My time in Guatemala ended with a week of what’s called “debrief” on the world race. It was a week where our coaches and mentors flew in and we all stayed in Antigua for the week to have time to debrief what happened in Guatemala, spend time in prayer and worship, hear teachings, and some r&r (i definitely rested after my first round of food poisoning on the race so far hahaha). A highlight for me was swimming in beautiful lake Atitlan!
While debrief is an important time, I honestly got antsy and was ready to get to Heidelberg, South Africa.
It took 93 hours to get from Guatemala to Heidelberg. I timed it. We left our hostel in Antigua early Tuesday morning, and arrived in Heidelberg Saturday afternoon. For sure the longest travel day I’ve ever had.
But somewhere in those 4 days of travel, I landed in the Middle East in Qatar! Never would’ve guessed I’d end up there. We landed at 9 pm, and me and a group of friends were determined to get out of the airport to see the city. Several hours after we landed we finally made it out into the city, in the middle of the night. It was bougie. It was lively. It so felt like a fever dream. It was so different than any place I’d ever been to. The market we walked through past midnight was first of all popping with people, and it was filled with street food stands and stores willed with teas, chocolates, and cool souvenirs, swords for example. I tried Turkish coffee and Karak tea! With no agenda and time to kill, the feed hours we had were all about just seeing what we could see, and taking in a whole new part of the world. It was so cool just to see it raw, but it also made me realize how much I don’t know. I know very little about middle eastern people or culture or history. It s hard to explain, but I just felt unequipped to be there and I was just so wanting to learn more. To have the context for what my eyes were seeing so I could make sense of it all. But also, it was just a fun adventure, no pressure, and just an insane opportunity, making me ponder out loud a common thought people on my squad have asked, “what is my life rn??”. I’m just so grateful for this opportunity and experience.
After the market, we continued to wander, heading towards the waterfront harbor. We ran into some camels!! It was an unexpected treat!
Our layover was 12 hours total. Seems like a long layover, but also in the grand scheme of things, it’s not very long. But who knew that it’s plenty of time to be explore a whole new city! Yeah, it was the middle of the night, but what an opportunity I got to take! I was there, so why not take the chance? It just adds another aspect of becoming a flexible person by making the most of inconvenient circumstances, such as 12-hour overnight layovers, for example.
After that adventure, I got on an 8 hour flight to Johannesburg, then had 24 hours before our 19 hour bus ride across the country to Heidelberg, South Africa. But team doves team steadfast (my team) arrived safe and sound, thank you Jesus for your protection (note that our squad is spilt up for South Africa! Two girls teams are in Durban and surrounding areas, moving quite frequently and partnering with circuit riders. The boys are in Lesotho, and my team and the doves are here in Heidelberg!).
I’m so happy to report to all of you that Heidelberg is so lovely! It’s a small town of 8,000 people, and it sorta reminds me of Chico, CA. We’re staying in the student dorms of Charis Bible College, and on the same campus is the church we are working with for ministry. It’s a small church, but they represent and live as the body of Christ so well. It’s a great and a privilege to be welcomed so warmly. We are well taken care of here in South Africa.
Ministry here is what our teams want to make of it. Since it’s the holidays, there’s no specific thing for us to do, and Pastor Phil, our host has given us the opportunity to do whatever we want to do for ministry and he’s here to support us. Some ideas we have are kids clubs a couple times a week, revival nights, helping with 5k runs on Saturday, church game nights, and going and meeting people in town. But the thing I’ve realized is that no one can do it for us. Since we have so much time on our hands, this country will be the best opportunity to press into the Lord, intercession, and relationships in our two teams. It’s up to me to steward this time well, but I’m expectant of all that the Lord will teach me in this time.
Things to pray for:
My team has noticed a spiritual apathy here. Many of us, including myself, have been struggling to press into time with the Lord and spiritual disciplines. But also we’ve noticed a similar thing in the town of Heidelberg. From what we’ve seen, it seems to be a town where people settle for “good enough”. But the Lord promises ABUNDANCE! So please be praying against giving in to spiritual apathy and pray for an awakening of the people of Heidelberg! Newness is coming!
