Covid on the World Race

What an eventful couple weeks it has been. Since traveling from the Adventures in Missions base in Gainesville, Georgia we have been in 4 different cities, 3 airports, took 2 airplanes and a bus to arrive in Ciudad Vieja, Guatemala.

We arrived full of excitement and thankfulness. With an unmistakable energy and desire to serve the people here and adventure around the country.

When we left the Atlanta airport one of our teammates was not feeling well. We were all convinced it was from our long travel day, carrying our big packs and getting little sleep. The next day we were concerned, but convinced it was altitude sickness, she just needed to sleep it off. The next day, we learned a friend we were around in Atlanta tested positive for Covid-19.

What looks different for us on the Race compared to friends at home, I think, is the constant community we are in. I love my team, so much. They are fun and full of grace and love. Its so easy for us to be together, to choose one another and fight for one another. But like in any other family setting, we are closely around each other always.

Things change, we make plans, we follow protocol; then everything changes again. I am thankful to be growing in adaptability… but then I realized most people have been doing this for almost a year. Its been really hard to not hug my friends, its frustrating to constantly monitor symptoms, its tiring to be constantly adapting, its discouraging when I can’t seems to see the end of all this.

Then I think of everyone who has not been able to hug their family members, those who have to make life-changing decisions, those who are exhausted from doing much more for much longer.

Everything I have felt in the last week, the anxiety, the frustration, the annoyance and tiredness, I am understanding that so many people have been feeling the same way consistently for months.

I have not tested positive for Covid. Two of my team members have out of the six of us here. The rest of us are feeling well, we do not have symptoms, praise God.

I have been reading though Ephesians, my recommendation is to read the whole book all the way through. Gosh, its good.

I love verses 3:14-21, it’s a prayer for spiritual strength after we are revealed the mystery of the gospel. It’s a prayer to encourage endurance in suffering, to be courageous in trials and for the strength to hope fully and freely in Jesus.

This is what I am praying for my friends and family, for those who are anxious and fearful and tired. Would you be “strengthened with power through his Spirit”, would “Christ dwell in your hearts”, would you be “rooted and grounded in love” and be “filled with all the fullness of God” (3:14-19).