Sorry for the delay in updates from my race but here is a summary of month four! Month 4 started out with a debrief. Debrief is a time where our team will sit down with our squad leaders, squad mentor, and squad parents to talk about everything that has happened since the last debrief. (For us that was about two months.) During this debrief, I had two things that came up in most of the conversations that I had with leadership. One was that I have a pride issue that is hindering me from moving forward, and the second was that I have been accepting old reputations as my identity and it is hindering others when they try to get to know and love me.
It was intense to say the least. I knew some of that but I didn’t realize how much it was affecting my race. I had many conversations following debrief to help me work on these challenges.
We started the month with getting a new team! It was a special month because we sent the men on our squad off for ‘manistry’ so they could all be together instead of being constantly out-numbered by women. This means that those of us (myself included) that were on co-ed teams got moved around a bit. I was placed on a mega team of 14 wonderful ladies.
We stayed in Chiang Mai and worked for a ministry called Lighthouse in Action. This ministry had many different opportunities to work with and we all got to choose how we spent our time. I focused mainly on bar ministry along with working some shifts in the Zion Café. During bar ministry, I would go out with my partner and befriend the girls working in the bars. Legit, I got to drink diet coke, play Jenga, and make new friends. It was the perfect ministry for me and I loved every minute of it.
On our first night out, we prayed for guidance and God lead us to a handful of places. We ended up meeting three women at two different bars that really touched our hearts. We spent the next couple weeks going and visiting them at the bar, going out for coffee dates, and just being friends. It felt like I was at home. One day, I was taking a walk around the city and I heard my name from a distance. One of the girls was walking out of the nail salon and saw me so we stopped to chat. I loved this life.
I was even comfortable enough with my team that I gave feedback and had hard conversations. I felt okay talking about my feelings and addressing issues when they came up. I swallowed my pride and apologized to friends when I wasn’t being a very good one.
THIS WAS A MAJOR GAME CHANGING MONTH!
I can’t explain what happened inside of me or why my heart changed right now but it did and it is awesome. It is still hard. The world race is hard. But in the words of my squad leader, “If it was easy, it wouldn’t be worth it.”
Thailand is going down as one of my favorite places so far for many reasons and I am truly blessed to have had the opportunity that I did in ministry that month.
(**Coming up next is a blog about the details of bar ministry. Beware that it is a heavy topic**)
