Posted in General Articles by Sarah Rinn on 12/5/2006
 So I was thinking I didn't want to throw you guys off by actually writing a blog on time, and thats why I waited over a week for this one. So here it is my final blog of World Race 2006:
I have arrived home and am now back residing in New Braunfels, TX. I got home last Sunday night after a Thanksgiving in New York with my family. Upon arriving at the airport I was greeted by a crew of friends and supporters welcoming me home. It was so great to see everyone and get to enjoy some Mexican (well the Texas version) food together. Thank you guys for being there from the start to the finish line!
This last year was one of the best years of my life. There were trials, joys, laughs and cries. More than anything I experienced the love of God and His grace. I am so thankful that the Lord chose me to go on the World Race 2006. I will never forget all the memories, adventures, and lessons God taught me along the way. I want to thank each and everyone of you for praying, supporting, emailing, reading my blog, and commenting this past year. Thank you so much for being a part of a year that has changed my life and for loving me through it all! You guys are the greatest! So for the final time and until the next adventure: Peace out foo's!
Love You! -Sarah
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Posted in General Articles by Sarah Rinn on 11/4/2006
I haven't blogged in a while!
To my avid readers I have to apologize (again) for taking so long to get a blog up. Maybe when I explain the last few weeks you will understand:
So Kim and I were blessed to get to return to our wonderful family for the 2nd week of Beat the Drum. We were also joined by Chad and Paul, which made the already full house, even crazier. Getting to spend extra time with this family was such a blessing. I was able to have several good conversations with Mieta, who is still battling breaking away from alcohol. We also had the opportunity to talk about Jesus to the always drunk gardener, who came by most nights. We hope to have planted some seeds.
The best part of the week for me had to be the relationships I built with 2 of the girls in the class. I team taught with Chad this week, and on the 2nd day of teaching we were able to split up the guys and girls for gender specific talks. After class 2 girls came up to me for help. One girl in tears told me she recently had an abortion and now her father wont talk to her, she has been kicked off a counsel at school, and everyone knows about it. In her words, "I have lost everything." Not feeling very qualified in the counselling department, I turned to scripture and also prayed for her. She didn't own a Bible, so I made a mental note to get that problem solved!
The other girl came to me, also crying, because her boyfriend of several years, who she has a 1 1/2 year old child with, beat her recently and broke up with her. She told me she believed in Jesus and had a Bible, so I gave her a few scriptures to read whenever she felt sad and alone. I also got to spend precious time telling her who she is in the Lord and that she deserved much better than this guy.
My heart broke for these girls as I realized how blind I am to some problems in the world. Chad had a guy tell him that he and his girlfriend were both HIV positive. He asked Chad what the chances were of their baby having HIV. It shocked me how real the problem of HIV/AIDS is here. That wasn't the only story from kids we heard that knew they had HIV. I realized how important it was to share the information we have about the disease with these kids because they have never been taught the facts.
Finally, the last day of class came, and Chad shared a powerful testimony with our class. Most all of them made a decision for abstinance until marriage! The best moment of the week though had to have been when Chad asked the class who wanted to accept Jesus into their hearts and all 36 kids shot out of their chairs! It was a powerful and moving moment for me, to see God give these kids a hope that they had never known before!
So the morning after our last teaching day we headed out at 6am for a 6 hour drive to a town called Ugie where we would work a camp for 7th graders. All throughout the week we had spent time preparing and planning our teaching times, games, and activities. I, of course, chose to be on the game committee. We had picked a theme of Quest for the weekend and focused on "An Invitation into the Epic Life." In about a day and a half, Chad and Gary taught through sessions called "The War Begins," "Chosen by the King," "The Great Invasion," and "Suiting Up for Battle." Saturday night Gary had the opportunity to present the Gospel.
 Almost every single kid, besides one or two that already knew Jesus, came up front to receive HIM! It was incredible. The next morning after the last session, group leaders were had the privaledge to "knight" their kids and welcome them into the family of God. The best part for me was to see how each of the World Racers' gifts played a part into making the weekend so wonderful.
Directly from Ugie, we left for a town called Matata. Here we would spend the first couple days of the week visiting different schools and showing the "Beat the Drum" video and another called "In Your Face," which gives the terrifying facts of HIV/AIDS. During this time we were also given the opportunity to visit an AIDS home and pray for people there. That experience was a little hard for me to handle.
Following the Beat the Drum in Matata, we left for one of Anna-Maire's favorite places on the Wild Coast. Here we stayed for a couple days to relax and enjoy the ocean...although the rain kept us from doing that most days. We did get to hike one day for 4 hours along the coast...it was beautiful!!! During this time, we got to relax for a bit before heading back to Jeffery's to start our official debrief sessions. I can't believe the time is almost over!
