i just did a really long blog for 2 hours with pictures and everything and it ALL got erased. i will try and add pictures later. i do not have the patience to do it right now.

"But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry

that I received from the Lord Jesus Christ,

to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. "

Acts 20:24

312 days ago I got on a plane and headed from Jackson, Mississippi to Matamoras Mexico not knowing what I was getting myself into. All I knew is that the Lord called me and told me to go so I was on a plane headed to a place I didn't know to people I didn't know with money I didn't have. Here I am 312 days, 22 countries, 87 bag packing times, hundreds of miles of walking with an enormous backpack on, many laughs and tears, with a family I love more than anything later. The year is over. Time has come for us to grasp what the Lord has taught us this year and to go our separate ways.

I have had the amazing privilege of being able to travel the world and experience this crazy journey with 23 amazing people. We started out as strangers then became enemies then became friends then family and now we are more than family. To say good-bye to these dear people to this life to this year is going to be the hardest thing I have ever done.

I have been with these people 24/7 for the past 11 months. We know what makes each other laugh, we know what makes each other cry, we know more about bodily functions than we care to know, we have seen each others beauty and even seen the not so pretty sides, we know each others spiritual gifts and the way the Lord uses those probably better than some of our own family. To think that it is time to let all this go and trust that the Lord is going to catch us when we fall is so hard.

The Lord has done amazing things this year…

In Mexico we were able to ride bikes through the flood and go door to door in the different villages evangelizing and seeing salvations and healings in ways that many of us never would have imagined.

In Guatemala (after climbing the volcano from hell and having our possessions stolen from us) we were able to love on the disabled orphans and have the Lord show us and give us His heart for those children. He also tested our faith in how much we trusted Him and we watched Him sell our car in less than 24hrs.

In China we were faithful through the freezing cold weeks of prayer walk. He told us to trust in Him, in His voice and called us to stay there for another week while all other teams traveled. During this time He opened up an entire school to us where we were able to go in and share the gospel.

In Thailand he ripped my heart out and left it on Patbong Street, in the red light district where we were able to pray for the girls in the sex slave industry. We prayed that the Lord would send His spirit to set those girls free of the bondage that they live in and come to the realization that they matter. They are more than just a number.

In India we saw the Taj mahal and suffered through some intense heat but had the awesome privilege of staying in the orphanage lead by Dr Samuel Thomas. He was in prison with a bounty on his head all because he loved the orphans in India. He loved the lowest of the lows. We saw the faith those children had, the way they fasted until their leader was released from prison, the way they loved the Lord and they truly are ready and willing to die for the sake of the gospel. "To live is Christ, To die is to gain"… this truly came alive to us.

"For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but

also suffer for his sake."

Philippians 1:29

In Bosnia we were dropped off at piece of land with nothing. We found ourselves making everything from fences to kitchens to toilets to poop holes to a coffee bar. We built camp and joined together with the other Christians for weeks of encouragement and prayer for their country and to see nonbelievers come to Christ.

In Europe we traveled from Croatia to Italy to Greece and then Turkey. We were able to go through the Apostle Paul's journey. We experienced the things he did while taking the time to stop and pray for the people that are now there. To travel through 4 of the places where Paul wrote the letters to the 7 churches.

In Egypt we not only got to see the Pyramids but the Lord opened our eyes to a "different" world. A different Christian community and that is the Coptic Orthodox Church. Here Bishop Thomas shared with us his heart, his story and how the Lord has used him and worked through him. He showed us though we might think it's weird that everything is sung in a way that drives us crazy, but the way they love each other and the desire they have to serve the Lord is amazing.

In Kenya we not only met lifelong friends but the lord sent us to a field ready to be harvested. As we went from door to door doing dramas and open air crusades we saw so many people come to Jesus Christ for the first time. The Lord took us and showed us that through us being faithful during the year through all things, this was our reaping time and took us to the largest slums in all of Africa to do so… Kibera.

As I look back over all these months and memories I see one constant thing and that is through all the times we had, good and bad, the Lord was growing us and stretching us so we would be ready for "now". For an entire year we have had a family where we know each other so well. We know what makes us tick and what hinders us, we know what makes us excited and what makes us scared. We have held each other up during the hardest times. Now is the time that we have to trust what the Lord has taught us, to step out into the unknown and be the leaders that He has called us to be. We can not go back to the life that we once lived. We now have a responsibility and that is to wake this world up and bring them to the full realization of Jesus Christ.

