What Does Being on the World Race Even Look Like (photos)

We have been busy saying goodbye, traveling cross country by bus, debriefing as a whole squad In Cusco and adventuring. The days are full but so so good. I know an update is over-do, so here is a recap of the whole month! Feel free to email or text and we can talk about it more! I could talk for hours about month 1.

 

I know everyone is dying to know if I slept in a tent this month… I in fact, did not.

 

Housing:

• We stayed on the beautiful Inca Link campus
• We were in a large room full of bunk beds, more than enough so we could all sleep on the bottom bunk.
• We slept on real mattresses
• We had running hot water, aka hot showers (this is my absolute favorite American commodity to find in other places).
• Mariella our wonderful cook prepared all our food and it was delicious.

 

Places visited:

• Trujillo, where our ministry was located
• Huanchaco, the beach close by, it was beautiful
• Lima (kind of), we only spent one night in Lima
• Cusco, the whole squad reunited in Cusco for debrief. We’ve had several days here and will even be exploring Machu Picchu

 Travel:

• 2 plane rides
• About 44 hours of long-distance bus travel total
• Many hours and jam-packed local transport buses

 What we did:

Inca Link has four different ministries and we worked with 3 of the 4.

• Amijai has both women’s and kid’s ministries.
  • Monday evenings we led Bible study with the women.
  • Tuesdays we went out into town for the kids Bible lesson in a pretty remote part of town.
  • Wednesday’s kids that live closer to campus all came to campus for their Bible lesson while the moms have a workshop on how to make different things. They knit, sew, embroider, learn to make headbands and all kinds of things.
  • Brenda and Denise run this ministry and are absolutely phenomenal.
  • I really enjoyed watching the kids dive into their Bible lessons so enthusiastically.

            

• Elim is the garbage dump ministry
  • It is in the middle of an actual garbage dump.
  • They also have kid’s ministry while the mothers have their own Bible study. I was always in women’s ministry as some of my teammates led it while I translated for them.

            

• Inca Thakhi is a sports-based ministry
  • We adored our friends that worked and volunteered with Inca Thakhi. Several of the guys now taking huge roles of leadership in the ministry came to the ministry as teens themselves and found the Lord in the very same ministry they are now working in! It was amazing to spend time with them.
  • We went sandboarding.
  • We played lots of floorball, like street hockey without skates.

                      

• In all forms of ministry, I spun in more circles than I ever have in my life as kid after kid requested to be spun around.

• We spent some time pulling weeds to prepare space for Inca Thakhi to build more space for camps and sanded doors to be painted.
• On a couple of occasions, we partnered with Days for Girls, a program about puberty and women’s health.

               

All new ministries, especially in new countries, are bound to bring new experiences, and I for one, generally love new experiences.

 New Experiences:

• Taught about puberty all in Spanish
• Learned Peruvian slang
• Learned to play floorball
• Squeezing into buses you think you can’t possibly make it on
• Sandboarding
• Climbed to the top of a mountain to watch the sunset
• New foods

   

 

Month 1 was amazing and it is so hard to pick a favorite part, but I will give you some highlights.

 

What I enjoyed most:

• Surfing in Peru – I love the beach and being able to go to the beach a couple of times brought me lots of joy!
• Mangos – they are my most favorite and here they can be found most anywhere
• New friends – all the friends we made at our first ministry are amazing people and we miss them terribly. Also I have been blessed with sweet teammates who make ministry and adventures all that much sweeter.

         

• Cute kids – we met and befriended so many sweet little people. There were many kids we saw on a regular basis and grew to love deeply. Goodbyes aren’t fun but I wouldn’t trade getting to know their little faces and hearts.
• Plantains and mashed potatoes – more of my favorite foods that Mariella was kind enough to make on more than one occasion.
• Climbing to the top of a mountain to see the sunset – I love rock climbing, which was largely what the ascent was, and you could see the whole city from the top, plus a gorgeous sunset. It really doesn’t get much better.

 

 

Thank you all for following along and for all the prayers and questions about ministry this month. Hopefully, this provides you with information you were curious about!

 

I have also learned so much about myself and about the Lord. It has been a sweet month and I can’t wait for what’s next.

 

I am also still fundraising! If you could join me in prayer, or financially as I continue the fundraising process, I would greatly appreciate it!

 

With so much love,

Kayla