so I'm home...

Posted in Post-Trip by Becky on 8/19/2008

Well, what do you know? I've been home for a little over three weeks already – time has flown here just like it did on much of the race. I feel like I should be starting my goodbyes and preparing to move on to another country, but for now my feet are staying firmly planted on US soil (more or less anyway).

Since I've been home I've run my first 5K (ever!), seen fireworks twice, visited with friends at the camp I worked at last summer, rode the rides at Cedar Point, vacationed with my family at our cottage, started sewing a t-shirt quilt that I started before I left at the end of last summer, bought a plane ticket to go visit people and hang out at the G42 summit in Colorado, and resumed working part-time at my parents' dollar store to make a little bit of money. (Don't worry – I'm working on blogs for a lot of these things, I just haven't had time to breathe, much less time to write).

Before the World Race can officially be done for me, though, I need to finish out my support account with AIM. On paper, I still need $369.50 for their cost of the trip. In reality I had been hoping to raise extra money (through AIM so it can be tax-deductible) to cover the cost of my transportation to and from the race (driving to Georgia and flying back from Florida) and the immunizations and travel insurance I had to purchase for the trip. That stuff adds up to about $1000 extra dollars – bringing me to $1369.50 total. And I just got an email from AIM the other day that they would like to have our support completely in by September 1^st – just under two weeks away. Thanks to those of you who have faithfully donated and also to those who will help me finish this strong. To donate online, please click "support me" on the left side of my blog (rebeccawiltjer.theworldrace.org), or to send a check in, please contact me for the address and instructions.

a big thanks!

Posted in Nicaragua by becky on 7/25/2008

this says it all:

Thank You from becky wiltjer on Vimeo.

A Perfect 10

Posted in Nicaragua by Becky on 7/18/2008

Back when I was all in to gymnastics, I watched a lot of competitions (and the olympics!) and loved seeing when perfect 10's were handed out. Since this year is almost over, I thought I'd share my perfect 10's with all of you.

10.1: 10 countries we ministered in:

Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines, China, South Africa, Swaziland, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Nicaragua

10.2: 10 modes of transportation used throughout this year:

airplane, train, taxi, bus, ferry, tuk-tuk (motorized rick-shaw), kombi (African van), moto, horse, foot

10.3: 10 picturesque places I visited:

Bohol Island (Philippines), the Great Wall, Pacific Coast beaches in Nicaragua, Volcan Pacaya (Guatemala), Cape Point (South Africa), "Christmas Island" (Philippines - I don't really remember the name of the island), Stellenbosch (wine country in South Africa), Hong Kong, Khao Yai National Park (Thailand), Alajuelita (Costa Rica)

10.4: 10 interesting foods I tried:

gallo pinto (traditional rice and beans in central America), pigeon, fried crickets, pulled noodles (China), yuca, rambutan (spiky fruit from Thailand), dragon fruit (another spiky fruit that is bright purple on the outside and looks like a dalmation inside), "big plate of chicken" (in china, I don't remember the name but it was literally a huge platter with all parts of the chicken and noodles and onions and potatoes), numbing spice (also China), papoosas (stuffed tortillas in El Salvador)

10.5: 10 people that stole my heart:

Desiree, Eileen, Levi, Fern, Josie, Elzette, Noah, David, Edgar, Mon

10.6: 10 ministeries we worked with:

Tree of Life Orphanage (Thailand), Khmer Christian Association Orphanage (Cambodia), International Care Ministries (Philippines), G42 (Swaziland), Pneumatix (South Africa), YWAM (a variety of places), Ministerio Mateo 5:16 (Nicaragua), New Song Ministries (Nicaragua), Fundacion ProVida (Panama), Centro Cristiano Alabanza (Costa Rica)

10.7: 10 of the international airports I was in:

Bangkok, Manila, Hong Kong, Dubai, Johannesburg, Zurich, Madrid, Bogota, San Jose, Managua

10.8: 10 places I have slept overnight throughout this year:

tent, orphanage floor, house, hostel, train, bus, YWAM base, bunk beds, plane, hotel

10.9: 10 things I have learned this year:

1: God is faithful - He will never give up on me

2: God answers prayers

3: I can't do anything on my own

4: I am His beloved one.

5: Those who are physically poor are often the richest people we met

6: Unconditional love can happen in a short period of time

7: I am needed and valuable

8: God can do ANYTHING

9: I can and do have an intimate relationship with God

10: Laughter really can cure many things

10.10: 10 things you need to know about me before I come "home":

1: I'm broke.

2: I don't have a favorite country - that's like asking for a favorite candy or scent at bath and body works - too many to choose from!

3: I like parties and balloons

4: It's going to take me a while to get used to American things like flushing toilet paper down the toilet and having hot showers and electricity

5: I have thousands of pictures and a story to go with every one of them (and with some places I couldn't take pictures of)

6: If you ask me "how was your year?" I have every right to respond with "how was yours?" - it's not a question that can really be answered because it encompasses so much

7: I do want to know about fun things that have happened in your lives while I've been gone

8: I have no idea what I'm doing after my first week back

9: I look different inside and out

10: I love you and am so thankful for all of you that have partnered on this journey with me - this is not the end!

