Posted in Home by Angela Grit on 9/13/2011
So Angie I hope its okay but you made an AMAZING video and since my video is stil not uploading I thought I would let my supporters watch your video....visit her blog!
Angie's World Race Adventure from Angela Blattner on Vimeo.
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Posted in M11. India by Angela Grit on 8/11/2011
My team has been to the hopital a few times. Paul has has to spend some nights there and Nikki, Alana, and I have all had to go multiple times to be checked out and diagnosed. None of us have had to ride in an ambulence before...until a few days ago.
But don't worry this was specifically our ride to a ministry site. However we were not doing medical missions. We were actually going to a day care to do a small program. The kids are adorable. Ages 2-5 years old and although they don't speak fluent English yet they warmed my heart with how they would try to do the actions with us for the songs.We have also taken the ambulence to a school, a children's home, and a women's home. It's pretty sweet. And of course we don't use the lights or sirens because we could get in trouble.
This month ministry is scattered. It's a school for a half hour, a day care for an hour, an orphange for 2 hours, but we are finally working with children this month. We did 5 months of door to door. A month working with prostitutes. A month gardening, a month of construction, a month teaching art, and a month playing volleyball. My heart and my sprirt have wanted so badly to work with children and finally month 11 we get to. I'll take the hour or half hour working with them. Thank you Jesus. And thank you Jesus for ambulence rides.
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Posted in M11. India by Angela Grit on 8/10/2011
"I will run
Run father after you
And I will seek your face
In all that I will do."
-A song written by squad mate Cara Parker
"We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain."
-Hebrews 6:19
A Journal Entry:
This past year I have ran a race around the world for you. Bringing Kingdom to nations. I was choosen by you to be a light in the dark. It was your hands that set me upon the lampstand.You poured me out of the salt shaker. It has been you working through me this year. You supplied the strength. The determination. You spoke truths to me. Hard truths. Loving truths. Many times you were my only hope and source of strength. I have fallen and refused to get up so you sat down beside me silently encouraging me to get back up and run harder and faster. And I did.
You told me faith is a choice. You told me that you delight in me. You told me that I am worthy. You told me that this world has lied to me and beat me up and down until I was black and blue. The Devil has thrown in some good punches, in the ring of this world, but you have always been in my corner.
Your power has flowed through me. You have supplied my tongue with words in a language I don't understand, but I feel your power when I speak it. You have supplied my hands with a fire that has burned out diseases, pain, and injuries. You have supplied my eyes with your vision for your children. You have supplied my heart with love.
The truth is that I am tired. My bones seem brittle and muscles are screaming for me to stop. But I will deny my flesh the desires it begs for. After this year how could I just stop? After all I have seen how could I not continue fighting. How could I stop running after you? I will coninue to stand on the frontlines. I will go farther. I will seek your face in all that I do. My hope is you you and that hope is the anchor for my soul. The seas will rage and the winds will blow, but the rope will not break and the anchor will hold.
The anchor will hold and I will not be lost in the angry sea.
I will run farther after you.
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Posted in M11. India by Angela Grit on 8/7/2011
Nothing gets a person's mind racing more than the question what's next? Racers about to head home, students gradutating high school and university, a newly married couple, hurricane survivors, people who have recentley been laid off work all wonder what's next. It keeps many people up at night because it causes the brain to be working at full speed. The fact is that in 24 days I will be back home.
Twenty four days until I am back in the comfort of West Michigan just in time for my favorite season.
Twenty four days until I have access to a clean hot shower.
Twenty four days until I have more than just 4 semi clean outfits.
Twenty four days until I can actually go somewhere by myself.
Twenty four days until no one is telling me what my plan is for the day.
AND that both thrills and terrifies me.
Why? Because the past year of my life has been spent living in a close community, where you learn to think and act as a group, where I was constantly serving and putting others first unless I acted out on a few selfish desires. But instead of holding on to that fear I am throwing it aside. The truth is that I am not that undecisive and frightened girl anymore. I have found out who I am on the race. I am confident, radient, lovely, worthy, and a strong young woman whom the Lord takes delight in. So although what I have tentively planned for my future can and probably will change I will continue to seek the Lord.
So what exactly is next for Angela Marjory Grit?