So basically the last week we have started debriefing the year and preparing to come back home. However, in the midst of this, Anna Marie wanted us to have one more last ministry day as a team, which was yesterday. So the Red team got together and prayed about what God wanted us to do. We decided that we s
 hould do a mini-open air near the beach, sharing testimonies, the gospel, and our drama for one last time. However, in World Race world, nothing ever goes as planned. We were not able to find a place that would let us use their power for our sound system...so time for plan B.
Our original goal was to play with some kids and share the gospel, so we decided to grab a few street kids and play some soccer near the beach. Ashley literally said, "Hey kid, you want to play some games? Get some of your friends." And like that we had 3 kids of 10, 13, and 19 follow us down to a grassy area for some soccer....which eventually turned into rugby. After the playing, we sat down in the shade and Ashley showed the kids her old iodine/bleach experiment from Guatemala, sharing the gospel through it. Gary asked the kids if they wanted to accept Christ, and the 19 year old said yes! We prayed with him right then and there. He also wanted us to pray for them because they live on the street and don't always have food. Gary made a promise to find out more information for him about a program here that helps to get kids off the street. He was going to meet our friend today at noon with the information and lunch! It still amazes me that we may make plans for things, but the Lord knows exactly where he needs us!
That brings us to now. We will spend this next week debriefing more and thinking back on a year of fun memories. There are only about 10 more days before we are officially done and everyone breaks off to different places. Most of us will head to Cape Town for a couple days before flying back to Johannesburg and then home. Pray for us as the end draws near, and we have to say goodbye to friends we have spent the last year of our lives with! It has been a wonderful adventure with wonderful people! So until something else blog worthy happens on this trip...peace out foos!
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Posted in General Articles by Sarah Rinn on 10/15/2006
Once again we have been at a ministry place with out interent access. Here is the update from the last week.
After all the rest of the Americans arrived in South Africa, and we had some debrief time, we all raced down from Johannesburg to Jeffery's Bay. Still waiting on the official results, I'm pretty sure we came in 3rd, 30 minutes behind both South African teams. Last week from Jeffery's we headed to a small town to teach a program called Beat the Drum in 2 of the local schools. Beat the Drum is designed to openly discuss the issue of HIV/AIDS and lead the kids to make a decision for abstinence. More than 30 million people in Africa are now infected with HIV.
While working in the schools, we were split up to stay in homes with families around the community. Kim Lynch and I stayed with an amazing family! When we first walked in the house there had to be about 20 people. We knew we were in for an adventure! Finally we discovered that Mamma Kate and Papa Stanley only had 2 kids, but about 8-10 other family members and friends also stayed in the house. I felt a bit like I was living with the Cosbys or Jeffersons.
One of the most amazing parts about the week (outside of seeing many kids make a commitment for abstinence and some even for Christ), had to do with our family. On Friday night, we had a youth service at the church that was hosting us. The daughter, Shandra, the aunt, Mieta, and the best friend, Twiggy, of our family showed up. When they came in Mieta immediately started talking to me about how she had been drinking all day and how she "used to be a Christian", but doesn't go to church anymore. I explained to her that you don't have to go to church to be a Christian but need to make a commitment to Jesus. She seemed to know this but told me that she wasn't ready, but that sometimes reading God's word makes her feel good. I told her that if she hears God knocking on her heart, she needs to open up the door to Him.
Well by this point the service had started. So I had to wait till it was over to finish our talk. During the service we did the "In the Light" drama, which deals a lot with being bound to alcohol and drugs. I was hoping it would hit home with Mieta. Later in the service, Stefan, invited those who wanted to accept Christ to stand up (I didn't know this at the time because it was in Afrikans, but found out later). Mieta and Shandra both stood up! Kim found out from Mieta afterwards that she did accept Christ and wanted to "not do bad things anymore." I talked to her a lot about how she doesn't have to give into the temptations because Jesus has conquered sin for her! It was amazing what God did that night!
So here is where we are now. Kim and I were originally going to join another group to go work at a Bible college, but feeling called back to the Beat the Drum ministry and our family, we are going to the same town to work in a different school this upcoming week with the other group. The best part about it is we get to live with the same family! We are so excited to hopefully get to disciple and minister more within that home! Mamma Kate takes such good care of us and makes sure that we don't go hungry! God has blessed Kim and I with such an amazing family and ministry opportunity, and I can't wait to see what He does this week!
