a team we have been supporting them by lifting their finances up in prayer over the past couple of months, but I also wanted to support them by helping them actually raise some of that money. It has been such a blessing for me to have them on my team, just to watch them grow together and as individuals. I have grown because of their love, encouragement, and advice. Plus, they're just really cute. If you are able at all to support them financially and through prayer, they would be so grateful, and I would be, too! Thanks for being a part of my team, and for making this happen for us out here.

If you want, you can click here to support them by credit card right now!

a season of gifts.

Thu, 5 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

We are safely in Israel now. It's incredible. When we were on the plane, about to land, I couldn't believe I was looking down on the Holy Land. This month is by far the one that I've been looking forward to the most since we found out our race route. The second day we were here, we got to tour through Galilee. We saw the Sea of Galilee, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, where Jesus lived for a time. Insane, right? I have wanted to come here so badly in the past couple of years, so it's a gift that I'm here now.

My team is living in a retreat center that has real bathrooms with showers and flushing toilets, and we have beds and a fully functional kitchen. We have board games and books to read. Off of the bedrooms there are balconies that overlook this amazing desert. It's so picturesque-yesterday we saw camels being herded through our backyard! Where we are living is a gift.

Our contact is this incredible Bible scholar who has such a heart for this nation. Just being around him is an inspiration-it seems like he has the entire Bible memorized in its original languages. The other night we were playing this Bible trivia game, and we asked him a question that we thought was "harder" than the others, and he answered it not only with the short answer, but with an explanation of the wordplay that was going on in the original Hebrew. He has this amazing library of like 2000 volumes, and while we're here, he wants us to take advantage of the resources and really study the Word. I'm reading this book on intercessory prayer and it might be changing my life. It's a gift that we have this opportunity.

I would like to use this moment to formally introduce my new team to everyone. We are Team Ninja. We're really excited about our new team name, and the direction that God is taking us. While we were at debrief in Istanbul, our squad leader Caroline gave a talk to us, and one thing that she said that really stuck out was something like this: "We are warriors for God. We need to wake up in the morning ready to pick up our swords for battle, and we need to go to bed at night wiping the blood off of our swords." Besides just being a cool name, we feel like the name Ninja represents this idea well. We want to be like ninjas in the fact that they are experts at fighting for their kingdom. Our team is bonding really well through having fun and having deep talks, even in just the first couple days of being together. My new team is a gift.

Our work will include helping out at a nursing home for Holocaust survivors, teaching English in high schools, and doing some relief work in a Sudanese refugee camp. These things all sound so incredible. I can't wait to get started on the work. While details are still falling into place, I'm soaking up the time that I get to spend studying God's word and hanging out with my team.

Thanks, God, for your gifts!

generation of change.

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

From the beginning of the World Race, all anyone ever told me was that this is going to be a year of change. I can remember back to launch in Ireland when our squad heard from Michael Hindes, the guy running this whole thing. He told us that in order to succeed on the Race and in order to become the people that God wants us to become, we have to be prepared to change-constantly. He gave the example of the Israelites. God brought them out of Egypt in a mighty way, and they had his faithfulness to depend on, yet they complained. They found themselves up against difficulties, and started to paint pictures of Egypt and how great it was...oh, yes, the good old days of SLAVERY. This sounds like crazy talk, and it totally is. Yet we find ourselves doing it all of the time. When I have to come up against something hard, something that's going to require me to grow and change, my tendency is to shrink back and cling to what I know and to the past, even though the past was less than desirable.

We as humans value our comfort so highly. This is something that I've been continually learning throughout the past 3 months. I realize that I would rather be comfortable than have a hard conversation with a teammate that will lead to growth. I would rather be comfortable than spend more time seeking God's will for me. I would rather be comfortable than truly press in to ministry. I would rather be comfortable than listen to the voice of God telling me to obey in something that's going to be a stretch.

