One clip for each country we visited this year ❤️ 75% of the way to visiting every country 😲🥳 Never could have imagined saying that, but so thankful for every adventure along the way. This year was the most challenging and rewarding when it comes to our travels. The flags in the video represent countries we visited, but 2023 was all about the people we met! Figuring out how to take local busses through West & Central Africa (without much info online and without being able to speak the language!) was one of our more adventurous regions of travel so far. But all throughout our trip, we met the kindest people who went out of their way to help us and make us feel welcomed. Like the guy in Guinea who paid for our taxi when the ATM didn't work. The guy in Mauritania who drove us 45 minutes out of his way when we couldn't get a taxi. The people in Gabon who bought us drinks and taught us dance moves. And the lady in Angola who shared a ride in her tuktuk when she saw us walking in the dark, and insisted that she pay for it so we knew how welcomed we were. The kindness continued throughout our travels in the Middle East. Countless people in Uzbekistan went out of their way to welcome us and even invite us to their home. In Northern Pakistan, someone invited us to a feast at their home for Eid, just the two of us and their family celebrating one of their most important holidays together. In Afghanistan, we were so inspired by the countless people who opened up their homes and went out of their way to show us kindness. In Iran, we couldn't even count how many strangers talked with us and made us feel so welcomed. And we'll never forget the older gentlemen in Syria who invited us for tea, shared about the difficulties and joys of life in Syria, and even caught a stray pigeon for Hud to kiss (still not sure what that was all about 😂) Then we headed back to Africa and were so inspired by the joy of the kids at the orphanage in Cameroon and amazing people like Beauty, whose grandma was one of the first Christians in an indigineous tribe. And one of the most special moments of our year was a guy who randomly came up to us and shared his life story about being a Christian in a region where he could be arrested for his faith. We've also been reminded that we are just traveling through these areas. For others war, food shortage, and loss of loved ones is their daily reality. We are so inspired by people's joy through the unimaginable things they've been through. And we can't say thank you enough to everyone who prayed for and supported the families in Afghanistan and Hotpec orphanage in Cameroon. It means more than you know. There were so many people that impacted us this year. Although there were many challenging moments along the way, there were 10 times as many positive ones. We are so grateful for the memories of 2023 and so excited for the countries ahead! Happy new year ❤️ #2023recap #yearreview #travel #adventuretravel #couplestravel #travelcouple #everycountry #2024bucketlist