I have been in the beautiful country of Vietnam for about a week now. We had a 5 day debrief as a squad (large team of 21) in Ho Chi Minh city and our leadership team from America flew in to spend a few days with us. We got the privilege of staying in nice accommodations to World Race standards which included hot showers free of cockroaches. There was also plenty of delicious Westernized food within walking distance to satisfy all of my American cravings. Eating rice for every meal in Asia is nice, but sometimes chicken tenders with fries really hits the spot. And anyone who has lived overseas would say amen to that.
The main focus of the debrief was remembering your why when it gets hard. Whenever we begin a new season in life we go through a honeymoon period of thriving on the excitement of something new. There is a lot of joy when starting a new job, new relationship, moving to a new place, or any big change in life. Then eventually the honeymoon period fades and things get hard. The excitement of the new experience is no longer there and you miss the familiar. Our leadership team challenged us to remember why we came on the World Race when the honeymoon period fades.
Last month in Indonesia I was interacting with some local pastors and they asked me why any young person would want to come all the way to Indonesia to be with them. I woke up that morning exhausted from several long ministry days in a row, I was missing my Minnesota friends, and I was missing some of the comforts of my American lifestyle. In that moment I had to search my heart and remind myself of why I am here. I am here because the gospel is more precious to me than anything else and the gospel is too precious to me to keep to myself. I am here to build relationships with people around the world and to learn from their experiences. It’s important to remember why I am here and how the World Race is not about me, it’s about advancing the Kingdom of God.
Currently my team and I are in Da Nang, Vietnam and we are facilitating an English club several times a week. English club is an opportunity to provide teenagers an opportunity to practice English conversation. When we are not teaching English we are encouraged to build relationships with our students. I’m looking forward to getting to know the students better and learning as much as I can about the beautiful culture of Vietnam.
Introducing team LIT stands for Living In Transparency
I am thrilled to be a part of this new team. They have already been remarkably intentional with me and I’m excited for the way we will grow and challenge one another and for sure have lots of laughs.