P.S. Next blog I'll try to get up some pictures of our family!
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Posted in General Articles by Sarah Rinn on 10/6/2006
 So I wanted to let you guys know about our last visit to the orphanage in Tanzania. This is the first time I've been able to get to an internet for a long enough time to post a blog, so here's the story.
The last few days in Tanzania, our group was moved from the church last minute to go stay at the Bishop's Bible college because he wanted to spend some time with us. While it was a nice gesture, we were a little sad leaving so spur of the moment because we weren't able to tell many people bye including the orphans.
The day before we left however, Lana, Estee, Leisl, and I got to make an early morning trip into town, take a dula dula down to the area we the church was, and make a 45 minute walk to visit the orphans one last time and tell them goodbye. When we walked up, they were so excited to see us. Many ran up to us to give us hugs! We only had about 1 hour before we would get picked up, so we had to make it worthwhile.
Leisl had the idea to talk to the kids about how because they belonged to Jesus, the King of Kings, they were princes and princesses in God's eye. To help them understand we let each kid make a crown to wear and remind them of how important they are to God. As we spread out the glitter and glue, the kids sat wide-eyed not knowing what to do with it. After showing them how to get started, smiles came to their faces as they each took the time to make a crown.
As Lana and Estee worked on fitting the crowns to the kids' heads, I took pictures of each child so he or she could see how they looked in their crown. Smiles would beam on each face as I showed the pictures! When I looked at the joy of these kids, I was reminded of God's compassion and heart for each of us. What a precious reminder it was of how God loves each one of us, and how we are all princes and princesses in His eyes!
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Posted in General Articles by Sarah Rinn on 9/27/2006
Ok so sorry for lack of communication, but here is the deal. It just so happened that we found out debrief wasn't happening in Kenya. Since I was with the South Africans, and they were eager to go ahead and try to fly standby to South Africa early, of course I hopped on board with that plan. We left Tanzania and headed to the airport in Nairobi where exactly 11 seats awaited all 11 of us for standby! We flew in last Saturday night.
We are now staying at Alabanza on an AIM base. Other than not having internet connection or a way to reach you guys, it has been great. Today we finally made it to an internet cafe, but don't have much time so I have to keep this short. Soon the other Americans will be in and we will start debrief. It has been so fun experiencing the home country of people we have lived with for the last 9 months! They even took us to a rugby match...so fun! Ok well I have to go, but when internet is availiable for more time look for an upcoming post about our last visit to the orphans in Tanzania...it was amazing!
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Posted in General Articles by Sarah Rinn on 9/14/2006
That's what you play when you don't know the Swahili words for Duck, Duck, Goose.
Recently, we have stumbled upon an orphanage run by a lady named Alice. The kids at that come here are orphans because their parents have died of AIDS. It is apparent that some of them probably have the virus as well. Alice keeps the kids during the day and feeds them if she has money, but sends them home to other relatives to sleep. She teaches them English and about Jesus. The situation of these kids breaks my heart.
The first time we visited they were very reserved. The new songs, games, Bible stories, and white people were overwhelming to them. However, since that first time the kids have openned up more. They smile and get excited when they see us coming. Now they even hug us, not wanting to let go when we leave. It has been a blessing to work with Alice and encourage her in her ministry. Please pray for these kids, Alice, provision, and health.
God continually is breaking my heart for these people. They are so giving to us. Yesterday on the way to the orphanage, John our translator, bought Jessica and I some sugar cane. He has nothing and wears the same suit everyday. Also yesterday,Estee and I went back to visit one of the Muslim ladies that accepted Christ. She walked about 10 minutes and back to get us some cool drinks. The Tanzanian people are amazing. God has shown me so much love and compassion through them! Please pray for this country and that God's glory be revealed more and more here.
Ok now for the good part, the pictures...
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Posted in General Articles by Sarah Rinn on 9/6/2006
It all started on the plane from Cairo to Nairobi. I was expecting to minister with my team and the brown team in Kenya, when unexpectedly Anna Marie asked me to travel down to Arusha, Tanzania with the South Africans. I prayed, felt a peace about it, and was excited...so Tanzania it was!
The next surprise happended when we arrived at the airport, but unfortunately most all our luggage did not. I'd like to say this might have been an answer to prayer since before we flew we prayed to live this next month in simplicity...I think God got a kick out of this one:). Anyways, the missing luggage ended up being a blessing in a way because each of us got $80 from the airline for our bags and planned to have them delivered directly to Tanzania. However, the time frame of this was undetermined. I faced the possibility of living in the same pair of clothes for the next 4 or 5 days. With only 3 packs from which we could share clothes and supplies, we headed down to Arusha on faith.
