So I wanted to make a blog that highlighted some of my favorite people and memories from the Race. I'm hoping to keep up with it better as the months go on, but all the stories are worth a read and I hope it gives just a little more insight to the things and people God has placed in my life this year!
Costa Rica
"a month of finding my purpose"
This picture is of Sophia and I, one of our host family’s children. For the month we were in Costa Rica it was such a joy to not only go out and do ministry, but to love on the Folk children as well. I spent most of my nights designing dresses, making up dances, or playing soccer with the kids. Sophia and the other Folk children helped teach me that service and ministry can come at all times, and in all sorts of ways. I will forever remember Sophia’s childlike innocence and joy.
Another Sophia who had an impact on me was this little Sophia. As part of our ministry we helped at a school (in a classroom as well as painting murals). A week into the Race I felt like I went from months of constant awareness of God’s presence, constant joy, and the continual affirmation that He was with me—to feeling nothing. I was saddened because I longed to be in His presence and all of a sudden I didn’t feel Him anymore. One of the most elemental lessons I learned as a believer was that the Christian walk is based on faith not feelings, so I continued to do my devotions and pray, exactly as before, but still felt a dryness. One day we were at the school painting and this girl, Sophia, came over to the fence crying. The teachers said she had literally cried all day every day for 2 weeks at this point; nothing could make her stop. (We can vouch for that). As I walked over and picked her up, she stopped crying. To me it was more than making a crying babe stop crying, it was that the presence of the Lord had to be with me, because I could offer nothing different than anyone else that had tried holding Sophia. Even though I ‘wasn’t feeling’ God’s presence, it showed that He had never left me. I was so blessed by Sophia that every day I longed to see her during recess just to spend time with her. On top of it all, we found out that after we finished the mural by Sophia’s classroom, she finally stopped crying for good, and everyone, I mean everyone, in administration noticed. We praised the Lord for that.
This photo is our group at the Cristo Viene church in Cartago. I blogged about our weekend at this church already, but I loved the people we met there during our short visit to their church. To be able to witness our brothers and sisters who are seeking the Kingdom of God in Costa Rica was so encouraging; and what is even more exciting is how they have continued to follow our journeys on the Race and continued to cover us in prayer. Romans 12:9-13 says, “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality” I see our brothers and sisters from Cristo Viene living that out. We heard the gospel being proclaimed there, boldly, standing against the Catholic tradition which infiltrates the minds of most around them. God is using them to ignite our generation in seeking truth and following what Jesus taught, nothing less. A cool side note is that we saw our friend Carito from Cristo Viene two months later in Honduras, she was there for mission and evangelism in Honduras—it was incredible to be reunited and encouraging that we are both running the race set before us!
Nicaragua
"a month of love and feeling God's Presence"
This photo shows a few of the women from Palacaguina, Nicaragua. These women are the greatest servants I have ever met in my life. There were about 5-6 women who woke up every morning before 6am to cook breakfast for our entire squad of 55 people. After they cooked breakfast, they would walk over with their large pots of food and coffee, serve us all one-by-one, then clean the dishes just to start preparing lunch. They worked from before the sun came up until after the sun went down. Where they prepared meals was also where we did laundry, and I can’t tell you how many times they offered to do our laundry as well. To see them serve us all day long, every day, and worship Jesus at night was the most beautiful picture of Christ’s love. They will have large crowns in heaven for sure.
Here is our team with Alejandro. Alejandro is a man from a town 30 minutes outside of Palacaguina, who left his wife and daughters for the month of February to come and serve alongside the other pastors in hosting our squad. Alejandro had a small backpack with him and slept on a mattress at the entrance of the church to protect us. Alejandro always made sure we were taken care of, and he always surprised us during our time doing manual labor with pancakes, fruit, and soda. If I have ever seen a man after God's own heart, it is Alejandro. A man who came from war, alcoholism, and a rebellious past to loving the Lord with all his heart, soul, and strength. The dedication to the Lord and the impact he makes when he enters a room is undeniable. It was an honor to serve under such an amazing guy!
