Hello everyone! I’m sitting here in the Istanbul airport for our wonderful 12hr layover, drinking a very overpriced cup of coffee & dreaming of sunshine. Gotta love travel days 
…but Ethiopia, here we come!!
Woohoo! I’m pumped. Ethiopia has been the country I have been looking forward to most, for their great big hearts of hospitality, coffee and or course, injera platters!!!!
But first, let’s take a rewind & catch all of you up on the past 3 months, or at least try to, because there’s been so much the LORD has done!!! Hallelujah
So in an attempt to not give you a novel all at once, I’ll section together some stories into 3 parts: bringing Kingdom to the hostel world, bringing Kingdom through teaching english and bringing Kingdom in the day to day
First, I want to share about a deep passion in my heart: bringing Kingdom to the hostel world. (As most of you know, John + I’s long term dream is opening a cafe/hostel to be an embassy of the Kingdom!!)
WOW! The LORD has blown me away here! He told me at training camp that he was going to open many opportunities to work + live in hostels, both building the Kingdom in the now and preparing for dreams ahead. But I would’ve never fathomed all of this so soon. Wow.
But before I get into the stories, I want to share why I love hostels so so much:
Hostels are a home to the wanderer, to the traveler, often seeking + searching for excitement, community and meaning they haven’t found before. They feel, whether consciously or not, there is something more to be discovered, something richer, deeper, more intimate than they currently possess. Their hearts are open to listen + explore + learn from those around them. And truly, this flings doors wide open to share about the One for whom and by whom all things exist and how their true home is with Him. So good! 🙂
Now, let’s get into some stories and shout some great big hallelujahs to all the things the LORD has done and continues to do!!
Mongolia, The Golden Gobi Hostel: My friend Taz
Getting a visa into China proved more difficult than anticipated, putting us into a little bit of a waiting period. So my team & I stayed at the sweetest hostel in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city, and asked the LORD to show us where we can partner with him during this time. And wow, those two weeks were so very ordained by the LORD.
Day one, we met Taz. Taz is the truest of hippies and wandering souls, a world- traveler, yoga instructor, Shaman, and practicer of music-healing therapy. He has such a kind + loving heart, but sadly does not know Jesus (yet!!! in Jesus name!!!). Many members of my team and I bonded with him very quickly, all in different ways, which was so cool to see.
Over the two weeks, we were able to develop a real + meaningful friendship with Taz. We listened to his stories and shared our own, cooked together, and even went out for a mountain day adventure with him + his friend, built a campfire, and painted + sang worship around it.
One day I was sitting out on the porch of the hostel, eating lunch, when Taz came out. We began talking about politics, current events and the brokenness of this world . The conversation quickly progressed to how Jesus came to heal + restore the brokeness and how He is the King of truth + peace + justice + righteousness!!! Yeah, Yeah!!! (PS: this and another story below is why I’m such a huge advocate for cultural/global awareness in the church!! ask me about it sometime!) And just about that time, a few other members of my team showed up- just the right timing!! Each one of us were able to answer different questions Taz had. The conversation was so cool + insightful + encouraging. It was easy to see Taz’s mind stirring and seeing things in a different light than before. That day we got to share the full gospel with Taz! Hallelujah!
Throughout our time with Taz, we all got to speak with him about Jesus more times than I can count. Truly, there was such a clear change in his openness to hear + ask questions from the beginning to the end. I know the LORD is working in him!! Hallelujah!!!
It was so very sad to leave Taz. Truly our heart for him + his heart for us was so evident. But we left him with hugs + prayers + the name of Jesus implanted in his mind.
Also, if you want to read more about Taz’s story from one of my rockin’ awesome teammates, Trina – read here!
Please pray for our dear friend Taz.
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Pray that Holy Spirit continues to stir within hi and brings the name of Jesus to the forefront of his mind.
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Pray for other believers to come in his path and continue to water + grow the seeds that were planted within him.
Mongolia, The Golden Gobi Hostel: The Kitchen Table
One sunny Monday, we took Sabbath. I spent most of my day out in the sunshine, yoga in the park, running around the city, and then back to the park to read and paint for a bit before the sun set. The LORD had put in my heart that morning to paint the grand narrative of scripture in my journal. It was the sweetest time doing so – taking my favorite art form along with my favorite story- wow!!! But little did I realise, the LORD had a much bigger intent with this than merely my heart’s delight.
The following night, I found myself like every other night, in the kitchen, listening to my news podcasts and cooking veggies. I sat down to begin eating, and next thing I know, one of the tour guides sits down at the table across from me and begins asking about my food (Mongolians don’t really understand why I only eat veggies… ahaha).
I’m not going to lie, at first, I was a little sad because I love my introvert time in the kitchen every night. But, Jesus quickly reminded me of my favorite story in scripture (Matthew 14) and how he lived interruptible, so I should too. I took my earbuds out and began engaging in conversation with my new friend, Hero.
We shared a casual conversation about life and family for a bit, and then he began telling me how he recently started practicing Buddhism, how he had looked into other religions, but settled here, even though he was struggling to keep up with all of the disciplines and rituals. The LORD quickly reminded me in that moment my prayer from earlier this morning, asking for boldness + opportunities to proclaim the realness of Him. I began to pray, asking the LORD to lead + help me press in + ask good questions.
