Hello family and friends back home in America (: *waves*
For most of you it probs seems like I have dropped off the face of the earth since I have had minimal (or zero) updates lately. I can assure you I am still alive and well somewhere in northeastern South Asia! It’s been difficult what with not having wifi or service at my fingertips while in South Asia, but it’s been a good break for me to pull back and be present where I’m at right now. A lots happened during my time in South Asia, and I would LOVE to give you the down-low on what’s been going on in my crazy life these past 2 months!
Man where to even begin?? Okay we’ll start with the fact that I have lived all over northeastern South Asia in 4 VERY different villages/cities. My team has packed up our backpacks and moved 5 times already, and we’ve seen SO many different communities by doing that! Currently, I am in a tiny Christian tribal village in the mountains. Me and my team of 6 other wonderful ladies sleep in a room on the floor on our sleeping pads. I go out to the back of the house and I look over miles and MILES of mountains full of the Indian jungle. The people here are very generous, and we absolutely love growing closer to our host family over these couple weeks.
Ministry has been any and everything! When it comes to ministry in South Asia, most the time you gotta go with the flow-
- Gone from house to house to pray and hang out with local people
- LOTS of intercessory prayer oh my goodness
- Put on VBS and Sunday school for the neighborhood kids
- The whole squad put on a last-minute Christmas skit for the kids (I was a sheep)
- Building a church, hospital, and currently a boys’ dorm for an English school!
- Played soccer and volleyball with awesome men who are recovering from addictions
- Went to village-wide feasts (I woke up Christmas morning at 5 am to the sound of a pig being slaughtered for a feast… merry Christmas to me)
- All of us world racers were thrown into a legit Christmas dance competition and told to have a special choreographed dance… we had less than a day to prepare. The whole village came to watch!! Boy was that absolutely wild
- Taught English from any age from 3 years old up to 18!!! You gotta get creative a lot, but as long as you laugh and go with the flow it all works out just fine (;
- Sang worship songs around a fire with the kids who board here at the school since they live too far from the school
- Sang for churches like we were a professional choir (we’re not, believe me)
- Play with the local kids all the time!
- Taught “traditional” and “cultural” American dances including: the cotton eyed joe, cha-cha slide, cupid shuffle, church clap, and the YMCA. That was a hilarious day, WOW that was so much fun
Daily life in South Asia is so surreal sometimes. I wake up to the sound of a rooster outside and open my eyes to last night’s chilly mist covering the vibrant jungles in a blanket. Sometimes I forget where I am! To give you an idea of my current daily life in South Asia:
6AM I either ignore my alarm or get up to workout/worship/call someone from home
7AM Time to hang out with God praying, worshipping, studying the Bible, and talking with him. Oh and lots of tea!
8AM BREAKFAST yesssss. Usually it’s either bread with butter/sometimes jam, or puuri with yellow curry
9AM Ministry time whoohoo! In the mornings we usually teach English in a couple local schools
12:30PM LUNCH TIME BABY. Rice is always included, it’s an Asian staple. It’s always some kind of noodle- ramen, chow mein(?), or some delicious kind of yellow rice with veggies
1:30PM More ministry time whoohoo! Sometimes we teach English some more, but oftentimes we either hang out with the local boarding schoolkids or go and pray/chat with local people at their homes
4PM TEA TIME yay! Also, some of us made a Bible study group called the “Wisdom Seekers.” Everyday we come together and study the wisdom books as a group; right now we’re in Proverbs
?? If I have free time, I usually take a freezing cold bucket shower (my towel is a tshirt right now), worship God outside, study the Bible, pray, do laundry (handwashing takes for-ev-er), etc
6PM DINNER TIME! Once in awhile Julie will make us chicken with our rice and curry. One times she even made us MASHED POTATOES wHAT!!