Well in 24 days the first thing is a long hot shower, a delicious dinner, and sleep. But after that I will be listening to the Lord to see what I am supposed to do until January. I feel pulled in so many directions. Maybe I will see if I can help out with CORE or high school youth group at my church. I will probably try to find a job doing something where I can put what I've learned this past year to use. Maybe do a little photography and a whole lot of time spent with family and friends.
Okay you say that sounds great but after that?
Let me rewind to my month 8 debrief, AKA re-entry debrief. We were presented with opportunties like G42 Leadership Academy in Spain, squad leading a future WR or Real Life squad, and chances to move down to Georgia to work with AIM. All of those sounded great, but something else was on my heart. It shocked me the most because I was so elated to be done last April. The thing that was on my heart was the desire to go back to school. You read that right. I bet now you are wondering what for. Bible? Missions? Social Work? Law? Well let's not get too crazy here. I want to go to Grand Valley State University for Recreational Therapy, but first its back to Muskegon Community College in January to take a few classes so that I can go straight into phase II of the program at GVSU and save a little bit of money.
This year of my life has had its ups and downs, but I'll never forget the memories and stories of the people I came to know. The biggest lesson I have learned is that I can do missions right from West Michigan. I would still love to go out and do missions internationally, but short term. I think the Lord wants to use me in West Michigan. It's funny because never in a million years did I picture myself staying in West Michigan. This year the Lord answered my prayer for travel and missions, but in doing so he showed me ways that he wants to use me back home. Many of those things are still unclear, but my eyes are focused on the Lord and I trust that he has only the best in store for me.
There really is no concrete way to end this blog because there are no concrete plans in my future. Just desires placed on my heart and maybe the Lord will use you again to help answer some of my prayers. Thank you so much for the support you have given me this year. I would love it if you left comments on this blog. It could be advice, or something the Lord has placed on your heart, or maybe its just a small bit of encouragement, but I would appreciate even a small hello. I'll be home so soon!
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Posted in M11. India by Angela Grit on 8/7/2011
Here I am in month 11 with 16 days of ministry left and the thought provoking question that is constantly popping into my head is “What’s next?”. My life for a whole year has been mission work and in 24 more days I’ll be back in the United States living with my dad, no job, no school, and no idea what I am going to do, but wanting to live in this new life I have found. Thankfully God has given me a starting point, which I will save for another blog, but for right now I want to ask you a question; what’s your motivation?
See instead of asking what's next I should be asking myself what's my motivation for finding out what's next? Racers frequently wonder what’s next in their lives especially when family, friends, and supporters genuinely want to know. As racers we throw around terms like "feedback", "time to process", and "finding a calling". After listening to a sermon today by Francis Chan called "Living a Life that Matters", I found myself lost in thought. Francis Chan makes a very valid thought provoking statement. Something along the lines of most of us are waiting to find our calling from God, but what we don’t realize is that it should start from a biblical conviction and not just sitting around praying and fasting hoping to hear an audible voice from God saying do this or that. If you want a calling just open up your bible. Here’s a fact that may be hard to swallow: Sometimes God chooses not to hear our prayers. Say What?!? It's true. Let’s go to Isaiah 58:1-12.
(I like the NIV version but I feel the Message version is easier to understand at first so that’s what I am using for this blog.)
1-3 "Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!
Tell my people what's wrong with their lives,
face my family Jacob with their sins!
They're busy, busy, busy at worship,
and love studying all about me.
To all appearances they're a nation of right-living people—
law-abiding, God-honoring.
They ask me, 'What's the right thing to do?'
and love having me on their side.
But they also complain,
'Why do we fast and you don't look our way?
Why do we humble ourselves and you don't even notice?'
(*The NIV version says, "For day after day they seek me out, the seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 'Why have we fasted' they say, 'and you have not seen it?' 'Why have we humbled oursleves and you have not noticed?'" Basically asking God why do you hear our prayers?)
Now here's the response
3-5"Well, here's why:
"The bottom line on your 'fast days' is profit.
You drive your employees much too hard.
You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight.
You fast, but you swing a mean fist.
The kind of fasting you do
won't get your prayers off the ground.
Do you think this is the kind of fast day I'm after:
a day to show off humility?
To put on a pious long face
and parade around solemnly in black?
Do you call that fasting,
a fast day that I, God, would like?
