We’ve been home for a month…it’s been fantastic and hectic assimilating back into life in America. If you want to travel the world yourself, there’s a cool sweepstakes through Facebook and Cathay Pacific!

In all of our travels, we have enjoyed the sights we have seen but loved the people we’ve met. Every country has a different personality and the most memories, at least the lasting ones, are in relationships.

In South America, here were a few…

The taxi driver in Bogota who saw Sarah (not Rachel, shocker) dancing in the backseat and turned up the music to dance along.

The friends in Iguazu Falls who drove from Brazil to Argentina, baked us pumpkin pie from green pumpkins (tasty!) for Thanksgiving, and showed us that living without stuff doesn’t mean living without joy.

The handsome airline pilot who took us to dinner at the best parilla ever, introduced us to dulce de leche, and helped make Buenos Aires one of our favorite cities.

The seat mate on our Lima flight who took time to write us a super perfect plan of everything to do in Bogota in extreme detail.

The hotel staff in Buenos Aires who made us feel like princesses and helped us with everything from food to Spanish to safety.

The pair of friends in Santiago who drove us to see the mountains at night, and then back to the perfect area for dinner after watching Rachel limp down the street.

And as we start to think about coming home, it’s people, not things or places, we want to see. Thankful for friendships, in all shapes and sizes and languages and countries.

We’ve died and gone to steak heaven. It’s called South America.

When attacked by a fierce coati, only the strongest will survive.

Singing. Dancing. Confetti. Chanting. Futbol in Buenos Aires.

Tonight we went to the most passionate worship service of our lives. Tens of thousands of people gathered in praise. There was singing and rejoicing and fervor like no other. Everyone dressed for the occasion and even perfect strangers were immediate friends, drawn together by the bond of…futbol. Or as we Americans generally call it, soccer.

It inspires more passion than most religions, creates more devotion than most church services - here in Argentina, a soccer game is like a mix between a day at Disneyland and a birthday party. Confetti is thrown, songs are sung (seriously, most fans sing and chant for the entire game, two hours straight), and passion is evident.

Feelings run so strong that a police and military presence is necessary, and barbed wire gates separate the fans of opposing teams.

If only our faith in Jesus Christ inspired the fervor of a futbol game, we might be the ones who would turn the world upside down…not for points on a scoreboard, but for all eternity.

