Hey!! I’m so excited about this post. Shoutout to my awesome friends and family for sending me your questions. I hope this gives you some insight into life on the field during my Race experience so far! It’s a long post, hard to give short answers to such deep questions!
Q: What will you miss most about your time in each country?
A: SUCH a hard question! I know for Swaziland I’ll miss the quiet, the slowness, and the beauty. It was such an intimate season with the Lord… no distractions! It allowed me to be fully present in ministry and fall in love with those kiddos! For Nepal, I’ll miss nights of discovering new places in the city with my friends. It was an intense month for me so all those memories are true treasures! So far for India I think I’ll mostly miss prayer mountain (a secluded, quiet mountain dedicated to prayer!) and my local friends I’ve been playing volleyball with everyday. They have my heart!
Q: Tell us about your favorite miracle you’ve experienced?
A: GoGo Maria!! I wrote a whole post about how God allowed my team to witness the moment that He healed her knee… it was so humbling and mind-blowing and has been a story that my team has been able to share to encourage others in other countries, which is so cool! Also, when God healed my stomach. I wrote a post on that, too! It’s a moment I revisit often to remember God’s power and faithfulness.
Q: What is the thing/situation that surprises you the most?
A: I’ve been pondering this question for days hahaha… so many things come to mind, but I think the biggest one is just experiencing how your body responds to a season like this. I was expecting it to feel really long and to never fully adjust to my surroundings, but yesterday I took my first shower since last week, using the bucket of cold water from the water tank that a cat had just died in. It smelled bad (like a dead cat) and I knew it was gross but I didn’t really process it, I just knew I had to shower and that was what I had so I did it! It just feels normal to me because God really designed our brains to adjust to wherever He has us. I’m surprised by how true of a statement that is.
Q: How bad was your homesickness and how did you recover?
A: God has truly blessed me with so much joy and contentment while being on the race! But there are three specific seasons that I felt very homesick. The first was during the second week of the race when it finally hit me that I was really doing this thang! The second was right after our first Debrief from having a week of comfort and then re-entering into discomfort. The third was the whole month of December due to the holidays. In all three seasons, God called me to respond through prayer and gratitude, while also being completely raw and honest with Him about my struggles and desires to be home. It required intentionality and some of the world’s best friends to keep me together! God is faithful. Homesickness is so legit, and although it does NOT feel this way in the moment, it’s actually such a gift to have such an awesome home and family that I get to miss so bad!
Q: In which ways have you seen God’s sovereignty that you likely would not have seen if you had not gone on the race?
A: So many ways… His overwhelming comfort in my homesickness, the ways He has used my experiences on the race to minister to people at home, His healing power in places that don’t have easily-accessible medical attention, His creativity in the ways He pursues His children in persecuted countries, His strength when living conditions are tough… and so much more! His hand controls it ALL! The awesome thing is that that’s what happens whenever we are in His will, not just on the race.
Q: Besides people, what do you miss from home (comforts)?
A: I have a whole list in my phone hahaha! I miss hot, pressurized showers and laundry machines!!!! I miss clean water and my bed. I miss putting on sweatpants, curling up on the couch with an apple and PB, and watching Counting On (lol, guilty pleasure). I miss my car! And oh my gosh, I miss my church so much… Also- I’d kill for a burger. What a special, humbling season this is…
Q: Which country do you most hope to return to and why?
A: As of right now I’d say Swaziland! I lived there for three months and it just really has my heart… I have an actual way of life established, true friends, and the sweetest memories there!
Q: What similarities or realizations have you found as you have ministered overseas and in the states?
A: I’ve found that the problem of lukewarm Christianity is universal; in the places where Christianity is allowed, like America, Swaziland and the state of India that I’m in, you have a lot of passionate followers but also a lot of “lukewarm” believers who don’t actually follow the Lord with their whole heart. They just label themselves as Christians because that’s what everyone is. However, overseas in places where sharing your faith is illegal, like Nepal, the majority of the believers are genuinely fired up and following the Lord! It’s the coolest thing to me… the more you try to kick Him out, the more people start bringing Him in! Those people see their need for the Gospel. I’ve realized that the Gospel is being shared everywhere, regardless of laws or distant tribal practices, and we must take advantage of the religious freedom we have in America by actually sharing the Good News with people rather than letting it make us shallow, lukewarm believers.