(clearly we are all about putting on a show, but read Matthew 6:1-4 "Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don't make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won't be applauding. 2-4"When you do something for someone else, don't call attention to yourself. You've seen them in action, I'm sure—'playactors' I call them— treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that's all they get. When you help someone out, don't think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.")
Still wondering what your motivation is or still looking for your calling? Well here you go:
6-9"This is the kind of fast day I'm after:
to break the chains of injustice, (*NIV "loose the chains of injustice")
get rid of exploitation in the workplace, (* NIV "Untie the cords of the yoke")
free the oppressed, (*NIV "Set the oppressed free)
cancel debts. (*NIV "Break every yoke")
What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
(What will happen?)
Do this and the lights will turn on,
and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.'
9-12"If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people's sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You'll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You'll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.
Now please understand this blog is not meant to make anyone feel guilty. I just wanted you all to think about what your motivation for doing things are and point out that maybe we should act first on what the Bible calls us to do and then God will answer us. I don't even know if I am right to say that, but I bellieve to be true. Now I also know that God calls everyone to a different purpose. "We are all one body, but we all are different parts that make up that body." Some of us have been called to go and some people are called to be senders and supporters, but what's your motivation for it all?
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Posted in M11. India by Angela Grit on 8/5/2011
DARABELHILORE = the citiies you were in on your travel day. DAR es Salaam, Tanzanzania. Addis ABaba, Ethiopia. DELHI, India. BangaLORE, India.
** I tried like a bajillion times to upload photos to this with no success. Maybe later.**
This is was the last travel day to a ministry site. How weird is that? It seems fitting that this would be the longest travel day on the world race. Let's rewind to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. We boarded a city bus that we hired to take us to the airport. Once we arrived at the airport we found out that we had to sit outside until we could pass through security inside. We sat ouside for maybe 3 hours. Since we were now the oldest squad out on the field I have to say we were and still are pros at passing the time.
Fun Facts:
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Most airports have security to get to the ticket counter, security to pass into the terminal, and security to pass into your gate. Some places have more.
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We saw the rapper Ludacris in our gate.
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Always keep a deck of card in your carry on bag or purse.
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If you must buy water buy the smaller bottle because you can't take it through security.
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Once we boarded our plane (our squad was located at the very back of the plane) our men helped the stewardesses close the overhead bins sending us all into cheers and applause.
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Plane rides are more fun when a pillow fight breaks out.
Now we have successfully arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A few hour layover is nothing to us anymore. We just camped out on the floor somewhere (we take up a lot of space and a lot of white people attratcs a lot of looks). Once we moved into our gate we were asked to go to the counter to get a sticker on our boarding pass. It was a long wait and as Amber, Cara, and I were at the front of the line the man asked us if we were all together and we said yes. He told us sorry for the wait and he would moves us up to business class. We were excited. Only once we boarded the plane we found out that he actually but us in first class!! WHOO!!
Fun Facts:
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Dinner was pasta, cheese and crackers, bread and butter, salad, red wine or champange, terimisau and teas.
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We recieved thick blankets to snuggle up with on our reclining seats with foot rest
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They give you a small toiletry bag complete with toothbrush and toothpaste, socks, an eye mask, razor and shaving cream, lotion, and mouthwash.
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Amber and I sat by each other and cried together as we watched Soul Surfer.
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I slept so well.
We arrived in Delhi early in the morning and chilled out in the airport until we found out more information about our next steps in travel to Bangalore. The train that night was full so we stayed at Nirvanna Hostel for a night.
Fun Facts:
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We went to city walk mall, which was just like going to a really expensive mall in the states. IT was huge.
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One of my teammates decided to get their first tattoo and I was their to witness it. Now I really want another one.
The next night we boarded a train to Bangalore. Thankfully we were in 3rd class with air conditioning. Our area on the train had 8 bunks total. Three on one wall and three on the other. The last 2 were across the aisle.
Fun Facts:
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They served only spicy food on the train, which does not bode so well for my tummy.
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You can see the tracks if you look down the toilet.
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Keeping your valuables with you while you sleep still does not gaurentee that things won't be stolen. Just ask a few of my squadmates.
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If you have a top bunk and people below you like to sleep you are either up in that bink until people wake up or you can stand up and walk around.
