Dearest supporters,
Hi. It’s been a while.
Whirlwinds come and go as they please, but I’m struck at how rapid this one flows through my fingers. It seems like not too long ago I was leaving for the Race and now I have only have four-months left before I return home to life as usual, though I know I won’t be the same as you remember.
Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have been some of my absolute favorite countries so far, and if you want photos or videos of these places, feel free to check out my social media pages and you’ll see why I would recommend these countries to any of you. The people here have surprised me, and though I’m far removed from home, He is leading me to places that bear its resemblance: houses of Acts.
I say that because I stayed with, and volunteered for, an awesome group of people in Astana, Kazakhstan – the city itself is a modern marvel with its architecture and rapid progress (the city is only twenty-years-old, yet has far surpassed many cities in the States (for various reasons (like government prioritized funding)). The partners we were with taught me much about what it is like to be long-term in a country and pursue Him with everything we are. They encouraged us with their pra.yer life and reading of the word, demonstrating it as fundamental for all they do. They operated out of love for one another, knowing the cost, counting it, and choosing to receive the gift that already cost Him everything. We were bought with a price, and the people we met knew that full well and showed us, and showed me, how to love more effectively and genuinely.
In Kazakhstan, we taught English to a great group of people who had the best sense of humor yet, and they openly invited us into their lives which led to opportunities that might not have happened if we were not with them. For the first time, I went to a Russian banya (those sweat house things), Kazakh ballet, and stayed up talking with people until 3 a.m. (What’s happening to me?) In Kyrgyzstan, for the first time I went horseback riding and yurt camping. All of these activities opened opportunities (all of them were highly affordable on our minuscule budget) for the team and I to share the Good News with people we met along the way. Several of them even opened their hearts to following the Way!
He is doing amazing things in and around me, even at times when I think I’m ineffective or obsolete. And perhaps that is one thing that makes what I believe, and many of you, vastly different from others, because despite our feelings and sentiments about our current circumstances we have this hope that strengthens our feet for enduring whatever may come. Maybe it is seeing what we want to see, or perhaps it is something more.
Isaiah 55: Invitation to the Thirsty
55
“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
3
Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.
4
See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a ruler and commander of the peoples.
5
Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor.”
6
Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
7
Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
8
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10
As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
12
You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
13
Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
for an everlasting sign,
that will endure forever.”
