The World Race is officially over. It’s been an incredible 11 months of seeing how God is working and growing closer to Him. Just a quick recap of what ministries I’ve worked with this year.

1. Worship Room in Guatemala; a worship ministry that also has kid programs.
2. Catracho Missions in Honduras; a church planting organization.
3. Adult and Teen Challenge in Costa Rica; an organization that’s focused on rehabilitating drug and alcohol addicts through a Christ centered approach.
4. YWAM and a local church in Nicaragua.
5. A local church in Albania with kid programs.
6. Hope Church and The Flame of Worship Church in Romania; churches that were focused on bringing in young adults to the church and providing support for Ukrainian refugees.
7. Africa 4 Jesus in Lesotho; an organization that’s trying to teach and raise up local leaders so that they can bring the truth of the Lord to Lesotho and reach the unreached.
8. Adventures in Missions in Eswatini; an organization that has 39 and counting carepoints where children can get a free meal and Biblical lessons every day.

After traveling to 8 different countries working with varying ministries, I have learned some important things about God and what it means to be a follower of Christ. These are 10 of the most important things I’ve learned this year.

1. We walk by faith and truth, not by feelings and sight. Yes feelings are good, but I used to struggle with feeling like my relationship with God was bad when I didn’t “feel” His presence. That could be an indicator of something, but your feelings are not a direct indication of God’s presence in your life or your walk with Him. We walk by faith and Biblical truth.
2. Everybody is called to the great commission. This doesn’t mean that everybody is necessarily called internationally or to a “ministry” job. It means that we are all called to spread the love of Christ and to preach the good news of the Gospel.
3. It’s a joy and an honor to serve the Kingdom of God. We should be honored to serve the God of the universe. He’s the most important thing and it is an honor to serve Him. And the more you serve Him and let yourself be transformed by Him, the more you enjoy serving Him.
4. Christianity isn’t about doing things you don’t want to do and not doing things that you want to do, it’s about letting God transform you so that you start to desire what God wants you to do and hating evil.
5. It’s vital to surround yourself with a strong Christian community. Being surrounded by others who are chasing after the Lord will help you grow in your faith.
6. We are meant to live out our faith through our actions. We aren’t meant to just talk like Christians, we are meant to love with our actions. Actions reflect how Christ has transformed us and shows to the world God’s character.
7. God’s justice and wrath is a crucial part of His character. Yes God is love, but God is also perfectly just.
8. Our material things and false ideas about God can be idols and separate us from God. An idol is anything that is more important than God, and we need to either cut out or change the priorities of the things that are separating us from God.
9. There are so many incredible ministries and missionaries in need of funding.
10. Don’t accidentally trespass near an abandoned gun factory in a country where you don’t know the language, because you might have an Albanian man point his rifle at you as he’s screaming at you while another man is coming after you with his dogs. Not. Fun.

This year has truly been transformative and I’m excited to see what God has next in store. This is my last blog from the World Race, so I just want to say thank you for all of your support this year; it truly has been a blessing. Thank you and God bless.

Colton

K Squad