I can't believe month nine is over. Month nine was a great month of refreshing and blessings. Months six, seven, and eight in Africa were hard for our squad. We were severely in need of this refreshing. Thailand was our refreshment.
My family loves baseball. We go to games together. My brother plays. There are always baseball things happening in our house, even in the off season. Not being around for baseball season this year has been hard. It is a time I look forward to because it means family time. I am already looking forward to being able to watch my brother play his senior baseball season next year. But anyways… to get back to Thailand…
Thailand was like the seventh inning stretch. That time when you can see the end is near but your butt hurts from sitting on those uncomfortable plastic stadium chairs. A tradition at Comerica Park home of the Detroit Tigers Baseball Team is during the seventh inning stretch to stand up and sing the classic "Take me out to the ball game". You stand up and join together with the other fans and stretch out those stiff joints to prepare for the last couple innings.
Thailand was a perfect example of the seventh inning stretch on the race. We were super uncomfortable and to be honest maybe a little bored coming out of Africa. The same routine over and over. Predictable. Mostly. Occassionally there would be a homerun, a grand slam, or some amazing infield play that would grab our attention for a few seconds. But after eight months we needed a little refocus. We needed to stretch and join together to remember why we are out here on the race.
It was the perfect place for D squad to spend month nine. We had plenty of opportunities to see each other multiple times throughout the month. We got to do some awesome things together as a squad. We met many amazing people. We got to go shopping, eat great food, do awesome ministries. We got to worship together and just stretch out the parts of us that had fallen asleep. It was exactly what we needed coming out of Africa.
My team has started to process our races individually. Each week we go through and talk about a country. We have only done two so far but this is helping prepare us for coming home. We are writing things out in timeline format (thanks mama bets for the idea). We are picking apart each month so that we don't forget. It is super cool and is helping me remember some small things and press though some of the harder things that have happened.
Our month nine stretch has surely helped me and many others get refreshed enough to finish our race strong. We have just under two months left out here. I am really excited to be able to finish out this year with joy, love, and so much peace that this was exactly where God wanted me for this eleven months.
Welcome to month 10 in Kampong Cham, Cambodia. Stay tuned for a blog about our ministry here.
Much love,
-A
