You knew when we signed up for the World Race that it wasn't going to be easy for us. It wasn't going to be easy as we traveled to 11 different countries throughout the world, away from everything and everyone that was familiar. You knew we would get homesick. You knew we would have to miss birthdays and holidays as well as important events like weddings and births. You knew our living conditions weren't going to be all that great. You knew there was a risk of us getting malaria or typhoid or any number of crazy sicknesses.

"The church in America needs parents who are willing to release their children to the mission field. We need parents who love God more than their children. If we recognize the importance of evangelism, we will encourage future generations to give their lives for God and enter the heat of the battlefield even in the face of great danger."

So I just wanted to write a blog thanking all of you parents out there (especially my own) for obeying God and releasing us to do His work. I know it hasn't been easy for you but I know God will bless you for your faith. You have encouraged us, prayed for us, and loved on us throughout this entire journey and that means more to us then we can ever put into words. I hope you know how much we love and appreciate you.

Thank you.  

Please check out my wife's latest blog about our financial status!

http://denisebickel.theworldrace.org/?filename=3600-in-6-weeks-i-believe

"It is one of the most difficult, yet critical, disciplines of the Christian life to allow the Holy Spirit to bring us into absolute harmony with the teaching of Jesus..." -Oswald Chambers

You would think that after following hard after Jesus these past 10 months that it would be easy to follow the teachings of Jesus, but the truth is, in some cases, for me, its still hard. I was just looking over Matthew 6:33 where it says, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." I read this passage, and recognize it as truth, but find it hard to follow it fully. I know that God will provide all that I need, but I still wonder where my next meal with come from, where I'll sleep next, how I'll get to my next destination and so on, but when I look at this passage, it says that I just need to seek the kingdom of God and his righetousness and the rest will take care of itself.

The next passage then tells us not to be anxious about tomorrow. What a mind blowing passage. I mean, really, its mind blowing. Don't worry about tomorrow, yeah right. How can I not worry about tomorrow, I have no idea what tomorrow holds! Then I remember this thing I overlook in these instances...faith. Faith in God and the fact that He cares enough for me to take care of me in all situations at all times. I remember this, and then I'm able to relax for a moment, but soon I'll forget again. 

On this Race, I've seen God provide in so many ways that it continues to blow my mind, yet I am so fragile minded that I forget in an instant when things become rough or uncertain. 

I'm just like the Israelites.

Putting those words out there is hard, and it challenges me just looking over them again to make a change. A change that says God is in control, not me, and I KNOW He has my best interest at heart. Even in the rough patches. So here goes, I'm laying myself down one more time and telling God, "I'm all yours and everything I do is for you, lead the way..."

Pray for me...10 months in and its still hard

In the last blog I ended up in Eldoret, Kenya with two of our teams. After settling in and sleeping for a while, I was able to spend some time with both teams which was great. During this time, Andrea had officially taken over her new team, and one of the girls came to Denise, Tamica, and I and said that she felt God leading her to join the team that Andrea just left. We decided to take it to God ourselves to confirm these feelings, and came to the conclusion that she was right, she was being called to that team. So after some phone calls and logistical set up, we made plans to leave within a few days. Denise and Tamica weren't feeling great at the time (don't worry, they are just fine now) so it would just be me and April Wright traveling back to Tanzania where the girls would meet us in a few days time.

