A Year In Review

I have found my way back home to the beautiful USA. It has been almost a year since I left for the World Race. A year full of so many adventures, stories of God’s redemption, and hardships. I wanted to give you an update on what God has allowed me to be apart of this past year, country by country, team by team. 

 

 

 

Sombor, Serbia: Team AO1 was partnered with an evangelical church in Sombor (northwest Serbia) that also doubled as a coffee shop where we could invite students to hang out. The spiritual climate of Serbia is oppressive. The main religion is Serbian Orthodox (85%) which places major emphasis on works rather than grace. “To be a Serb is to be Orthodox”. Because of this our church was thought to be a cult and with it came a good amount of social un-acceptance. Our main ministry objective was to go out and meet people where they were and invite them to the coffee shop for games and music. Much of the ministry was relational evangelism. Going to parks, playing basketball and soccer with the intent of making connections.

 

 

Dragonesti-Olt, Romania (all squad month): All 43 of us lived under one roof! It was during this month that I realized that it is good to be a guy! 36 girls had to share one toilet and shower while only 5 guys got to share one toilet and shower. And the water that came out was freezing cold. With those two factors, many of the women decided to opt out of taking showers and just use baby wipes! It was a stinky month! We lived in an area that was nicknamed, “The Graveyard of Missionaries”. This place felt very spiritually dead. As you walked through the streets and saw all the gypsy communities who profit off of trafficking and thievery you knew something was going on behind closed doors. The Love of God needs to impact the hearts and minds of these people. Most of our time spent here was going door to door and being invited into homes to see the needs and see where the local church could help. It was here that I got a bad case of food poisoning after eating a seafood pizza (I should have known better). 

 

Dobromirka, Bulgaria: Team AO1 traveled into Bulgaria via a ferry! We then drove to a secluded town in the middle of nowhere to a Christian retreat center operated under Mission Possible. Going from this small house where all 43 of lived to a massive center with only 6 of us proved to be a nice little respite. It was our responsibility to help maintain the property and prepare for upcoming groups who were using the facility. We got to visit caves and waterfalls and make a trip to Veliko Tarnovo to see the castle there. While we were there a team from the UK came to put on a retreat for abused and neglected women. Our team was in the background most of the time but one night our two teams came together for a night of worship and prayer. That was an amazing time where God poured his truth and love over that room. it was much needed for our team as well. 

 

 

 

 

Prishtina, Kosovo: As we left Bulgaria I was asked to team lead for what is called “Manistry” (Man+Ministry), where all the guys of the squad get together and form a team for one month. We were partnered with a the Chestnut family who lived in Orlan, about an hour away from the city. Our team was split up between two major projects for the month. Jason, Zach, and Jon were working alongside Rotary putting together a “Water for Life” presentation for Middle and High Schools in small towns all over Kosovo. At the same time Doug and I (along with our Squad Leader, Justin) were organizing Prishtina High School’s library. This is the International School that our host John and Ruth Chestnut started when they first came to Kosovo. 

Livingstone, Zambia: We have arrived in AFRICA!!! The climate change hit our teams hard. We left and it was freezing, now we are sweating just looking out of the airplane windows. At this point there was another major team change for the whole squad. However we were thrown another curve ball as leadership decided to keep the men together. This was the first time in the history of the World Race where all the men were together as an actual team (not just for a one month experience). We got to team up with Team Jubilee for the month as we stayed in a “house” out in the middle of this village. We slept on these “mattresses” (more like thick cardboard) that were covered in plastic on the cement floor. This first week was really hard on our team. Almost all of the men were bedridden for 3 days fighting some kind of sickness. Also…the mosquitoes were out in full force here. 6 people on the teams in Lusaka contracted Malaria this month. Ministry wise we would go every morning to the Maramba Old People’s Home and help in any way we could. We would cook, clean, do maintenance work, read/play music for the residents and simply sit next to them. In the afternoons we would go out to a nearby sports field and put together a little soccer camp with bible stories and skits. This one one of the hardest months for our squad. Not only were we experiencing some of the worst health conditions, this was also our halfway month and it was Christmas time. Many people were feeling the weight of missing family during this holiday season. So we decided to have Christmas together as a squad!

Maun, Botswana: Our travel to Maun was a whirlwind. I was in charge of getting three teams to Gaborone (Southern Botswana) which took us 13 hrs via bus only to have to turn around and go north to Maun, another 12 hour bus ride. I didn’t want to see another bus after that. All the while I was having extreme stomach pains and nausea. Welcome to Africa, Josh! Once our team got settled into our ministry site, Love Botswana, we realized how spoiled we were. We had our own house, with a full kitchen, AC, WiFi, a washing machine, full sized pillows, our own beds, TWO bathrooms, and access to TWO pools! This was going to be a fun month. We had a smorgasbord of ministry opportunities here. We got to preach a few sermons and led worship for a prison fellowship, handed out food and household items to a couple neighborhoods, fed babies at the orphanage, taught basketball, discus, and javelin (neither of which did I have any experience in) at their international school, and visited a church plant in a village at the border near Namibia.  

