Hey everyone! I know it has been forever since you have last seen one of these blog posts but I have been trying to soak up every last moment of my time serving as possible. It is hard to think that in less than three weeks, I will be headed HOME. HOME, what does that even mean anymore? I thought I should give everyone a little catch up to what I have been up to since… well Vietnam.
From Vietnam we bused to Cambodia just in time for Christmas with the orphanage we were placed with named Bykota House. This month my team and I worked with special needs children, help teach the children on the home and other special projects. I specifically worked with the special needs in the morning and did home improvement in the afternoons. The staff at the special needs part of the home specifically Ruth made my month there and on the last Sunday they invited me to their church so I went. I reupholstered chairs and made curtains. It was a great last month together for team SUMMIT.
I can honestly say I think of Thailand every single day since departing. The spot in my heart is so huge for Thailand and the friends we made there. The men of the squad were off to do Manistry month together so the women of both co-ed teams were together. We split up to teach English at a local Buddhist school. Little did we know that this soft-spoken, kind woman named Na would become our lifeline and ultimately biggest part of my month in Thailand. No one at this school had ever heard of Jesus before so instead of focusing on English we decided to share the gospel. Every class period we would start with worship and dance time and then read them a bible story which Na translated into Thai. We did a little bit of English vocabulary but other than that we shared Jesus because it was so incredible the way they wanted to know who he was, especially Na. I could never type enough to describe how wonderful this month was. I saw Na be physically healed of a back pain, I made friends with teachers who I could not verbally communicate with and we made Jesus’ name heard over this village we lived in. SERIOUSLY! We played worship music over the school intercom at the request of the teachers. I also have never been so immersed with a culture since being aboard and that was huge. We lived in the village, communicated using no verb-age (only when Na was present) and ate everything that was Thai. We participated in a cultural festival and did almost every off day with the hosts, letting them show us around their country. It was unbelievable. I could honestly write a book about this one month and all that God did. Our teacher friends drove an hour away on motorbike to say goodbye at the airport. It was a hard goodbye to say the least.
Guatemala. We had the privilege to meet two different teams from Florida this month. The first week and the last we were there. It was a huge encouragement to have them and a complete blessing. Our host was from the Florida Keys and was starting a children’s home in a village named Ensenada outside of the bigger city Rio Dulce. They are still in the construction part of things so that is what we did. We cleaned up the yard, built retaining walls (the property was on the lake), sanded and stained floors, painted walls and so much more. We also visited local ministries that our host was trying to make relationships with and network. Other children homes, a nursing home, church and much more. It was so cool to be a part of a ministry that was still in the beginning building stages of it. I can’t wait to see it when it is home to many children.
PLOT TWIST! Before going to Honduras we made a pit stop in El Salvador for a week to do ATL (ask the Lord). We spent a week on the beach of El Tunco where we made friends with the local surfers. We spent Easter as a squad on the beach and had the surfer friends we made come to the service as well as some other people that happened to be there that day. I also fellowshipped with fellow sqaudmates this week and we lifted one another up to continue on with the rest of our journey. I learned how to surf, went dancing, went to a surf competition and went caving. I actually found a new cave that the locals weren’t even aware of. It was exhilarating. ANNDDDD this made my 13th country visited on the race when it was supposed to an 11country race!!
Fast forward and now I am here, in Nicaragua helping our hosts Jamie and Jacqueline at 516 Now ministries. We are also with a gap year team (18-23 year olds that do 9 months in 3 countries with the same organization. Adventures in Missions) and they have been a HUGE encouragement to see younger people so on fire for the Lord and spiritually mature. We are at construction site next to their church that they attend, helping build a school for the community. We have been so blessed by their generosity and pure thankfulness that we are here helping them. I move buckets of dirt from one location to the next and I have had so much joy in the process. I remember almost hourly that I am IN MY LAST MONTH OF THIS ADVENTURE. What in the world happened? Just the other day, I was leaving on a plane to embark on this journey and I blinked through almost a year and I am here counting down the days I go home but more realistically counting down the days I have left which is only FIVE. God has truly blessed me by allowing me and providing for me to come help others. I don’t know how to sum up this because well I believe that I couldn’t possibly. I also couldn’t believe to tell you what God has done in my life, in others that I have met or what he is going to do. He is magical like that.