Travel day quickly arrived and April and I were getting ready. We had planned to leave by noon, knowing that the trip to Nairobi was going to be a five hour trip minimum, but our contact informed us that we would be delayed about two hours. We had a 9:30pm bus to catch, so we figured our delay wouldn't hurt us too bad. 2 o'clock rolled around and off we were heading to town to catch a matatu (van) back to Nairobi and by 2:25 we were on the road! The ride was pleasant for the most part, only having to make one scheduled stop. Then we got near Nairobi. When we got near the city, it looked like it was going to be close timewise, and then we came to a compete standstill. If you have never been to Nairobi, it is a beautiful city, one of my favorites on the Race actually, but traffic in the early morning and in the evening is absolutely terrible. People were walking faster than we were moving, it was really quite funny. We got to our stop at around 8:30 and realized quickly that with traffic the way it was, there was no way we would make our 9:30 bus in time. We made a few phone calls and headed for our home away from home, Milimani Backpackers Hostel. During one of the phone calls to the bus station, they informed us that the next bus leaving for Mwanza, Tanzania wouldn't be leaving until 9:30 the next evening, so we had a full 24 hours before our next leg of travel. During that time, we would eat, wait, eat again, and go to the Yaya shopping center to roam around and kill time. April and I made the best of it.

The time came for us to leave so we gathered our belongings and jumped into a cab to take us to the bus station. Luckily we remembered to leave 2 hours early (even though it was only 20 minutes away) because it took us over an hour to get there with the traffic. After about an hour wait, we got our stuff put on the bus and got checked in and sat down in our seats. We quickly realized that our seats were broken, which wouldn't have been a problem normally, but the passengers in front of us had working seats and reclined as far back as they could which left April and I just enough room to breath and that was about it. But, God was favoring us that night, and gave us new seats right behind the bus driver because the bus was far from full. After a quick seat swap, we were off to Tanzania. I was able to fall asleep for much of the trip to the border, April on the other hand, was awake for most of it, mainly because she feared the driving of our guide. He apparently preferred to drive on the wrong side of the road while smoking something out the window. I was oblivious to all of it and had peaceful slumber.

We arrived at the border at around 6 in the morning and got through the Kenyan side with no problems whatsoever. Then it got interesting. I had no trouble getting a stamp to the country because I had been there a little over a week ago, but the border agent was giving April a hard time because of our currency. It takes $100 USD to get into Tanzania, and we had a $100 bill, which shouldn't be a problem right? Wrong. The border agent tried to tell us that our bill was the wrong year, it was a 1996 bill and they don't accept any bills that are older than 2004. I was getting pretty frustrated at this point. I asked the man to show me this policy in writing and he refused. He then acted as if he were calling someone, so I asked him to call his supervisor. At this point a man walked in, before the call was ever made, and walked behind the counter, the two talked in Swahili and the man who walked in came out from behind the counter and told me they won't accept our currency, only saying they can't accept it based on the year. Again, I asked for proof of this policy only to be met with hostility. I then informed the border agent that if they were not going to take the money, then I wanted the money, and the passport back. They gave me a hard time about this until I pressed very firmly that I was only willing to accept one of two options: stamp the passport and take the money, or hand both back to me. He eventually decided to hand them both back to me. At this point, I decided to go back to the Kenyan side to see if someone had another bill I could trade them for, no luck. So I came back and went around asking for anyone who could help us. One man tried very hard for us, but eventually couldn't help us. Then, our bus driver informed me that they couldn't wait for us any longer and had to leave, so we had to gather our stuff and watch as our bus left us behind at the border. I then made a few phone calls to our teams in Mwanza and told them our situation, someone was going to have to come get us with new money at the border and we had to wait until then.

April and I decided to make the best of our situation, so with all of our stuff sitting out near us, we busted out my computer and started watching a movie outside the border control office. Dumb and Dumber was our movie of choice, a great pick for a morning filled with frustration. About 45 minutes into our movie, a woman in border control gear came up to us and asked us what we were doing. We informed her of our situation and she told us she would try to run our bill through. Within five minutes, April had a Tanzanian stamp in her passport and we were on our way across the border. Our next task: Get to Mwanza.