Canopy Tour!

Posted in Nicaragua by Becky on 7/16/2008

In Costa Rica many of my teammates were able to do a canopy tour, which is a series of ziplines and platforms through the jungle canopy. Since it never worked out for me to do one there, I was super excited when I found out that there was a tour close to where we've been staying in Nicaragua. Kari and I headed out on our day off last Friday and, well...this is what happened:

Canopy Tour - Nicaragua from becky wiltjer on Vimeo.

Nicaragua: take two

Posted in Nicaragua by Becky on 7/10/2008

We're back in Nicaragua, this time as a whole team (and we're even partnered alongside team ignite for our time here). We are living in a hotel that is owned by our ministry contacts (and all proceeds from this hotel go directly in to their ministry here - Ministerio Mateo 5:16 - look up Matthew 5:16 for an idea of their message), in the city of Jinotepe (a little bit south of Managua, the capital). During our time here my team has been able to do a lot of painting around the hotel (outside walls, rooms, the lobby walls and ceiling, offices - pretty much anything that's needed it has been covered) and that has been a huge blessing to our hosts, Glen and Lynne. We have also been part of ministry at La Quinta, the property on which Ministerio Mateo 5:16 has built a children's home, vocational center, and preschool. Team ignite has been more involved in manual labor over there (painting, sidewalk laying, etc), but we have all taken part in the women's and men's Bible studies, youth group, and church services on both Sundays and Wednesdays. Other ministry that has happened here in Nicaragua are visits to the barrios (slum areas near where we are staying) and visits to the city dump up in Managua. This weekend we will be hosting two separate carnivals for kids in the barrios (one in a smaller barrio on Saturday morning, and a larger one Sunday afternoon) - we plan to hang out, face paint, make balloon animals, play games, and just have a great time with these kids who don't really have anything. My team will be at the hotel through Wednesday and then heading out for a couple days of team time before we meet up with our squad in Granada for our final debrief. Then it's just a week of us all being together before we fly to the states and head off in a million different directions.

p.s. pictures will be up for this stuff soon - I realize it would be a lot more fun to read with the pictures but they're on other people's computers and I can't get to them right now. Thanks for understanding!

TWO WEEKS!

Posted in Nicaragua by Becky on 7/10/2008

It's hard to believe that two weeks from today I will be on an airplane back to the US, and two weeks from tomorrow I will see my family (in person) for the first time in almost 11 months. This year has flown by so quickly and I have been so blessed to be able to participate in the World Race. In order to make it home, though, I need a little bit of help. My support account still says that I need to raise $470.50, and on top of that I was hoping to raise money to cover extra expenses for the trip (including vaccinations I needed, my plane ticket home, and that travel insurance that I haven't had to use - totaling around $800-$1000 - I haven't calculated it all yet). Please pray about how God can use you to help me finish this part of my journey strongly. July 25th isn't the end of my journey, it's just the beginning of another stage of this incredible life that God is leading me through. Thank you so much for allowing God to work in all of your lives, just as He has worked wonderful things in mine over these last 11 months.

A Child's Eyes

Posted in South Africa by Becky on 7/8/2008

This is a video I made back when we were in Africa and have finally gotten to getting it in the right format and such. Enjoy!

Untitled from becky wiltjer on Vimeo.

average?

Posted in Nicaragua by Becky on 7/3/2008

I wrote this in my journal the other day and God told me to share it...so here goes.

I was just thinking about how often I'm good at something but never the best. I can sing - heck, I was in madrigals [an elite choir] for two years in high school, but I'm not the one picked for solos. I've always been a good student, but I was never top of my class or in the running for valedictorian. I can write well, and I tend to have wonderful grammar thanks to a great English teacher long ago, but people don't line up to hear my stories or get held on every word. I can take some pretty stellar pictures (mainly due to my fabulous camera) but somebody always comes along with something better, clearer, brighter. I'll think I got a great deal bargaining down at the market and find out five minutes later that a friend just paid way less for the same thing. No matter how hard I try, how much of myself I pour in to something, somebody is always out there that's better than me.

Let's face it...I'm average.

I'm an average 23-year-old college grad

who plays piano and guitar and french horn

who sings whether anybody is listening or not
who writes when she feels inspired and doesn't write unless she feels extremely inspired
who takes pictures for the sheer joy of being able to look through them months and years later
who reads books just to pass time and spends way too much time on the internet instead of actually interacting with people
who has a few close friends and a lot more aquaintences
who wants to both move back in with my crazy, huge family and move halfway across the country to be part of a crazy huge new family
who has never dated a boy in her life but wants to get married so badly
who reads other people's blogs or books or song lyrics and wishes she could write out her thoughts so profoundly or capture such deep meaning in words or music
who knits and sews and has secret aspirations to make fun things like a quilt or her own clothes
who wears her emotions on her sleeves far too often and then wishes people couldn't read her so well
who wants to climb trees and run around like a little kid but is afraid to because she's supposed to be a grown-up responsible adult now
who loves to organize but also loves her somewhat cluttered closet
who wishes her hair were curly or at least had some (normal) body but has to settle for straight-ish and flat instead
who wants to be fit and healthy but hates to work out and loves junk food waaaaay too much
who loves to dress up and look cute on occasion but is also comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt and chacos any day of the week
who is creative but never gets pegged as the artist in the group
who wears somewhat dirty clothes and tries to portray an image that she doesn't really care what others think while in reality cares way too much what they think and tries to please them far too often...

