Hey everyone!
I haven’t written a blog in quite a while.
My last blog was about what an awesome experience I had in Côte d’Ivoire and I was able to brag on the Lord and all that He did in that month.
I want to encourage people with my blogs, but I’m realizing that people also just want to get an update about what I’ve been doing!
After Côte d’Ivoire we headed to Ghana for another month of evangelism, and a surprise all squad month.
Day to day we would walk the streets of Sunyani, and talk to people and tell them about Jesus, and about the church that we were working with.
We had a REALLY awesome moment with a man named Joshua who had a radical encounter with Jesus and left his life of Buddhism.
Another unforgettable moment was when a man named Samuel who we had met and become friends with walked to church to meet us after not being able to get off the couch for years.
It was a pretty tough month for me because our ministry was based on a last minute “there’s not much for you to do here” decision. However, we had some radical encounters that made it all worth it. Looking back, God was working in the middle of it all and we ended up where we were for a reason.
In fact, after a long thought out decision, we stayed in Ghana for another month rather than going to Burkina Faso like originally planned for security reasons.
We then went to Europe!
I was able to visit Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Hungary, and Romania while we were there.
Our first month in Europe was part of a program called “Unsung Heroes”, where our ministry for the month was to find contacts for future World Race teams to do ministry.
We started in Bosnia where I fell in love with Eastern Europe (Europe was the part of the Race I was the least excited about). The spiritual oppression and homeless gypsy kids laid heavy on my heart. The hardest part was that in our search for people or churches trying to make a difference- we didn’t find anyone. A place of such need, and everyone turning a blind eye.
We had better luck in Serbia, but not much.
The following month, we were in Romania and our team was placed with the church hosting PVT, (Parent Vision Trip) where parents of the Racers have a chance to visit their racer across the world.
Our month was spent planning that event, and then during the event since my parents did not come, I was behind the scenes cooking. I loved being able to serve behind the scenes (something I’ve been growing in this year), and it was an awesome time to have a little more flexibility to be able to find times to serve above and beyond.
After that we went to Cambodia. We were helping with VBS in a village outside Siem Reap. Our hosts were missionaries from the Philippines and had youth leaders they had raised up to run the VBS. We were able to support them during VBS and taught English in the villages. We lived in tents (I was in my hammock) during the flood season. Most nights were interrupted by the rain and floods. One night I thought it was raining, only to find that the liquid hitting my legs were snakes pooping on me from the tree above. Other nights we were kept awake by the Buddhist chanting over the loud speakers in the village.
One night I was praying for the chanting and the Lord gave me a vision of angels surrounding the speakers, and I heard Him say “wait”. In my vision, more and more angels surrounded the speaker and when I heard “now”, the angels crashed over the speakers like waves, and the chanting stopped.
It was a super cool experience!
This past month I was in Thailand and we were together for “manistry” (man-ministry). I had been praying to be able to have a place to woodwork and weld. Kind of a random prayer- BUT it was important to me and the Lord answered!
My month was spent with hosts who are from the states, that I connected with really well, building all sorts of things for their ministries and houses. Also, their ministry was one that is really similar to the vision the Lord has given me for my future, and I will be praying about spending some time back in Thailand at some point.
I’m headed into my final month in Malaysia, and I land in San Francisco the day before Thanksgiving.
Please email me with questions about any of the stories from this blog, or to get the long version of a story with all the details, or to see pictures of the projects we built, or even if you have a question about the Race, I would love to share with you!
[email protected]
I’m still not fully funded. I have a little over $300 left to raise. If each person that follows my blog gave $7, I’d be covered!
I don’t like asking for money because I’ve been so confident that this is where the Lord wants me and that He will line up the finances, but I do want to share the need and invite you in to this journey.
And- the Lord has already brought in $16,000!! That’s incredible.
Thanks everyone for your prayer and support, and I look forward to hearing from you!
