After coming to Mongolia from China, I realized that I want to be in love with God. I don’t want just to love Him. I want to be IN LOVE with Him, to be in love with His words. I want to be in His presence. I want Him to pour out His Holy Spirit on me.
Before coming on the Race, I have never seen the power of the Holy Spirit move. I needed to step out of my comfort zone and follow Him. Since I have opened my heart fully towards Him this month, I have been receiving His blessing and more of those Holy Spirit moments.
I wanted to share three journal entries about how I have seen the power of the Holy Spirit move this month:
October 16th, 2015:
Today is the first of many days that God has revealed Himself to me. This morning during prayer time, God gave me a vision of me sitting on the bench at the apple square (a place in Mongolia where college students come together and hangout) and journaling.
I was hesitating to go, because I had already made plans to spend the day with Zaya and Kelsea. So I ignored it and went ahead to the coffee shop with Zaya and Kelsea. During the time at the coffee shop, I could feel God nudging me to go to the apple square. Once again, I ignored it. Funny thing is that when I ignored it, I could feel the hurt and the disappointment. After a while, Zaya and Kelsea had planned to go explore the city. I decided to listen to God that moment and go to the square.
So instead of going with Kels and Zaya, I went off by myself to the apple square. I got there, sat on the bench, having no idea what to do. So I started praying: “Father, I am here. You wanted me to be here, so here I am. I ask you that you will reveal yourself to me. I ask that you will show me what to do here because I honestly have no clue what I am doing. This is all new to me. Help me. Give me your eyes and show me what you want me to see. I trust you and I love you.”
After I prayed, I started journaling. While I was journaling, I noticed that every time a Mongolian passed by me, they would smile at me and say hello. That is not very common here in UB (Ulaanbaatar), for them to wave and smile. I didn’t think of it at first, but it kept happening. Lots of smiles and hello’s. I knew that God was showing me that He is here.
Then a younger guy passed by, I said hello and smiled. He said hello and asked me if I knew English. I said yes. He sat down next to me and we started to chat. He asked me what I was doing here in Mongolia. I explained to him about the World Race. He asked me if I was a Christian. I said yes. So then he started asking questions about God and asked why I love Him. I explained to this boy about who He is and why I love Him.
Then the most oddest thing happened. He asked me to pray. I replied, “You want me to pray? Right now? In front of all these people?”. The boy replied with a smile,“Yes.”
During that moment, I spoke to God, “God, seriously? You know I don’t like praying in front of people that I love (I am more of a silent/journal prayer person) and you want me to pray in front of this stranger along with Mongolians walking by?”
I could hear Him say, “Haley, I believe in you, you can do this”.
So I did it. I started praying. I could feel the Holy Spirit coming through me. I felt His calm Spirit, His presence. It was beautiful. After I was done praying. The boy just looked at me and said, “That was really beautiful. I can see that you really love God.”
At that moment, I knew that this was all for him, this boy. He needed this. He needed God’s love, and I was able to give him that. We both parted our seperate ways, and I knew that God went with him. Today is the beginning of many days that the Lord will bless me and bless others through me.
October 20th, 2015:
Today was mind-blowing!
Jess, James, and I went to a college campus in hopes of meeting college students to invite them to English classes then church. But nothing wasn’t really happening. So Jess decided to do the treasure hunt: Basically you ask God to reveal a picture then you would follow it. James and I have never done that before, so we were really excited about it.
We started praying, I got a picture of color green, James got color yellow, and Jess got a picture of someone approaching to her. We started walking, came across a movie theater with yellow signs and green tinted windows so we decided to go in there. There were lots of college students hanging out. We decided to go to the second floor, as we were heading that way, something stop me and caught my eye.
There was two deaf guys signing. They were signing in Mongolian. So I couldn’t understand what they were saying. Then I saw that one of the guys was wearing a green jacket… my heart started beating, I knew that was the Holy Spirit nudging me to go talk to them. So I told James and Jess, “I’m just going to do it, I’m going to go up there, start signing and see what happens from there.” So I approached to them and started signing in American Sign Language.
