*Before reading this, know that this blog is a little all over the place and is another invitation to enter what’s going on in my mind (but also actual descriptions to clue you in on what’s going on literally). 
Who? Team Sea Salt
What? Ask the Lord (ATL) ministry
Where? Vientiane, Laos in Southeast Asia
When? Arrived here Feb 6, here for 18 days total
A mini recap of Asia: In Vietnam, my team had ATL ministry (see THIS blog if you want actual details). In Cambodia, my team taught English every afternoon/evening and did outreach or visited primary schools most mornings (see THIS blog for what a typical week was like).
1) Pretty much since I left the continent, my heart has been longing for Africa. I miss it a TON, 2) I really miss my old team, and 3) The race is over half way finished now (this is month 7 of 11). Those 3 things combined have created a recipe for me to enter the B Zone. The A Zone is the honeymoon phase aka basically all of Africa for me. The C zone is the phase where you find contentment no matter what your circumstances are and learn to make the most of every second given to you. The B Zone is the not-so-pretty in between phase. It’s the phase where you have gone a really long time without seeing the people you love in-person, you are probably exhausted, and you still have many months ahead of you. It’s when you realize this world race thing is really hard, and it’s not just a week long mission trip where you give it all you got for 7 days and then go back home to “normal” life—this is not just a trip, but it is my actual life for a whole year, and there’s no escape from it. When I left Africa, not only did I enter Asia— I also entered the B Zone.
Among many of my prayers written during Cambodia was for God to renew and redeem my vision of ATL and Asia in general. I asked the Lord to make this a month where I found joy, a month where my team loves each other even when it is hard, and a month where I see God working.
With all that being said, God is answering those prayers even in just the 10 days I’ve been here.
Only 1.5% of Laos is considered Christian, and in a country with a population of 6.9 million—that’s only 103,500 people. Despite this small number, I got to have a conversation with a missionary here who showed me the hunger that exists here for something more and that there are doors being opened toward life and freedom even though sharing the gospel is a criminal offense in Laos.
My team and I have been living in a hostel in the capital city ever since we arrived. Some days our ministry looks like bringing roses to the women who work here and thanking them for what they do, it looks like being friendly and getting to know the backpackers that come in and out of this place, and it looks like walking around the city and praying for people. My team and I have also gotten opportunities to teach English at a hospital, fellowship with other foreign missionaries, participate in art ministry, assist at a dental clinic, and learn the craft of naturally dyeing and weaving fabrics with native Laotian women.
So what am I learning in this current season? I am learning that I don’t have to be assigned a host with an official organization to “do what I’m supposed to be doing on the race.” I am learning that life is ministry and ministry is life. I am learning that simply living everyday life while being interruptible and loving the people you encounter with no stipulations is no less impactful than some of the ideas we, as humans, have constructed in our mind of what ministry is “supposed” to look like.
With love,
Hals