Our small teams have undergone change recently. When our squad leaders made the announcement that this was going to happen (confirming the rumors that we had all been hearing for the past couple of weeks), many of us started to freak out. All of the sudden we started to forget all of the issues on our teams that we had been complaining about for the past 3 months. We began to focus on all of the good things, and how we would rather stay the same than change things up. I was guilty of this. This was another example of me valuing my comfort over anything else.

The truth of the matter is that I know I can be getting more out of the World Race. I know that I can be challenged more and grow more. I know that I can be in more difficult situations that are going to stretch me and make me into the person that God wants me to be. In fact, I have been asking God over the past few weeks for more. My biggest fear is that I would walk out of this year unchanged, and I told God that I wanted Him to do whatever it takes to keep that from happening. It's funny, though, because when you ask God for something, and He gives it to you, you start to realize that maybe you didn't mean it that much. Or maybe you meant it, but you didn't realize what His answer was going to be and what it was going to take from you.

After I freaked out about teams changing, I began to realize that I had asked God for a bigger challenge, and that this was His answer. This was a step for me, because although that realization didn't make it easier, I began to be able to change my heart from a heart of worry, to a heart of faith. Faith that God is good and is going to provide for me no matter what. Faith that even when we don't understand things, God is in control and knows what's best for us. Although I took one step, this is something that I can continue to grow in. I know as I continue to focus on God's character, my faith will absolutely expand, because I serve a faithful God.

So now as we move forward as a squad, I think we're all coming away believing that God is going to show up because of our obedience and willingness to surrender comfort in exchange for His will in our lives. It's hard, but it's exciting. Thanks for the prayers, and I will put up a picture of our new team as soon as I get one taken. Our team now consists of Colby as the new team leader, Nick and Lacey, Halley, Anthony, and me. Pray for unity on this new team and that the squad as a whole would see fruit as a result of these changes.

Also, just for fun, I'm posting a video of the dance that we did for the huge outreach in Albania. Enjoy! Even though the song is pretty corny, it's true. Faith is what we need. :)

who needs thanksgiving?

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We're in Istanbul, Turkey now just for a few days to have hang out time with our whole squad. It's fun! I really like these times when we get to all be together. My team was excited because it only took us 27 hours to travel here, as opposed to our last 67-hour travel marathon. Because we're in Turkey, and because it's almost November, I was thinking about Thanksgiving. I wanted to write a post on things I'm thankful for, and then I thought, man, it's not even November yet...I might be jumping the gun on writing Thanksgiving lists... and then I realized that it's okay to be thankful on days that aren't national holidays. So, without further ado...thanks, God!

Things I am thankful for:

(in no particular order)

(this is not an all-encompassing list, either. it's just what's on my mind at the moment)

the internet, so that I can communicate with family and friends back home.
friends that live all over the world, and the ability to see them when I travel.
NEW friends so that the next time I travel, I can see them again.
tea, because it's nice to have a warm drink in the morning.
my laptop. and the fact that it died last month, but ken prayed for it, and it resurrected. (seriously, God cares about every little detail of our lives)
trains and planes and boats and buses that make this whole thing possible.
all the joy that people bring to my life.
oswald chambers, because he had some great insight into scripture.
autumn. i just love the trees changing colors.
language. it's really cool and interesting to me.
jackets to keep me warm. and umbrellas to keep the rain away.
an encouraging word from a brother or sister.
blogs, so that I can keep up with what my friends are doing.
beds, because they're so much more comfortable than the floor, and we don't always get them.
same with hot showers.
family--my own family, my World Race family, and families that I meet all over the place who inspire me.
pictures, because they help to remind me of all the amazing people I've met and places I've been.

Jesus loves Albania.

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

One of the reasons why I wanted to come on the World Race was to see where and how God is moving all over the world. During this month, I have discovered that God is definitely working here in Albania. It's really exciting.