"And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is near

than when we first believed."

Romans 13:11

I will never forget this year or the people that experienced it with me. The Lord is calling us in many different directions and though many of those callings will never allow us to cross paths again, they will forever be in my prayers and heart.

Thank you for following us around the world. For reading our blogs and being so interested in knowing what is going on. For being there and laughing with us and even at us. More than all, thank you for all of your support, financially and prayerfully. I pray the Lord will continue to bless through next years racers.

I Love You.

"But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform

our lowly body to be like his glorious body,

by the power that enables him even to subject

all things to himself."

Philippians 3:20-21

"Being adaptable so the Lord can work miracles."

This morning we were given a challenge… to sum up our month of ministry in only one sentence. I have to admit that it was not the last bit easy. To take one of the best months that we have had this entire year and sum it up in only one short sentence was almost impossible.

"Being adaptable"…

If we have learned anything through the 10 months that we have been on the trip, it has been that time is not something that is ever concrete (except maybe in America) and that the key word is flexibility… flexibility… flexibility.

Whether we were going door to door ministering with people, having open air crusades, visiting schools and orphanages, ministering to the children in the slums, learning dramas, or spending time with our amazing Canadian friends… the Lord used all these things for His glory. We were able to adapt, change, and let the Holy Spirit lead in the direction that He wanted and in the end we saw the miracles.

"… so the Lord can work His miracles."

I have to say that this month was definitely the month of miracles for us. Throughout this entire year, we have never entered into a place that was so hungry, so ready to accept the gospel as the people in Kibera are… and that is a miracle in itself. We had over 50 people accept Christ as their personal savior. We had some men from the massai tribe come up and had us pray over them to receive Christ. We prayed over many men and women that said they felt like they were living in chains and after we prayed, they felt freedom. And… we prayed for healing and the Lord's blessing of finances for many that later gave testimonies of what the Lord did. He is so faithful.

The Lord didn't start with those miracles the first miracle started the minute we stepped off of the plane onto Kenya ground… when we got off the plane in Nairobi; we were greeted by 3 Canadians. I remember thinking to myself that day, how close can I get to these people? This has been a year of people coming in and out of our lives. In that the Lord answered me and said "trust me, I only have good things for you." That is exactly what we did… we opened up our hearts, we opened up our lives to Lillian, Shelley, and Mark and in return they left a mark that will never go away. They were such an answer to many many prayers. Whether they were giving us clothes because we didn't have any when we first arrived, teaching us new dramas, having girls nights, watching Friends, praying and having bible study with us, showing us the way to Nackumat the Internet and Java House, sending text messages to say they cared, loving our southerners sayings "cut it on" "fixin to" and "ya'll", asking "how is your heart" or just playing farkel while eating avocado dip, popcorn, chocolate, and ice cream. They were amazing and we thank the Lord for them everyday.

The Lord knew exactly what we needed; He heard our cries and gave that to us, in the slums of Kibera in more ways that one. We continue to look for His faithful as we go on with the race. Though it is drawing so close to the end, it's not over yet. We still anticipate more miracles that the Lord will give us, as we stay faithful to Him.

We play with Kids...

We hang out with the Canadians and have Girl's Night...

Door to Door Evangelism and School Visits...

''Ask and I will give the Nations to You...''

If I Believe and You Believe and We All Pray Together the Holy Spirit Will come Down and All the Nations Will be Saved!!!

"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teachings and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Acts 2:42-47

During the past couple of weeks, the Lord has been speaking to the WR team about unity and what that looks like. Every time we talk about this, Acts 2 comes up and the Lord has spoken to us and revealed many things to us through these verses. The Lord has told us that we don't just need to be unified through group togetherness, but through finances, through emotional encouragement, spiritual encouragement, and even physical needs.

We all made a commitment to each other and to the Lord to be more committed to each other and more unified than we ever have before. What is yours is mine and what is mine is yours.  I love the sense of humor that our Lord has, little did we know the way that we were about to be tested.

As we boarded the plane from Cairo to Kenya we were surprised by the fact that the plane was already full (it was making a stop in Cairo from Istanbul) and we had 24 people that had to get on. We all made it on, a few short of their carry-ons because they would not fit… but were told they would be waiting at the gate for us in Kenya. We had a pretty uneventful flight, considering it was an 11pm-4am flight… but we didn't know about the events that we should have braced ourselves for.