9/10PM I get comfy on my sleeping pad on the ground, pull up my blanket, set my alarm for 6 am, and knock out until tomorrow
~~ THE END ~~
God has grown me BIG-TIME while in South Asia! Waaaay back in Training Camp in July 2019, God made it clear that South Asia would be the hardest period of the Race for me, but the most growth would come from it… yay. Two really impactful things that he has grown me in would probs be me as a prophet, and my family.
I have the spiritual gift of prophecy, and BOY has God really been going at it! I have always heard his voice clearly, but it’s like my man the Holy Spirit unleashed the floodgates and broke the dam! I hear his voice CONSTANTLY now, he literally never shuts up it’s so much fun. I love truth, so that is something that God has declared over me and also had me tell other people. He has had me give his messages to people… I’m not gonna lie to you, sometimes those messages of truth have been really difficult for me to give to those I love. But something I’ve learned is that if you love someone, you tell them the truth. God’s also been (lovingly) knocking me down quite a few pegs as I have a lot of pride going on, so he’s really been putting on my heart to pursue so hard after true humility and wisdom in him. After all, a humble man hears God the clearest, while pride is the biggest blinder of all sins.
I also mentioned my family- God has totally flip flopped my heart upside down in that I want to badly to honor my parents, to pursue a relationship with them parent to daughter but also believer to believer. They’ve got a lot of wisdom, and a lot to learn from! God has VERY clearly told me to focus on my family during my time back home, to love on them and pursue and grow in my relationships with my parents and brothers. In a way I feel like he’s giving me a second chance at being a sister and a daughter, and I am PUMPED!!!
Prayer requests are always needed and appreciated, seriously. During my month of living in Malaysia, I lived and did the majority of ministry at Penang House of Prayer (PenHOP). It was here as I did 7-hour periods of doing nothing but prayer, studying the Word, and worship that I truly learned how flipping POWERFUL prayer is!!! You guys what a weapon it is! Interceding through prayer for someone/something else is really important, and God hears all the prayers and praise we lift up to him. SO here are some prayer requests for you awesome people to bring to the Lord (love you guys):
Spiritual protection is a biggy. Spiritual warfare is real, and there is a war going on in which as Christians we are fighting every single day. This has been made glaringly clear as I live in South Asia, a land full of millions of gods and immorality. Pray protection from spiritual attacks for me, my teammates, and my squad. My teammates- Kylee, Katelyn, Regina, Noelle, Sarah, and Sydney.
Strength to obey God, no matter what he asks of me. The Lord is calling me to greater obedience in him, to sacrifice my very best.
My family back home in America. My parents, Shannon and Nicole; and my bros, Jovi, Rocco, and Jagger. I love all of them so much, and I miss them during this season. Pray that God would seek each and every one of them out in unique and beautiful ways (Love you Jov, Sito, and Jag-man. See you soon!!).
God’s guidance as I figure out college stuff. I’m accepted and in the process of enrolling in Bethel University in Mishawaka, Indiana, where I’ll be pursuing something along the lines of Intercultural studies/Bible studies/etc. Pray that my will would align with God’s will, in general.
Pray against physical illness for me and my team. Personally, I have not gotten sick while being in South Asia EXCEPT for the couple scary times when I had peanut oil allergic reactions. My team has been getting sick with a lot of gross stomach sickness stuff, so pray for all of us pretty please!
Okay I think I hit on most everything I wanted to. Believe me, there is so much more I could tell you but I’m putting a goal in place for myself to be more in contact with my peeps back home so don’t worry! To all my supporters who have helped me financially and in prayers: I love you guys, and I can’t express enough how THANKFUL I am that God has provided this flipping amazing opportunity to have an impact for Jesus but also be impacted in return! You guys rock, and I pray for everyone back home quite frequently. Please don’t hesitate to shoot me an email/Instagram/Facebook message with questions, prayer requests, or even just to chat about what God’s been doing in your life. Send me your email address to better get the next letter. Talk to you in 2 weeks, see ya then!
Regan