Communism fell in Albania in 1991 (so...pretty recently!), which has played a big part in the spiritual climate of the nation. Some of us were talking with Alma Sunani (one of the women who is on staff here with Campus Crusade for Christ) about what it was like to grow up under communism. She was studying in the university when communism fell. She told us that during communism, everyone had to send a request in to the government for what they wanted to study in university. Her father sent in a request against her will for her to study English, so she could become a translator. She was very upset about this, but in the end, God used it. She was translating one time for a Christian function when she accepted Christ as her Savior through hearing the message. Nine months after she became a Christian, she joined staff with Campus Crusade for Christ, and has been working with them ever since.

Alma told us that ministry can be very difficult in Albania, because there's not that much of a context for the message of Jesus. During communism, religion was wiped out, so when communism fell, all the religions basically had to start fresh here. This is something that's radically different from the culture in the United States. The majority of the Christians in Albania are first generation Christians. It's an exciting thing, being a part of the revival of Christianity in this nation, but it also can be discouraging for the believers here at times. I will be praying for encouragement and growth in their communities, and I know that the staff and churches here would appreciate your prayers, too!

Our team has been so blessed by all of the Albanian friends that we have made this month. They have given us a place to sleep, countless meals, coffee dates, opportunities for ministry, and wonderful friendship. Something that is so beautiful about the Christians that we have met here is their passion for reaching their country. I have talked to many of the staff people at Campus Crusade, and they all have such a vision of what it looks like to serve God in their own country. It has encouraged me so much to see their hearts for their fellow Albanians. They truly believe that God has called them out of their generation to serve Him, and they are completely content in that. This is such a lesson for me, and is so contagious. It makes me want to be around them all the time, just to soak up their love. I thank God for putting my team here during this month. I love knowing that He arranged this for us. We were able to come and be the hands and feet to help get the event off the ground, and in return we were blessed and encouraged. This month has been so huge for me in faith building. Also, random fun fact: in Albanian, my name means "key." Pretty much every time I met someone this month, they said, "do you know what your name means in Albanian?" And I would smile and point to the key necklace that I wear every single day.

kena lind per qejf!

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

For the past two weeks, we have been in high gear trying to prepare for the huge outreach put on by Campus Crusade for Christ here in Albania. That has meant traveling to Elbasan, a nearby city, to put up posters, going out to high schools and university campuses and passing out invitations, and practicing almost every day for the miming, drama, and back-up dancing. This has been so fun for me, because we've gotten to work with some Albanian students who are involved with the movement here. They're so great. I feel like I have become legitimate friends with them.

The staff here called the event "kena lind per qejf" which basically translates to, "we were born for fun." This is a song lyric from a well-known Albanian music group. They got another famous Albanian hip-hop singer, Stine, to perform at the show, and a well-known Christian singer, Juliana Pasha, closed out the night.

Originally, as I said in an earlier blog, Josh McDowell was supposed to come and speak for the event. His face was on the posters that we put up all over the city, and also on the t-shirts that we wore during the past couple of days while we were passing out invitations. Because of health problems, however, he was not able to get clearance from his doctor to travel here. We were all pretty bummed about this--especially the team here because they had been working for a year to put this whole thing together.

When we first found out that Josh couldn't come, we weren't sure what was going to happen. They decided to go on with the event, and instead of having Josh speak, they decided to have Samir Brow speak. He is a famous Albanian singer who became a Christian after his career was already underway, so he shares his testimony often around the country. He did a great job for only having a few days to prepare! Granted, I didn't understand what he was saying, since he spoke in Albanian, but God was definitely in the night. He gave a gospel presentation, and from the comment cards, 104 people indicated a salvation decision from the first event, and we haven't heard yet from the second event. Praise God for that!

We're wrapping up our time in Albania, now. We will leave here either Monday or Tuesday and head for Istanbul, where we're meeting up with the rest of our squad to have a time of debrief. Then it's off to Israel for the month of November! This is such a bittersweet time for me, because I'm so sad to be leaving the friends that I've made here. Once again, I've opened up my heart to the people here and have built such good relationships, and it will be hard to leave. On the other hand, I'm so excited to finally be going to Israel. It's like the song says, "it's a bittersweet symphony, this life." The World Race is definitely full of the bittersweet. This month has been incredibly sweet. I am incredibly blessed.

just trying to figure it all out.