God showed us favor again, and after walking roughly half a mile or so, we found a bus going to Mwanza! We quickly jumped on board and settled in for the 5 hour trip. At about the 45 minute mark, our bus pulled into a small bus station, and our driver disappeared. April and I couldn't help but joke about our situation as we had no other option but to wait. After about an hour, our driver came back, and the bus filled up and off we were again. After another hour or so we had to stop again, this time because of a loud POP. Turns out our driver took a pot hole too fast and it busted our tire. Again, all we could do was laugh. 45 minutes later we were back on the road, this time, we made it to Mwanza. We called our hosts and they came to get us soon after. The last crazy part of the travel happened on the way to the Dolla Dolla (what they call taxi-vans in Tanzania). As we were walking I felt this slight pull at my pocket, so I threw my hand back out of instinct and ended up grabbing a persons hand. As I looked back, sure enough, I had one of a guys hands in mine, and in his other hand was my wallet! He quickly gave my wallet back to me and ran off. After that experience, we boarded our Dolla Dolla and made it safely to where they were staying.

Thankfully, God was with us the entire time. We made it from Eldoret, Kenya to Mwanza, Tanzania safely, and will all of our things. We even have one heck of a story to tell our friends and family!

This has been one amazing trip and I'm thankful that God put me on it. We have a little over 3 months left and I can already see that its going to fly by. Thank all of you so much for your prayers and your support, we love and miss all of you!

As a squad leader, I have the privilege of getting to see as many people on the squad as I would like to in any given month. The only downside to that is they are rarely in the same place, so that means there can be a lot of travel. This month I have been able to see everyone on the squad and it has been awesome, but the travel was quite draining. Here is what my travel has looked like this month.

I started my travel in Jinja, Uganda. An absolutely beautiful city that is right next to the Nile River. I was originally scheduled to travel with my co-leaders Denise and Tamica to Eldoret, Kenya, but that changed the night before we left because God had raised up a new leader in Andrea. Andrea was already in Tanzania with her old team and would need to come to Kenya to lead her new team. The easiest way for this to happen was for me to go to Tanzania to get her and turn around. So, after changing the bus tickets around, I was off for Tanzania which is about a 18-20 hour trip. The bus was actually pretty comfortable and not as packed in as many other busses we've traveled on during our World Race. After roughly 6 hours, we arrived at the Kenyan border (we had to travel through Kenya to get to Tanzania) and watched a woman pass out in front of us. The two girls I was with and I prayed while she lay on the ground and thanked God when she started to wake up. She ended up being fine, but had one major headache. After that incident, nothing interesting happened. We got back on the bus and headed for Tanzania. We arrived at that border around 7 hours later and got through with relative ease. Back to the bus we went and 5 hours later we arrived at our destination, Mwanza, Tanzania! There we were met by a couple of Racers and the contact and headed back to their living site. I was able to see two of the four teams in Mwanza that day. I then informed the team what was happening, and told them that Andrea and I would be heading out the next morning to go to Kenya!

The next morning, Andrea and I packed up our stuff and headed to the bus station. We had to change our tickets because our original destination was further than what we were told, so we decided to go to a city that was much closer. We were told that the ride would take roughly 13-15 hours. We both looked at our watches and realized we would be arriving very early in the morning. No big deal, we're World Racers! So off we were to Kenya! We were cruising along wonderfully and then we got to the Kenya-Tanzania border. We had no issues getting across, but we started to wonder what was going on when our bus driver, along with everyone else, got off the bus on the Kenyan side and didn't come back. So Andrea and I decided to get off the bus as well. We walked and walked, back and forth for about an hour, and then we saw the bus driver get on, so we hopped back on as well. We figured we would be heading straight to Nairobi (our connecting city), but found out that wasn't the case about 45 minutes after getting back on the bus. The driver stopped the bus, got up, and told everyone to 'go ahead and have your dinner.' So we stopped for another 30-45 minutes. After having out dinner, we got back on the bus and took off, again figuring that we would be heading straight to Nairobi. We were wrong again. First we had to make an hour stop at a bus station 2-3 hours away from Nairobi! Andrea and I couldn't help but laugh as we looked at our watches and realized it had already been 15 hours. Once that stop was over, we actually did end up going to Nairobi.

