Sunday, March 31, 2019 3:51 p.m.
As I sit crammed into the middle backseat of a car, glaring at the snow covered mountains in front of me, preparing for a six hour car ride to the border between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, I can’t help but to get emotional about leaving the place we’ve called home for the last two weeks.
We were the first ever World Race team to enter this country so we deemed ourselves the Uzzie Trail Blazers.
[Pray for more teams to be sent in]
We were welcomed into the country (on a train) with a four hour long customs check. Landry celebrated by painting her nails. I celebrated when the train started moving so I could finally go to the bathroom before climbing up to the sleeper. We had no idea what was in store for us this month.
We had a few worship sessions on the train and during stops, and we met some really nice people who were curious to know what the name of our band was. They also wanted to know why these random white people were in their country.
[Pray that all those who have video recordings of our worship sessions would watch them and be drawn to God through them]
After almost a week’s worth of traveling, our train finally arrived in Tashkent, the capital city of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
I felt a peace over the city like I haven’t felt in any other country on the Race. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm with a little breeze. The trees and grass were green and their were colorful flowers. I let the fresh air fill my lungs and wondered how God was going to use our team in the next two weeks.
We got off the train only to find out our housing arrangements had been cancelled. But don’t worry, God provided. We were welcomed off the street and into an apartment to rest and shower until we could find a place to sleep for the night.
Might I mention while we were still on the street that we met someone who spoke perfect English and studied in the States!
We finally found a place to sleep and we’re able to stay there for one week.
The next day we met up with a friend who introduced us to a few local believers and treated us to delicious Korean food. That evening we got to spend time with youth kids. Uzbekistan food is also very tasty!
We had the opportunity to go to a few house churches. Later we learned this was kind of illegal. Foreigners can do almost whatever they want, but if five or more local believers are caught together in a house, they can be taken to jail. In order for a church to be registered, there must be 100 signatures, a building, and permission from neighbors. I think it also has to be in Russian; it can’t be in Uzbek language. The body of believers are strong here because of persecution.
[Pray for the locals protection and boldness]
In our first few days I got sick. I had really bad stomach pain and couldn’t keep any food in my stomach. At one point I was home alone laying on the bathroom floor praying that someone would come back to the house. The owner’s son found me on the floor, and about the same time, I saw my team walk in the door. Thank God for answering my prayers. They came over and started praying for me and that was the beginning of a looooong night.
Through it all, the owner and son came to accept Jesus!!!
[Pray that both of them would continue to grow in their faith and that they would have other believers around them]
We were encouraged by so many local believers and got to encourage them. We shared a lot of meals and stories and received the best hospitality.
[Pray for the locals and long termers]
It seems like everywhere we went and every person we met was different because of our team’s presence. It felt like we couldn’t go anywhere without something happening, and it was so evident how God was working things together. It was evident that the harvest is so ripe in Uzbekistan.
While we were there we also got to go to a school and teach English. We got to spend a day in the mountains. The girls on our team had two sleepovers. One was with younger girls, the other not so younger women. We got to worship in a house with other foreigners who taught us a lot and encouraged us. We got to meet with so many people.
[Pray that the seeds planted will be watered, grown, and harvested]
On our last night, all of the friends we made had a going away party for us. We ate so much food and had a lot of laughs. Before leaving one of our friends had us sit down. She said, “Before you leave, we want to wash your feet because you are going places that we cannot go”. So one by one we got our feet washed and dried, got prayed for, and got a new pair of socks.
This morning we got to help lead worship in a registered church before getting into the car we are in now. We parted with many tears, and Uzbekistan has by far been my favorite country.
So with my head leaned back against the headrest soaking in the view of the rolling green hills with snow covered mountains, I’m trying to take in the overwhelming goodness of God and how fruitful this land is.
April 5, 2019
I know in this blog I said Uzbekistan was my favorite country, but Kyrgyzstan is now in the running, and we haven’t even been here a week.
We have been partnering with some amazing people. We teach English classes at a university and then invite students to hang out with us and talk about life.
[Pray for the students and that through our interactions with them they feel the love of Christ. Pray also that we will be bold]