Opuwo, Namibia: Our host in Opuwo had recently lost her husband 3 weeks before we arrived. She almost didn’t host us because of those circumstances, but decided to go ahead with our team. She and her husband had set up a school, church and guesthouse on the same property. They were dearly loved in the community and well respected. The legacy that her husband left was remarkable. We thought we would be coming up and trying to hold up whatever mantle he was carrying but quickly came to realize that the locals were already doing this, and doing it well! The bulk of our ministry included leading worship and preaching a couple Sundays, and being assistants to the teachers in the school system. We got to help teach the same students every day. What a joy to be a teacher and take part in the education of children! It was such an unexpected reward watching a child learn something he never knew before. This month we got to visit an amazing waterfall called Epupa Falls along the border of Angola after spending a night in a tiny secluded village called Etoto. 

Penang, Malaysia: Wow, we made it to ASIA!! For this month our ministry was called “ATL” (Ask The Lord). So basically we didn’t have any pre-organized ministry or lodging. We made contacts with the local YWAM base there on the island and were able to work out accommodation that fit within our budget. This place was right in the middle of the busiest and roughest street, “Love Lane”. As per the name of the street you would find budget hostels with searching backpackers, massage parlors, transvestites, and prostitutes wherever you looked. Jesus loves these people. This month we were all focused in different areas of ministry catered to our giftings and passions. We had the opportunity to meet up with an American believer who was doing fly fishing ministry on the coast opposite us. So we decided to spend a few days with him and his family helping build up his business and ministry. I also went and did coffee shop ministry 🙂 Basically, I would go into shops and talk to the baristas and form friendships on which to then dive into more spiritual issues. I even got the chance to work a couple days in one of those cafes! One of the little unexpected blessings was the chance to attend a two day BAM (Business As Mission) workshop that was put on by a local church in the area. There I was able to meet entrepreneurs who have a passion to form a bridge to the Gospel by way of business!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chiangmai, Thailand: We have had our third and final team change. Welcome Team Aspen. This month we were partnered with Nikki’s Place Agape Home. This home is for children who have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. Currently there are over 100 children at the home. Here our ministry consisted of digging a trench through a concrete slab to plant trees to shade the building next to it. We also hand made thousands of jump ropes that were going to be used in Operation Christmas Child boxes. We helped take care of their property and joined in on their morning bible studies. There was another family of 6 from Australia that had decided to move here for 6 months. Their family was a joy to be around. Thailand has one of the craziest holidays I have ever experienced. It is called Songkran. This is the celebration of their New Year. But what makes this unique is what once was a simple water blessing has turned into a country-wide water gun fight! You can’t walk down the street without being drenched in water from EVERY direction. From sharing the Gospel with Buddhist monks, to bar ministry, to mowing the grass, to holding babies with HIV, this month was full of many emotions.  

Battambang, Cambodia: Some of you may be aware of my ardent love of coffee. Well upon arriving to Battambang I was told that the Cambodian National Barista Championship would be held in Phnom Penh. I couldn’t pass up a chance like that, so a friend and I took a bus down there for the weekend! While we were down there I learned a little bit more about Cambodia’s history under the reign of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Visiting the S21 Prison (once a school) and Killing Fields was not an easy thing to witness, but one that helped me understand the people whom we we given the opportunity to share life with. This month we were partnered with Lighthouse Battambang. Here we lived in the dorm with the local students, played soccer, painted a mural, taught English and worked alongside Crossing Cambodia another ministry in the area. 

Da Nang, Vietnam: Trying to get into Vietnam proved difficult. We had visa issues and had to spend the night at the border before we could get things taken care of the next day at the embassy. But God is faithful and wanted us in Vietnam! Upon arriving in Da Nang we met our American host and found out that we would be doing 5 am beach volleyball ministry, coffeeshop ministry, teaching English, and building relationships with the students. At this one coffee shop we met a man named Binh. We would go to his cafe every day after playing volleyball and built this unique friendship around the love of music. He would play his accordion and I would play the guitar and sing songs together. He and his wife even invited us over to his house for dinner and music one night. Vietnam was beautiful in many ways; from the people to the landscape, they have forever left an indelible mark on my heart.

 

 

 

God has used The World Race to teach me many things. But most striking of them all was the ease to which it was to share the Gospel with others, yet at the same time it was the one that took the most intentionality. Don’t forsake the opportunity that is right in front of you. Fear is not a good enough excuse to deprive someone else of the chance to meet Jesus! 

 

 

It is so hard to share with you all the stories, the heart gripping experiences, the lessons learned and the times I struggled at being Christ to others in one blog but I hope this gives you a brief idea of what my year has looked like. Thank you for all your support in making this possible. I have been blessed beyond understanding by your love over this past year. I truly have felt the weight of your prayers!

 

 

All my love, Josh.