I pressed in a little bit to the struggle he talked about with following all the practices of Buddhism, asking about where he believed these practices took him/ what life look like for him after death. He spoke of himself as an ever changing matter, striving to reach nirvana, though he only chose to practice some parts of the Middle Path.
We talked for a long bit from there about the meaning of life and the exhaustion of striving to attain goodness that humanity never can. This flowed into conversation about the difference between Christianity and the other religions in the world:how all the other religions call its followers to do X,Y,Z to attain the good things things promised to them, whether that be heaven, Nirvana, Moksha, and so on.
I then got to lay out the fullness of the gospel, God’s whole story from beginning to end, using what the LORD had me paint the day prior!! How cool!!
We talked for a long time about these things. Hero had many good questions and was interested in learning, since he didn’t know anything about Christianity. I know things were stirring in his heart.
Please pray for my friend Hero!
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Pray that he will never forget the name of Jesus and the invitation he is offered into the family of God.
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Pray that someone will come along after me to water the seeds that were planted.
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Pray that he will come to know Jesus as LORD.
I left the table so encouraged in the reminder that God is actively working all throughout His world, and is eager to partner with us, if only we listen + obey.
(Oh!!!! I also got to use these paintings a few days later to share the gospel with Taz too!!! hallelujah!)
China, Jano’s Backpacker’s Inn: My friend Mark
Woohoo!! We finally got to China and ended up in the cutest city of Xi’an, where we stayed in a hostel.
One of the other teams had already been staying there the week prior and prepared the way for us! Hallelujah for teamwork within the body!!
This was especially true for one of the hostel volunteers, Mark, an aspiring travel blogger, whom the previous team had developed a sweet relationship with.
Mark is rather intelligent + curious + kind. He moved to Xi’an to study at the Mosque, as he is very interested in studying different religions.
But as he studied Islam, we got to introduce him to Jesus.
My kind-of “life-verse” if you will is 1 John 1:3, “For we proclaim to you what we ourselves have seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us and our fellowship is with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ”.
I feel like it’s a perfect sum of our time with Mark. Building a friendship with him and getting to introduce him to our friend, Jesus. So many times of story sharing and question answering, as the the Holy Spirit began opening his heart to know about Jesus for the first time. I know this is only the beginning of Mark’s journey. Please pray for Mark to come to know Jesus as he is searching for truth + purpose.
Kyrgyzstan, Snow Leopard Hostel: Getting to help the sweetest family
Month four – Kyrgyzstan – all I can say is wow, the beauty!!
Our time was divided between the mountain town of Karakol and the capital city, Bishkek. Both places now hold a dear place in my heart.
When we first arrived in Karakol, we stayed in Snow Leopard hostel for a few days. It was owned by the sweetest couple with two of the cutest kiddos. Sitting around the table with them felt like a little glimpse into John + I’s future – being a team in running the hostel, having kiddos running around. My heart was so happy.
One night, my teammate, Jordan & I were sitting around the table with them, eating dinner and talking about traveling, their stories and what it takes to run a hostel. As we prayed, the LORD began opening up doors to proclaim his name and Jordan shared the full gospel with them! Hallelujah! Sadly, the conversation was interrupted by some visitors, but I believe those seeds were still planted!
A little bit later, I asked them if there was any way I could help them with hostel things and whatnot. Immediately, they knew what they needed, asking if I had a computer. (They are still in the developing stage of their hostel and I knew they could use some help).
It ended up that they really needed help re-doing their hostel-world site, room listings and pricing schemes. Truly, I didn’t know how to do it either, but I figured it out along the way, and after a few hours, we had everything updated and redone!!
I loved every minute of this night, getting to hang out with them the whole night and learning so much about the behind the scenes of hostel – management. What a gift from the Father!!!! Thank you!!
And they were so very grateful too 🙂 I bonded with them so much that night!
Please pray others would come along to further the name of Jesus to them!!!
Kyrgyzstan, Koisha Hostel: What is truth?
In Bishkek, we stayed at sweetest, homiest hostel. I already miss it there.
One day, my friend Jen + I were sitting having lunch, when one of the guys staying there came out. His name was Elias, from Germany. I began chatting with him about his travels, his thoughts on Brexit, and whether or not truth is subjective. These kinds of conversations are my very favorite – intellectual, thought-stimulating debates.
Elias truly is very very smart, but also has very deeply fallen into the warped progressive idealism of moral relativity.
The three of us had a long conversation about these things. It was cool to see him think about some of the incongruities of his world-view he had never thought of before and also getting to share why I stand on truth defined by God.
I know several of my other teammates had cool conversations with Elias about Jesus too during our stay.
Pray for him and that Holy Spirit continues to stir his thoughts and draw him to Truth!
hallelujah + thank you!!!
Along with these stories are so many others- times talking about Jesus to the people we’d be staying with in the hostel or being downstairs in the basement and worshipping and others joining in/ observing! And I know this is only the beginning of my journey partnering with the LORD to bring his kingdom to the hostel world!! hallelujah!
To end, I want to give a great big shout of thankfulness to have a team to work alongside + bounce off each other + build the Kingdom as one body!!! These stories wouldn’t be possible without a team effort. So THANK YOU!! Because you are part of that team too! Thank you for your prayers + support + encouragement!! I have so much love + gratitude for each one of you!! God bless you as you have been such a blessing to me!
“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, for making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” – Philippians 1:3
Grace and peace,
Annie
