April 24th, 2019
And I find myself once again on a long car ride to our next location trying to reflect on the past month. This has to be the most beautiful country I’ve ever laid eyes on, and I’m so glad we had to take a 12 hour car ride across the entire country!
Kyrgyzstan. It’s all I thought the Race was going to be. We were in Osh for three weeks, and are headed to Bishkek now. When we arrived to the apartment, God had a nice gift waiting for me – A PIANO!! Now that’s a good way to start off a new country!
While in Osh, we taught English at a few different universities, but we primarily hung out with the students we met. We got to share our lives with them and talk about family, friends, marriage, culture, education, and God. Oh, and I was taught the Russian alphabet!
This month was full of celebration and joy in the Lord.
I celebrated my 24th birthday, and Sheila celebrated her 30th!
In the midst of a busy month, my grandma passed away somewhat unexpectedly. The comfort and love I have felt from God has been so unreal. I have a lot of emotions, but deep down it’s nothing but joy. Death is a celebration for all those who belong to Christ because we know that we will be raised to live with Him forever!
We also got to celebrate Easter with people from at least six different nations and hear worship in many different languages. In Osh, there are people from Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Tajekistan, India and America (and I’m sure more). During one of the worship sessions, I was reflecting on the weight of what it meant that Jesus came to earth, that He would die because of His love for us, and how He was raised again. And He died for everyone. EVERYONE. Now we know that the same Spirit that lives in Him, also lives in us. And the same Spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also raise us. Over this past year I’ve been able to witness people from all different nations worship the same God. It’s crazy to think about.
After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a great roar, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!”
Revelation 7:9-10
It’s the last stretch of the Race. I will be leaving a little early because MY BEST FRIEND IS GETTING MARRIED!! I’m so excited!! I have a little over a month left.
I will be getting a new and final team soon.
God is so good, and I need Russian words to describe the beauty of this country. English just doesn’t cut it; neither do pictures.
(WiFi isn’t good enough for pictures here, sorry.)