As we got off the plane, our carry-ons were not waiting on us at the gate. We go through passport control and VISA control with no problems. As we reach baggage claim, we wait for over an hour for our luggage and only 7 people received theirs. Come to find out, our luggage was not loaded onto the plane, because it was too full.

This put us in a dilemma, the fact that blue team needed to board a bus to get to Uganda and the South Africans, along with Jessica Sisson and Sarah Rinn needed to board a bus to head to Tanzania. What were we going to do? The 4 blue team girls have their luggage, Paul had his, and 2 of the South African have theirs… that is it. We go to lost baggage, file our report, tell them our situation, and they tell us that we can get $80 per person because it will be over 24hrs until we got our luggage (Praise the Lord… He provides in ways we would never expect)… we "act" upset at the fact, but know that we can make it through without luggage (look at the year we have been living) but are so happy because we see a way the Lord providing that we would never expect.

We pull the luggage that has arrived together and send the South African with a couple of tents and change in clothes and send them off to Tanzania. Blue team decided to hang out with Brown and Red at the AIM base for 2 nights and then head to Uganda when Chad's luggage got in.

We go out into arrivals and are excitedly greeted by Lillian, Shelly, and Mark with a sign that says "Welcome World Racers". This was refreshing for us. This entire trip, we have never had anyone greet us at the airport, we always get off the plane and from there look at each other and say "now what" and figure it out. So, it was nice to have warm smiling faces for a changed… and COOL weather. We could not believe it. The smiles that came upon our faces at that moment have not left. We are so excited to be here and we know that it is going to be an amazing time.

We finally arrived at the AIM base in Kibera Kenya (in the slums… where we will be staying) at about 9am Saturday morning. The girls on the blue team (along with Lillan and Shelly) are here and have been so gracious to provide us brown and red girls with whatever we needed to make it through the next day or so.

(The airport did call this morning and said our luggage has arrived. The guys have gone to get it now, so we are praying that everyone's luggage makes it. As soon as it does, blue will be heading to Uganda.)

Lillian, Shelly, and Mark are from Vancouver Canada and have been here since March. They are with a drama group called DRIME. This group travels around teaching pantomime dramas set to music that reveals powerful message of salvation. They have a team in Vancouver, Brazil, and these 3 are here training up the team that will minister here in Kenya. They will be leaving in December, but while they are here have been so wonderful to greet us and help us with whatever we need and minister to us as well. What a blessing from God they have been… Thank you guys.

As I said before, a smile came upon my face the minute that we touched down here and has not left my face since. I am so happy to be here, I am completely overwhelmed with excitement. Even though I am still miles and miles from home, being here feels like home and it makes me so happy. It has been my dream to be able to come to Kenya and minister here and the Lord has given me the desire of my heart.

This morning we went to an African church here in the slums. My heart jumped with joy as the Holy Spirit moved in that place. I have not felt Him this heavy in such a long time. It was such a refreshing time for all of us and the energy that comes from the people there and their love for the Lord, how can it not rub off on you and get you excited?

And the children… need I say more? They have stolen our hearts. They already had my heart, but they have touched my heart in a new way that I never expected. The love that I feel for them is hard to explain, it something so refreshing.

While we are here, we will be ministering here in the slums of Kibera. We will be doing open air revival, door to door evangelism, ministering to the women and children, and whatever else the Lord lays before us.

"If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you." John 15:7

Just Abide… we know all these things and more will be given to us, as long as we abide and that is why we are here… to abide and as we do, He does all the work through us. Amen.

Please, keep us in your prayers… regarding:

1. Finances
2. the South African, Jessica Sisson, and Sarah Rinn while they are in Tanzania
3. the Blue Team as they travel to Uganda and their ministry there
4. the Lord will continue to give us His heart, His eyes for the Kenyan people
5. the Unity of all the racers as the Lord humorously teaching us
6. the people here to be saved, healed, delivered, and set free… MIRACLES!!!

Thank You… God Bless.

Praise God… the guys just got back and ALL of our bags are here AND we got $80 per person…

We finally got to go see the Pyramids... AND ride Camels!!!...

...AND we found Pizza Hut

It is 11:30 on Sunday night and I am sitting in Quessia Egypt... you may ask where that is and honestly I can not tell you because I don't even know. All I can tell you is… it is somewhere in the middle of the Sahara Desert about 6 hours south of Cairo.

