My first blog I ever wrote I talked about how everyone would ask a high schooler “what are you going to do after you graduate?”. Well now I am here to talk about a question that people have already started to ask.
“How was your trip?”
I am here to let you in on a secret. No world racer wants to be asked that question. It is an impossible question to answer when you just walked out of a wild nine months. Imagine yourself trying to briefly summarize the past nine months of your life.
So to help ya’ll and myself out I am going to list some intentional questions for you to ask me. Some are fun, serious, ministry related, and/or questions just for you to better understand what these past nine months of my life have consisted of. Please know that I want to tell you about the life I just lived, this will just be a better way for me to describe and let you in on this part of my life.
TRAINING CAMP: (August-October)
- What was it like sleeping in a tent?
- What did you learn in the sessions?
- What did you do during your free time?
- Are your relationships the same from the beginning to the end?
- What challenges did you face during training camp?
- Were you ready to leave?
- How did you see your relationship with the lord already start deepening?
- In what was did you see yourself grow?
GUATEMALA: (October-January)
- What was ministry like?
- How was this time in Guatemala different from the first time you went?
- What was your mode of transportation?
- What did you do on activation days?
- How did spend your off days?
- What was it like on base?
- What is a tienda?
- What was your favorite city to visit?(Chimaltenango, Antigua, Parramos)
- In what ways did you see the lord move through you and your team?
- What was it like separating from the squad for two weeks?
- How did you and your squad celebrate (halloween, thanksgiving, Christmas, new years)?
- What was it like being away from your family during the holidays?
- How did you grow/ learn about surrender and walking in holiness?
Other things you can ask about:
- Hiking Acatenango
- Guatemala Debrief
- Tattoos
- Food(plantain soup)
- Baptism
- Team times
- Culture
- Street animals
- Coffee
ROMANIA:(January-March)
- What did your ministry consist of?
- What was your housing like?
- What did you learn, enjoy, or dislike about being apart of the youth team?
- In what ways did you see the lord move during evangelism?
- What gave you the most joy while in Romania?
- What made Romania the hardest country?
- What did you learn about yourself, Romania, and the lord?
- Were you separated from the squad again?
- What is something new you did?
Other things you can ask about:
- Evangelism
- Adventure days
- Culture
- Food
ESWATINI:(March-May)
- What was ministry like?
- What is a care point?
- What was your base like?
- What are the similarities or differences of swazi compared to your first two countries?
- How did you continue ministry on base?
- What did you do in the bush of Africa?
- What was hard about leaving?
- What was the awakening?
- How was it seeing your parents for a week?
- What growth did you see within your team from the beginning until now?
- What is swazi church like?
- So Brooke do what do you think about the stars in Africa?
Other things you can ask about:
- Cooking on base
- Running
- House visits
- Kids at ministry
- St. Lucia/Visa renewal
FUN/RANDOM QUESTIONS:
- Worst travel experience?
- Did you ever poop your pants?
- Covid?
- What are the odds?
- Biggest drop table regret?
- Florida for two weeks?
- I cried when?
- I hated this food…
- I loved this food…
- Favorite sports or games played?
- What squad mates you connected with the most?
- Miracles you witnessed?
- Words and phrases in other languages I can say?
- Best and worst holiday?
- Favorite place you lived?
- Latest night you had?
- Coming back to the states and having strep and an ear infection?
- How did you do laundry?
- One way you grew that you never expected?
- Any foods you came back liking? (Cheese?1?!)
- How would you pack differently?
- Hardest piece of feedback you received?
- Favorite stars/sunsets/sunrises you saw?
- Pets on base?
- What was it like being Santa?
- How was it doing school while on the race?
- Favorite FaceTime calls?
So for you to get more detail than “good” here are some specific questions you can ask or any you can think of! Remember I want to share what life on the field was like, so just ask!
FIVE DAYS!!!
I can’t wait to see you and learn all about your life the past 9 months. Just so you know, I want to know the answers to all of those questions plus some!