322 days

14 flights

2 backpacks

19 churches

8 buses

31 beds

16 teammates

10 countries

Hundreds of hellos.

Too many goodbyes.

Innumerable lessons.

Countless memories.

And one Father who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations. Forever and ever. Amen. 

Ephesians 3:20 

322 Days 

Long, long days in places where I wondered what the point was. Long days in places I loved & fell into bed at night with the best feeling of exhaustion. Long days of travel trying to get some sleep before having to cross another border. Short days when there was only one week left at a favorite ministry & goodbyes were coming up quickly. Short days when it was my off day & I need to be alone but before I knew it it was the end of the day. Short days when I only got to see friends on a travel day & then we had to part ways again for another month. Amazing, incredible, full days. Mundane, ordinary & tedious days. Hard, painful & horrible days. Days when I wanted to be anywhere in the world but here, & days where I would choose to be here over anywhere else.

14 Flights 

Getting to airports too early in the morning & searching for coffee. Standing in line for hours. Checking in and customs and security with a group of 16 people. Setting up camp in a corner to sleep before an early flight or walking laps around terminals to move around some in between long periods of cramped sitting. Buying snacks & meals & coffee & water. Rushing to navigate & find our next gate in unfamiliar airports. Shuffling assigned seats to sit with my bestie & watching movies to pass the long hours. Entry forms & exit forms & covid tests & passport stamps. Jumping from one time zone to another. Vans waiting to pick us up & drive us to our new ministries. 

2 Backpacks 

Learning to pack lightly. Stuffing my sleeping bag into its bag more times than I can count. The random stuff (like zip lock bags & an outlet adapter) that gets shuffled around every time we moved but seemed like it could be useful one day. Feeling so sick of wearing the same clothes but having no choice & just accepting putting on the same thing I wore yesterday. Having a packing strategy and knowing exactly where everything will fit. Being able to estimate pretty accurately how much my bag weighs. Leaving stuff behind because I want to bring new items along. Hauling, dragging, carrying up & down stairs, pushing on a cart all of my belongings. 

19 Churches

Tiny buildings packed full of people. Big spaces with barely anyone there. Outdoor services & home churches. Loud, upbeat music & slow, peaceful music. Culture showing through in the way people worship. Having translators. Being called on to introduce ourselves & give a testimony in every church. Holding little babies & watching little kids. Hearing truth preached & in other places struggling with what was taught. Being welcomed by the people & loved well by the body of Christ. 

8 Buses 

Getting settled in a seat knowing that I’ll be there for the next 18 hours (at least). Having a bag of snacks prepared (bananas and peanut butter is a MUST). Drivers that stop every 2 hours & other drivers that go 6 hours & we have to ask them to stop at the next gas station. Preparing by downloading movies & shows & music & podcasts. Navigating & providing addresses & hoping our information is correct. Stopping at gas stations & coffee tasting so good. Bringing your own toilet paper because almost no bathroom has it. Getting a meal at a roadside restaurant & hoping it sits well. Being so hot and sweaty during the day but almost freezing once it was nighttime. Making sure every device is fully charged the night before departure. Stepping over bags getting on & off the bus. 

31 Beds 

A shared queen bed. A comfy bottom bunk. A hammock in a jungle village. A thin mattress on a church floor. A top bunk with a mosquito net draped over it. A hostel bed. A mattress on the floor in a little apartment. My trusty sleeping pad in my tent in several locations like a basketball court on the ministry campus, outside of a tiny house, in a mountain town next to a church, on a deck at a beach house. A hotel bed. An airplane seat or an airport floor. 

16 Teammates

Ericka & Em & Lil Yamie & Linds & Naomi & Sarah & Zach & Emma & Amanda & Josh & Cici & Madisue & Jamall & Lil Kay & Steph & Zachary. We lived together, ate together, traveled together, did ministry together. We slept in the same rooms, cooked in the same kitchens, went to the same churches, shared the same tiny spaces & bathrooms, dealt with the same hosts, met the same people. We debated hot topics, fought, disagreed, got on each others nerves, made each other angry, hurt each others feelings & were impatient with each other. We celebrated together, loved each other intentionally, encouraged one another, prayed together, agreed, faced difficult stages side by side, apologized & made up. We gave each other space when needed & checked in when needed. We laughed & laughed & laughed at each other & with each other. We cried together. We studied Scripture together. We had highs & lows & good moods & bad moods. We supported each other & understood each other & listened to each other. We dreamed together. We hashed out the hard life topics together. We prepared for next stages of life together. (Cheers, N Squad.)

10 Countries 

Beautiful cultures. People so excited to share their customs & food & way of life with us. Unbelievable sights. Waterfalls, volcanoes, exotic birds, majestic mountains, safari animals, thick jungle, rushing rivers & calm streams, magnificent colors. Languages. Spanish & Haitian Creole & Siswati & SeSotho & Afrikaans & Xhosa. Forgetting what country we were in because we moved so much. Accidentally speaking Spanish in Africa. Having a collection of currency in my bag from so many places. Overwhelming culture shock but adjusting to places so quickly. 

Hundreds of hellos. 

Strangers that became friends within days. The immediate feeling of family because Christ bonds us. Kids that welcome us so quickly into their hearts & lives. Men & women that led us, encouraged us, cared for us, taught us, prayed with us & prayed for us. Families that were so eager to share their culture with us & teach us their language. The universal language that is music and sharing that joy in every place we visited. People that exemplify Christ in the way they love & the way they live their lives. 

Too many goodbyes.

Tears. Taking pictures together. Last days at ministry. Knowing that this might be goodbye forever. Hoping that maybe someday we could cross paths again. Wishing that the world was smaller & it was easier to visit the places where there are people you love. Trying to store up what it feels like to be in this place, with these people. Writing notes to assure that they know what they meant to you. Circling up & praying together before parting ways. Driving away & waving goodbye.

Innumerable lessons. 

Too many to count. Learning the ins & outs of culture. Seeing more clearly my own self & how I handle things. Understanding in a deeper way what it takes to live in community. Lessons about life in general & what I believe & how I see the world. The strange sensation of growing up & getting older & the way that life changes constantly. Learning about what truth is & how important it is to be grounded in it. Reading books & listening to sermons & podcasts that taught me such incredible things. Understanding how to love different people. Seeing how little my faith is & understanding God’s patience with me & love for me with just a little bit more depth. The Lord revealing truths about himself through His Word exactly when I was ready & when it was needed. Lessons I was aware of & lessons I will not realize until later. Things learned that I will never forget & will carry with me for the rest of my life. 

Countless memories. 

Big ones when we visited cool places & saw amazing sights. Small ones when we laughed hysterically about something stupid. The routines we created in each place that were our normal for a while. The fun memories, the hard memories, the sad memories. The conversations. The days at ministry. The nights out late. The mornings up early. The meals we cooked. The coffee shops we sat in. The rooms we stayed in. The comments made. The inside jokes created. The walks on dirt roads & city streets. Memories I won’t ever forget & other memories that will fade with time. 

And one Father who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations. Forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:20 

I can’t say it any better than that verse does. He is so, so good & I am so, so thankful. 

Well, this is the end! This blog has been such an unexpected joy and has given me a way to share the thoughts I had and lessons I learned throughout this unique year. It’s given me a place to provide deeper detail and paint more vivid pictures of the experiences I had and the people I had the opportunity of meeting. I pray it has been an encouragement to you at some point, that you have enjoyed the stories, and that above all, it has pointed to Christ. 

THANK YOU for being apart of this year!! 

Signing off, 

Emma Liz