hey. it has been quite a while since i last blogged. there are a few reasons for that, but its mainly because i just havent thought about it. or maybe its that i havent really known what to say without it simply being a "heres where i am and what i did" blog. whatever the reasons have been, i have a bunch of new and excited stuff to share with you now. but first, im going to do a recap of the months i didnt blog about for those of you who care about that kind of stuff. if you dont. just skip the stuff in between the lines.
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CAMBODIA – i dont remember what i said about ministry in the blog i wrote in cambodia, and, as im typing this, i dont have access to internet for me to go back and read it. that being said, i may have already told you some of this. we working with YWAM in a place called sihanoukville. sihanoukville is on the ocean and is a big tourist/party town. our ministry for the month was, once again, teaching english. each of us had a different class that we taught each night, and we would teach at a school 2-3 times a week. i am allergic to shellfish. i just developed it about 3 years ago. some of the meals that were prepared for us at the YWAM base had shellfish in them. the first time, i didnt know and actually had to use an epi-pen. after that time, i would just go out and eat if i couldnt eat what they had prepared. that led to me getting to know the town a little better. it had quite a few really good restaurants. one night, while i was out, i realized that they were missing a huge ministry opportunity by not have anything in place to meet and talk with the tourists there. i got permission to stay out as late as i wanted and do bar ministry. i would go out a few times a week and just start conversations with people. sometimes the conversation would get to a place where i could talk about God. other times it wouldnt. some people were belligerent when the topic of God came up. others didnt seem to care one way or another. but there were a couple of people that cared a great deal, and with those people i had some amazing conversations. there was one guy in particular. he was the bartender at the bar at the end of the pier. he was originally from new york. we started talking about God one night and he talked about how i was the first christian he had met in a really long time. i started doing a little bible study thing with him a couple times a week and found a bible for him. he even came to our thanksgiving dinner. overall it was an okay month. i enjoyed my "ministry on the side", but after this month i was really praying for a change. i was getting drained having to do a ministry, month after month, that i didnt really enjoy.
VIETNAM – i cant tell you very much about this month. i could potential endanger the ministries of the people i worked with. vietnam has pretty strict laws about religion and tracks certain words used on the internet. what i can tell you though is that this was by far and away my favorite month of the trip so far. this month was such an answer to prayer in a few different ways. we had another team with us the entire month. this gave us the chance to kind of have a break from each other. we got to spend time with people we didnt know very well instead of constantly being together just the six of us. i loved the ministry i got to do. it was something that i really enjoyed doing and something i felt like i was good at. our contacts were an amazing example of Christs love. i won my fantasy football league for the second year in a row. i havent been in america for the past two season and they still cant beat me (i doubt anyone in my league will read my blog but wanted to put this in here just in case). the hotel we lived in rented motorbikes for really cheap. i had never driven a motorbike before, so i had to have someone teach me but i rented one a couple of times a week. we drove them up the hai van pass. one of the most beautiful views i have ever seen. at the top there is an abandoned american war bunker. that was probably my favorite day of the race so far.
UGANDA – for those of you who dont know, uganda has been an extremely important part of my life. i gave my life to Christ in uganda on october 23, 2009 during my second trip. since then i have gone back five times and spent 3 months living there at the end of 2011. uganda is like a second home to me. needless to say, i was very excited to go back. we spent our first four or five days in jinja (the town i lived in during all of my previous trips) for our debrief. i was able to go see all the people i lived with and worked for. i even got to take a trip up to the babies home and see the kids. it was so refreshing. our ministry for the month was in a village called bunamwaya. it was about 20 minutes from kampala (the capital of uganda). everyday we went either hut-to-hut or to a medical center. we would go around and spend time getting to know people and talk with them about their belief, and, if they wanted to hear, our beliefs, and then we would pray for them. kind of similar to what i did in india, just not quite as intense or as tiring. we also spoke in churches most nights of the week. most of you probably know smooth and kelly via. smooth has been on staff at journey for a while now, and he has been the youth pastor for the past few years. smooth played an important role in me giving my life to Christ all the way back in 2009. he and his family are getting ready to move to uganda, for at least the next three years, to officially adopt chloe, the girl they have been in the process of adopting for the past few years. you can check out their whole story, and support them, here: http://www.thevias.com/support/. well smooth happened to be in uganda getting things in order for their move during my month there. i was able to meet up with him in kampala twice. it was really good to see a friendly face from back home and, for a few hours, forget about the race and just catch up.