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. In some ways a lot has been going on, and in other ways, not so much. My team was pretty sick with different stomach issues for about a week, and now we're mostly over them. It was a combination of a virus, some bad water, and maybe some foods that we were eating. We're doing better now, however, so praise God for that. :) That time was pretty hard on us as a team, because it was hard to connect with at least half of us being sick on a daily basis for about a week. It's good to be back as the six of us, able to function, meet together for prayer, and share the experience together.

For those of us who weren't sick, we've been keeping busy doing lots of different ministries. Over the past ten days or so, I have helped out with the high school ministry, passing out invitations for the youth group type meeting, and then attending and helping out at that Saturday morning meeting. I have helped out with the sports ministry, teaching kids how to play American football. I have met with a couple of different contacts in the city, trying to figure out other places that the World Race could potentially minister in the future. I have hung out with the family that we're living with. It's been fun for me to hang out with Meredith and her kids, because it makes me feel at home.

Among these things, I've been feeling a little bit of a tendency to want to fall into a routine. Routines are great, and I like feeling adjusted, but I don't want to be in a routine with my spiritual life and my relationships here on the Race. I think I realized that I had fallen into my first slump of the World Race. I don't expect to be on a spiritual high the whole entire time I'm on the Race, because that's just not life, but I also don't want to waste any time while I've been given this amazing chance to grow. I love that I have been put onto a team where I can bring up these issues and talk about ways that I can grow, and that our community as a family can grow. I have faith that as each one of us seeks the Lord, He will continue to bring us together as a family and to show us ways that we can grow individually and as a team. I would appreciate your prayers in this area.

Something that I'm learning right now is that I need to be okay with not having all the answers--with not being able to figure it all out. I've heard it said many times that God isn't going to give us all the answers, but He will give us the right questions to be asking. I'm continually learning to focus on God's character, not on my problems. This past Sunday at church, the pastor reminded us that

God is GOOD. When things happen to us that we don't understand, we aren't to ask "why?" we are to ask, "what can I learn from this?" God is good. He has our best interests at heart. He is going to keep prompting us to change to become more like Him. We would do well to learn how to be patient through times of transition. This is something that I'm trying to do. I'm trying to get into the Word, hear what God is saying, and take Him at the things that He is saying.

Okay. There's more where that came from, but for now I'm off to work on a drama that we will put on during the huge Josh McDowell outreach. Haha. More on this later, I'm sure.

overwhelmed. in the best way possible.

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Long story short, we left Brasov, Romania at 6:30am on Saturday and arrived in Tirana, Albania at 1:30am this morning (...Tuesday). We traveled through and got to hang out in Belgrade, Serbia, for one day, and Skopje, Macedonia for another. So that's about 67 hours in transit, and when we arrived into Albania in the middle of the night, we had no idea where to stay. Our bus driver dropped us off in a park, and we slept for about 5 hours in the park, with the guys taking turns guarding during the night (I appreciate those boys so much!) so that we would stay safe.

We woke up this morning with no idea what was going to happen beyond the next couple of hours. I had emailed a few different contacts, but hadn't heard back definitively from any of them. As the city began to wake up, and the park began to fill with people, we decided to start our day by worshipping the Lord (...after sneaking into a nearby casino to use the restrooms). We sang and prayed...basically we had a little church service in the middle of this park, with people walking by. We prayed in expectancy, knowing that God would provide for us. While we were singing, a guy came up and offered to walk some of our people to a hostel. They left, and along the way they realized that they were very close to the national office for Campus Crusade for Christ here in Albania (I had gotten the address from a Crusade staff friend from the University of Toledo). They just kind of walked in, and tried to explain the situation that we had been in contact with the director of the ministry here, and from then everything fell into place.

