As the World Race comes to a close, I have been trying to reconnect with people back home. Some people have been badly bruised and scarred this past 11 months and I know they will still be hurting when I get home. Some people 'get it' now! They are filled with the fruits of the Spirit and their lives just seem to have blossomed!

Then there are others that have completely turned away from God and have turned to Buddism or Atheism. Over the last few days, my heart has been broken for these people. These are people that I have known for years. I can't even describe the grief that I have felt for them.

We have traveled across the world and spread the gospel to so many people and we have seen so many lives transformed. Several of the people that we have spoken to this year had never even heard the name of Jesus and had no idea who He was or what He did, much less how much He loved them.

The most disheartening thing is that these men and women that I know have heard who Jesus is and they have heard what He did for them and they don't care. They have chosen to not believe in Him and it breaks my heart for them to be so disillusioned.

Please join me in praying for them! Everytime I contact home, I seem to find out about more and more people who have turned away from God. I don't understand what is going on, but I intend to 'fight this phenomenon' with pray.  

As of today I only have 10 more days on the Race. I can't believe that it has gone by so fast! I wanted to take a few minutes and thank A LOT of people who have helped me on my path through the World Race. God has allowed me to do amazing things these last 11 months and I can't even express how grateful I am to Him for allowing me to be a part of this amazing journey. But I can express how grateful I am to everyone else, so here goes...

(Just a warning: This kind of sounds like I just won the Oscar or something, although it really wasn't intended to be this corny.) 

I want to say a big THANK YOU for all of those who have been reading my blogs while I have been on the Race and special THANK YOU for those who have been commenting on them!  It's really nice to know that people haven't forgotten about me while I've have been out on the field. So THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

I also want to thank all those people who have supported me financially throughout the World Race. If it wasn't for your kindness and generousity this trip would not have been possible. Thank you for believing in me enough to allow God to do wonderous things through your support. You may never know all that your contribution did or the people that it touched, but God does and I sincerely thank each of you for it!

Thank you to everyone for all the prayers that have been prayed for me and the people we've ministered to and the World Race in general. I can't tell you how much that means to me! Sometimes I think other people's prayers have helped me get through a whole lot!!!! I probably will never know how many people prayed for me but I know people did and I know that it helped make all the difference! 

I don't think I will be ever able to thank Diane and Orrin Cope enough for all that they have done for me this year. I love you guys so much! And I am so thankful that God put people like you in my life and my family's life! Your support and love will never ever be forgotten. I can't wait to tell you stories about this past year that you helped happen! May God pour His blessings out on you both!! 

I also want to thank AIM and Seth and Jerry for allowing me to come on the World Race. It was an honor to come and work along side so many amazing people. Thank you for giving me the chance of a lifetime! There's no words to express just how grateful I am to you all! And thank you to the Pitts and the Days! You four have been awesome. Thank you for caring so much about us! I know without a doubt I'll be seeing you guys in the future! And finally last but not least, I want to thank the Blacks and Andrew for all the time, teaching and counseling that they have poured into us over the last few months of our lives.

And to all the other World Racers, thanks for going on this crazy journey with me! Thanks for your friendships and your love! I know I have made some friends for a lifetime! I will miss you! 

Most importantly, I can't forget my family! My family has been there for me every step of the way on this journey. They have had to deal with all my emotional junk throughout the year, all the tears, all the stress and all the worries and fears. They've had to deal with little to, at times, no contact from me. They've had to deal with all my responsibilites that I left at home, even if it meant a lot more trouble and irritation for them, but they never ever complained. They've helped me on every level and I don't how I can ever thank them enough. I may have been the one who went on the World Race and had a huge life adjustment, but ya'll had to adjust your lives too due to my decision and you did it without any recogintion or thanks. My family has shown me what the true meaning of love and family means. Thank you for everything! I love all of you so very much and I don't know how I could have made it through the Race without ya'll in my life! I am so proud to have you as my family!!!

So thank you everyone who made these last 11 months possible for me! I love you all!

On Friday, I went to a nearby village to check up on a newborn baby boy who was only 2 days old. Melanie and Lloyd are now involved with helping children with cleft palates. After a 30 minute drive through very curving moutains we finally arrived at the family´s house.

