But What Does it Look Like? (Part 1)

I know that sometimes pictures can tell a better story than words. So here is the first of a few photo blogs over the last 5 months. These photos are from month one of the race which was spent in Cotê d’Ivoire. This was my first experience in the mission field and it really made my heart come alive! We lived in a village and spent 24/7 with the locals. The kids followed us around everywhere we went, and we got to understand what it looks like to just ‘be’. Going from a crazy busy lifestyle to having nothing essentially ‘productive’ to do broke down a lot of lies I had been believing that my worth lied in what I produced. I learned how to form beautiful relationships with people by just spending time with them and loving them. We didn’t speak the same language so a lot of that looked like playing games with the kids, praying for people, and learning how to properly clean our clothes, or how to make local cuisine. I fell in love with the people here in this village. These kids stole my heart. They taught me so much about what it looks like to have joy, how to let go of worries and fears and how to love people fully. I pray someday I can make it back to this village to visit these amazing people that first showed me what it was like to just ‘be’.

This was our team photo from our one and only adventure day! We went out to a local lake that was about an hour ride away. It was not safe to swim in the water, but it was sure breathtaking to look at, especially after spending the first few weeks in the bush, not near any water!

This day we adventured through the farms at our village. It was quite a long walk through them all but it was absolutely beautiful! 

Our fearless leader Ezekiel! He hosted us for the month and was the sweetest gift God could have given us month 1! He taught us what the power of prayer looked like and was the most beautiful example of a man of God. He protected us, he fought for us and he loved us so deeply. I will forever be grateful for his friendship and kindness! He also was the only one that spoke English and translated for us the whole month so we really couldn’t have done it without him!

Here are a few of the beautiful, silly, joyful kids we got to spend so much time with! They absolutely LOVED taking photos and were always wanting to play and joke around. I learned so much about how to take care of one another from these kids. They had the most beautiful servant hearts I have ever seen. 

Here is team Radiance month 1! This was taken as we were waiting to go talk to the villagers and ask them what we could pray for. With every house we went to, we were given chairs to sit in a circle, we took time to greet everyone and then we would hear about their lives and offer prayer for whatever they needed. It was a really sweet time to be intentional with people. There was no urgency or rush about it and we took as much time as we needed at each house. We spent several days a week taking time to make sure we went to every house in the village. I was honestly really nervous for this part at first but after the first few houses, I started to love hearing about each and every individual and I was so moved by every one of their stories. We met some of the most amazing people, and the joy they had will forever impact my own life. 

These amazing people are our church family! We spent a lot of our time at the church. We had prayer and worship from 5-6am 4 days a week, afternoon teaching a couple times a week, night services 2-3 times a week, and outreach 3 times a week! We spent a lot of time with these beautiful people and got to see worship in an entire new way. Their dedication to learning more about Jesus and devoting their lives to worshipping him was so inspiring! They took us in and loved us like their own so well that I honestly forgot I was American so many times until I looked at pictures. They truly brought out the African part of my soul and I will forever be grateful for the love they showed me!

This was a toy car that the boys in the village made and would push around everywhere! The creativity amazed me, and I love that no matter where people are from we still have very similar desires and needs. The toy cars may look different country to country but imagination and play are universal. 

Teaching our new friend Koffe how to play Quirkle, which is basically like Scrabble but with shapes and colors. It was very difficult and also extremely entertaining trying to teach someone without using words, especially because he was so naturally funny. After many rounds of trial and error, he eventually caught on! It definitely widened my perspective of what is possible if you just try. 

I can’t say it enough how much these kids meant to me and light up my life. They brought SO much joy to my life constantly and were always wanting to spend as much time with us as possible. They were so goofy, incredibly smart, and had hearts of gold. They were always willing to help us with whatever we needed and never complained about anything they were asked to do. 

This was one of my absolute favorite days! Earlier in the month I had taught the kids hand motions to the song ‘King of my Heart’. From that moment on they would follow me around showing me the motions they had learned and singing the parts of the song they could remember/pronounce. One of the last days I decided I wanted to film them all to keep for my own memory, so I asked about 15 of them to come out to the field. They apparently all wanted to participate and about 60 of them showed up to come sing and dance. It was INSANELY hot that day, I overheated my phone and sweated like crazy, BUT it was one of the best days of my life. 

These next few photos are just some of my favorites of the kids. I had asked them to ‘smile’ for the camera but they didn’t understand what I was saying. I had learned how to say ‘teeth’ in their local language so I would just say ‘teeth, teeth’ in Baoule while pointing at my own enough times til they understood. Some kids smiled their normal smile and some just grinned as big as possible to show me as many teeth as possible. Either way the pictures were priceless and I fell in love 🙂 

This last one is of a little girl named Aya. She is one of my favorite people and became so close to my heart. She reminded me a lot of my little cousin and brought me so much love and joy. She would always be the first to come dance with me, sing songs with me, and copy basically anything I did. She would come sit next to me while I did laundry and tell me stories. I couldn’t understand a word she said, but she would laugh and giggle the entire time and I loved every minute of it. She just loved being next to me and teaching me things. She has a heart of gold and a smile that lit up her entire body. On the last day when we had to leave for Ghana, she pointed to my eyes and then motioned tears down my face while shaking her head. She was telling me not to cry. Saying goodbye to her broke my heart the most but I pray I can make it back to the village someday, or maybe even somehow bring her to America. She taught me the sweetest kind of love. Being present. 

If the entire world race was only to meet these amazing people month one, it would all be worth it. I am so grateful that God gifting us with unplugged time getting to know these amazing people and getting to share the love of Christ with them. 

I am so grateful God has not only given us this amazing month, but continued to gift us with incredible people and stories along the way. 

Next stop Ghana!

* I am still in need of help!! I have been graciously extended more time to meet my fundraising goal. I need to have $1,933 by the end of June in order to stay on the race!! Please consider partnering with me on this journey and donating to the race. I truly cannot so this without you! Also, please continue praying for my team and for the amazing people of Assafou! Your love and support is MUCH appreciated!