KARAKOL.
One word, that whenever I hear it from this point forward will echo the faithfulness and favor of God. One word that represents an entire mountain town, a place full of people with immense kindness…and snow. Let me tell you a little story about the beautiful town of Karakol, Kyrgyzstan and how God is all up in it.
Let’s go back to the morning of Monday, November 11th, my team was sitting in the common area of Koesha Hostel in Bishkek, Kyryg, fresh instant coffee in hand. We had been talking and praying about what/where to go/do. Month 4 was what we call ATL or “Ask the Lord”. Essentially we are not assigned a host and are supposed to seek the Lord in the everyday and basically find ministry. In our own flesh, my team desperately wanted to be out of the city since we spent the last two months in big cities. The idea of Karakol had been thrown around but none of us had heard a solid “yes” or “no” from the Lord and were a bit frustrated with the whole thing. We came together on this morning and my gal, Jordan Ann Jones, came in hot with a word that the Lord had been putting on her heart which was to walk in faith with expectation, in this case to walk by taking this step and going to Karakol with the expectation that the Lord is going to do something amazing. So that’s exactly what we did. We packed up our things that night, woke up early to go to our favorite coffee shop for breakfast (they had real life, actual bacon. WOW GOD), and got in a taxi for the bus station. Our taxi ride consisted of much excitement for the month, convincing the taxi driver that I indeed have a boyfriend named Jesus, and confirming that we were going to Karakol through the WEST Bus Station about 25 times.
Our seven hour mini bus ride turned into a brisk five-and-a-half hour ride due to our amazing driver (we called him Bagin). We made it to Karakol and a solid five inches of snow. The next morning we woke up in the winter wonderland and did what we always to when we get to a new city/town…find a cool coffee shop. We made our way through the slippery sidewalks and snowy roads to Lighthouse Coffee (side note: Karakol is the type of place you imagine when your parents tell you they walked uphill to a from school as a kid). We had our morning non-instant coffees, Praise God, and team time, and we loved it so much that we decided to go back the next day. We walked in and sat down at our usual table, well as “usual” as it gets for it being our second time there. In the corner there was a man sitting on his laptop. We pulled our Bibles out and just did our thing, and about 15 minutes after, he came up to our table asking if we were a religious group. We told him we are followers of Jesus and with that he responded with “I am a believer too; I am a pastor of a church here. This coffee shop is also owned by believers.” HOW THE HECK?!? Ya’ll, this town is over 90% muslim and Russian Orthodox, and we “casually” run in to a local Pastor?? Pastor Alvarez shared his testimony with us and how he was raised muslim, found a Gideon New Testament bible, just randomly, and read it for 7 years accepting Jesus into his heart (again, WOW). He asked us what we were doing in Karakol, and we shared with him about the World Race, how this month we asked the Lord where we should go, and we came to Karakol to serve in anyway possible. Alvarez said that he had a lot of connections in towns with other ministries such as an orphanage and a homeless shelter that he said he’d love to take us to.
This month my team got to pour into two different ministries. We partnered with Alvarez and all of his connections as well as an English center that we got connected to through another team (shoutout team Reckless). Alvarez said the greatest way to serve his church would be to encourage the women. My team came together to plan a women’s event to encourage them and the Lord really put on our hearts to honor the women. We all got to take the time to acknowledge what the Lord has done in our lives and given us. At the end of the night, my team got to honor the women by washing each of the women’s feet and placing new socks on their feet.
With the help of Alvarez, we got to go into the only homeless shelter in Karakol and lay hands on and pray for each person there. This homeless shelter opened only 2 weeks before we arrived. Before this year the four local pastors (including Alvarez) used to partner with the RedCross, who would provide the shelter and the pastors would provide the food. This year the RedCross has backed out so the Pastors have taken it upon themselves to provide for the homeless. We got to spend a good amount of time with the pastors hearing about their families, how they came to know Jesus, and their passion for their community.
On thanksgiving week, my team got to throw a full on American thanksgiving for about 25 of the students at the English center, many of whom were not believers. That night we got to share some American culture with the students such as the ladies going first and going around saying things we were thankful for. During this time my team got to share parts of our testimonies and what we were thankful to have gone through to be where we were at now. The night ended with laughter and games, and I can’t wait to check back and see what seeds were planted in those hearts that night.
During our last week in Karakol, we spent time at a local orphanage which was also run by believers. We went to the orphanage one night and got to meet the kids and hear the hearts of the two house moms. It was truly a beautiful sight to see how well those kids were loved by those women who spent literally 24/7 there. We also learned that a lot of people in town don’t trust that orphanage and won’t support it simply because they are believers.. if they could only see the love and affection that is in the building. My team got to pray for each of the kids there, 17 of them to be exact, some were siblings. One of the moms shared each child’s story before we prayed for them. Come to find out that a lot of them aren’t actually orphans, but one parent has passed or run off and the other is addicted to drugs or alcohol and can’t care for them. My heart was broken but also filled with so much hope. As we prayed for the kids, and seeing the teared streaked faces of the house moms for the determination and faith in the Lord for the restoration of each of these kids’ families, left me completely speechless (in a good way). We got to spend the next couple days playing with the kids and getting to know them. Our last day with the kids we got to teach them a Christmas dance (the house moms were so excited and proud), and we also made some bracelets with them.
Overall, our time in Karakol was busy; it was cold; it consisted of LOTS of potato soup, and God is doing all sorts of things in this down. He’s all up in it.