So basically, this morning we were homeless, and now, 6 hours later, we have a place to stay and many new friends. The staff here blessed us with lunch, and is allowing us to take showers here and use their internet. This is my favorite part of the story, so pay attention: Ylli, the director of Crusade, knew that we were coming, because I had emailed him, but he has been really busy this past week, so he hadn't had time to really think about us coming and what he could have us do. Well, this morning he said that he couldn't sleep from about 1am to 6am, so he was just up reading his Bible and praying, and our team was brought into his mind. I hadn't told him when we were arriving, but he said in his mind he thought about us, and he knew that we were going to be coming today, but he didn't know how to get in contact with us. Basically, God put us on his heart right at the time when we arrived into the city, and were sleeping in the park. As he told this story, I just started welling up with tears, overwhelmed with the perfection of God's plan, and how he provides for his followers within the body of Christ.

It turns out that this is a perfect time for us to come and help out with the ministry, because they have a huge outreach coming up on October 21st--they have Josh McDowell coming in to speak in three different citie here. We are going to help out with passing out flyers, trying to get as many young people as possible to come to these outreaches. They're also going to have us help out with high school ministry and their newer Athletes in Action ministry. I am so excited to see how the month unfolds. I still have a few other ministry contacts that I am trying to set up meetings with. It's so crazy to me that I never had thought about Albania before this week, but God knew that I was pretty well-connected here. Praise Him for putting my team here. We are so excited to see how the month unfolds. I can't thank you enough for all your prayers and all of the contacts that you provided for me to check out in this country. I will keep you updated!

next up?! ALBANIA!

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Here's the sitch. Egypt fell through for a few reasons, which we were all pretty bummed about. I wanted to go to Egypt, but I guess God didn't want us to go there, because we're staying in Eastern Europe another month. Going into the conference, we were told to start praying about where God wanted us to be for this month. Then our options were limited to Albania, Montenegro, or Bulgaria. My team prayed about it, and we mostly felt led to Albania, so that's where we're going!

This month is considered an ATL (Ask The Lord) slash Pioneer month. No other World Race team has been to Albania before, so that's exciting! We get to do exactly what we signed up for when we signed up for the World Race. This is Matthew 10 stuff! Jesus told his disciples, "Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town." We are going in to scout out ministry opportunities, see what the spiritual climate is, see what kind of needs exist there, and learn about the culture and people. My team is excited to see what's going to happen during the month. If anyone reading this has a lead on a contact or missionary or pastor or organization or something like that, email me and let me know! We're open to whatever kind of ministry.

We will travel tomorrow by train. I appreciate your prayers for safety and will make contact when I can. Much love!

times are hard for dreamers.

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I'm at the Awakening conference now in Brasov, Romania. We are still awaiting the announcement of our next placement, so I will update everyone as soon as we find out and I am able to get to internet! As a team we have been praying and asking God where He wants us to go next. It's very exciting--it's Thursday and we don't know where we're going to be on Saturday. Who does that?

I have been loving the conference so much. It has been so refreshing to come together with World Racers at all different points of the journey, as well as the WR alumni and AIM staff. There's so much potential in the room when we're all together, it just feels like it's going to explode. It's a really unexplainable experience. It's people who are so passionate about God, being ushered into his presence through engaging with Him. I have loved worshiping and praying and hearing from amazing speakers. Through all of these, God has been speaking to me.

One thing that I have especially loved is a series of seminars that Seth Barnes has been teaching called "Kingdom Dreams." I am a dreamer at heart. Actually, Seth told us that we were all created to be dreamers. I love this. I love using my imagination and thinking about the way that things could be. Seth believes that we all have the ability to dream God's dreams. The world has such unfathomable needs, and we have such amazing skills and passions that God has gifted us with. The key is combining those in order to bring some of God's kingdom here on earth. It's the whole, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." It's a concept that is right up my alley. I love the fact that right now I am living out my dream. I can't believe that every day I wake up and this is just my life: to love God, love my team, and love the people around me. It breaks my heart to see people who aren't living their dreams. It's not that my life is perfect or that I'm happy every second of every day, it's just that I have such peace and joy in where I am right now.