Q: What has your heart the happiest while being away?
A: The Word!!!! That may sound stereotypical, but truly… God has given me this unreal hunger for His Word and it is my fuel each day. He is taking me through the whole thing, cover to cover. Exploring the Old Testament has made me fall in love with Him all over again. Also- He has blessed me with amazing friends who feel like home and that’s such a special gift. And being able to call my family here and there doesn’t hurt either (thanks God and T-Mobile) 🙂 He is good!
Q: What has broken your heart the most since being away?
A: seeing the various, differing ways that the enemy attacks different countries… I just hate Satan so much and it kills me to see his slyness in how he personally attacks each nation. Witchcraft and sexual immorality in Swazi, intense false idol worship and false teaching in Nepal, and alcohol/drug abuse in this Christian state of India. It breaks my heart. But it also grows my gratitude for the fact that the Lord lives inside of us who believe and He protects us from the evil one. I just want everyone to know that and they don’t. So heartbreaking to see them fall into the enemy’s trap. Have mercy on them, Father.
Q: Have you tried ministering to people who didn’t want to hear it? How did you do it and what do you think is the best way to approach people in that scenario?
A: Yes! Hahaha… In scripture we often see Jesus forming relationships with people so they aren’t only hearing His words but also witnessing Him live them out. So for us too it begins with how we act, so that even if they reject our message they will still connect our actions with our belief in Christ and hopefully see the Gospel in that. Asking questions is good, too. Jesus did that a lot to get people to actually think about why they were opposing Him. And ultimately, if you ask to share the Good News with someone and they reject you, often times the most Christlike thing you can do is respect their answer and step back and trust God that He used you to plant a seed in his/her heart that will be sown in the future. Just keep stepping out in boldness and making His name known. Worst case scenario, they say no and you get to just keep praying for them. He blesses our obedience!
Q: Have you witnessed/felt any spiritual warfare?
A: Yes, but it has not overtaken me thanks to the Holy Spirit! As far as personal experience, I knew Satan was attacking me leading up to the race while I was at training camp. My sister ran away from home and my dear friend passed away. Jesus carried me through. Also- the stomach pain story from early on in Swaziland… you should seriously go read my blog about that! And for things I’ve witnessed: demon-possession, child sacrifice, false gods… heavy stuff. But as Psalm 91 reminds us, we can be surrounded by these things without being overtaken! God has maintained His supernatural peace inside me, even in the presence of such darkness. He has won the victory and His authority is in us- authority to cast out demons and make them flee!
Q: What has been the most incredible thing that God has taught/shown you?
A: This may sound silly but it’s legit. God has revealed so much to me in this season about where my true identity comes from! He has completely stripped me of the things I used to turn to in order to feel good about myself and it’s forced me to seek out the roots of my insecurities. I’m feeling as free as a little bird and I feel a genuine shift in my life since seeking out the Lord’s voice in this specific area of my life. I’m certain that a season of sacrifice and change like the Race was necessary for those walls to be torn down.
Q: What’s the greatest expression of God’s love that you’ve seen/experienced on this journey?
A: oh I love this question! I remember at Training Camp we were prepared to be offended while on the Race. People in other cultures are often very direct with their words and will say things plainly, like, “you are fat” or they will ask if you’re pregnant. I had genuinely prepared myself because I’d had those experiences on previous mission trips and remember being very hurt, because as I mentioned earlier, insecurities have been a struggle for me. But, man… God is so sweet and kind and He so does not have to be. He has consistently used women and children throughout each country to speak love and truth into me at very random times. Little girls looking into my eyes and saying, “I think you are very beautiful!” Or my little kiddos from the CarePoint playing with my hair and saying, “so nice, so nice!” Or women in Nepal stopping to gently place their hand on my face and quietly say, “beautiful…” It makes me emotional every time because it’s like a little heaven kiss reminding me of how my Father sees me. And I was ready to experience very different comments while overseas. So yeah, He is just a really good Father and He is loving me very well, per usual 🙂
THANK YOU AGAIN for your questions and interest/pursuit of how God is working through this time on the field overseas. I pray you’ve been encouraged! Much love to all of you!
-Anna