As we pulled into the bus station, we knew we had to take a taxi to the next bus place, so we hopped in and headed off. We got to our bus station and I asked the person working if we could buy tickets. He said no, that we had to wait until 6:30am (it was 4:30 at the time). I then asked him how often the busses ran to Eldoret and he told me 'very often,' so to clarify I said, "so, is that like every hour?" and he said yes. At that point, Andrea and I decided to check out a place to sleep for a few hours before finishing our journey.

For the entire Race we've heard "wait til you get to Africa, that's when it will get hard." But I haven't experienced that just yet, maybe because I feel called to this continent, but still, I haven't felt that at all. I think a big part of that is because Denise and I have yet again been blessed with our own room, with a bed, sheets and blanket. We have been blessed with a person to cook for us, we've been blessed with a contact who goes out of his way to make sure that we get to where we need to be safely. We've also been blessed with a variety of ministry this month.

I was given the opportunity to preach for the first time on the Race a little while back. It was awesome! I didn't feel nervous at all. I later heard there were over 400 people at the service, and mainly because they heard a 'mazoongoo' (side note: I have no idea how to spell that word so it is spelled phonetically) or 'white person' was preaching. I was encouraged when the congregation clapped when I mentioned something they agreed with J After I preached, the head pastor got up and gave a powerful message, and then said in a powerful voice that he felt God calling him to call out evil spirits, so that's exactly what he did. Then he looked at us, and said, 'go pray for people.' What followed was a whirlwind of prayers and deliverance. It was amazing.

After that, the pastor got in front of the congregation and took a collection called the "America seed." They gave that seed to us. These people, who could use the money, gave it to us for no other reason than to bless us because they felt our presence had blessed them.

When I had finished preaching and the service was over, Denise and I were informed that a woman came to the head pastor. This woman had been haunted by a demonic spirit for a while. She told the pastor that while I was preaching, she saw someone in front of her, and that this person had reached inside of her and yanked the evil spirit out, and then left. For some reason, God choose to use me in that moment to help Him in delivering a young woman. At the end of the service, at least 8 people had been delivered! Praise God!

Trying to explain how I felt after that is extremely hard to do. It has been prophesied over Denise and I would be heavily involved in deliverance ministry, and I'm seeing more and more how God is putting us in situations that help us to grow in that direction. God is blessing us with His presence and His anointing to go out and deliver His people. I'm looking forward to God growing us in this area, because I feel this ministry is something that is lacking. I can't wait to see how God uses us to set His people free!

Please pray for the people of Uganda. There is a great need here, the people need work. They need better housing, better food, better and more available water. They need Ugandan men who follow Christ to step up and help the widowed and unmarried mothers. Please keep this country in your prayers, God is doing amazing things here!

At this time, Denise and I still need around $5000. God has been so faithful in this area, but we still need more help. Please prayerfully consider donating to our fund as we continue to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Thank you all so much for your help, we love and miss all of you! For the entire Race we've heard "wait til you get to Africa, that's when it will get hard." But I haven't experienced that just yet, maybe because I feel called to this continent, but still, I haven't felt that at all. I think a big part of that is because Denise and I have yet again been blessed with our own room, with a bed, sheets and blanket. We have been blessed with a person to cook for us, we've been blessed with a contact who goes out of his way to make sure that we get to where we need to be safely. We've also been blessed with a variety of ministry this month.

I was given the opportunity to preach for the first time on the Race a little while back. It was awesome! I didn't feel nervous at all. I later heard there were over 400 people at the service, and mainly because they heard a 'mazoongoo' (side note: I have no idea how to spell that word so it is spelled phonetically) or 'white person' was preaching. I was encouraged when the congregation clapped when I mentioned something they agreed with J After I preached, the head pastor got up and gave a powerful message, and then said in a powerful voice that he felt God calling him to call out evil spirits, so that's exactly what he did. Then he looked at us, and said, 'go pray for people.' What followed was a whirlwind of prayers and deliverance. It was amazing.