Here's the thing. I don't want to come home after these eleven months and then enter "the real world." This is the real world. Wherever God is working is where I want to be. I have no idea what this looks like right now, besides me being here in this moment. I don't know where I'm going to end up after the race is over. I don't like it when people say, "It's cool that you get to do this amazing year," or "This will be good to get the craziness out of your system." If my life is this crazy for the rest of my life, then I'm okay with that, if that's where God wants me to be. I feel like my life is wide open right now.

In the "Kingdom Dreams" seminar, Seth has been asking people to share their kingdom dreams with the group. They're amazing dreams, such as starting a transition home for street kids in Peru, planting churches all over the globe, ministering to prostitutes in Hawaii, and on and on. I think part of the reason why I'm on the World Race is to find out what dream God has for me. I truly believe that God has a dream for my life. All of these are His dreams, but He allows us to dream with Him, and He allows us to be a part of carrying out His plan. It's amazing. It's exciting. I'm so excited for the rest of the year, as I continue to seek Him and find out what He has for my life. Thanks for being a part of this journey with me. Your support and prayers are having an impact on my life.

wrapping up in tonciu.

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Our time is running down in Tonciu. We're leaving on Monday morning to head to Brasov for a World Race conference called the Awakening. The Awakening should be a good time. It's going to be 4 current World Race squads, plus whatever past racers who are able to make it. We're going to be praying and worshiping together for 4 days, along with hearing from speakers and other awesome stuff. It's bittersweet for me. I think it will be amazing, but I'm going to miss life here in Tonciu.

Some cool things have happened during the past week.

We had a "Spa Night" for the ladies in the village, which consisted of painting nails, washing hair, and giving hair cuts. It was a fun time for us to bond as women, and I got a little trim on my hair (I really needed it..) Also, my host mom, Gina, painted my nails. She gave me some sort of racing strip down the middle of my nails. So fancy! :)

The boys got to have a "Men's Night" in response to our Ladies' Night. It was great time for the girls on my team to stay back from Bible Study and just bond with the girls on Team Unwritten, who we've been working with for the month. It was fun to just kick back, watch a chick flick, and spend time without the boys around. The boys, on the other hand, had a great time sharing testimonies and bonding with the church leaders. They said that it was cool to get to hear the testimony of the church's pastor and also our host papa, Luis, who is a leader of the church as well.

By far the coolest thing that happened is the story of us buying a chainsaw for Papa. One of Halley's supporters emailed her and said that she would love to bless our host family, and if we could use some money to do that. We said OF COURSE! because Mama and Papa have blessed us so much and we wanted to give back to them for all that they've done for us. The stove that Mama cooks all our meals on is wood-burning (crazy, I know) so Papa spends time chopping ALOT of wood. He's a big, strong man, but we know that his back hurts him. We got to give him the chainsaw, which we were so excited about, and he got really choked up. He explained to us that he can use it not only on his own wood, but also to bless and help the village. It was really impacting for me to see this huge, burly man at the point of tears. It was a special moment for all of us. Check out my teammate Halley's blog (click on Halley's name!) for the video of this moment. So cool!

Thanks again for all your love and prayers. I made a little video of a few clips from our time here, to show you a little more of what we've been doing. It has been such a great month--I can't believe it's almost over.

can anything good come from there?

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Nestled between hills in the backcountry of Romania lies the tiny village of Tonciu. Electricity is rare, running water is even more rare, and indoor plumbing doesn't exist. It's the type of place that you wouldn't think to go to unless you had a specific purpose. To any car passing through, it's merely a five-minute change of scenery from grass to a row of crumbing houses. There's one restaurant, a couple bars, a tiny convenience store, a church, a town hall, and a school. At any given moment you might see a cow walk down the road, followed closely by stray dogs, maybe a few old men, and a couple of dirty-looking children.