To our surprise baby Diego´s cleft palate was much worse then what we had expected to find but also the love that was being poured out onto him was even more surprising. Like in many other parts of the world, fathers here tend to be hands off, if they are even around at all. But not Diego´s dad. Diego´s dad was feeding him as we walked up and continued to feed, burp and cuddle him until it was time for him to go back to work. Men as attentive as this father are hard to find!

Please pray for Diego! He is only 2 days old and already has a little cold, which in Western society might not be bad, but here it´s not good. When he was born, his family thought that his cleft palate was a bad omen. I talked to the mom about a friend of mine that had a cleft palate and didn´t have surgery to fix it until she was around 18 years old. The mom was stunned that my friend had waited so long for the surgery and was able to go to school and function completely normally all those years with it.

As you will see in the picture, Diego seems to be a healthy weight and size for a newborn.

On Thursday we took a trip to Santa Catarina, a nearby village, to check on a what we thought was a new born baby, but it turned out that the mom-to-be had not yet delivered the baby and then we delivered supplies to a few of the other families. On our last stop the family brought out lots of their traditional clothing for us to put on.

In this area, the majority of the women still wear the local traditional outfits. The majority of the men wear Western clothing except for some of the older gentlemen. All the different villages have different styles or colors so that everyone will know what area they are from. These outfits are also now a sign of wealth. Depending on how the garment is made, the family can be viewed as having money.

Most of the shirts that we tried on took about 8 months to make, which they make for themselves! The mother of the family is extremely talented!

So take a tour of our day of wearing traditional Guatemala clothing!

As you may have noticed, we have not been with our orginal teams since China (around December.) Although we have been together as a squad and seen our teams or some of us, like myself, have been with one or two fellow teammates during the last few months this will be a rejoining of the ´original´ teams to end the Race as we started.

Team Lego is now in Panajachel, Guatemala, one of the beautiful villages on Lake Atitlan which is surrounded by volcanoes. The locals here are so friendly and our contacts are amazing! To have contacts as nice as these people is such a gift from God!

Lloyd and Melanie have a coffee house named Soloman´s Porch and have to move from their current location to a new location by May 1st, and that is where we come in. Our days are mostly filled with anything from painting to putting in tile to whatever else may be needed that day. We have had a couple of days where we have gone into nearby villages for ministry. 

I can´t think of a greater location to have our final days of ministry or nicer contacts. God has given us an amazing gift here in Panajachel!

The following blog was posted on Allison's personal blog site but I thought it was really nice and it brought tears to my eyes so I thought I would copy it and post it on my blog site too! During our last days of the World Race, Allison is posting a blog about each squad member, so here's mine! It really is an incredibly nice blog!!!

25 Days!! Christy Linhart

Christy is one of the most joyful people I have ever met. Her laugh is infectious enough to make everyone within a 5-mile radius start laughing too.

Because of multiple reasons I was able to send a decent amount of time in and amongst team LEGO and their entire team was a huge blessing to me. They laughed, joked and goofed around more than any other team on the Race. I remember nights laying in bed reading in Thailand and could hear Christy's laugh echo up the stairs.

God blessed Christy with an extremely joyful personality that she used to the fullest amongst all the children we met along our journeys. In Swaziland Christy was able to connect with the children at the Care Points in Nsoko and lead them in songs, the alphabet and general silliness. She had a way of completely disarming them and showing them the love of Jesus when the rest of us were shy and wanted to hang back.

Because of her love for and background with the kids Christy was also instrumental in helping to teach the Go-Go's (Grandma's) at the Care Points. She helped to organize a teacher training day and loved leading the Go-Go's in songs and further education. Throughout our time in Asia she was deeply involved with kids we met along the way. There were always a couple hanging off of her and she seemed to attract those who were shy and sometimes overlooked.

Christy is fiercely loyal and I have watched her smile and cry with love for her family. Her Granddad means so much to her and we have prayed and supported her and him through some health problems and struggles. Her love for her family is so obvious and we have all enjoyed stories about the antics for her Granddad.

Her love of family easily transferred to her World Race family and she was very connected with her team. The girls complemented each other so well and moved in sync throughout the community living. She and Silas competed with each other for the title of "most witty" and most of the time Christy had him. She could always be counted on for a laugh and quick remark. Christy's joy was a needed and awesome part of our World Race family and her laughter will be missed!

Proverbs 17:22 "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."

