[First published on 7/27/2016. To view the original newsletter, click here.]
Hello family and friends!
Greetings from Macedonia! No, seriously…I’m really in Macedonia!
Yes, I am even further behind in my updates so again I apologize. Since my last full newsletter on Vietnam, I’ve finished my last month in Asia and just started my last month in Europe — oh, and I’M FULLY FUNDED 🙂 There’s a lot I want to catch you up on so please be patient as I try to churn out more newsletters soon!
But for now, here is what my April looked like in Indonesia!
MINISTRY
Our month in Indonesia was full of surprises, to say the least. It first started in Vietnam at debrief when we were told that our Squad mentor was staying with our team of all guys for a week in Indonesia for “Manistry”! And to add to that, our second surprise was discovering that we had another guy join our team for the month as our first Fusion Exposure Participant — and he’s Indonesian too! It was a welcomed change of pace to be on an all-guys team and made for an interesting month of male bonding, haha
The third surprise was finding where in Indonesia we would be for the month — and it was Bali! And not just any part of Bali, but in the vacation destination of Kuta Beach! This was definitely the last place I expected to be to do ministry while in Indonesia, but God can be unpredictable like that. And unpredictable is probably the best way to describe what we did during the month…
Because our last surprise was discovering that our team would be doing a special ministry program within The World Race called Unsung Heroes. Essentially our team served as the front lines for Adventures in Missions (AIM), the parent organization of The World Race, and looked for potential ministry contacts in Bali that could host teams in the future. About 25% of World Race hosts are found through the Unsung Heroes program so our work in Bali was setting the groundwork for future partnerships where AIM and The World Race could work alongside these Unsung Heroes in building God’s kingdom there!
And during our month there, our team was blessed to come across two amazing ministries. The first was Kuta International Christian Church (KICC) (kutainternationalchristianchurch.worthyofpraise.org), who basically became our home church while in Bali. They invited us to their prayer meetings and Sunday services each week, allowed us to stay in their homes for a week, fed us delicious Balinese meals and even worshiped on the beach together. We were truly lucky to have met such an incredible community at KICC!
Another organization that we were fortunate to have met was Kingdom Children Ministry Asia (KCMA) (www.kingdomchildrenministryasia.com.au), whose goal is “to be a foundation that makes a real difference and improves lives and gives hope to children and families from impoverished backgrounds.” Their ministry isn’t in Kuta Beach, but in a small town called Amlapura in eastern Bali. Two teammates and I were able to make a trip up there and see their ministries firsthand, helping with their kindergarten school, “River Kids” program and remote village outreach. What a blessing it was to see “real Bali” and how God is using KCMA to impact His people there!
There was a lot more to our Unsung Heroes ministry in Bali that frankly would be too much for a newsletter — like what our work really was like and more details about both KICC and KCMA and their ministries. So I highly encourage you to read my blog post and get the specifics!
http://sangpark.theworldrace.org/post/month-4-indonesia-ministry-in-bali-unsung-heroes
[Manistry — men’s ministry with our Squad mentor and Fusion Exposure Participant!]
[Life in Bali — Kuta Beach, streets filled with vacationers and Hindu culture!]
[KICC — Sunday service, at the pastor’s house, family meals and worship on the beach!]
[KCMA — kindergarten school, River Kids and remote village outreach!]
ADVENTURE DAYS
Another piece of news we got at our last debrief is that for the rest of the year, we now have an Adventure Day each week in addition to our regular Off Day! That means our Off Days will continue to be used to rest and run errands, but now Adventure Days will be an extra day to enjoy and explore the local culture!
But because of the unpredictability of Unsung Heroes, we were only able to plan one full Adventure Day this month, which we used to explore Ubud. Located in the center of the island, Ubud is a popular area for tourists who want to get away from the craziness of Kuta Beach for a more serene and greener perspective of Bali. We began our day by walking thru a monkey forest where monkeys would literally be inches away from us, and then trekking thru Tegallalang Rice Terrace and its picturesque stepladder-like rice paddies. Then we stopped for lunch near Bali’s most active volcano, Mount Batar, and ended our day by visiting a coffee farm and tasting luwak (or “cat poop”) coffee, supposedly the most expensive coffee in the world. Not a bad way to spend our one Adventure Day!