Tonciu is the place that I call home currently. As I look around, I can't help but wonder what kind of negative words have been spoken over this village-over these people. The fact that they are Gypsies means that they've been looked down upon their whole lives. Couple that with the fact that they live in a backwards village in the middle of nowhere, and you can see why most people wouldn't give Tonciu a chance. That's precisely why I'm glad that we are here for the month. We get the opportunity to speak life into this village, to encourage these people, to stir up the good.

Jesus said, "Blessed are you who are poor, who hunger now, who weep now, when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you..." (Luke 6:20-22) Those living in Tonciu are poor. They're hungry. Their lives have sorrow. They've been insulted. Yet they understand the meaning of community. They can tell you what it looks like to give up what you have for the sake of someone else. We've had people offer us food, places to stay, and showers. We've had people invite us into their homes to talk (despite language barriers) and we've had people pray for us.

It can be hard for me to feel like what I'm doing isn't having an astronomical impact. The fact of the matter, however, is that playing with little kids and sharing Bible stories with them, walking house to house and offering prayer and encouragement for sick people, and bringing worship and Bible study to the church every night all have their impact. It speaks volumes that we even would come to Tonciu. We're the first American team to actually stay in the village. This brings encouragement to the church and its leaders. We've come to speak out against all the negative words that have been spoken into the past, and to speak God's life and God's truth over the village and its people. We're planting seeds. We're the first in a long line of World Racers that will come to Tonciu. Leaders will be raised up. People will be healed. Life will be found here.

Last night we had a really encouraging church service. Many people came to worship with us. Ken preached an amazing sermon about how he thinks Jesus was a Gypsy and how Jesus loves the Gypsies. He brought a message of hope and love, and the people responded so well. Nanu, the Romanian pastor preached, and Papa also talked for a bit. He actually referred to a time when I shared my testimony during an earlier church service, and how our lives serve as an example for the believers in Tonciu. He was so proud to point out which ones of the Americans are his sons and daughters.

So can anything good come from Tonciu? I believe so. This is just the beginning.

beautiful faces.

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I have just been blown away be the beauty of these Gypsy people. Their children especially are so perfect-looking. They're so easy to love. I can't understand how people can look at them with disdain and devalue them. I wanted to share these pictures with you to let you see just a few of the faces of people who are being touched by our ministry. Thank you thank you thank you for being a part of this, for making it possible for me to be here and share love tangibly with a hug, a smile, and a random word in Romanian. I couldn't be here without you, and I appreciate your support!

transition number one.

Mon, 7 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Sorry for the delay in updates--this is the first time I've been able to get to good internet since I've been in Romania. We've been here since Tuesday, settling in, meeting people, getting to know our little village, and gearing up for ministry.

My team is staying with an older couple named Luis and Gina. We already love them so much! Gina has been taking good care of us with wonderful food and helping us figure out showering and all that good stuff, and Luis is a great papa. He's already taught us 2 hymns in Romanian, that we sang at church on Saturday night. I think everyone was pretty impressed with that. Our house has no running water, but we do have electricity! It's been an adventure so far with bucket showers and our outhouse. We're loving life.

As far as ministry goes, we have this week pretty well planned out. We're going to do sports camp/VBS for the kids in the village a few days, and then one day we're going to do a soccer tournament for the men, while holding a "spa day" for the women. We hope to wash hair and paint nails. We want to show love in any way that we can. The kids go back to school next week, so we'll get a chance to be in the schools to do English classes and maybe some other stuff. We've been walking around the village talking to people and praying for people. We have Bible study every night, so we've been getting up and sharing testimonies, singing songs, and the boys have been preaching. I will try to get a blog posted, but internet is scarce!

Thanks for your continued prayers. One big request is for our translator, Roxy. Her husband forbade her from associating with us, so that means we are now translator-less. The other team in the village has a translator, but it's alot of work for just one person. Please pray that Roxy would be able to translate for us, because it's kind of tough at the moment! We also want to be able to minister to her, as she has told us that she believes in God, but she's not a Christian. We want to spend time with her and allow God to use that in her life!

To close out the blog, I'm posting a video that Hope and I made our last day in Ireland. I hope you enjoy it!