How has Month 4 already come and gone so quickly?? It’s hard to believe we’ve finished our time here in Cambodia and are heading to Thailand in a few days! The saying “days are long but months are short” completely sums up how the World Race is and rings so much truth at this point. Cambodia ended up being such a wonderful month even though I was struggling a bit at the start of it. The Awakening Conference was SO incredible and renewing for all of us! There actually was 4 squads there- I Squad is now in their 10th month of their race, O Squad is in there 8th month, of course my squad (S Squad) is in month 5 and also the expedition route that launched with us in Jan, part of their squad (which is only 20 something) was there helping make the conference happen. Along with all of us, there were several AIM staff that flew out to be a part of this and probably 15-20 Cambodian hosts (including ours was there) It was so good. We had worship sessions every night and the Holy Spirit was so alive and thriving. There’s something about singing How He Loves Me in the pouring rain.
We had several breakout sessions- Missions, Hospitality, Worship, and Intercession- I chose Missions. We would all breakout during the day and come up with a few mission projects to have all the squads do together. The dirt road leading into the AIM base is extremely tore up and bumpy so we decided trying to fix that up would be an option and also something called Treasure Hunt would be the other. My squad got to participate in a Treasure Hunt in Nepal, which is how it was suggested. You break up into small groups, spend some time in prayer with the Lord, and see what kind of pictures or words God gives you describing a person (the treasure) that he wants you to find, pray for, and share the gospel with. So once you get the description, you literally go on a hunt in town to find this person. Some people’s stories about their hunt are mind blowing with very specific details (ex: yellow shirt, purple pants) and then them actually finding that person. It’s awesome and anybody can do it.
The Awakening Conference has been an idea in the making for several years now so this was the first one ever put on. The rest was needed for all of us especially for the host. It’s so easy to forget that these ministries are actually their every day lives. We only get to experience 1 month of it so I can’t imagine how worn out and exhausted they can get especially when they don’t see fruit from it. Gary Black also would give a message each worship session. Gary Black runs a program called G41 in Spain where he lives. He works with Seth Barnes (founder of Adventures in Missions). He is such a God fearing man who is so in tune with the Holy Spirit and truly lives his life out through Christ, so it was really amazing getting to hear him speak. Once The Awakening ended and the other squads and hosts went their separate ways, my squad stayed for several more days to begin our squad debrief.
SO. MANY. CHANGES.
All of our teams got mixed up. Some of us were put with 1 other person from our last team so’s been really nice. Keeley and I are together again and she’s my new team leader!! From Ahava Chara, Michelle was raised up to be one of our new squad leaders and Becca and Keeley were raised up to be new team leaders. I miss the Avocados (that was one of Ahava’s nicknames because people struggled pronouncing it) and find myself sometimes still grieving them but that’s ok. We had so many memories together, some good, some bad but we were family. When we were all going through our final team debriefs with leadership, something that one of our squad coaches (sorry, lots of leadership terminology) put the team changes so beautifully. She said, you aren’t losing each other and what y’all have, you’re simply extending the family and gaining more. That’s helped a lot of us change our ways of seeing team changes. I love my new team and am so excited to see all the growth that I know is going to come from it.
Sorry this blog is kind of all over the place. Hope it made some sense!