Thankfulness is something we express easily and feel far more rarely. Too often, it takes an absence for us to realize how very thankful we are for that person or thing or convenience. For example, until Rachel sprained her ankle in New Zealand, climbing over rocks in an underground cave, we didn’t realize how thankful we are for the ability to move around quickly. Until we spent 5 months away from our family, we didn’t appreciate how amazing they are and how well they care for us. Until we slept in hostels, we didn’t truly recognize how thankful we are for hot water, clean sheets, bugless beds, and quiet rooms. The list goes on and on and on…every country has made us thankful for something different…things that until the day we traveled, we didn’t know we had. Since it’s been a while since we’ve done a blog update, and it’s highly doubtful that we will actually create a post about every country, here is something we were thankful for in each country we have visited so far: 1. ENGLAND…made us thankful for sunshine and for deep and Christ-centered friendships. 2. CZECH REPUBLIC…made us thankful that we weren’t born under Communism - that we have known freedom from our earliest days, and that although we mourn the Holocaust, it didn’t touch our family. 3. GERMANY…made us thankful that all things broken can be made beautiful. Berlin has been seeped in perhaps the darkest recent history of any city we visited, but today it is vibrant and bustling and in many ways restored. 4. BELGIUM…made us thankful for beauty; in buildings and accents and chocolates and people. It reminded us that some fairy tale places actually exist. 5. SPAIN…made us thankful for fun. We met and laughed and danced with some extraordinarily open and honest young friends. It’s good to know that friendship is the same all the world over. 6. ITALY…made us thankful for food. And beaches. And history. And elegance. And more food. To be honest, the list goes on and on and on for Italy. Io amo l’Italia. 7. AUSTRIA…made us thankful for learning. We went to a conference where we learned so much about God’s Word, thanks to an excellent series by Pastor Damian Kyle. It also made us thankful for friends back home who lovingly remembered Sarah’s birthday! 8. SLOVENIA…made us thankful for California beaches (don’t judge, we weren’t there very long). The beaches there are rocky and gross, and we were thankful that we have gorgeous sandy stretches of beach back home. 9. CROATIA…made us thankful for peace. The countryside is still littered with the effects of bombings and war. Until then, it was difficult to appreciate how costly and how privileged our freedom is. 10. VATICAN CITY…made us thankful for accessibility. The Vatican is a place of secrets and power, where often even the people who make their living by the church hate it at the same time. So glad that we have access to our pastors and leaders, but even better. to Christ directly, without penances and indulgences, purgatory or rosaries. 11. GREECE…made us thankful for stability. In a country where the economy is crazy, unemployment is skyrocketed, and a city once known for beauty and peace (Athens) is now filthy and terrifying, we are thankful for a more stable home. 12. FRANCE…made us thankful for so many things! Thankful for friends who cared for us, for meals with laughter and love, for beautiful buildings and breathtaking views. They say that France is the missionary’s graveyard, but it reminded us of vibrant life! 13. IRELAND (Republic of)…made us thankful for warm weather. We have never been so bitterly, bitterly cold. We’re just glad we still have all of our fingers and toes. 14. NORTH IRELAND…made us thankful that our lives have been free of prejudice. We have never experienced the fear and hatred and death that exist in so many parts of the world because someone else is branded as different. 15. MONACO…made us thankful for need. In a country surrounded by wealth and affluence, where no one needs anything, it simply felt boring and self-assured. Need allows relationships. 16. HUNGARY…made us thankful for the Spirit of God. We believe that He leads and guides and prepares us for all things, and that was evident in many different ways in Hungary. 17. SERBIA…made us thankful for Jesus. Isn’t it amazing when you go to a place and discover that you already have family? They might be gypsies, or they live in squalid conditions, or survive in a way that is utterly different, but they are still your brothers and sisters because of Jesus. 18. TURKEY…made us thankful for equality; that we don’t have to walk around veiled and covered at home, that we can have simple conversations and friendships with men, and that we are not the minority for any of these things. 19. EGYPT…made us thankful for honesty. We didn’t experience much of it, so it made us longingly appreciative! 20. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES…made us thankful for discovery. We discovered the most incredible building we have ever seen, in the form of a mosque in Abu Dhabi, and were literally speechless with incredulity. 21. SOUTH AFRICA…made us thankful for so many things…for wildlife and the songs of the night, for stars and clouds and beaches and mountains…for people who knew us for a day and yet still invited us to share in their lives and eat their food and laugh with them, and again, for freedom. 22. QATAR…made us thankful for air conditioning. :) Turns out you really miss it when it’s not there. 23. THAILAND…made us thankful for spicy noodles, smiling people, and cleanliness. Turns out you really miss that when you don’t have it as well. 24. SINGAPORE…made us thankful that at home, we don’t need signs advising people not to spit, or stand on the toilet rim, and that we are allowed to speak loudly in public, for better or for worse. 25. INDONESIA…made us thankful for safety. Some countries feel safe, others do not. It’s less something you can explain and more of a general atmosphere. After leaving Indonesia, we were so thankful for safe countries. 26, AUSTRALIA…made us thankful for friendly, cheery, open people. And it made us thankful in a longing sort of way for the less expensive countries. 27. NEW ZEALAND…made us thankful for natural beauties, adventure, and fun friends. It also made us thankful that even when plans change because of a surprise sprained ankle, there is always an exciting adventure that comes from it. 28. ARGENTINA…well, we’ve only just arrived! But we’re thankful to be in South America, and for adventures yet to come. I thank God for the joy of living, the freedom of laughter, the delight of discovery, the depths of relationship, and the life of Jesus Christ.

For every country we have written about, there are just as many we have missed. Since we have loved every stop on our travels, and we feel a bit sorry for the countries that we have missed (mostly due to lack of internet or overload of activities) we are going to backtrack and explore a few of the places we visited in the last month or so. 

