If I have the chance to share with others about the international opportunities God has blessed me with, they know that ASIA is a large part of my story. I was blessed to experience it for the first time in 2008. God is so incredible, the way He does things, because Asia was not a part of “my plan.” The opportunity presented itself because of a scheduling mistake that found me spending an additional semester at Texas Tech. This mistake, though, granted me the opportunity to take some classes that I was interested in, so making the best of it, I registered for “The Vietnam War” course. You see, Texas Tech is known in the History world as one of the best places to study the war and this period in US/world History, as our campus has one of the world’s largest archives on the war! As a History major, I had learned this about my dept. early on in my student career, but I only needed so many upper level American History classes, and I had checked off that requirement over a summer with what was simply available, as I had a blase attitude towards American History– I was a European History chick! Now, I can most definitely tell you military history “ain’t my thing.” Yet I felt like it was a course worth taking because of the level of expertise Tech was able to offer the subject, and I’d heard good things about the prof. And it became obvious on day 1 of class, as Dr. Milam, in his Harley Davidson getup, spoke about how a strong grade in the course offered us the opportunity to go to Vietnam with him that upcoming summer, that this class going to be unique in every good way! I left class that day without a doubt knowing I would be going and that this prof was different… and special!
Dr. Milam negotiating a deal in near Angkor Wat in Cambodia
My eyes are welling up right now and tears are spilling over as I reflect on it and the goodness of the life God is offering me and the opportunities He weaves for us. Y’all nothing is a mistake, and God used that additional semester and that trip, not to teach me about the Vietnam War, though it did, but to break my heart for the nations and the people of Southeast Asia. He formed in me over those 30ish days a heart for missions. I left the region with a desire to return like I had never before felt. Yes, I leave every place I visit hoping to one day return and experience more of it in the future, but this time it was different. I had seen, and felt, an emptiness, a darkness that I knew and understood as being a darkness that only He could fill. I knew I wanted to return to this part of the world someday, not to further my education or add to my “exotic places visited” list, but to share the head knowledge I had long known and the heart knowledge that I had just recently tuned into! I had just recently made the decision to make Him a priority, and for the first time, I believe, became a true Christ follower– someone who was building a relationship with Him, becoming dependent on Him to help me through the thick and thin. I was returning home to the US to make a major change— a move away from TX and to Washington, DC, and my decision to make Him a priority had come with the realization of that move and how it offered me the opportunity at a “do over” of sorts– a fresh start– and I knew I wanted it to include Him at the center, instead of running from it as I had in my undergrad years!
Vietnam: the city & the countryside
And so I tell you all of this because when I first realized God was calling me to the World Race last summer, I thought it meant that it would include a chance to return to Southeast Asia, particularly Cambodia and Vietnam, whose people I had fallen so hard for and who I so desperately wanted to share my joy in Jesus with. But my July 2 route didn’t include Southeast Asia. I was OK with it after a bit, because I knew I could find other opportunities in the future to return to those nations, and I was particularly excited about working with Muslim populations in Turkey and Southeastern Europe, as my hearts breaks for Muslim people groups, and I have long had an interest in Turkey, Morocco, and the Middle East as I am textile design nut and aesthetically love Middle Eastern design. Yes, this is how I first gained a heart for the people of the Islamic faith. 🙂 (I can thank my neat mom for this!) Anyway, with this route change I will receive the best of both worlds, as I will get to go back to where this call first materialized, and I will still be able to work with Muslim populations through our work in Malaysia!
When it came to choosing yet again a world race route, I had to re-examine my “why I’m goings.”There is need everywhere in the world so I asked myself why the world race, and the overwhelming answer was because I want to be a part of bringing the nations to Him, particularly those who have not yet heard. So in that re-examination, I again concluded that God was calling me to the 10-40 window, and that this Asia route could instead be called “the 10-40 route.” God is breaking my heart for this 10-40 region, and this numerical reference refers to the nations that partially, or fully, lie between the 10 and 40 degree latitude lines that impact Asia, Africa & the Middle East. It is in this window of our world where most of the world’s least reached people live.
With this route, I will return to 5 nations that I have been blessed to experience, though at very different levels, as I’ve only done ministry in one (India), and in Southeast Asia I was an academic tourist/traveler, coming to know Vietnam best (with approximately 30 days spent there) compared to 6 days in Cambodia, and two days in both Thailand and Laos. I am excited to get to know each of these nations at a deeper level as well as experience for the first time the other nations of my route: Mongolia, China, Japan, Nepal and the Philippines! It’s opportunities like this again that make me overwhelmingly thankful that my life didn’t follow the plan I had for me! Be on the lookout soon for a more in-depth look at the countries I will be visiting, and how you could be praying for my team as we “go and make disciples.”
Me at the Pearl River, Hue (Vietnam)
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