Our month of ministry is coming to an end here in Thailand. We leave tomorrow for Hua Hin where we have our month 5 debrief with the rest of the squad. This was month 5 for us and if any of you are familiar with the World Race you would know that month 5 is a hard month. The excitement of this journey has worn off a little but we aren’t quite at the place where we see the end of the tunnel yet. I struggled a lot with that this month. I don’t want to sound ungrateful for this opportunity or that I don’t want to be here. I mean I am traveling the world and spreading God’s love. Hear me when I say I am very blessed and thankful to be at this point in my life. It really doesn’t get much better than this.
However, I still longed for things I left behind and found myself missing my friends back home more than ever this month. It was and still is really hard for me. I have also been thinking about what I will do when I return from this race. I mean I know it is still 6 months away but I think the Lord is leading me to return to school to get my nursing degree. After being here and seeing the affect of the Tsunami from 2004 I would love to do international relief work one day, using my nursing skills in this context. I mean who knows though, the Lord may still have other ideas.
As I said earlier some of the excitement has worn off. The world is becoming smaller and smaller to me. Traveling to Thailand and Malaysia and Africa doesn’t seem so crazy to me anymore. I just don’t feel to be as far away as I felt during, lets say, the first few months of this race. For example I have a story. On Sunday we went to a new church and after the service we ran a children’s program and went to a hot spring with the pastor of the church. As we sat eating our eggs (the water of this hot spring was so hot we boiled eggs in it…it was quite crazy) we started learning more about this pastor. Well we found out that she actually lived in the States for almost 30 years studying and starting churches in NYC. I was interested, I thought it would be cool to attend a service at one of her churches when I returned to the city in the future and she said the churches were in Queens and Harlem. I told her I went to a school outside the city and she asked where…..wait for it. I told her Nyack and she tells me that she went to ATS (the seminary at Nyack College) …..I was completely shocked. I travel all the way to Thailand to work with a pastor that attended the same college that I graduated from….kinda crazy. Just a little glimpse into just how small this world really is.
We have seen a lot this month, heard many sad stories and worked with some amazing women. Through it all, there is one thing that the Lord keeps on teaching me. HE continues to impress upon me the importance or intercession. To be completely honest I have probably prayed more in this past month than I have in my entire life. I have always been taught and believed in the importance of prayer but it wasn’t till this month that it really became second nature to me. My mind just naturally turns to prayer rather than worry and anxiety now, which is completely unnatural to me. Anxiety and worry used to control my life, I’m not kidding. When I saw something I could not control, when I heard about these little girls being sexually abused, when I worked with the pastor who is running her church alone because no one else is there to help, when I think that less than 1% of these people are Christians I just offer it all up to the Lord. It is only at that point that I am able to truly let it go and allow God to take it all. I know I will see much more on this trip and will continue to struggle with not being able to have much of an impact. Well I can now say that I fully believe that my prayers are powerful and that they do change the world.
It has also helped me not being home with my friends and family. Shortly before I left in October I spent a week with Sar and Andy out in Oregon. It was during this visit that I shared with them that I felt as if I was “checking out” on them. I mean here I was getting ready to say goodbye to my brother, sister and closest friends for 11 months not knowing what I was really getting myself into. I felt a little selfish for completely leaving everyone for 11 months. Now every time I think about them or worry about them I say a little prayer. I know that may sound a little cheesy but thats all I have. Its a humbling thing to look at things, I worry for things I have absolutely no control. I am literally half way around the world and I can’t help them only God can. So many times this month I have thought about situations my friends are in or struggles they are dealing with, I can’t text them or visit them so instead I lift them up in prayer.
“I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
1Timothy 2:1-5
So that is a little of what I’ve been learning this month in Thailand. Next blog, month 6, from Malaysia.
Until Next Time
Annalisa
