Hi everyone, sorry I didn’t post last week, we’ve been transitioning into a new schedule and I can now tell you that the most likely day you’ll hear from me through this media is on Sunday. For this month at least.
There’s been so much going on, so let me try to briefly catch you up.
We are staying on the island of Bali in Indonesia. This month home looks like a storage unit where we set up our tents for some indoor camping. Our setup is complete with squatty potties that allow us to exercise our leg muscles even in our down time!
We live in a beautiful part of the island, more toward the west side where it’s very rural. Our backyard even has it’s own rice field and our count of harmful spiders that we have found and killed so far is 5/5. They’re probably a little smaller than the size of my palm.
A lot of what we’ve been doing this past week our host calls Live Out Loud. Basically we take time to go to places populated with all kinds of people and pass out the business cards for the Sunday church service held in a hotel in town. It’s amazing how much more likely people are to be open to the idea of church once they learn it’s free.
We’ve been able to go to a house church and pray not only over the members thereof, but over the space itself. And the hospitality of the Balinese rivals what I’ve heard of our own Southern hospitality. The other days of our week consist of helping prep for and working in the actual church service, prepping and working for a children’s program for our neighborhood once a week, a rest day, and an adventure day.
We’ve also welcomed three new members to our team through a program Adventures does called Exposure. So they’ve come to Bali to spend the month with us and see if they want to do their own Race in the future. Hannah, Kianna, and Shelby have added so much to our team in their laughter, excitement, and willingness to try new things and jump into this month and experience with both feet. We are loving getting to do life with them.
The last thing I will leave you with is this. Every morning when we join our host and his family for breakfast and a Bible study, he reminds us that God wants us to be celebrating and that looks like naming what it is you’re thankful for. So below I have included a few things that I brainstormed. It reminds me that God is so good to me and that he gives me his good gifts
My Thankful List
The breeze
That even though Bali is hot, it’s not crazy hot all the time
Laughter
Peace and quiet
Running water
Rest days
Sleep
My health
Friendly neighbors
Long car rides
The complexity of humanity – how I can be restless and exhausted simultaneously
Plumeria flowers
Entertaining airport books
The inexplicable joy of the Lord
Bali
Being clean
Dance parties
Time to listen to my music in the sunshine and the breeze
Three new teammates
Four old teammates
My big fat bible
Prayer
Food
Simplicity
The time and chance to journal
Personal growth
People I know I can talk to
Chocolate
Unexpected blessings
Colors
Joy
New experiences
Showers
Beaches
Surfing
Tan lines
Airplanes
That I don’t have to eat plantains right now
Wifi
Conversations with Jesus
Tank tops
Shorts
Rain
God-given gifts and passions
My journal
That my package got home
That the storage unit is cool enough to sleep in
