India. The last mile… of this race.
Wow, two weeks ago I was in India and now I’m in America! It was really hard to leave India; the people there became like family. But my team and I returned to the States from India about a week ago. With the 11 and a half hour time zone difference, it took a few days to get over the jet lag. We had a few days of debriefing at our base in Georgia, before splitting up from my team and heading back to my parent’s home in Minnesota. I say home because that’s where my family is, but in reality, I’ve now felt at home all over the world now. And I’ve left homes all over the world. I felt at home with the church family in Romania. I felt at home with another missionary team in Albania. I felt at home staying with my team in a villa in the snow in Kosovo. I felt at home with a whole family on a farm and vineyard in Georgia. I felt at home in Armenia with the children at the orphanage. I felt at home with our Turkish “grandma” in Turkey. I felt at home in Jordan staying with a whole family with three girls similar to my own family. I felt at home in Kyrgyzstan when I lived with my whole squad for a few weeks in one house. I felt at home in India with a whole community of believers. Now, I’m home in Minnesota with my family for the month of December just in time for Christmas! As I reflect back on this year, I want to share just one thing before posting final memories and stories from the year. But first, a huge THANK YOU, to everyone who has supported and encouraged me ALL year with prayers, financially, words of encouragement, etc. This year has changed me, and you were a part of it. I’m so excited to share more but here is my latest update for what I’m doing after December!!
Hebrews 12:1, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
This verse has been a long time favorite for me. I used to run cross country in high school. Our coach put this verse on the back of our warm up sweatshirt. Most of our practices consisted of 5-10 mile runs with occasional longer runs on the weekends. But we competed running 5ks, which are 3.1 miles. This year has been like a marathon but each month has felt like a 5k. Each month starts out still learning the course, but by the end, we kick it into full gear heading towards the end of the month. But put 11 of those months together and it feels like a marathon. It’s been a long year, full of highs, lows, achievements, challenges, etc. But I wouldn’t have wished for it any other way. After finishing a race in high school, I’d cross the line and either wish I had ran faster or basically pass out from exhaustion. I think this year will be a little bit of both; we ran hard but I wished I started out a bit faster. I wish I wasn’t so shy meeting people the first few months. I wished I listened to God pushing me to share the gospel with more people. I wished I shared my testimony more. The list could go on and on but one thing I learned from running cross country, there is always another race coming up. So there’s no time to wish you did something different, but time to train and go for it again with the wisdom and knowledge of running the race the last time.
So… with that said, I’d like to share with you that I’ll be going on the 10/40 World Race Alumni Trip with Adventures in Missions. It’s a 5 month mission trip with alumni of the World Race starting in January 2023!!! This trip will continue the work done in the 10/40 window, which is an area with the most unreached people groups. They have very limited opportunities to hear the gospel. So, my team and I will be heading to Kyrgyzstan, Jordan and Egypt. Already being in Jordan and Kyrgyzstan makes me really excited to go back and continue the work, maybe even see some of my friends that I got to share the gospel with already! God is on the move in these places and I’m honored to be a part of it!
I will be fundraising again for this trip. This time I need to raise $9,500 USD for transportation, lodging, meals, visas, etc. I need to be 50% funded by Jnauary!! If you feel led to donate or know anyone who does, here is a link to my website DONATE HERE or you can use venmo, @clleverich.
If you would like to hear more about my just finished race or this upcoming trip, I’d love to chat! Let me know!
Love, Clara Grace
I will also have a new blog link, https://missional.life/claraleverich/stories. You can follow me here!
Phone number: +1 320-510-2421
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @clleverich