The girls and I just got through with our nightly aerobics. I have just gotten out of the shower and I am sitting on my bed giving myself a pedicure while I chat with the girls. All of a sudden Ashley comes running into my room saying "Hurry Hurry… Gary Black is on TV." Our immediate response was "What?"… "No way." So we all go running into the TV room and sure enough there is Gary on the TV telling his "story".

Traveling through and having the opportunity to walk the footsteps that are all through out the Bible is an opportunity that I never dreamed I would be able to experience. Reading about them is the Bible is so much different when you are actually in the country that is being talked about, or sitting on the river they refer to. The book of Exodus has become so alive to me while I have been here in the land of Egypt.

"Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." Exodus 3:5

Our ministry time here has been a bit different than what we are use to, but hey… we are all about flexibility and surprises. This far into the trip, we have become pros at it. We have let the Holy Spirit lead us and even when we didn't expect it He was putting us in divine situations that He had planned long before we did. (Many of which we "planned" 5 minutes before.)

Interesting that we just left Turkey where we were studying the book of Revelations and what it means… our thoughts. We got here and come to find out they have a summer arts program that (… are you ready… hold onto your chair) they had 18,000 kids and youth involved in. Yes… 18,000 isn't that crazy!!! Would you ever think of $18,000 kids and youth in the States giving up their entire summer to study and make Revelations? I don't think so.

So… for over 3 weeks they would spend their entire day making visual aids that described the book of Revelations. Many of the girls here were able to help them with the finishing touches that had to be done so that they could have their "show". They had 4 nights where people could come and walk through the live display drama and get a picture of Revelations. It was amazing and very challenging for all of us.

With the Coptic Orthodox Church, "church" is not something that you are just a part of, it is your life. The grounds here are constantly full of people and have things going on non-stop. We were able to take part in English classes, the guys were able to hold businesses classes and we taught many Bible study classes.

One of the times, the girls were all going to do our girl's bible school and we get there and what do you know… we get kicked out!!! They did not want us there, told us we were in the wrong place. We had so much planned for those girls and they would not let us do anything. So, they take us to a room where they are having English class and tell us we are in charge… what? Are you crazy? We are so unprepared!!! Thanks to Lana, the teacher, she was able to throw something together and did a great job.

As we are walking out the door of English class, a man comes over and leads us to another room full of youth. Come to find out, these youth are from a neighboring village and the government shut their church down, so they come here once a week to have church. They gave the whole service to us… so once again, we put a program together and it went amazingly.

The hunger that this group of kids had was incredible. Anytime you stopped talking they immediately had their hand raised ready to ask more questions… whether they were asking our name and about our country to what true freedom was to what was the persecution like in our country to Christians. They were so hungry they could not get full. That whole night nothing went the way that "we" planned, but everything went exactly the way the Lord planned and He moved and was able to use us to minister to them in many ways.

The Lord has really been dealing with us and our unbelief. He has been asking "How much do you trust me?" "How far are you willing to step out and trust that I will catch you?"…

"…sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you MUST rule over it." Genesis 4:7

Unbelief is sin and we are overcoming that and not letting it rule over us. We are stepping out and saying Lord, we trust you and will take a giant step and we know that you are going to be there because you are faithful.

With it being so close to the end of the race, our finances are being stretched very tight. We all knew that this time was going to come, but we are no longer saying "when that time comes" that time is here. We have taken a giant step and purchased our plane tickets from Kenya to South Africa… (which is a major blessing from the Lord that we found the price we did)… so we are continuing on that path and saying… we will continue to take leaps and bounds and continue to trust that you will be there to catch us.

I ask that you will please keep lifting us up in this and having faith with us, not for us… but during the times that we are weak; we need your prayers of strength.

All of the World Racers are short $16,000 to finish the trip. I ask that you pray about joining us in finishing up our year of ministry. If the Lord is leading you, simply click the support link on the side of this page.

God Bless You and thank you all for your Prayers and Support.

"…Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Genesis 12:1-3

I will leave you with a funny picture of me leaving the bishop's house... Browse my photos for more updated pictures...

"I need all girls in the meeting room for an important announcement."

As we all walked into the room we didn't know what to expect. We were racking our brains trying to figure out what it could be and couldn't come up with anything. The guys were sitting outside the room on pins and needles trying to "get in on the know".

"You are invited to be Queens for the Night. Get dressed up as an Egyptian Queen and get ready for a night full of fun and dancing…. You have 20 minutes to get ready so… GO."