We are now living in an evangelical church in Arusha near the base of Mount Kilamanjaro. I am so excited to be here. There is something so freeing in your spirit about Africa. Something that makes you long to draw closer to God. I love it here!
The past couple days we have spent going door to door with the gospel. God has been so faithful in showing us the fruit of His work as I have already seen 6 women accept Christ in the last 2 days! I am blown away by how eager these people are to soak up the truth...all they need is someone to share it.
The next few weeks will be spent this way. I'm stretched in the area of sharing the gospel but so thrilled to be given the chance share God's gift with others. Please pray for us as we daily go out to meet new people and present salvation. Pray we do it boldly and that the people don't see us but see God in us. Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in Tanzania!
P.S. Our bags showed up the next night in Tanzania! Praise the Lord!
P.P.S. I have lots of good pictures, but they may have to wait till I get more time or to a more reliable internet.
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Posted in General Articles by Sarah Rinn on 8/30/2006
 Let's just say it is a good thing we aren't rich men on this trip because I've seen a camel, and it is not fitting through!
We are back in Cairo after about 10 days down in the heart of Egypt doing ministry. We worked with the Coptic Orthodox Church and had the privaledge of staying in the Bishop's house. Our first full day we were taken to a monastary and given a free tour around the places where the holy family lived a majority of their time in Egypt. Things couldn't get any better than when the monk giving us the tour hooked us up with free icecream and sodas at the end. Can you beat that?
The next week or so was spent in different areas of ministry. We all broke up into different groups. Some people taught English, some worked with orphans, some helped Evelyn (our contact from South Africa living in Egypt) get her classroom ready, and then there was my group. Sisson, Friske, Clara, Leisl and I signed up for helping with an art project the church was working on. The way it was described to us was that we would be doing collages based on the book of Revelations. I was thinking, "Cool, cutting and pasting things in fun patterns, I can do that." Little did we know what we were in for. This project was a full walk through scene with life size depictions of Revelations, intended on being open in 3 days for the public to tour through.
We spent the next couple days helping out painting thrones for the 24 elders, coloring angels, and making trees for the New Jerusalem. My favorite part was making friends while working, exchanging songs in English and Egyptian, and seeing the heart of the people for God. They are so dedicated to their church and fellowship within it.
There were so many different things we did during the time at the Coptic Church it's hard to explain them all. We talked and played games at youth groups, performed many dramas, joined in on the library (English) club, played with kids, and even cleaned all the bird poop off the roof of the Bishop's house...finally the skills I got from cleaning up after my baby chicks came in handy.
Also while staying at the Bishop's house, we appropriately went through a study of Joseph and his times in Egypt. I was again reminded of how God is so much more concerned with our character than our circumstances. Joseph spent years in prison while God prepared him for what glory was to come. God spoke to my heart about the trials we all must go through before we can see the reward at the other end.
God is alive and at work in the heart of Egypt. The Christians here are persecuted for their faith daily. In a country dominated by Muslim culture, sometimes the Christians have to wait extra long for supplies. They are not allowed to build churches or even do repairs without government permission. Yet the ones I met are completely dedicated to their faith and have joy only found in the Lord.
Today we had the opportunity to see the pryamids, the only remaining wonder of the anceint world! Not only that but we had some camel riding fun as well. Tonight and the next couple days will be spent debriefing our time in Egypt. Friday night we will take an overnight flight to Kenya. As this race is getting closer to the end, I am so thankful to have experienced so much of God's grace, love, and provision. Yet, I am still so excited to see what God has in store for the next leg. Please pray for us as money is getting tight with unexpected travel expenses. I ask that you especially pray for those who do not have the full amount of money raised to finish the race. By faith we know that God will provide for them to not only run the race but to finish it as well. That's about it my friends...God bless and thanks for the prayers and support!
Here are a few more pictures of Egypt and our time here:
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Posted in General Articles by Sarah Rinn on 8/17/2006
The adventure to Cairo is complete. We arrived late last night at about midnight so excited to sleep in a bed after a night in a bus, one on a ferry, and another in the airport. Here is the scoop on the trip:
 So last I left you we had travelled overnight by bus to Antalyia in Turkey. We had a couple hours in the bus station before we boarded our 8 hour bus down to the ferry port. Everything was going smoothly, other than having to pay to use the bathroom everytime we stopped in the station...my small bladder is probably solely responsible for the Turkish bathroom industry staying afloat. Anyways, we get about 1 hour outside of our destination and the bus breaks down! Kim, Chad, Jessica and I pass the time with some spades playing as we sit by the side of the road waiting for another bus to come with the part to fix ours. I was having Mexico break down flashbacks until we got back on the road about an hour and a half later.
