And just like that… we’ve finished the race. Nine months flew by, and I’m already back home. Nine months that, at the beginning, seemed daunting and I couldn’t imagine ever ending. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” I thought, the very first night as I laid down in my tent. But oh man, am I glad I did.

The first week back in the states my squad returned to Blackmountain, North Carolina, for some domestic ministry to ease back into life in the US. Same as last September, we did hurricane relief with the Adventures Relief base, and we helped out with jobs such as landscaping, roofing, installing crawl space insulation, and cleaning out a garage. At the end of the week, Adventures Relief hosted a big dinner for all the homeowners so that we could build connection with them and ultimately show them the love of Jesus. As their moto goes: “relationship over task.”

(professional insulators 😁^)

(workin hard or hardly workin 💪🏻^)

We then returned to Gainesville for our very last week of debrief. This week’s schedule looked a lot like any other debrief we’ve had with worship, a designated time of team debrief, squad bonding, and free time, as well as a few additional fun events. For our last fun day as a squad, we did a pickleball tournament, and on the very last night, we dressed up (a very rare occurrence on the race) and had a banquet. After eating dinner together and receiving superlatives and certificates, we had our very last worship night. These moments with my squad were bittersweet as we soaked up all the “lasts” and reminisced on our past nine months together. The next day, we said our 35 goodbyes, and the vans loaded up and headed to the airport, as others (including me) were picked up by their families.

(pickleball!^)

(final banquet^)

Being home has been a rollercoaster of emotions, as was expected, between the excitement of seeing my family and friends again, while remembering and processing the past nine months of my life. Since being home, I’ve been getting back into routine, meeting up with people, working at the coffee shop, getting ready for college, and even dancing again! It seems like I was gone for two weeks but also years at the same time.

As I look back at my year, I see a lot of joy. I see a lot of hardship. Laughter. Fun memories. Grief. Growth. But most of all, I see the goodness of God. No matter the circumstance, good or hard, the Lord’s kindness and grace was displayed, and He showed me that He is not just a God who sits back and watches my life play out, but a God who is integrated and cares about every aspect of my life. He cares. And He cares for you above any capacity you can imagine.

Thank you for walking alongside me on this journey this year. I am so grateful to everyone supporting me, checking in, praying for me, or even just reading my blogs. I truly couldn’t have done it without you. If you would like to hear more stories and experiences from my trip, please let me know! I would be more than happy to meet up with you and share about my year. Thank you, again, for everything!

Mo 😊

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”