After that, the pastor got in front of the congregation and took a collection called the "America seed." They gave that seed to us. These people, who could use the money, gave it to us for no other reason than to bless us because they felt our presence had blessed them.

When I had finished preaching and the service was over, Denise and I were informed that a woman came to the head pastor. This woman had been haunted by a demonic spirit for a while. She told the pastor that while I was preaching, she saw someone in front of her, and that this person had reached inside of her and yanked the evil spirit out, and then left. For some reason, God choose to use me in that moment to help Him in delivering a young woman. At the end of the service, at least 8 people had been delivered! Praise God!

Trying to explain how I felt after that is extremely hard to do. It has been prophesied over Denise and I would be heavily involved in deliverance ministry, and I'm seeing more and more how God is putting us in situations that help us to grow in that direction. God is blessing us with His presence and His anointing to go out and deliver His people. I'm looking forward to God growing us in this area, because I feel this ministry is something that is lacking. I can't wait to see how God uses us to set His people free!

Please pray for the people of Uganda. There is a great need here, the people need work. They need better housing, better food, better and more available water. They need Ugandan men who follow Christ to step up and help the widowed and unmarried mothers. Please keep this country in your prayers, God is doing amazing things here!

At this time, Denise and I still need around $5000. God has been so faithful in this area, but we still need more help. Please prayerfully consider donating to our fund as we continue to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Thank you all so much for your help, we love and miss all of you!

For the entire Race we've heard "wait til you get to Africa, that's when it will get hard." But I haven't experienced that just yet, maybe because I feel called to this continent, but still, I haven't felt that at all. I think a big part of that is because Denise and I have yet again been blessed with our own room, with a bed, sheets and blanket. We have been blessed with a person to cook for us, we've been blessed with a contact who goes out of his way to make sure that we get to where we need to be safely. We've also been blessed with a variety of ministry this month.

I was given the opportunity to preach for the first time on the Race a little while back. It was awesome! I didn't feel nervous at all. I later heard there were over 400 people at the service, and mainly because they heard a 'mazoongoo' (side note: I have no idea how to spell that word so it is spelled phonetically) or 'white person' was preaching. I was encouraged when the congregation clapped when I mentioned something they agreed with J After I preached, the head pastor got up and gave a powerful message, and then said in a powerful voice that he felt God calling him to call out evil spirits, so that's exactly what he did. Then he looked at us, and said, 'go pray for people.' What followed was a whirlwind of prayers and deliverance. It was amazing.

After that, the pastor got in front of the congregation and took a collection called the "America seed." They gave that seed to us. These people, who could use the money, gave it to us for no other reason than to bless us because they felt our presence had blessed them.

When I had finished preaching and the service was over, Denise and I were informed that a woman came to the head pastor. This woman had been haunted by a demonic spirit for a while. She told the pastor that while I was preaching, she saw someone in front of her, and that this person had reached inside of her and yanked the evil spirit out, and then left. For some reason, God choose to use me in that moment to help Him in delivering a young woman. At the end of the service, at least 8 people had been delivered! Praise God!

Trying to explain how I felt after that is extremely hard to do. It has been prophesied over Denise and I would be heavily involved in deliverance ministry, and I'm seeing more and more how God is putting us in situations that help us to grow in that direction. God is blessing us with His presence and His anointing to go out and deliver His people. I'm looking forward to God growing us in this area, because I feel this ministry is something that is lacking. I can't wait to see how God uses us to set His people free!

Please pray for the people of Uganda. There is a great need here, the people need work. They need better housing, better food, better and more available water. They need Ugandan men who follow Christ to step up and help the widowed and unmarried mothers. Please keep this country in your prayers, God is doing amazing things here!

At this time, Denise and I still need around $5000. God has been so faithful in this area, but we still need more help. Please prayerfully consider donating to our fund as we continue to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Thank you all so much for your help, we love and miss all of you!