Happy 25th to Me!

Well Honduras is slowly but surely coming to an end. We should be making our way over to Romania within the next couple of days!

I officially turn 25 tomorrow. Half way to 50 and closer to 30 than 20…I might be crying a little bit on the inside. Like What!!! Time flies. Never did I think I would be doing something like the World race at this age. It’s funny how we can try to plan out our lives or better yet control it but the Lord already has a plan and its always better than our own! 

So I just wanted to send out a little update. These past couple of weeks have been CRAZY. As we were leaving the mountain several people from our squad tested positive for COVID. This put a halt on some things. For those who tested positive and were in direct exposure, they had to quarantine and could no longer come to our squad debrief. Which, debriefs happen monthly or every couple of months. It’s a way for our squad to get together in community, rest, reflect and enjoy some time off from ministry. Ministry can be extremely exhausting and these past two months were definitely that. Exhausting in a good way but I was ready to get back to a bed, a normal toilet and be inside for once! It’s amazing the little things we take for granted… like running water. Water was scarce on the mountain and it would be a good day if it was running so we could take a cold shower or have drinking water! Anyways back to debrief. So half of our squad was able to head to debrief at the beach! This was nice but we still had to stay in our bubbles so not everyone would be exposed to COVID if someone tested positive! The week went on and testing day came. We have to test 72 hours before departure at the airport… crazy CDC guidelines… gotta love it. So we tested and those who tested negative right before debrief, 5 of us now tested positive. One of them was me. Not gonna lie I thought i was invincible, turns out I’m not.  I actually had a feeling going into the test because I did have a slight tickle in my throat. But I was like there’s no way. HAHA. So Chaos happened, we now had to figure out how we were going to get out of this house we were staying in that was pretty secluded. We couldn’t ride a bus because we were positive and now everyone has been exposed. We stayed for a couple more days, our flights had to be cancelled that were booked to South Africa and I’m now in quarantine. Well we finally got transportation through the back of some trucks, this was a hot and sweaty ride two hours away to the hotel I am currently still at. So now me and two other girls have been quarantined for the past 10 days and the rest of those who were exposed. 

So now lets skip over to the other half of the squad who was quarantined while this half was at the beach. First let me say that this was super frustrating and sad for them because we wanted all to enjoy the beach and each other. However the Lord works in different ways. So this half of the group were still set to fly out to South Africa. As they headed to the airport they made it safely to New Jersey. The layover was 20 plus hours so they had to stay at a nearby hotel. The next day they got all ready for there next flight to South Africa and as they were set to board their COVID test they took was now expired and missed the 72 hour window. So they had to head back to the hotel, book new flights and pray that everyone test negative again. So the next day they had their test and one person tested positive. So now they all have to quarantine for 10 days, payed for by United Airlines. (They have been treated extremely well) And because this group handled the news so well they were going to restrict them from flying but decided not to. SO CRAZY. In the meantime this group was able to pray over some people in the airport!

So as my group was getting all this information about the other half we were really all thinking that the Lord was protecting us from something and that South Africa might not happen. Turns out SA was cracking down on their restrictions and apparently if we would have gone there, it would have restricted the places we would be able to travel because of the new stand of Covid. The leadership decided that they didn’t want this for us so with a lot of prayer we will now be heading to Romania. I am actually really excited about this!! Meanwhile I am still quarantined at this point I was really hoping to not be stuck in a room for my birthday and the plan was if we all test negative we will be out by the 6th! So I was hopeful. Test day rolled around and me and my two people I was quarantined with still tested positive. We were bummed but we know the Lord is in control. So I am completely at peace with the fact that I will be spending my birthday in a hotel room! The Lord is still good! The good news to end this lovely blog is that on the 9th we will retest and pray that we test negative if not we will get a doctors note that says we have been symptom free for 5 days and then we will be off to Romania!! Still praying for a layover in the US so I can get some Chick-fil-a!!! 

In the grand scheme of things this has been the craziest 3 weeks on the race but the Lord doesn’t stop working! I am really learning that I am not in control of anything and to trust that the Lord knows what he is doing. This rest has been really sweet, the Lord continues to reveal sin in my life which drives me to repentance daily, I have been able to just sit and listen to him, and he has continued to bring healing to my heart. 

Please be in prayer over the next couple days as we continue to quarantine and that we make it to Romania safely!

LOVE YOU ALL!

CB