Christmas & fully funded!

Hello all!
I wanted to start with a huge praise and answered prayer: I am fully funded! Even though $6,000 is much less than the original $17,500 that I raised the first time, I was still nervous about asking people for funding 12 months after my race ended. Even with my regular attendance at my church, I didn’t have a big sponsorship from them or any large community like most racers have back home. Because of that, I felt nervous and even insecure asking my social media and what felt like random people in my life for donations.

But I have been completely blown away and blessed by the people who responded to my call and donated their finances to me! Some of the people who surprised me the most were people from my church who gave the first time, my dad’s friends, a Young Life leader from middle school who still follows my Instagram, a friend I met at a Young Life camp four years ago, my high school Spanish teacher, friends who are still in college, my friends’ parents, my racers’ parents, and so many more!

This taught me that even if I don’t have a mega church sending me on missions, I do still have a community—people I have met along the way and people who were in my life for maybe only a short time. Everyone who listens to God’s calling to donate, or even just wants to support me, brings me to tears. It inspires me to give more with my own finances and gives me a deeper understanding of the body of Christ—how wide and faithful His children are all around the world.

So thank you again to everyone who has given to my trips, prayed for me, and followed along as I follow the Lord’s calling on my life to lead others and return to missions.

Recent Updates

Things have been looking up since my last email! Here’s a short list of what my squad and team have been up to:

• Christmas caroling five nights straight from 7 p.m. to 2–3 a.m.

• Performing a choreographed dance in front of the church on Christmas Eve

• Wearing custom-made saree dresses for Christmas Eve

• Speaking at a Chinese church and having a celebration and lunch with them afterward

• Squad games and a bowling party

• Making a Muslim friend whom we are continuing to share the gospel with

Team Gili Update

I am obsessed with my team! They have been such a solid rock for me these last few weeks, and I can’t express my gratitude enough. We’ve had consistent team times where everyone is happy to show up and come together. We’ve gone shopping, watched Avatar 3, done crafts—but we also had a powerful day where we honestly shared about the hardships in our minds and lives and received prayer from one another. That team time will go down in Gili history as one of the most impactful.

I’m so thankful that we’ve become genuine friends as a team. That allows us to have fun both during team time and outside of it, which naturally strengthens our ability to grow closer to God and encourage one another during hard moments.

We were invited to speak at a church, and the Saturday before Christmas we did! We shared about the World Race and our experiences, and we were welcomed so warmly. They even celebrated Kynsie’s birthday with us and shared lunch afterward. We’re blessed to have another little family here.

Christmas

On Christmas Eve, my team started the day by getting our hair washed and styled at a salon, which was magical. They washed my hair without running water, using shampoo (and maybe some water?) from a bottle while I sat in the chair, and they even massaged my scalp before rinsing and styling it.

Later, I took a short break and watched Avatar 2 on my laptop to prepare for watching the third one the next day. Before church started, some women came and wrapped and pinned our sarees for us, and of course we took lots of fun pictures.

Church was loud, energetic, and completely centered on praising Jesus. There was a huge dinner for everyone, my squad performed our dance and sang songs, and then we had an epic countdown—it honestly felt like New Year’s! When midnight hit, everyone went crazy with music, dancing, celebrating, and fireworks. The whole time I was wondering how Santa could possibly come if we were all still awake!

After everything ended, our squad leader team exchanged Secret Santa gifts, and I received a journal and a new pen color from Carter. We slept as long as we could before Christmas morning.

My team opened our gifts together in bed—each of us gave one gift to everyone, so I ended up with six gifts! As a squad, we also did a Secret Santa. I then showed my girls a video I made of their friends and family wishing them a Merry Christmas, including our Swazi shepherd from our ministry there. Everyone was in tears—it was incredibly special.

Later, we went to the mall and watched Avatar 3, then came home for Christmas karaoke with the squad and a White Elephant gift exchange. Around 7 p.m., our squad went to a church member’s house for a traditional dinner filled with lots of singing. We ended the night with a good night’s rest.

Even though I missed two Christmases at home—with my mom and brother together and my dad visiting extended family—I still had a really good Christmas here.

Looking Ahead

We’re starting back up at the school and bakery we’ve been working with later this week, and before we know it, our time here will be over. We leave Malaysia for Guatemala on January 18th, and I think this season is going to fly by—maybe because I’m secretly hoping it does, since I’ll finally have a bed instead of my deflated sleeping pad on the floor!

But I know our time here isn’t finished yet, and there’s still much to do. A few girls on my quad have become friends with a Muslim woman who works at a popular coffee shop here. Most conversations involve her sharing about Islam and comparing it to Christianity, which can be challenging. Still, I see it as a good thing that she’s exploring her faith more deeply, because our prayer is that she will begin to see the holes and untruths in what she’s reading. Please pray that she continues learning about Jesus as the Son of God, not just a prophet.

Now that I’m fully funded, I feel so relieved and able to focus on managing the finances I saved from my job last year. This is also the season when people are applying to colleges and programs for next year, which has led me into a deep season of prayer about where the Lord wants me next.

Prayer Requests

• I’ve had a slightly runny nose for months and would love for it to stop

• That our squad gives everything they have during these final weeks here

• That the Lord brings clarity about my future

That’s all I have for now. Thank you again to everyone for praying and donating to my trip!