This is our group on our way to do ministry. This day we were heading to an elderly home I believe, but every day was different for us. We did manual labor, picked up trash, dug a bathroom, did evangelism, went on prayer walks, cleaned a medical clinic, prayed at the medical clinic, and worked at a special needs school. What started out as a month of just moving dirt lead to a month of all sorts of opportunities to serve God. It was awesome working along the team Spice of Life as well.
Honduras
"a month of redemption, grace, and remembering the past"
Our family! In Honduras we were 24 World Racers combined with a family of 15. The boys and girls who lived at Zion’s Gate became our brothers and sisters while Nidia and Tony became our mom and dad. Every day we would come back from ministry, hang out, and be kids- whether that meant playing pool, soccer, Uno, painting rocks, playing with rabbits, watching soccer, or chasing the little boys around. This picture is from one of our last days in Honduras where we had a USA vs. Honduras soccer game in the rain (and unfortunately they beat us). The testimonies of where these boys and girls have been and where they are now are truly examples of God’s grace and redemption. I don’t think any of us will forget the stories we heard and the people we met in Honduras.
This is baby Alejandro! Alejandro lived at a home run by our Special Ops woman Gracie Murphee at Heart of Christ Ministries. Gracie and her husband Lee have a ministry that takes rape and incest victims (girls ages 12-15) who have children out of these horrific offenses, and helps to protect and raise them. When we visited Gracie she was housing 7 girls under the age of 17, and had 10 babies. The youngest mother there was 12-years old, raped by her stepfather, and there were 3 children there who had been abandoned. It was hard to swallow hearing about some of the cases Gracie deals with on a daily basis. In our time spend with Gracie, I was reminded of God’s heart from the way that Gracie pursues and loves her girls. Some of the girls were angry, some were depressed, some didn’t want to be at Gracie’s and would rather be out sleeping with men in the street, and to me it was so similar to how Jesus pursued me in my rebellion. Gracie never gives up on the girls and babies God has entrusted to her. I love the redemption God has done in Gracie’s life and continues to do through her in Honduras, she is a very bright light indeed.
These 3 pictures are from the city dump in Tegucigalpa. Going to the dump was one of the greatest days of my life. In a culture where your used toilet paper goes in the trash, trash is left on the side of the road for days collecting maggots and being torn apart by dogs, and eventually it ends up at the dump-piled high for over a quarter mile; in a place so filthy, there God’s people are. Some people are here because they have nowhere else to live. Some people commute to work there because they can collect recyclables. The rest, we have no idea why they are there. But as you can see, there are vultures surrounding the hills of trash, there are cows, dogs, and other creatures scrounging in the trash, and in the midst of it all, there are people worshipping God. The sights, the smells, the atmosphere, it was unlike any poverty I’ve ever seen before. The joy and humility I felt to be able to go and feed as well as pray for these people, it was truly like serving the least of these. No wonder Jesus loved the lowly and lost so much.
