it’s been almost a week and there has been a lot that has happened. so i will try to catch up. we left patong and headed to kata noi for debrief. we had about 4 days there. during our time there i was asked to lead worship and i said no. i didn’t feel comfortable leading worship in front of everyone yet. then i talked to ana marie about it. she told me that she felt like the Lord had told her that she was going to have to take me out of my comfort zone and this was one of those times. so i had a choice i could either lead worship the next night or give my testimony. for you guys who know me…you know how much i hated that. i really do not like being in front of people. so that was going to be a tough decision. but after i thought about it…i decided that i would give my testimony…i have done that before…not willingly 🙂 but i could do it. then later that night the Lord spoke to me and told me that He wanted me to lead worship. so i told ana marie and was so nevous the whole next day…knowing that i had to lead worship that night. i went to my room and practiced and really worship the Lord by myself before i had to lead for the group. and i just prayed that the Lord would help me to focus on Him and not anyone else and just worship Him like i do when i am all by myself. also about 10 min. before my team came in and prayed over me….they are so awsome. so i went to lead worship and the Lord just showed up. it was amazing. there was a girl there that lloyd had met and she had given her life to Jesus earlier that day and the Spirit fell on her and she just wept….the Lord is so faithful.
we had our race…and we lost. the other teams had flights and we had buses…many, many buses. but that was all part of the Lord’s plan. on our last bus i sat next to a man named daniel. it was 130am when we got on the bus and i was very tired and not up for talking, but he was. he told me within his first 2 sentences that he was a christian. i told him i was also and we started talking about the world race and he told me about his family. i asked him if he knew of a church that we could go to on sunday and he gave me his number and said that he would find one close to us….he lives about an hour from where we are staying. so we called him and he told us where to go and that someone would pick us up. it was laura, kim k., katherine and me. we took the trains this morning and got there about 10 min. late. but they weren’t there. so we waited almost an hour and decided to go back. we bought our ticket, but we missed the next train and as we were waiting a man came up and said he was the one that was taking us to church. so we went with him. we arrived at a beautiful hotel and were greeted by so many people on the way in. as we were walking down the hall to the church we heard the music. it was all in english and we knew the songs. it felt like home. we went in and began to worship…it was amazing. i can’t describe it. after church we had coffee in the courtyard and everyone came to talk to us. they were so welcoming…it was so refreshing. then we were invited to a pot luck tonight and to lunch. so one family took us to lunch….malaysian food and so much of it. he said he knows how americans eat and ordered so much food. then he took us to our hotel and back to the pastors house later to go to the pot luck. we hung out at the pastors house for a while then went to their cell group…everyone was so nice and excited to talk to us. we had praise and worship and then more food. it was all so good. there were about 15 of us sitting around a table just eating and fellowshiping. after that another family offered to take us back…and took us to get indian pancakes…more food. they were so good though…stuffed with bannanas and dipped in curry. i don’t know when i will be able to eat again.
today was such a blessing. the Lord is so good to us. we really needed a day like today…after thailand and the spiritual oppresion and the homesickness….the Lord brought to a place and brought us people that encouraged us, made us feel like family. i have felt nothing but peace and joy all day.
tomorrow we fly to india. i am really looking forward to this month. i know that it may be hard….but He has gone before us. we will be working with an orphanage. i can’t wait to go and love on these children. please be in prayer for us….
Shalom
