A Day in the Life of a World Racer

I mentioned in a previous blog that the days out here feel much more like regular ole life, and less like exciting adventurous, crazy wild miraculous days lately. 

Earlier in the month, I’d been going with a group to a CarePoint each day, but in the past week, I was able to help our host with some quarterly reporting and fulfilling some administrative needs of the CarePoints. 

So here is a snapshot of what one of these regular days looks like… 

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6:00 – get woken up by people talking in the living room, and opening and closing the door to the bedroom you share with 5 other people. 

6:29 – turn off your phone alarm (there’s still 2 people sleeping in the room) and sit up 

6:30 – get dressed (you have 2 pairs of pants to choose from and 3 shirt options, but today you get to wear pants instead of a skirt!! Praise!) 

6:40 – wait in line for the one bathroom in the house

6:45 – make some instant coffee, grab your Bible and journal and go outside to find a secluded and quiet spot to sit and pray 

7:30 – go back to the house, make breakfast (oatmeal, just like every other day), sit outside and chat with squad mates while you eat 

8:00 – wash your dishes and finish getting ready for the day, wait in line for the bathroom (again)

8:15 – leave the house to walk to the paved road 10 minutes away that you always get picked up from

8:30 – get picked up by the ministry mini-bus, greet the driver, ride to the first part of day’s ministry

9:00 – ministry part 1: all staff meeting (we got to sit in on the monthly meeting with all of the regional staff, coordinators, and shepherds. It was primarily praise and prayer and worship, with a few small announcements.) 

11:30 a.m. – ministry part 2: helping the host with quarterly reporting (basically writing short newsletters for every region and carepoint to send to supporters), work on logistics details in the spare time, research about next months location, eat a snack while you type, try not to melt in the Swazi heat

3:15 p.m. – head to town to meet the rest of the squad at the grocery store, get handed chocolate and snacks from squad mates who did your grocery shopping for you 

3:30 – get back in the ministry minibus to head to the homestead, sit in the same seat so as to not mess up the unspoken unofficially assigned seats 

4:30 – arrive at the house, help unload groceries, change out of ministry clothes, sit in your bed for “alone” time while 5 people come in and out of the room, read a book, text people back home, work on details for next month, hang out with people around you  

6:30 – all squad dinner (pasta, veggies, and and lentils) while everyone sits on the living room floor to eat 

7:30 – hang out with people, read a book, read your Bible, play cards, pass the time 

9:30 – get ready for bed, wait in line for the bathroom again 

10:00 – set your alarm to do it all again the next day and finally, sleep

 

This is just a birds-eye-view of one day of many, because truly no two days are exactly alike out here, which definitely keeps things interesting (and sometimes frustrating). 

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Please pray: 

• for the squad’s travel to Lesotho on Friday! My team is separated from the rest of the squad for the month, so pray that everyone gets to each location safely. 
• for God’s provision over jobs and housing and all the details involved with transitioning back to the States in two months. 
• for peace and patience and grace in difficult days and difficult circumstances.