Our last official post was Paris, city of lights, home of our hearts. From Paris, we flew to Ireland for the first ever All-Ireland Calvary Chapel Conference and also visited Dublin, Belfast, and Athboy.

While each city made an impression, we most appreciated our time in Belfast. This was a stop, like many, where we felt a bit stupid and/or clueless. Ireland is two countries? Ireland has loads of bombings? (One actually happened about 50 kilometers from our hotel while we were in Belfast). Belfast had a wall going through the city up until very recently?

For a city that has been marked by division, the people seem mostly at peace today. Our discoveries certainly gave us a deeper appreciation and a greater understanding of the culture here. The most fascinating thing about these divisions is that they are tied deeply to the religious culture of Ireland, and religion has less to do with personal choice or Jesus Christ, and more to do with whether you are Unionist or Nationalist, Northern Ireland or Republic of Ireland, Protestant or Catholic. In the countryside, even the sheep are marked as Protestant or Catholic!

In almost every country, we have seen that religion is a dividing point. Today that division is based less on actual belief and more on historical feuds or political viewpoints. One of the most dangerous opponents of Christianity is that for many, faith has little or nothing to do with a relationship with Jesus Christ. Ireland, and Belfast in particular, made us appreciate the fact that we know Jesus Christ personally, and that our knowing Him isn’t clouded by car bombs, the IRA, and battles. 

In a remarkable feat of planning, we have actually selected and finalized the locations for our next few weeks of traveling. This is previously unheard of amounts of preparation, but we are growing older (and wiser) as we travel…and if you have friends/recommendations/churches/MUSTs for any of these areas, would you post a comment or message us with the tips? Email: sarahyardley7@gmail.com and yardleyrachel@gmail.com if you’d rather not comment.

Travel itinerary, more or less:

1. Bangkok, Thailand

2. Phuket, Thailand

3. Singapore

4. Auckland, New Zealand

5. Rotorua, New Zealand

6. Buenos Aires, Argentina

7. Iguassu Falls

8. Santiago, Chile

9. Bogota, Colombia

10. Home!

In case you’re wondering if we can’t count anymore, 10 countries aren’t listed above, but we have short side trips to a few countries as well. We can still count, we just count in a South African accent now. More pictures soon.

Today is our three month anniversary of traveling the world. We are in Istanbul tonight, our 18th country within 90 days.

Traveling is wonderful. Traveling is tiring. Traveling is glamorous. Traveling is dirty. Traveling is interesting. Traveling is exciting. Traveling is exhausting. 

Some days we eat doner kebabs, some days we eat ethnic food, some days we eat McDonalds. Some days we make lots of friends, some days we meet great people, some days we can’t find anyone else who speaks English. 

As I write this, we are sitting in the lobby of our hotel in Istanbul (which, incidentally, seems to double as a Turkish bath house, business meeting place, family house, restaurant, sauna, and community hangout). We’ve been booking flights and researching hotels and reading about Istanbul and trying to stay awake after an overnight flight and sleeping til 4 PM this afternoon. All day, we haven’t met a single person who speaks decent English, until this very moment, and one of the Turkish businessmen is giving travel and museum tips to Rachel.

Every country has kind people and brusque ones. In every place, we realize that it is much broader than the stereotypes we hold and yet those stereotypes are also formed for a reason. Yes, Turkey is 98% Muslim, and they check your car trunk before you drive into the mall with infrared glasses and make you walk through a body scanner to enter. But overall, as we have found in every country, the people are as friendly to you as you are to them.

We missed posting blogs about Ireland, Nice, Monaco, Barcelona, York, and London (again!) where we met our dad on his return from a missions trip in Sudan. We hope to do posts on those places, because they were all, in one of our overused words, amazing.

For tonight, thanks for being our friends and cheering us on for the last three months. Traveling has changed the way we see the world, the way we see ourselves, the way we see the church, the way we love Jesus. 

Traveling is an adventure.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain