We’re leaving Asia and moving on to Africa! I can’t believe that in just 2 short weeks we will have made it halfway through the World Race.
5 months full of so much goodness.
I don’t really know how to put my time in Asia into words.
But what a blessing it is to travel the world to show and tell people about my best friend and loving others with the love He has loved me. Someone who hasn’t once left me.
There is so much to be thankful for- the lifelong friendships I’ve made and their love and care for me whether it’s sitting with me and listening to me or encouraging me with words they hear the father saying over me or just crawling in bed with me and listening to me cry about the things on my heart. The journey of growth and becoming more like Christ. The new places I get to step into. The people’s stories I get to hear and the words the Holy Spirit tells me to say to their hearts. The big God-sized stories.
He is your Father. No one on earth has a perfect earthly father. But we have one in heaven. We have one who is chasing us. I saw that in a man I had a conversation with at a bakery on Christmas Eve. I saw what God was doing in his heart. He brought that man to me twice and he noticed Jesus. He didn’t want to talk about the good things of my best friend so I just listened, and prayed for his heart. For him to see how much his Father in heaven loves him.
He loves each of us. He loves the people that are hard to love. And we get the chance to show them that. He loves our family members who are running from Him. He loves the hard co-worker. He loves the hurting roommate who doesn’t know how to handle her hurt. He loves us when we turn on our backs on Him.
In honor of moving on to Africa, I wanted to share just a quick overview of what God has done in each country we’ve been to.
India: We are still in contact with our sweet ministry host family from India. I still get a Facebook message every once in a while with a “praise the lord sister” message. We left a little bit of our hearts in India. Honestly, I was not excited about going to India but thankfully it was our first month so everything that was hard and frustrating was just full of laughter and grace. The language barrier was hard for me but it showed me how God can use our prayers even when they are not understood by who we are praying for. Our ministry host told of us at the end of the month all the healings that had happened after we would leave those homes. We also experienced how beautiful house churches were. We traveled every night to a new village to just gather together, worship together, and laugh at the constant unknown of what God would do or take us. We also lived the simple village life with 10 orphan boys who captured our hearts.
Nepal: I love mountains, and God blessed me with that in Nepal. There were women in the cabin restaurants that we saw get free, slum children were loved, and some of our squadmates were baptized in the Holy Spirit! The last week in Nepal, I also got to be a part of another house church, getting together and praying and worshipping. Our church was made up of those who were physically disabled. It was beautiful. We could have stayed there forever. Our pastor depended on the Lord for everything financially. It was a beautiful testament of how to trust the Father and trust that He gives good gifts to his children.
Thailand: I saw the lifestyle of worship. We taught the kids there and we got to be a part of another house church. Every single morning and night they got together to worship and praise Him and bring Him glory. It seemed like they had no worries in this world. They always had a thankful heart. While we were in the village, we had squadmates throughout Thailand healing people and casting out demons, so the kingdom was brought to Thailand in so many ways!
Cambodia: We had a lot of free time in Cambodia. I had a lot of time to sit with the Lord to process the first 3 months. God gave me so many words for life after the race. I just enjoyed sitting with the Lord, and having Him prepare me to become a squad leader. Discipling others comes from the intimacy you have with the Father, and I needed that month as I moved into this next season.
Vietnam: I got to visit different teams this month as one of the roles of a squad leader so I got to be a part of a lot of the different ministries. There were so many good conversations about Jesus even though Vietnam is a closed country and it’s illegal to talk about. 40 students at CRU at a college accepted Christ! God is working in each of our hearts in different ways, some of it not always easy or fun, but always for our good.
Living life on the race is just like normal life back in America. You get into a routine and there are still processes. Loving people whether it’s our teammates or a child or our ministry host or a college student, it takes seeds being planted, and then some watering.
But sometimes, in the midst of life, we forget to reflect on the good God is doing in our hearts and in life around us. So even though this month was hard for me, I wanted to take a moment and look back at all the good.
I also wanted to encourage each of you back home, that the seeds you are planting and the time you are investing in someone or the hard conversations you’re having are making an impact you might never see. But they still go so far. We might never see the true and full impact until Heaven but I promise that every moment that is spent loving another person is making your Heavenly Father smile.
At this halfway mark in the race, please feel free to email me or comment and ask me any questions about the race or about the journey I’ve been on for the last 5 months!
I won’t have any internet or phone connection in Ethiopia (praise the Lord for being distraction free!) so I apologize if I don’t have many updates this upcoming month!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Here is a video of my time in Vietnam!
