This will be South East Asia part one blog (where we have been the last three months I can’t openly say on the internet anymore). This part of South East Asia for our squad has looked like many moves, many medical trips, so many beautiful relationships formed, and so much breakthrough and revival. The next few blogs will be more in depth within how ministry has been and has looked like. Today in this blog it will be an overview of what I have experienced specifically in Asia as a whole for 6 months straight and then more specifically this part of South East Asia for the last 3 months on mission.
Ganna be real with you, these next few blogs may be a whirlwind. This country has been a whirlwind.
This race as a squad leader has been hard. Hard is not bad, hard is just hard… and that is okay.
One of the biggest reasons this has been hard has been because we have been in Asia for the first 6 months of the race and for World Race that is very uncommon. Usually we bounce from a continent to a new one after 2-4 months to hit different cultures. Being in Asia (or any other continent) for so long is either something you LOVE or something you don’t particularly like as much. I love missions. I love all that overseas missions entails even when it is messy. I love diving deep and getting dirty… but the culture of Asia is a hard one for me. SO different than the one we find in the States.
The sanitation.
The way people talk.
The driving.
The way husbands treat their wives.
The way they eat.
The reason they work is different.
The government.
The pay.
The way they do manual labor.
The food.
The language.
The way they raise their kids.
The quality of stores.
The lack of rules in some areas and over abundance in others.
The transportation.
The religions.
The lack of amenities.
The lack in general.
And more.
It is difficult to minister in a culture that is so unlike who you are. It is difficult to share the Gospel when you don’t understand why they do what they do and the deep meanings behind why they do what they do. No amount of cultural training (which we receive before we minister in an area) can prepare you for the hardship ministry in another culture will come onto you, especially at this capacity. We have been living amongst them while we have been doing ministry and it has been humbling and hard. Sleeping on cement floors, eating curry and rice, walking everywhere, being woken up by the call to prayer, etc.
And in a beautiful way, the Lord has been doing such a great work. Being on this continent for 6 months has given us eyes to see deeper than the surface and dive into the depths more quickly. When we see a local partake in a cultural norm for them and not for us, we have a deeper understanding and appreciation even if we don’t fully agree. This makes ministry sweet. This makes life deeper than awestruck and temporary awe. This makes connections click.
For the past 3 months in this specific country we have been in some of the hardest living conditions I have been in so far in my ministry journey overseas. Quaint, difficult, and truly humbling. Haphazard at times.
In these last three months I have has many thoughts of “is this actually what the Lord has called me to? To do THIS for the rest of my life?”. And funny enough, the Lord said “yeah, actually I have called you to this”.
The Lord hasn’t called me to live on a cement floor and take ice cold bucket showers in 40-50 degree weather for the rest of my life, but he has called me to be willing to.
The Lord hasn’t called me to wake up every morning at 5 am because of the Islamic call to prayer that is playing in the village, but he has called me to be willing to.
The Lord doesn’t call us into hardship as our end goal, he calls us uniquely to use our passions and gifts to bring universal reconciliation on this earth for universal worship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Sometimes that may mean a season in the dirt, but that season alone is not the Lords calling on your life. This season now for me will look different than a season or two up the road, even if just by a alittle. That is the beauty and pain of this life and the true reality of giving up your life to follow the Lord in his plans for you.
The Lord has never denied me of my needs as I humbly follow him. He never fails to provide for me as I continue to faithfully follow him where he takes me. I may not have what I want, but I will have what I need.
The Lord has called me to follow him. I may not understand where I am going, but I am following him because I trust him and because he has not failed me yet.
This time in South East Asia where I am at now has been so difficult. I am not one to lie… it’s kinda sucked at times. But it’s been amazing to see the testimonies that have been born from the physical hardship. As we have fasted comfort here, we have grown in dependency on the Lord which in turn creates a beautiful platform for ministry.
When we first arrived into this country three months ago I felt immense peace. Kids were playing, birds were chirping, and I saw open fields. It was a joy I could not explain after living in the city for the first three months of the race in Thailand and Malaysia. We took a deep breath when we saw simple village life. The beauty remained as the hardship ensued, but that almost makes it sweeter. There usually is beauty within some of the hardest things. That’s what I love the most about the Lord.
Now that we got the cultural hardship our of the way, here are some things I found beautiful about this country we were in…
The hospitality of others.
The openness to conversations.
The curiosity they carry.
Mountains, oceans, rolling fields.
The most beautiful sunsets.
The tradition in the way they dress.
The tradition in the way they live their life.
The respect they have for their elders.
How hardworking they are.
The flowers.
The sunsets.
The stars.
Their perseverance.
Their determination.
Among so many other wildly beautiful things.
I feel blessed that I have gotten to share in the beauty of this continent, but more specifically this specific countries beauty and also its hardships. I feel blessed that in this season the Lord has allowed me to see a glimpse into what their life is like that I now have a beautiful opportunity to pray specifically for needs I can better wrap my head around. I feel blessed that in all of my discomfort my ministry was never hindered, it was only helped as of a result. I would rather live small and uncomfortable for the sake of my God and his will for this earth than to be comfortable and stagnant. I am thankful for this opportunity to be humbled in this way.
I just feel blessed the Lord allowed me to step on ground here and pour out into his children here.
Coming soon in my next blog (South East Asia Part Two) I will write about the specifics of what ministry looked like and a deeper dive into what the Lord allowed us to do here!
Thank you so much for reading and flowing along! I am so thankful for your continual support!