Thailand
"a month of sweet fellowship and a sense of belonging"
This is half of our team at the slum village nearby. Twice a week we went to this neighborhood and played with kids. We brought coloring books and a soccer ball, but it always seemed to end up with every World Racer having a child on their back playing tag. I bonded with a girl (as seen in a lot of my pictures) and was able to play soccer with some tattooed local dudes. Although there was a language barrier, God still blessed me richly by being able to serve there. "…let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 19:14)
P a k k a d
It means, “lettuce” in Thai. This lettuce head became a dear sister and lifelong friend. Here’s the story: our first night at ministry, our host Emmi comes up to me and says, “This is my friend Pakkad, she wants to practice her English so you two be friends.” My initial thought was that I was excited to have a Thai friend.. ..buuutttt I had never had a forced friendship like this before. It took the second time of Pakkad and I hanging out to realize I really liked this girl and it was going to be a piece of cake to be friends. Pakkad just became a believer 3 months ago and already God is working through so much in her heart. What I love about Pakkad the most is how real she is, how deeply she loves, and how thoughtful she is. I never had to guess what she was thinking and she shared absolutely everything she had with me. I cannot wait to go back to Thailand (whenever that may be) to travel and do life with this girl. In the meantime, Pakkad is in her fifth year in medical school and will be trapped at least three more years being really smart and really lazy 😉
Gwang and Ploy
So much of what I did in Thailand was build relationships. That is a huge reason of why I failed to post any blogs in April. I built relationships with Gwang and Ploy because they lived and worked at Zion Café just like us! Gwang and Ploy have worked for Emmi previously at Emmi’s other coffee shop—WonGen and while some of Emmi’s staff left her, these two remained faithful. These girls worked for 12 hours a day (if not more) then they did laundry after that. This was their routine 6 days a week. One morning Ploy and Gwang did our makeup, one day we went to the Thai New Year water festival (SongKran) together, we took pictures with Ploy on the roof, and were always joking around at work. I was so humbled by how hard these girls worked and loved living life with them all month.
Malaysia "a month of dreaming big"
*for security purposes all names in the following stories have been changed
Who loves homeless people? This girl. So of course my first favorite picture of Malaysia was at a benefit we had at the homeless center. The feeding center is open Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays and anywhere from 65-100 people can come and eat, shower, and rest. Wednesday nights the staff at the center gather here with local teams (like us) to go and do evangelism. Every Wednesday I went with this << man’s wife, as she took three of us to the poorest of the poor. We parked the car a block away and walked down an alley to minister to the 15 prostitutes working there. Motorcycles just drive down the alley, park, and make an exchange right off the alley. This was truly prostitution ministry at it’s realest, and also one of the dirtiest of places I’ve seen. God was working there though, the relationships built between Anna* and the women are based on trust and love. The women knew that Anna would be there, every Wednesday, and if they ever wanted a listening ear or a place to turn to, Anna was there. As Americans we are so solution-oriented so we can sometimes look at people for their problems, not for their life or their heart. I don’t have all the details, nor do I have all the solutions, but just a heart willing to show them love, and the encouraging words and prayers that Jesus is always there.
Chelsea* runs an art center in Malaysia that I had the great pleasure of working at all month. Originally from another part of Malaysia, Chelsea felt called to the part where we were living, and while she once was working various production aspects behind the scenes, she felt God was now calling to art. With little to no experience in the fine art world, at least nothing like this, Chelsea whole-heartedly relied on God’s guidance to open this center, and has continued to rely whole-heartedly that He will sustain it; and He has. Chelsea reaches out to artists, many of whom are not Christian, as well as does everything she can for the glory of God. Chelsea also has an encouraging testimony of coming to know Jesus while studying in the United States, which melts my heart when I think of all the international students on Michigan State’s campus and even all the immigrants all over our country. The fact that we have cultures from all around the world coming to US, yes “us”, Christians in America, it really made me evaluate how I treat other cultures and how many opportunities I want to take full advantage of when I’m home—I can share Jesus with a Muslim in the U.S. but never in a country they call home! I just was blessed so much from Chelsea and working with her this month, she is a woman I will never forget!
Melting Pot
Are we in the Middle East? No.
Are we in China? No.
Are we in India? Not yet 😉
Then where are we?! Malaysia.
A place of many cultures. That is what I will never forget about living in Malaysia. We lived in Little India and ate Indian food daily. But my favorite restaurant was the China House and there was a mosque one block over from us. Malaysia is a melting pot! I loved being in so many cultures at one time, but I constantly wondered about what it would be like to be Malaysian, like, truly, Malaysian. Nonetheless, our Malaysian friends all had ways of being true to themselves and true to their roots. I’ll never forget the nights I spent on the roof overlooking the city in awe and I’ll never forget all of God’s people I met who are living boldly for the Gospel in a place where talking about Jesus is illegal. Thankful for all this place had to offer.
