I’ve been asked to make a blog briefly explaining ministries, some of my crazy experiences, and some random thoughts… so here it is!!
Ministries:
(One Month) India I preached in churches on Sunday mornings, did village outreach, helped children with school work, and did a different VBS with a different village every night.
(One Month) Nepal I trekked the mountains to villages and preached, prayed over temples, worked at a Buddhist preschool, travelled to churches to encourage the pastors who had been heavily persecuted, and lived in a village for a week and worked alongside a growing church.
(One Month) Zimbabwe we planned women events (Beauty For Ashes), kids events, teens events, prayed over people in the hospitals, did community outreach, and created relationships with local teens to pour into and minister to.
(One Month) Zambia we worked at an “old peoples home” in the mornings and did children outreach in the afternoons everyday.
(Two Months) Malawi my team were teachers. I taught English everyday and did my own lesson plans and the rest of my team taught other subjects. In the afternoons we would feed children their only meal for the day (slice of bread and juice) as part of a feeding program.
(Three Months) Ecuador we worked with neglected street kids and teens in a before and after school program. We fed them, played with them, loved them, and cared for them. We also painted almost every surface possible and fixed projects the workers weren’t able too before.
My WORD (kinda) for each month:
India… REST
Nepal… SACRIFICE
Zimbabwe… SURRENDER
Zambia… UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE
Malawi Month One… “EVEN WHEN IT HURTS LIKE HELL ILL PRAISE YOU” (song lyrics) and BOLDNESS
Malawi Month Two… FIGHT
Ecuador Month One… PEACE
Ecuador Month Two… CHOOSE
Ecuador Month Three… “LET ME” -Jesus
My Entire RACE Word… BLOOM
A FEW Crazy things on the Race… and some of the only ones I can post publicly… (whoops)
INDIA
Wore Kurtas 24/7 as my entire clothing selection
Ate 20 chapatis in one day
Peed in a shed with no lights and no hole in the ground… almost everyday
went to a sketchy home doctor for my feet
survived a mini bug plague … that lasted the whole month
Went to an Indian wedding
Went to an Indian birthday party
Bought a Sarree
Slept in a tent INSIDE because bugs invaded our compound
Swam in the Indian Ocean
And more
NEPAL
Went white water rafting
Lived in a mountain village for a week
Hiked a full on mountain to preach in a mountain village church
Got a tattoo
Got a piercing (within 3 hours of arriving to Nepal)
Saw Mount Everest
went to a sketchy dentist… twice
Visited a monkey temple three times and almost died all three times
Went to a blood sacrifice temple
Was in country when Evangelism was made illegal
Had a man that asked me to marry him and even today still tries to keep in contact
Hung out with monks and saw one playing angry bird behind his drapery… I’m not even kidding.
Slept on the ground and shared a blanket for a mattress with 6 other girls
Had a halloween party in a mountain village church building with our ministry hosts
And more
Zimbabwe
Team all got sick together
Stayed the night in a hospital
Almost burned down our apartment by cooking green beans
Got African braids
Cooked an African Thanksgiving feast
Witnessed riots when the president overturned
Went to an animal rescue sanctuary
Made friends with many locals and they would come over to our place and have dance parties
And more
Zambia
Saw Victoria Falls three times
Lost passport and all money and had to take a 4 day journey to go get it replaced (thank you Miriam and Jonathan)
Swam at a resort (and the only place with wifi in all of Zambia I swear) with Zebras and Giraffes … like 4 times
Jumped off the Zambezi Bridge
Had Christmas in Africa
Had New Years in Africa and almost got exploded by sketchy fireworks
We all laid out to tan and get burnt… but ended up getting sun poisoning and was miserable for a month
Stayed in a metal box… thats all I’m going to say about that
And more
Malawi
Stayed on Lake Malawi for a week (BEAUTIFUL)
Lived in a field of flowers and corn
Was a camp counselor for a weekend
Had to walk a dirt path to and from my house to the school house to teach
One of my co teachers really liked me and gave me a parting present
My co teacher told me my English was wrong… and I’m the one that has English as their first language
Had Valenties Day in Africa and the boys on my team accidentally gave us thongs
And more
Ecuador
Went to the beach twice
Went to the amazon rainforest and jungle one weekend
Went to Quilatoa … a crater lake inside a mountain
went to Otavalo and SHOPPED
Went Spanish dancing
Went to the Equator twice
Got my belly button pierced
Lived with 40 people for three months
Witnessed Mckayla getting her tattoo misspelled
Went snorkeling
Went to Colombia for a day and met and spent time with the refugees from Venezuela
Went on the swing at the edge of the world
And more
Favorite country for….
Food = #1 India (surprisingly) #2 Ecuador
Ministry = can’t answer this one
Community = Zimbabwe was such a sweet country for my team and for us to really create our own community outside of ministry with the locals
Clothing = Africa all together was my favorite because I loved wearing chitenges and long skirts or dresses
Fun Off Day Activities = #1 Zambia #2 Ecuador
Hardest Country = Zambia
Easiest Country = Nepal/Zimbabwe
This was a random and scattered blog but i hope you all enjoyed it!! i will be posting my FINAL blog next… stay tuned.
and… as always… i love you all.