EC2 will be heading out to go to Ometepe, a volcano island off of Granada, Nicaragua on Easter Sunday. While on the island we will be working with an orphanage for at least a week.

As many of you already know, my heart is for orphans so I am so excited to work with them  again. One of my prayers before coming to Latin America was to exprience ministry with orphaned children in this region of the world and my prayer is being granted.  

Sunday morning we will be getting dropped off at a bus station around 9:30am and hopping a bus for another city in order to hop on a ferry to go across the lake. Please pray for safe travel on one of the busiest travel weekends here.

As the entire neighborhood walked back to their houses around 11pm we arrived at the house that we would be spending the night. Suddenly our friends started speaking a lot of Spanish while looking between us, the house where we were going to sleep and the house where our bags were. Apparently, it wasn't a good idea at this point of the evening for us to be on the road carrying bags. 

Our creative friends had a solution for this problem though, they would drive a moto to the house with our bags and bring them back to us. That seemed to be the safest way to work this. So Elizabeth and I were ushered inside the house and sat on the couch waiting for our bags to arrive.   

As soon as they did, we were shown our bedroom...yes, bedroom! I thought we would be sleeping either in a large bedroom with several beds and most if not all of the family or on the ground. I can't tell you how excited this made me.

To be honest, that night's sleep was the best sleep I have had in this country up to this point! They way they put roofs on houses here is genius for this weather! It instantly creates a breeze!

The following morning, our hostess called us to breakfast. She served us cereal in pre-packaged bags so that we could eat as much or as little cereal as we wanted. No rice and beans!  

So here's some things that I've learned on this trip:  people around the world are the same deep inside. Home is where your heart is. If your heart's there then you're home; it really is that simple. People realize that we aren't used to certain things, even if we never say a word and in order to make us feel more comfortable they will go out of their way to provide the best they can. People want to be loved and accepted and are willing to go to extradinary lengths acheive it. People will go to extradinary lengths for you to like them.  

Looking back on it, I feel so dumb being nervous about sleeping in the neighborhood. I thought we would be going 'neck deep' into the culture and have all these really wierd or scary things happen, but in reality we simply had a good evening. Nothing wierd or scary happened. It felt like going to a good friend's house for a night.

Although we were 'neck deep' in this culture that evening, I didn't feel like it. It felt comfortable and natural. It felt like home.

During a recent wandering door to door trip down mountian, we were invited to spend a Saturday evening with the local ladies of the neighborhood. At first I was so excited about going 'neck deep' into this culture! We would be sleeping in this neighborhood where we were definetly outsiders and getting a glimpse into their real life. No fronts, just reality. We would be sleeping in their beds, eating their food, going out with them for a local concert Saturday evening (of course, walking there and back in the dark) and then attending church with them on Sunday.

I love these people. I fell in love with Nicas in Granada and fell deeper in love with them here. I was so excited to finally get to be closer to this culture, since I don't speak Spanish I end up missing out on so much. Even with translators sometimes I don't feel like I'm truly getting to talk with a person.

As Saturday came I couldn't believe that I had agreed to spend the night with these ladies. I tried to think of ways out of going without being rude but couldn't come up with any good excuses. I can't speak Spanish and none of these ladies can speak English, which could be a problem. How in the world was I going to spend over 20 hours with these people and not have a decent conversation? Would we be in any danger? Our friends had told us that we would be staying in the safest house in the neighborhood and that it had a gate so that we would be okay, but we never asked them about safety they just volunteered this information. Sometimes it's comforting to know the safety precautions that are taken for you and sometimes ignorance truly is bless. Plus we had to speak at church the next morning, what if I didn't sleep well? I don't function that well when I don't sleep.

However, without coming up with any good excuses to stay home, we set out for the evening. We arrived at our friend's house and immediately all my worries went away. Our friend had on a dress that she was semi-concerned about and wanted to know if she look pretty or ugly in it. It was like being back in America. It was going to be a true girl's night out.

In total a group of about 10 of us ended up walking to the concert together that evening. Once there, we saw all of our friends from the neighborhood. One of our friends even bought us watermelon. And it never mattered that I couldn't speak the language. It didn't matter that my blonde hair stuck out in a sea of dark hair like a light bulb. It didn't matter that I had no idea what anyone was even singing all night. None of that mattered.