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It's surprisingly easy to sleep on a train. It's like being rocked to sleep.
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Our journey was about 36 hours total
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We spent 2 nights on the train.
By about 8:30 AM on the 4th we arrived at the YWAM base here in Bangalore. So far things are slow, but this is going to be one awesome last month. Twelve of us women are sharing a room which should make for some fun stories or videos. (We are working with the all women's team; Team W.O.W) So here's to ending our last month with a BANG! (haha get it...our last month is in Bangalore, India....okay lame attempt at being funny!)
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Posted in M10 Tanzania by Angela Grit on 7/18/2011
Re. It’s just two little letters, yet when put in front of a word it changes the meaning entirely. For example, it can either mean to go back as in recall, or it can mean new or again as in rebuild. Little did I know that R-E was the world race summed up. The whole race is based around these to two letters, r and e.
Case in point:
The world race starting with training camp asks you to reexamine your life. To look back on who you were and who you want to be. To examine the stories that make up your life and ask yourself how God was moving through each and every one of them though you may not have seen it at the time. You spend the majority of your time on the field reexamining who were once were and who you are now. You reexamine your day in ministry and you reexamine you daily interactions with your teammates during feedback.
The world race helps you to realize how redeemed you truly are. You probably knew that you were redeemed the day Jesus hung on the cross, but you ,or at least I have, come to understand the depth and weight of that sacrifice here on the race. I realize now that because I was redeemed on that day I don’t have to keep striving for it daily.
There are times on the race when you become refreshed. Now I am not just talking about the 4 month period when that was the team I was on. I am talking about the times on debrief, rest days, after a good sermon, or some good quiet time when the Lord refreshes you mind, body, and soul. When you don’t feel like pouring out anymore the Lord pours into so much that the only thing you can do is to continue to pour out.
The Lord restores you. He energizes you giving you new strength to continue on. He also returns you into the person he had planned for you to be. The funny thing is that you didn’t realize that you were straying from the person he had planned for you to be until you came on the race. At home you did not realize that you had listened to the lies of the world telling you to be someone else. Restoration is a painful process and occasionally long, but worth it in the end because you are walking in your true self.
On the world race you become redefined. After months and months of being broken and thinking that this is the worst decision you have ever made the Lord provides you with breakthrough and revelation. After months of different ministry and seeing the world the Lord places a whispering in your heart. A whispering that soon becomes a calling. You then realize that all the brokenness and hardship He walked you through has defined your life and redefined who you want to be. People back home probably won’t recognize the person you are now.
The next R-E word I am learning to embrace is reentry. While the Lord may teach me another word beginning with re between now and my reentry, this is the word that is currently on my mind. To return home is on everyone’s minds now since we are so close. Reentry means a lot of things. It’s the next big adventure after these past 11 months. Can I keep all the things I have learned on the race? Will I be able to live and continue to walk in this new me? Do I believe that the Lord will continue to show me my next steps once home? These are the questions that race through my mind daily. And though I am itching to go home I know that reentry is not going to be as easy as I hope it to be.
When I arrive home I plan on being able to rewind, replay all the photos, videos, and stories I have. I hope to revamp my room, relax for awhile, and readjust to life back home. So I guess it looks like I have a lot of R-E back home too.
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Posted in M10 Tanzania by Angela Grit on 7/9/2011
I’m about a week into my tenth month. It feels surreal almost like I am stuck in slow motion. Caught up in between wanting to go home and trying to make the most of the few weeks I have left on the race. When I decided to join the World Race it was taking a leap of faith. Jumping off the deep end so to say. Never have I ever left my family for more than two weeks; even when I was living and working at Camp Geneva I would still go home almost every other weekend.. Never had I ever left the United States. Yes, I went to Puerto Rico my senior year of high school, but it’s a U.S territory and you don’t need a passport to go there or to get back into the states. I thought I knew what I was getting myself into on the race. I knew I was jumping off the deep end, but I thought I was a good swimmer. Little did I know that I had only ever swam around in the deep end with my floaties (comforts from home) on and jumping off this time I didn’t have them. Sure I could swim and tread water by myself, but I could only do that for so long before I started sinking and panic began to overwhelm me. I had to trust God to help keep me afloat. I’ve had my shares of ups and downs on the race and found myself wandering and lost, but God always knew where I was. I’ve learned a lot and I’ve learned to take more leaps of faith.