And lucky for me, I also had some Adventure Days of sorts doing ministry. Because our visit with Kingdom Ministry Children Asia took us to the town of Amlapura, my teammates and I were able to explore that region in East Bali. On our way there, we first stopped at a coastal town called Candidasa for a relaxing pit stop and soaked in the views. Then the next day after helping at the kindergarten school, our ministry host drove us to the Ujung Water Palace, a massive site with large pools, buildings and gardens that served as the provincial imperial home in the past. And on the way to the remote village on our last day, we were able to see a natural spring and also stop by another coastal town called Amed for a lunch break on its black volcanic sand beaches. What an awesome treat it was to mix in some Adventure on my ministry days!
And if you’re interested in reading and seeing more pictures of my Adventures in Bali (especially the sunsets on Kuta Beach that I became obssessed with), check out my blog post below!
http://sangpark.theworldrace.org/post/month-4-indonesia-adventure-days
[Enjoying Ubud — monkey forest, Tegallalang Rice Terrace, Mount Batar and luwak coffee!]
[Exploring East Bali — Candidasa, Ujung Water Palace, a natural spring and Amed!]
[Sunsets at Kuta Beach!]
FUNDRAISING UPDATE
NO MORE FUNDRAISING SECTION GOING FORWARD!!!
That is all.
And thank you 🙂
A FEW THOUGHTS AND PRAYER REQUESTS
Compared to my first three months, my time in Indonesia was the hardest experience of the Race. Don’t get me wrong — it was still more good than bad, as there were many incredible moments throughout the month. And overall, I still very much enjoyed my time in Bali, with the people I served with and met. But at the same time, I faced some challenges I hadn’t expected to during the month. Because honestly, Bali should’ve been amazing with no complaints, except…
It wasn’t easy thinking of Bali not as a vacation, but as ministry.
It wasn’t easy not knowing what each day of ministry would look like.
It wasn’t easy embracing the efficacy of our daily Unsung Heroes work.
It wasn’t easy being sick for more than half the month.
This was also the first time on the Race where I wanted to be in a different part of the country instead of where I was assigned to. As great as Bali was and is, I knew Indonesia was much more than the commercialized version of what I saw in Kuta Beach. And if I were to ever visit Indonesia on my own, I would come to Bali anyways. So selfishly, I wanted to be somewhere else and see the real Indonesia that I know I would likely not experience otherwise except on The World Race. But I was reminded of Proverbs 16:9, which says “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” In the end, God weathered those storms and reminded me that He had everything under His control.
His plan for me was to be in Bali, to do ministry.
His plan for me was to not let me plan my own ways.
His plan for me was to let Him establish my steps.
As for His plan for letting me get sick…I’m still waiting for the answer to that!
For prayer requests…
1. Pray for my health (again). I’m not sick like I was in Indonesia, but my allergies have flared up since being in Europe. My nose is either stuffed up or running all day long and some mornings I will wake up with a scratchy throat. The symptoms don’t bother me too much when doing ministry, but it is a nuisance (and a drain on my wallet) to buy medication every few weeks. Please pray that my allergies will die down and I will be restored to full health.
2. Pray for freedom. Let me explain. The one struggle that’s been constant since the beginning of my Race is my inability to be myself around my squad. While I have some theories as to why that might be, I simply haven’t been able to smile, laugh or goof around as much as I do back at home. I’ve shared this with some squadmates and am trying to work thru it. But one of my biggest disappointments from this Race would be if my squadmates saw only one side of me — and that’s the only impression that they were left with. So please pray that I will break thru whatever it is that is holding me back and instead have the freedom to be more of myself with my squad.
Thank you everyone for your patience with this long, overdue newsletter! I am deeply appreciative of your support and your investment into my journey that I want to do the best possible job I can in sharing with you all on what my Race experience has been like every month. So please continue to bear with me as I work on my updates! And as always, you can subscribe to my blog at http://sangpark.theworldrace.org!
Until next time from Macedonia again!
By His Love,
Sang Park
