It seems like a weird timewarp that I’ve been living in. It’s been four months since I landed in Asia and I still flip flop on whether or not that four months has gone by fast or slow. For the most part the four months in Asia seem to have taken half the time to go by that the four months in Central America did. However, I regret to say that I’m not looking back on Asia with the fondest memories.
As I was preparing to leave Guatemala, everyone kept telling me about how wonderful Asia was, I was really apprehensive though, but really wanted to believe that Asia would be the great place that I had heard about. I quickly realized that this place was unlike any other that I had ever been to. When I stepped off the plane in Malaysia I automatically realized that I was in the minority. Almost every other woman around me was wearing a head covering, and the feeling of everything was completely different than anything I had ever felt. That month ministry was great, my team was trying to learn each other as we had just gone through team changes and I had four new people to get to know. The air was hot and stuck to me which then made having to wear pants almost unbearable. I also had a really hard struggle with migraines during this month and spent almost every single day with some kind of headache. There were up sides to this month too; the month of ministry was great and I loved the kids that we taught. However, overall, I chalked up having a rough month here to a transition period of living on a new continent and in a new culture.
Thailand, was a country were I felt as if I was in one the biggest deserts that I had experience in my almost 9 years of being a Christian. I felt so distance from God that I felt lost. I struggled with insecurities and the uncertainty that came with the race. I thrived with our ministry in month 6 though and would love to have the opportunity to work in a similar environment sometime in the future. The women at Samaritan’s Creation will forever hold a special place in my heart. In fact, on the place leaving Asia, I saw that we were flying over Bangkok and all I could think of was the wonderful people that I know there and how much that city impacted me.
Cambodia, this is a month where I realized that I really had a choice to complain when things don’t work out the way that their supposed to or I can live in the awe of where God has me. I discovered that I was allergic to something and missed all but two days of ministry for the month. However, God had me in a country where I could connect with people by using my agriculture background. Just saying the words “I studied agriculture at university” sparked a conversation with almost anyone that spoke English because most of the people in Cambodia that have a college education have studied agriculture.
Philippines: On the bus ride to our ministry site made us feel like we were back in Costa Rica, which may have put me automatically in an at home feeling. This month I felt at peace and got to connect with people at our ministry site and with some of the kids that one of the churches that we worked with. This is also the place where my team learned to have fun and rest within the community that we had built. The temperature was the hottest that I had ever felt though and I spent most of the month not able to sleep at night. This is the place where I was exhausted and it took everything in me to find joy and rest and the will to go to ministry everyday. However, this is the country that I was happy to end Asia on.
Even though Asia was rough it is the place that I learned to press in to my relationship with God even when it’s not easy. It is where I learned to implement what it meant to be diligent with my walk. It was a place where growth came out of struggle and a continent that I have been changed by.
