It’s been a while since I last posted a blog but with limited access to wifi, thats what tends to happen. I’m happy to finally update you on what’s been happening so far on the race. Since June I’ve traveled to Myanmar and India, and now I am currently in Nepal. In Myanmar we worked with a Missions College, teaching the Burmese students the English language and the Bible. I absolutely loved it!
Some of my teammates came up with a curriculum for the students to follow. We took them through the stories of the Old Testament into the New Testament, picked out vocabulary words, taught them pronunciation and most importantly showed them the meaning of the Gospel. We were part of training up missionaries in Myanmar. It was really cool to see the students trying to speak English and taking down notes on key verses of scripture that we reviewed.
IT WAS IN THIS MONTH THAT GOD CONFIRMED TO ME THAT I AM A TEACHER.
Since coming on the race, I knew we would be doing a lot of preaching and evangelism but I didn’t realize how much teaching we would be doing on the race. Since month one, God put me in a number of situations where I was asked or prompted to teach, whether that be from the Bible or English.
God has a sense of humor because for a long time, I didn’t have a desire to teach. I went to college in hopes of becoming a Social Studies teacher someday, but I dropped my education major my senior year. At that time in my life, I just didn’t feel like I could teach well enough to be a school teacher. I doubted my abilities and became super self conscious about the way I spoke in front of people. People would always say “Christa, you should be a teacher,” and my immediate response would always be ” Nah, I don’t like it very much.”
Well, let’s just say God revived my heart entirely for teaching on the race! I love it! I don’t even know why I doubted myself so much but I have enjoyed every moment of it. He gave me more confidence in this gifting and continued to confirm it during our time there.
Now, more about my month in Myanmar…
We stayed at the missions college in what was the boys dormitory ( they moved to another location on campus). There was a total of 21 people from my squad living in this house. We bathed in a trough – Yes, you read that correctly (a trough where horses usually drink water from-no worries there were no horses). We used squatty potty’s all month ( google if you don’t know what they are ). They sure are a sight. We even lived next to 2 pigs who were eventually dinner for the Burmese students – Not kidding. It was quite an experience but here we bonded over our time of preparing lessons and pouring into each other during our team times. God showed us his heart for the missionaries there at the school. He’s up to something there and we know it’s going to influence a generation of the Burmese students to go out and share the gospel with everyone. Our host David and Nancy were the sweetest people. They love what they do and they know they’ve been called to teach and send out new missionaries. They also are raising support to build a home for women and children who at risk of human trafficking. It’s incredible to watch a couple seek after the Lord’s heart. We were so encouraged by their stories in how God has provided for them thus far.
My team and I stayed an extra day to be with the students. We washed their feet to symbolize an act of love that Jesus also did for his own disciples. We prayed for the students and encouraged them to continue to seek after the Lord in everything they do. My teammate Ariane spoke about how she had seen an angel on campus that was guarding them and was bringing them a message of hope. She told them God was going to do something amazing through the students that was going to not only transform the school but the entire nation of Myanmar! Incredible huh?
Our stay in Myanmar went by so quickly but we enjoyed the time we got to spend with the students. So that was a little run down on Myanmar. Please continue to pray for my teammates and squad. We’re in our 8 month now… just three months left of the race !
