Here’s the scenario:
We’re travelling by bus, and it stops for 15 minutes. This will be the only time it stops, so now’s our only chance to buy dinner.
We pile out to see 8 tables set up alongside the road, each with a different food, each requiring 1 of 2 types of currency. We follow the Treasurer of our team, Anna, as she navigates the crowd and bargains for enough food to feed the 7 of us.
And what a crowd it is! Drug dealers insisting they’ll give you a good price. Party goers shoving paper after paper at you, trying to get you to join. Drunks staggering around. Tourists sniffing… something and laughing obnoxiously. Beggars sitting in card board boxes, starting forlornly at the food with hollow faces. Kidnappers in vans, telling you to jump in. Police walking around in bright neon shirts, demanding to see your passport and visa. Vendors showing off their wares and competing to be the loudest.
It was a very realistic simulation, except for one fact… we know every single person! Everyone is just one of our leaders dressed up and playing a role (like the house visits). This led to a little confusion. Alyssa (our Squad leader) told Mitch to get in the van, so he did, and almost got kidnapped! Kait (my team leader) was wearing too much makeup and laughing a little too loudly at everyone. Jack Boon (another team leader) asked if I was American, and then tried to sell me drugs!! It was so crazy!!
Our team tried our best to stay close together, but I still got left behind when the police pulled me over. She let me go after seeing my passport, and I hurried after my group, pausing only to stop a pickpocket from getting into my bag.
By the end of the 15 minutes, we’d gotten enough food, and we still had some money left over! I think the only thing we could have improved in was sharing more Jesus (several people got saved during the simulation) and getting a vegetarian option for Lily.
For those who didn’t get enough food, all the leftovers were set up on a table afterwards. This was just a simulation, after all!
I was so thankful for this simulation, because being in a crazy busy place had been one of my main worries of going on the Race! And it didn’t overwhelm me at all!!
God is so good! If He asks you to do something, He won’t abandon you to find your own way!!
