Amazing Race

(Part of our Estonia team: Hayden, Martin, Fred (staff), Garrett (staff), and me!)

I made it to the Czech Republic for intern training! Thank you for all your prayers and support. God has used you to allow me to come here to serve Him and each one of you serves as a reminder to me of God's faithfulness and care. 

We have had a crazy few days. My first flight got delayed by three hours which complicated my travel but I still made it safely. After I landed, we ate lunch and started the amazing race. The amazing race started at 3:00 yesterday afternoon and we finished today in the evening and then drove to the location where we are having intern training. Since Josiah Venture has interns serving all over Eastern and Central Europe, each country was its own team and we competed against one another. So I got to spend a lot of time with my team for the summer as we ran around Kraków and then traveled to the Czech Republic to finish the race. We ran/walk ten miles both days while carrying our stuff for those days in backpacks. It was exhausting and amazing. 

The other interns on my team are Martin (from Estonia), Hayden (from Canada), and Garry (who is from the States but waiting on a passport before coming). Both Hayden and I were not able to sleep much on the planes and were majorly jetlagged which added to the experience. We got to see beautiful places and I continually had to pause because I could not believe I was really here. These countries are beautiful and I was in awe of God as we ran through them! The race also allowed us to begin getting to know each other better and see how we work as a team. I loved watching how our team cared for and challenged each other. We are all pretty competitive but balanced that with looking out for each other well. I have already seen glimpses of the uniqueness of each of our team members and the ways we complement each other; however, I am excited to see God’s plan for our team unfold and how He will use each of us with the gifts that He has given us.

Please be praying for us this week as we begin training. Pray that this would be a time for our team to grow closer and learn how to care for one another well this summer. Pray that we would be honest and God-honoring in our conversations about the summer, expectations, fears, and whatever else may come up in training. Please also pray for God’s strength. It is safe to say the last two days wore us out but pray that we would still be present to God and open to hearing His voice this week. Also, be praying for Garry. He is waiting for his passport to come in before booking a flight to join us in Estonia.

Thank you again for all of your support! I cannot wait to continue sharing the mighty things God will do this summer!

Here are some pictures from our race :)

We learned to cross stitch, learned a dance, learned part of the Lord's prayer in Polish, put sheet music in order that had been cut into strips by listening to the song (thankfully Garrett, one of the Estonia staff, has a PhD in music), did multiple scavenger hunts around different areas, rode a Ferris wheel, solved puzzles, and so much more.