I will let the pictures tell the rest… we had a BLAST!!!!

First day of ministry… since we are under house arrest we can not leave our mansion without an ante rouge… so today was not only our first day of ministry… it was also our first day to be able to venture out of the walls that surround our house.





Side note…

Well… I have to be honest about something… last night at about 10:00 some of us were craving caffeine… so I and Evelyn "broke out" and went and got a coke… that was quite and adventure in it's self. There was a wedding going on at the church, so we had to go through a mass of people to get outside of the gate, then we had to "sneak" pass the police, then I had to constantly look at the ground to not make eye contact with any males. When we got back to the mansion, the door was locked and no one could hear us knocking, so we had to get the priest to open the door. …oops.

Back to what I was saying… so… since ministry started today we got to go outside and let me just say… WOW. We have been in many countries, but so far I haven't seen one that was this crowded and this crazy. Today is market day and here they do not have a specific place for the market… everywhere is the market. Pretty much they just take over the roads and that's the market so it's interesting to drive on these roads with the vendors, the donkeys, camels, tuk-tuks, and anything else you can think of. I have to say… I think I actually like it a little better within our walls.

So… ministry… there were several different options to choose from, so we were able to pick the one that "fit" us the best. Some people chose to go to an art class where they are doing large displays in order to tell the story of Revelations, some guys went to the guy's orphanage, some girls went to the girl's orphanage, and others went to school with Evelyn.

Who is Evelyn and why are we going to school with her? Evelyn is our "hostess" here in Egypt. She is from South Africa but lived here in Egypt from '94-'99… while she was here she taught Kindergarten and helped to disciple the women in the church. For the last 5 years she has been living in Jerusalem and studying there. About 2 weeks ago, she moved back here to teach Kindergarten for one more year… so we are busy helping her get her room ready for school to start.

The name of the school is Saint Mena it is a private English school ran by the government. Even though it is run by the government, you still have to pay lots of money to go there (where most government schools are free). Most of the children that attend are from the wealthy people in the village. It is very much a status thing to be able to have your child in this school. It is mainly children of the leaders, doctors, pharmacist, and other upper classes. The reason for the school is to have Muslim and Christian children come together to learn and to teach them how to speak English, French, and Arabic. In most classes the Muslims and Christians will be combined, though when studying "religion" they are separated and this is taught in Arabic.

I think this is a huge vision for this city. If you go out on the roof of our mansion and look around this place, we are literally in the middle of the desert and to have a priest that approached the government about this vision and to had it established is huge. Whether the parents realize it or not (especially the Muslims) having their child go to this school is huge. Not just educationally but spiritually. This is the start for huge break through in this community. It all starts with the younger generation and that is exactly what they are doing.

We are working along side her with helping her doing simple things like making an alphabet for her to put up, making a shapes chart, and helping her come up with other creative ideas, but also praying for her and lifting her up since being a part of something this big brings with it lots of spiritual attacks.

Evelyn has come back to teach for another year, but to also encourage the people there as it is so exciting to be able to be a part of that.

"In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border. It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a savior, defender, and deliver them. And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them."
Isaiah 19:19-21

As we walked the streets of the monastery and sat in the sanctuary, all I could think about was what a privilege it was to be able to be in a place where Jesus footsteps were. I thought it was an honor to have walked in the footsteps if Paul and John (and it was). But as I sat foot on the place where Jesus Christ tread, there was a joy that filled me that is so hard to describe.

Being in Cairo and the evil and sin that is so in your face there and thinking… really… is there hope for this place? We watch as the women get treated as nothing but sex figures, men grope them with their eyes as they walk by, the streets are covered with people living in sin. It looks to helpless and it is without Jesus Christ. We left Cairo with many prayers spread across that city, knowing the Lord will hear them and answer them and came to a place that is a haven… a place that Jesus himself declared a haven for all the people there.

Wow… I can not think of anything to say other than… Wow… Our God is so good.

Don't get me wrong… there are many Muslims here in this city… every morning at 4:30am and all through out the day, we are reminded of this by the prayers over the loud speaker. There are many lost people here that need Jesus just as much as the people in Cairo and that is why we are here to be the salt and light in the darkness… we shine best in dark places. Light (us) is so superior to darkness that its triumph is immediate. Praise God… we are coming in, causing division between the world of light and the world of darkness and in that we bring the Kingdom of God to these people. We are claiming this in the name of Jesus.

…Amen.