Turns out, the guy with the green jacket knew a little American sign language. We started to chat. It was hard but we were able to get around. The green jacket buy is 23 and the other guy is 19. The 23 year old guy had really good drawings, so he showed us his drawings. We added each other on Facebook so we could communicate better that way. We said our goodbye’s and left. I was mind-blown and knew that I left a smile on their faces.
We thought we were done for the day. Well, God was not done. He still had something in store for us. Later that night, we had English class which James and Jess stayed for. I went to the coffee shop to check my emails and chat with my family. When I got back to our apartment, James had a mind-blowing story to tell.
During their English class, a women approached Jess and started talking with her; James joined. Their conversation got deeper with her, and she became vulnerable. They prayed for her and let her in. After the night was over for her, James realized that she was wearing a yellow shirt, and that someone approached Jess, just as the Holy Spirit had shown her earlier that day.
God revealed a picture for the three of us, and He came through! He really revealed himself to us. We all were amazed, especially James and I, since this was our first time doing a treasure hunt. It got me more excited for what is coming next. God isn’t done, this is just the beginning. There is many more to come, and I am so ready for it– so ready for the Lord to keep revealing Himself and showing us the impossible!
October 30th, 2015:
So this morning, the Holy Spirit came to me once again!
God keeps surprising me and I am loving it. I want more of Him! So what happened was that we had worship and prayer time. We invited our Mongolian friends from church to prayer time. We sang, worshipped God that day. It was beautiful.
After worship, Carlos asked us to pick a Mongolian friend from church and pray for them. I immediately knew which girl I was going to pray for. I don’t know her name, but I remember she had a pink sweater on and a beautiful smile. Before I started praying with her, I had this nudge to share a verse with her: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30). She immediately lit up. I knew I had done God’s task by sharing that with her. Then I prayed for her. I prayed boldly. No fear. God was with me and her.
After we prayed, one of the women (the leader of the church), Bogie, told us that we bring so much happiness to them. We bring so much light and faith. I teared up. I didn’t realize how much of an impact we were making for the church and this city. It brings so much to joy knowing that.
I want to keep doing that. This is what I am called to do: serve for Him and spread His light and love. Then the woman with the pink sweater spoke up and explained that what I told her during prayer, was exactly she needed to hear. She prayed the night before about wanting rest and wanting her burdens to be lifted. She was amazed that this prophecy was for her. After that, I was so encouraged by that, knowing that I am being obedient to God.
I am listening to the Holy Spirit. I am thanking the Lord for giving me this gift of encouragement, this gift of prophecy. I can’t wait to share more of what God wants me to do during those moments. I have to keep trusting Him and keep staying obedient by listening to the Holy Spirit. HE IS ALIVE!
That is not all that happened this month. A lot has happened, but those were the main stories that I wanted to share. I am happy to say that I am falling in love with God. I miss Him every moment, and I want more of Him. I can’t wait for more to come. The more I listen to Him, the more I receive from Him, and the more I feel from Him. I want to challenge you by doing that. If you know the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, listen. I promise you, He will not fail you nor forsake you. He will surprise you and bless you.
As of this moment, I need to ask for your help. I am currently at $11,065. I didn’t reach my financial deadline for $13,000 by October 31st. God has chosen me to be here, and I want to finish His tasks that He has for me while on the Race. But I can’t finish His tasks if this deadline is not met. If you feel called to help me out financially, you can donate through this website (the “support me” tab is on the top right). If you are unable to help out financially, please pray that the Lord will provide and that He will guide the right people to me and help me through Him. I believe the Lord will come through, and I can’t wait for the moment when He does!
Lastly, my squad and I leave for Japan in FIVE days!!!! Please pray that the Lord will give us more of Him, as we are wanting more of Him. Pray that He will help us finish strong here in Mongolia this week. Thank Him for choosing us and giving us this opportunity to learn more of Him and His Kingdom.
Thank you for all of your love, support, and prayers!
God Bless