The remainder of the trip wasn't much more pleasant as the driver apparently tried to make up some of the lost time, making all of us nauseated by the end. Finally we got to the port and found out there was a midnight ferry over to the Turkish side of Cyprus. We had a couple hours to grab some food and relax a bit before boarding our next form of transportation.
Around 11pm we made it on the ship and found the only area big enough on the boat for us to all sleep. We were still surrounded by Turks and even woke up the next morning with random people sleeping near us. Kim almost had herself a snuggle buddy. Somewhat rested, but getting smellier we worked our way through customs and made friends with an English speaking student living in Cyprus. He was a blessing from God!
Now those of you who don't know much about Cyprus may not know that half of the island is owned by Greeks and the other by the Turks. Each side doesn't like each other much or allow travel of inhabitants to the opposing sides. We had to get from the Turkey side to the town of Larnaca, where the airport is, on the Greek side. Obviously mass transportation was not taking this route because of the travel restrictions. So this is how we did it.
Our friend from the ferry offered to help us get to his town where we could walk across the boarder. On the way, we must have been getting really smelly because he offered us to come over to his house and take showers before we crossed over. He said it was close to the boarder and easy to get across from there. Feeling the gunk of 2 days without showers and sleeping on public transport, we were so happy to accept.
At his house, we were introduced to his roommate who also speaks very good English and is a student. While we were taking turns showering, our friend went and bought us food, offered us drinks, and allowed us to sit and talk with them in a cool room with a fan. We were thankful for the break and glad God had put these people in our path. After discussing a lot of topics, Chad brought up religion. He did an amazing job of presenting some hard core Christianity facts to these 2 Muslims and challenged them to do some research. It was very interesting hearing about their beliefs and world views. I pray God may work in these guys with the seed we planted.
After a couple hours of good conversation and relaxing, our friend took us to the bus stop and helped us catch a 5 minute bus to the boarder. There we walked across passing through the Turkey and Greece customs. However, now on the Greek side we found out it was a holiday and that big busses weren't running to Larnaca. Taxis were pretty expensive so we spent a while here trying to get a free ride. We tried asking random people, the UN, and even the Greece boarder patrol...but that wasn't allowed unless we were arrested. Finally we had to give in and take a taxi.
We got to the airport Tuesday by 5pm and found out the next flight to Cairo wasn't until the following night at 10pm. Sleeping in the airport it was then. We set up post in a corner of the cafe area. All was great, we played some card games, got free Sbarro pizza from a friend that Kim made (that makes both meals free for the day--praise God for providing), did some reading, played some farkle dice, until it was time for bed and the cafeteria lady got upset about the sleeping people everywhere. She eventually kicked us out of upstairs and made us go back down to the terminal. Luckily we found another spot to sleep in a corner...it was nice!
The next full day we spent trying to get our bags adjusted to the weight limit, cooked some food out on the patio outside (not so sure about the legality in an airport of the propane tank we were using for that), played more cards, and had some good conversations. 10pm came around and we were on our plane to Cairo. We arrived safely, used airport services to find the cheapest hotel, and made it to the New Palace Hotel around 2am...ready to sleep in a bed. What a trip!
Now in Cairo I am trying to get a hold of a man that TBarM has contact with in Egypt. I and Kim Lynch are hoping to get to visit his camps that run until August 24th. If this doesn't work out, we will minister with the rest of the team where Anna Marie set things up. I'm excited to see what God will do here! Please continue to pray for our finances as things are getting tight with all our travel expenses the last couple months. Until next time....peace out foos!
P.S. The blue team posted our story as well with more pictures that Chad took...so check that out too!
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Posted in General Articles by Sarah Rinn on 8/14/2006
Well we hope! Right now I am enroute with most of the Blue Team, Kim Lynch, and Jessica Sisson on our way to Cairo, Egypt.
Last night we took an overnight bus and are waiting to get on our next bus which will take us to a port to get on a ferry to Cyprus. From there we will have to cross from the Turkish to Greek side and then buy tickets at the airport to Cairo. We tried getting tickets beforehand, but they were paper ones and had to be mailed somewhere...thus complicating the situation my friend, as you see we are addressless. We are confident God will get us there somehow or at least give us a really cool ministry in Cyprus. Ok well Chad tells me I can direct you to the Blue Team site because he just put up a blog with pictures about our travels...apparently I am a "straggler." Check that out. Please pray our plane tickets work out for a cheap price. Over and out.
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