Our team has made it to our final location in Seoul, South Korea! For our final month on the Race, we will be living and helping out at an all-girl’s children’s home – with ages ranging from 3 weeks to college-age! So far, we’ve spent a fair amount of time in the “baby room
” – taking care of 6 infants (all under 4 months!) – and playing outside and hanging out with the older kids when they come home from school (summer vacation doesn’t begin until the end of this month we’re told). The staff at the home are all wonderful – they go out of their way to bless us with snacks and make sure we’re comfortable with our sleeping arrangements, etc. and I’ve been so encouraged on this Race to experience how our presence is mutually beneficial. I feel like I’ve been blessed more by each host than I could possibly bless them – and it’s just a beautiful testament to how the Body can work.
It’s also my understanding that this is the first time for our contacts to host a World Race team – and foreign volunteers in general. It’s a privilege to be the first team to set the standard for future WR teams – and while in our final month, to be able to pour out all of our love, energy and excitement on these kids and the staff here. Our team is also blessed by the presence of two young women who grew up in Korea but now live in America. Tae and Teresa haven been rockstars – translating for us with the staff, explaining necessary cultural protocol, showing us around town, and ultimately just befriending us in this first week of our last month. It’s my hope to love them well (as they are staying at the home for 6 months and 2 months, respectively) and be an encouragement to one another. I’m just excited for this opportunity this month – to work hard, play harder and to convey the love of the Father to these children who may not have earthly parents who want or are able to care for them. I can’t think of a way I’d want to finish out my Race.
In other news, I’m loving Seoul and South Korea in general. The people are beautiful (my Facebook is going to BLOW UP your newsfeed this month with pictures of those precious Korean babies), the food is fishier than expected (I don’t know what I expected… other than kimchee – which has lived up to expectation as it’s included with EVERY MEAL) and best of all – I can walk around here talking about Jesus and won’t get questioning looks or get kicked out of the country for it (in fact, WE got evangelized to on the train into Seoul by an older gentleman AND the largest church in the world is located in Seoul!). Everything is expensive in comparison to the countries we’ve been in recently – which is probably a good refresher on life in America – but I can’t wait to see all the adventures this month holds. I honesty believe I’m really going to miss walking around a new place every month, exploring and getting lost and laughing about the signs written in poorly-spelled English in the store fronts.
To finish off this quick update, I want to tell you a little testimony of something God taught me during one of our travel days last month. To get from our China location (a small city three hours north of Lanzhou, China) to our Korea location, we had to take a three hour bus to Lanzhou, followed by a 17-hour overnight train to Beijing, stay overnight in Beijing and get up the next morning to catch a flight to Seoul. For the 17-hour overnight train ride, we had bought seats as opposed to beds in order to save some money (we took beds TO our location and splurged a bit – so we needed to get back on budget on the way back) – and to put it honestly, it was miserable. I shared a three seat section with a Chinese man and a Chinese woman with her 4-ish year old son (who ended up sleeping longways across my seat at one point through the night). All the other Racers got to share their sections with at least one other Racer (some other sections were comprised entirely of Racers) and there I was – alone and squished into my seat in the aisle (with no one to lean against or a wall to lean my head upon). I tell it to you this way because I’m trying to draw upon your sympathy – because I was being pretty pitiful and feeling sorry for myself. At one point in the middle of the night (around 2AM) I got up to see nearly everyone else from my group sleeping – on each other, on the floors in the cute little “World Racer” sections – and I looked at my squad leader and said, “I feel sorry for myself. Not for anyone else. Just myself.” Because I did. And he just nodded his head, that he understood my plight, and then he laid his head back upon the wall and went to sleep.
I recalled in that moment a podcast I had listened to earlier that day – that talked about our confident assurance in God and that when we complain and grumble, we’re doing it from a place that isn’t trusting in God’s provision. And I understood that I was feeling sorry for myself because I thought that my lack of sleep was going to keep me from accomplishing everything I needed to do the next day while in Beijing. And I realized how pitiful that thought was – that sleep could keep God from getting me where I needed to be, when I needed to be there. I walked back to my seat, asked the current squatter if I could sit back down (there were people who bought standing room only tickets – so when I would get up, someone would sit down until I came back), picked up my backpack from the floor, thanked the Lord that it was fat and thick (a fact I was cursing earlier in the day when my backpack wouldn’t fit into the overhead space on the bus) so I wouldn’t have to bend over as far, put my pillow on the backpack and fell asleep for an hour or two until I needed to change positions again.
My challenge to you: when you feel like grumbling or complaining, ask yourself what it is that you’re not trusting in the Lord to provide. Pray over it and then sit in that space. I daresay He’ll reveal something to you. And eventually, it’s gonna be awesome. Trust me.
For His glory,
Nat
So far, I have six people who have joined my prayer team as I enter into the next adventure the Lord has for me: the Fellowship program at AIM. I’m still looking for about 20 more prayer partners! If this is you, please leave a message for me below and I’ll add you to the weekly prayer email!
I’m also in need of financial supporters – monthly and one-time donations welcome! My first financial deadline is September 1st and I need to have $3,000 in my account. I’m looking and relying on the Lord to provide the finances necessary to follow Him as He leads me on this next journey. If the Lord is leading you to give, please email/message me with any questions you have! I’d love to answer them. You can click on the “Support Me” link on the left side of this page to donate online as well as mail in a check to the below address with “NEALNATALIE” included on the memo line:
Adventures in Missions
PO Box 742570
Atlanta, GA 30374-2570
Thanks all!
