12 for 6

In honor of today being 12.12.12 here are 12 of my favorite memories of the 6 countries that we’ve been to so far.

India

Praying for a woman for over 2 hours – Ashley and I started to pray for healing for a woman’s arm and before we knew it we had been praying for over 2 hours. By the time we left we were drained and the woman had experienced partial healing. It was really the first time that I poured everything out into prayer and truly believed that someone would be healed through our prayers.

Water fight in a rain storm – It started to pour as we were leaving for ministry and it was quickly decided that our ministry was cancelled for the night. This quickly led to a dance party in the rain and evolved into a water fight involving our contact’s entire family. We all grabbed buckets and started soaking each other rendering our raincoats useless.

Nepal

Making Momo – We loved our ministry contacts in Nepal. Towards the end of the month they promisd to make us momo ( essentially Nepali dumplings). We spent the afternoon wrapping momo. Some of us showed some serious momo making skills while others were asked by Pastor to take a break…. We then spent the evening stuffing our faces, it was delicious!!!

Team times in the dark – Nepal by far had the worst electricity of any of the countries we’ve been to. The power usually went off early in the morning and sometimes returned in the afternoon for a couple of hours and then a different times each night. Nepal was also one of the hottest places we lived. There were many nights were we would just lie on the floor of our church in the dark, sweating and swatting away mosquitos during team time. And while it may sound miserable it was some of my favorite team time on the race. We often wandered way off topic and just spent the night talking and joking around while waiting for the power and fans to come back on.
 
Thailand

Carnival – Our contacts in Thailand took us to a small carnival. The evening including a 15 min Ferris Wheel ride for Sam and Josi, while the rest of us played musical chairs to the intermittent Carnival music. The evening concluded with us all helping Kaitlyn finish the 10 Baht bug of fried bugs she bought. I ate a silk worm and a small cricket… they tasted like soy sauce

Best Day Ever – We rode motorbikes along the coast in Phuket, I rode and elephant and we found Mexican food… need I say more?

Malaysia

Crashing a birthday party – While our team was living in Kuala Lumpur we attended an international church for Sunday services. We fell in love with the church and ended up attending every Sunday activity they had which then led to us crashing the youth pastor’s surprise birthday. We then decided to attend several of their weekday activities… apparently we were on the fast track to membership… we even ended up crashing at the youth pastor’s house our last few nights in the city 😀

Getting my head shaved – I decided that I needed to cut all my hair off at the beginning of Malaysia. We went to a local barber shop where an Indian man shaved all my hair off…. There’s a first time for everything right?

Cambodia

Cassie’s Birthday – Snorkeling, fishing with water bottles and secluded beaches + dancing in the boat = awesomeness.

Visiting Angkor Wat  – One of those days where I cannot believe how incredibly blessed I am to live the life I do.

Vietnam

Crossing the street in Ho Chi Minh – After living in Asia for five months  I thought I knew how to cross the street without fearing for my life. That changed the minute we arrived in Ho Chi Minh, you just walk in front of a horde of motorbikes and pray that they don’t hit you. It’s like a real life game of Frogger…. Just not as fun.

Vietnamese dance class – Our first night in Da Nang we went in search of dinner and ended our night in the middle of a dance class. We learned a few Gangnam style moves, attempted Bachata and  the ChaCha and watched as people flawlessly Tangoed, but more importantly the teacher spent 30 mins showing us how to move our hips separately from the rest of our bodies…. Maybe we’ll move on to actual dance moves by the end of the month.
 

Support Update:
I’m coming up to my final deadline on Jan 1. At that point I need to be fully funded and I’m currently about $1,500 away from that. I ask that you please prayferfully consider helping me get to that final deadline so that I can stay on the race. These past 5 ½ months have been incredible and I know that God has a lot in store for the next 5 ½.  If you would like to partner with me to reach this final goal there are two ways that you can donate:

Option #1: Click the "Support Me! " link at the top left of this page under my photo.

Option #2: You can send a check made payable to "Adventures In Missions" to Adventures In Missions, PO Box 534470, Atlanta, GA 30353-4470. Please put "Appeal ID: MARTENSENJESSICA" on the memo line.

Thank you all so much for all your prayers, encouragement and support!

– Jess