KENYA – i am in kenya this month. today was our last day of ministry. we leave on the 24th to meet back up with our squad in nairobi for our month 8 debrief. this month has been pretty similar to last month. we are in a small village called malava. we are living with a pastor and his family. this is the first month on the race that have had a room to myself. it is in a mudhut but at this point, i take what i can get. it has been a pretty relaxing month. we go out a few hours a day to different peoples homes or to a medical center and pray with them. we spoke in different churches each sunday. this past sunday i went to a church about 3 hours away and convinced the pastor to let me drive back. that was the first time i have driven a car since we left. we have had quite a bit of down time this month. i have spent most of my down time the past couple of months reading. ive read 10 books just in the past 2 months. a kindle is possibly the most important thing to bring on a trip like this.
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i have three months remaining. tanzania, estonia, and latvia. i will fly into jfk on may 30th.
okay. now onto some stuff that is a little more personal. i have always assumed that i would end up moving to another country, most likely uganda. a lot of you have probably assumed that as well. ive never minded "roughing it" or going without some of the things i am privileged to have in america. i have always enjoyed missions work. one of the reasons i came on this trip was because i was hoping that God would give me clear direction about His next step for me. i thought that clear direction would come through a calling to a specific country or to a specific ministry. before the race, i spent a good bit of time praying that He would reveal to me my next step through this trip, but since i left i have intentionally not spent very much time praying for that. i knew how easy it would be for me to spend this entire trip thinking about what was next instead of focusing on where He has me in that moment. i have never felt a specific calling to move to uganda, or even to be a long term missionary for that matter. i have just assumed that is what he would call me to because of the previously stated reasons. now that the trip is nearing an end i have started, once again, thinking and praying about the next step. very few times have i felt called call me to something specific. most of the time when i have prayed about a big decision i have simply felt a freedom from Him to do what i want as long as i am doing for Him. this trip was one of the first times i felt a calling from Him to a specific thing. so as i began to pray through this, i expected that i would simply feel that same freedom to do what i wanted – which would have most likely been moving to uganda long term.
for the past few months i have had a bunch of jumbled ideas and thoughts bouncing around in my head. some came from conversations i have had over this race, some from books i have read, and other from all the way back to when i was 16. i had assumed they were just meaningless ideas. fun to think about but unrealistic for my future. this month, as i started praying again about the future, God began to put those random thoughts and ideas together in a really cool way. He has begun to build a dream in me. it is vastly different than where i thought my life was headed. it is something that, without Him, i have no chance of succeeding in. the most assuring thing for me that this is actually from God is the fact that i have complete peace about it. i shouldnt. this isnt what thought i wanted. it isnt even where i thought He wanted me. it is, in many ways, a scary thing He has revealed to me. but i have peace. i know it is from Him and that He is going to be with me every step of the way. He is calling me to start something. i havent figured out the best word for what is in my head yet, so just take your pick: ministry, organization, business, church.
this blog is already quite long, so i will save the details for later, but i will tell you the first step. i am going to move to a bigger city. raleigh doesnt fit for what is in my head. i am still researching where it would fit best and where i could be most effective. right now, the most likely options are NYC, seattle, portland, or san francisco. i am going to move as soon as i have saved enough money to do so. i will most likely just get a job in whatever city i choose and spend a year or two getting to know the city, connecting with a body of believers, and letting Him continue to build the vision before i actually start it.
all of you have been such a blessing to me over the past year. you have supported me. you have prayed for me. you have encouraged me. all of that means more to me than you will ever know. as i said in the last paragraph, the first thing i need to do when i get home is start saving money. thats pretty hard to do when you dont have a job. so here is where i need your help. if you hear of anyone looking to hire, keep me in mind. i havent finished college, so i know that that greatly limits the type of job that i am able to get. june is going to be a busy month. aside from the obvious – seeing family, friends, eating food i havent had in a year – i am going to be taking a trip to each of those cities to begin to narrow down my options. i am thinking that mid july is most likely when i would be able to start working. if you hear of anyone looking to hire or know of any openings, you can just shoot me an email. [email protected]
thank you so much for everything you have done
austin
