I am in my last hours of time in Thailand and big changes are happening. A new year, a new continent, and a new team! AH! Things are all twisted, but with the coming of a new season, first I must reflect on the past.
I have had the pleasure of spending the past 3 months living in Asia. A lot has come out of this time and I have grown sooooo much. The Lord has stretched me in many ways and has grown me to be stronger for his kingdom. I’m not going to sugar coat it, it was an incredible hard 3 months, but it “hurt so good.” I’ve learned how to be more genuine, how to love in difficult situations, patience, and the importance of relying on God. My identity before was based on others perceptions of me, but as He kept stripping stuff out of my life, my identity has come to be completely in Christ. It is something I am still working through and praying, but my heart has changed immensely.
My heart has grown and changed because of the people I met. I was very blessed to have been apart of team Ekklesia. It was difficult at times, but I loved every single one of my teammates. We grew each other and together, grew the kingdom. I promise, pressing into people is absolutely worth it. Even when people don’t get along, continue to press in and to love, it is so rewarding. We were God’s church delivering his messages throughout the continent of Asia.
My team has been incredible, and so have our ministries. In Cambodia, I was blessed with a tremendous family. Our hosts were loving and pressed into us to start off our race on a very great foot. Many teams were circling around during our time there and so we had the opportunity to meet so many different people and learn so many cultures: many variations of India, Cambodia, Philippines, and South Korea! We messed up some, but the Lord did not condemn our failures, He continued to press into us and treated as a learning opportunity. He was still proud of us for listening and doing exactly what he called us to do.
Leaving Cambodia was very hard, but leaving Thailand has to be one of the hardest things I have ever done. We had the pleasure of living with our hosts for almost 2 months and really getting to know them and the community. We lived at an orphanage with 4 kids and our hosts had two of their own. The oldest, 18 was named Yud and her and I became very close! There was also Tip (the servants heart), Paul (the soccer star), Naomi (the no one can stop me), Asia (the snacker), and Nation (the adorable baby). They became my brothers and sisters and will forever hold this family in my heart. Our hosts, Raem and Nan spoiled us. Nan loved to make us happy and would always cook us NFC, Nan’s Friend Chicken, and it was honestly the best fried chicken I have ever had. They poured into us so much and really made a huge impact on our team.
Our time in Thailand we also spent many Holidays with this family. Thanksgiving was fairly uneventful, but they went all out with Christmas for us. My team did our own secret Santas with each other and we also each picked one of the kids and gave them presents as well. At 12 am we went and put all our presents under the tree and then at 5:30 am the family came knocking on our door to wake us up for Christmas morning. They were all dressed in Santa dresses or Santa costumes with the biggest smiles on their faces. Under the tree they placed their presents for us and we all had a huge Christmas celebration celebrating Jesus and celebrating our Community. We through our Christmas soccer party and all of the soccer kids joined and we play many games like Santa Limbo and Pin the Star on the Christmas Tree, ate lots of food, performed the Nativity Scene skit, sang them Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, and shared God’s love with all who came. Everyone had an amazing time and it gave Raem and Nan an amazing opportunity to connect and grow relationships in their community. God is doing crazy things in Chaiyaphum Thailand and I am so thankful I had the opportunity to be apart of it. It was such an amazing blessing and I will forever love that family and that place.
As so much joy came out of the past 3 months, I am in anticipation for the incredible things to happen in these next 3! We are beginning 2017 and leaving for Africa with our new teams! My new team is named Team Pretzel Stix. Within our first few hours of being a team, 40 bat (about $1 USD) fell in front of me. We asked around but no one had dropped it. We look across from us and on the left is an Auntie Anne’s. Conveniently enough, pretzel sticks, happen to be 39 bat and contain 6 pretzel sticks. Guess how many people are on my team? You bettcha, 6! The Lord provided us with pretzel sticks so we thought it be perfect to honor that moment and name our team Team Pretzel Stix.
I am so excited to be with my new team and see what the Lord has in store for us. I also am so incredibly excited for 2017 because I will spend half of the year in foreign countries, that’s crazy! However, the thing I am most excited for is Africa. I can’t wait for Malawi! I know this will be a very hard 3 months that will contain a significant amount of sacrifice. Who knows what this will look like, but I know that the Lord can use this in SO MANY WAYS! I can’t wait to see the African Stars, the joyfulness and open hearts of the people, and the miracles God will make! Please continue to pray for my new team and this new season we are begging, WE ARE SO EXCITED! AFRICA, HERE WE COMEEEEEEEEEE!
Also, I am still not completely fundraised! In Africa, there will probably be very limited electricity and wifi. So I am praying for that wonderful surprise of finally going and getting wifi one day and seeing I am fully funded! This money really does make a huge difference in the communities here and has opened so many doors for our hosts and their ministries. Your money is directly making a difference, not through 12 people and then kinda donating 30% of what you donated, but 100% is going to the the cost of everything and pouring into these ministries and people. Please pray about it and I swear, even a tiny donation does make a huge difference and brings an even bigger smile to my face! Thank you so much and God Bless!