Okay, so maybe I'm not so average after all. Maybe I'm a unique, one-of-a-kind, special me that nobody else could ever be. So those days I'm feeling like a regular old Joe (or actually Jane because I'm a girl), I should take a look at this and remember who I am:
me

the guatemala blog

Posted in Guatemala by Becky on 6/29/2008

day 1: climb a volcano and roast marshmallows on top of it.
see renee's cartoon strip and caitlin's video for a much better picture than i could put on here with just words.

day 2: visit the hospital for the first time and wander through the crowded antigua markets.
the hospital/orphanage was a really tough place for me to visit as a nurse. the first time i stepped in, all i could see what which patients were being neglected, what kid had been in bed too long, what woman wasn't really as handicapped as she looked but appeared worse because of the conditions she was living in. then i met a girl named sonia and her smile was contagious. i pulled out my spanish bible, and she told me her favorite story was "noe" (noah) so we read about the flood and the hundreds of days of rain and the hundreds of years that abraham lived, and we formed a special bond. i promised to visit her again before we left, and headed back out to explore the city that she lives in but hardly gets to see.
i wandered through the markets (la paca, the "thrift store" of antigua; el mercado - the actual food/goods market; and the guatemalan traditional market) with some of my teammates, taking in the sights and sounds and the crowds of people, stopping occasionally to inquire of the price of a hammock or dress or purse, bartering with the locals to get the best price, and eventually buying my own hammock and a couple souvenirs to take to people back home. i love wandering through markets, perusing the goods, looking for the best quality "stuff"...but i don't like being heckled by every shop owner, i don't like hearing "i give you cheap price, you get best deal today" or other such phrases that are often thrown around in markets all over the world. i think when i get home, i'm going to miss the market feel but i'm going to enjoy going in to stores and not having people pounce all over me trying to get me to buy their "very special products."

day 3: brunch and eventually communion...in a bar
we went as a team (minus heather, who was still in el salvador) out for brunch and good-old fellowship instead of heading out to an actual church service (because we've learned this year that you can have/be church anywhere...not just those big pretty buildings with the crosses on top). after eating until we were stuffed (all-you-can-eat breakfast buffets are not very common, so we used and abused this one like we had never eaten before), we had a really good talk as a team, and ended up taking an extra roll and finishing our morning with communion (and instead of traditional grape juice, we had a few sips of someone's watermelon juice left...very different, much sweeter, but still got the meaning across). what a good way to spend a sunday morning.

day 4: find that special guatemala t-shirt and visit the hospital one last time
i spent the morning looking at various souvenir markets for a guatemala t-shirt (i've been collecting t's throughout the year as they're one of my favorite things to wear) and, though i think i paid way too much, picked up a really cute one with a small frog emblem on the front and a bigger replica on the back.
after lunch time, i headed back out to the hospital for a bit of visiting and a lot of goodbyes. i hung out with sonia for a little while but had forgotten to take my spanish bible along, so communication was much more limited (i understand a lot of spanish, but sonia, along with having some physical disabilities, has a hard time speaking...but she is so smart and goes to school across the street from the orphanage). anyway, she had to go do something so i went and found a couple little boys to play with (and by play i mean push their wheelchairs around and help them try to stick things to walls with tape that was far from sticky, but it was fun anyway)...and they kept me entertained for a while until sonia came back out, and then i had to start saying goodbyes and head out. it ripped my heart out to have to say goodbye to her after such a short time, but we already had commitments in nicaragua we had to get back for.

day 5: catch a ride from our good friend chris back down to guatemala city, eat amazing subway for lunch, and take a bus back toward nicaragua.

the end.

just a quick update...

Posted in Nicaragua by Becky Wiltjer on 6/26/2008

Just thought I'd send out a note to say we're safely in Jinotepe, Nicaragua. We've been on busses the last two days and arrived at a beautiful hotel run by our missionary hosts here with warm showers and private bathrooms and beds...what a blessing. We'll be here until the 18th of July, which is when our final debrief starts. An update from Guatemala will be coming soon (once I've had a chance to write it), and I'll post more from here as well when I find out what we're going to be doing.

Oh, and a side note...I'm still looking for people to help support me in order to finish the trip and make it all the way home. As of right now I need about $800 just to cover the cost from AIM's side, but if I raise extra it can go to cover my plane ticket home, immunizations I had to get, and travel insurance that I needed to buy. Thanks for your willingness to help me finish this strong. God bless!

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