However, one leap of faith was a little bit more difficult to take.
This one….
It required more courage and more trust in things that were beyond my control.
I jumped 145 feet head first into the Nile River with nothing but a big “rubber band” fastened to a strap tied around a towel that was wrapped around my ankles. You maybe saying hold on a minute what does bungee jumping have to do with taking a leap of faith? I’ll tell you.
My bungee jumping experience was and still is a lot like my world race experience. I was stoked to do it. Watching people jump was like reading people’s blogs before I left on the race. Training camp was like climbing the stairs to the tower. Both exciting and exhausting. The time between camp and launching on the race was like waiting for my turn to jump. So many emotions running through you during both of those times. Countless pep talks, many prayers, excitement, nervousness, you name it. Being tied into the safety equipment and the bungee equipment is comparable to making your way to the airport. You are so excited to leave, trusting in the Lord and the equipment, but to nervous to say your goodbyes. Shuffle hopping to the edge of the tower all strapped in is like after you have boarded the plane. It’s practically to late to turn back and go home to where it’s safe. You could, but you probably won’t. The moment you begin to fall is like that plane taking off. Now it is too late and you are terrified. The next few seconds of the fall, the ones where you think it’s not so bad because you body is waiting for the ground or something else to catch you, is exhilarating. That’s like meeting your squad at the airport you are all to fly out from together. The few seconds of the fall after your brain realizes that there is no ground to catch you and you are absolutely terrified is comparable to your launch. You realize this is it, you can’t turn back, you have made your choice, and you pray to God you made the right one. The second your head and upper body hits the water is pure elation and it’s wicked sweet. You can’t believe you’re alive and you are stoked to see what happens next. In fact you want to do it again. This is the part after launch when you are stoked to get to your first month.
Now comes the time for the bungee cord to snap you back sending you flying upwards. You are excited, you let go of all the tension in your body, and you let out a scream mixed with fear and elation. Something in you releases. Welcome to month one my friends. It’s a shock both terrifying and exciting. Now the months in between that moment and the moment you hit month 10 is most like the next few ups and downs on the bungee. It’s fun, a little scary still, and by this time you are kind of ready to be done bouncing all over the place. In world race terms this means constantly packing up and traveling every 3 weeks or so.
From here on out I can only guess what things might be comparable to on the bungee cord. I think month 10 will be like hanging upside down waiting for the raft to get to you. Your head is starting to hurt and things seem to be taking forever. Month 11 might be like finally seeing the raft and the people in it sticking up the paddles telling you to grab on. Final debrief will probably be like the moment you grab onto the paddle and begin to be pulled into the raft. When you finally are lying down in the raft you don’t know what way is up or down and for a few seconds you are so disoriented because the blood that was all in your head is spreading out. That will probably be like landing back in the U.S.A. Making your way to the stairs to climb out of the boat and attempting to walk and climb up stair to get back to the main land will most likely be the plane ride to get back home. It seems to last forever. At the top of the stairs you have to sit down for a moment and catch your breath. You realize that the adrenaline rush you just experienced followed by the workout has completely wiped you out physically and emotionally. That’s how I imagine my first few hours home. Now comes the part when you get to walk back to see everyone who was filming and taking pictures. They shout for joy both excited to see you alive and ready to relive it all. This must be like the first few days and maybe even weeks home, but the headache that sets in a little later must be like the realization that you don’t know what normal is even more.
I guess I can let you know if this is what its really like. Or if you have done the race you can let me know if this sounds about right. For now I guess I’ll just leave you with a few more pictures of my bungee jumping experience. I survived it alright. It will have to do until I get home to tell you how my leap of faith into the World Race actually turns out.
unlike Angie I did not look down
Also shout out to Camp Geneva! if you look close enough I am wearing my summer staff shirt!
I was trying to tell Angie that I didn't want to do it anymore...
...too late...
I had my face buried in Angie's neck because I couldn't look
I also gave her the biggest and longest bear hug of my life
almost there...
coming back up out of the water was sweet!
this is flying back up and getting whipped. This is when I finally screamed.
Now it is time to chill upside down for a bit..i felt a little like a bouncy bat ( the animal)
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