This is my squad! The second ever World Race Fusion squad! There are 23 racers and 2 squad leaders (including me!) that will be traveling with us around the world.
Thailand has been GREAT! We officially finished training camp and launch a week ago and have been working hard at ministry! Our squad is a little unique in the fact that we do training camp and launch within our first country. I loved being able to do training camp in Thailand for many reasons, but one of which is that we got to spend time at the Free Burma Ranger’s house and meet their family.
The Free Burma Rangers go into Burma and other oppressed countries to help those in need. They bring medical supplies, teaching tools, and whatever else they may need. The family that runs it all is absolutely incredible. Their son is only 10 and has already summited Mt. Rainier and the Tetons. He summited Rainier (closest weather conditions in the US to Mt. Everest) when he was only 6 and was the youngest person ever to do so. One of their daughters is a world renowned horse barrel rider and has a pet monkey that goes everywhere with her. She even hangs onto her hip when she rides horses. They go into the countries on foot and carry everything on their backs, traversing desserts and mountains. If you want to work with them, the minimum requirement is running a marathon! They are God fearing people with amazingly humble hearts and are doing incredible things for the Kingdom. If you’ve never heard of this organization, check them out! http://www.freeburmarangers.org/
We got to do all of our teachings surrounded by their mango orchard and in 80 degree weather, pretty awesome! I’ve seen the Facebook posts of snow back home, so I’m extra thankful for this nice weather! We walked through a lot of stuff with our racers and brought some good stuff to light. We talked about things like identity, discipleship, shame & guilt, grieving & wounds, Holy Spirit, forgiveness, spiritual warfare, rights & expectations, and a bunch more. It felt like we all knew each other for years after that week! We chose team leaders and separated the group into teams, but didn’t announce all of that until Launch.
After a week of training camp we came back to Zion Cafe for a couple days off, then began Launch. Launch usually takes place a few days before the squad leaves the USA, but again our Fusion squad is a little different. We had some awesome worship, prayed for the people we’ll encounter this year and for each other, and had some great sessions. We talked about things like conflict resolution, healthy communication, culture sensitivity, fighting for each other/unity. As well as some practical chats about finance reporting, logistics, safety training, blogging/vlogging, and sermon prep. We went over some great stuff, but everyone was excited to be done training and to start doing ministry by the end of it!
For the last week or so, our squad has been living at Zion Cafe and working with the ministry here, Lighthouse in Action. Above is a video from a former volunteer that shares a bit about what they do. We have teams working on the bar street that does prayer walks in the morning and goes out to talk to women and make connections in the afternoon. This bar street is the only safe street to talk to women at night and it is solely because this ministry has been praying over it for years and years. Emmi and her volunteers prayed over this street for years before they even started talking to women.
Other teams are praying over a new bar street and doing prayer walks through it in the morning and afternoons, hoping it too will be safe enough to talk to the women at night. Those teams are also going to Monk Chats, which are set up times for foreigners to go to the temples and talk to Monks so they can practice their English. I went to this ministry a couple days ago and one of the monk we were talking to was extremely interested in the 10 Commandments, since they were very close to what Bhuddism taught. Although, if he breaks one of the commandments then he is cut off from being a monk and can never return, no redemption. He explained it as a palm tree that gets cut, it can never grow back again. Whereas the Bible teaches there is saving grace through Jesus Christ, who has already paid the price so we can enter Heaven – even though we are all sinful and absolutely no one deserves it! What a gift!
The fourth team is doing “ATL” (Ask The Lord) in the morning, which is when they ask for the Lord’s leading in ministry. In the afternoons they go into the slums to play with the children that live there and love them. They bought some jackets for the kids that didn’t have them, since the weather recently turned freakishly cold. They also bought the kids some cookies with little love notes on them and pray with the kids every day.
AND NOW FOR INTRODUCTIONS!
These are our two awesome coaches, Doug and Renee Duffy! They live in Costa Rica, where they do business in missions, and have adopted Russian children – which is awesome because the two foreigners we have on our team are a Costa Rican and a Russian! Only God could fit that together so perfectly 🙂 They were with us for training camp and launch, but have since returned to Costa Rica. They will join us for debriefs and are loving/supporting us from back home. Coaches are usually an older couple that has already raised kids and bring wisdom to the squad. They led some amazing chats for TC and Launch and have added so much to our group already!
This is Daniel Williams, our Squad Mentor! He will be working from the AIM Office and is our main support for our squad on the field. He was also here for Training Camp and Launch, but just got back to the Gainesville office after a tough 48 hour travel day with snow delays. He went on the race in 2014 and Squad Led the first Fusion Squad last year. He was born in Kenya as a missionary kid and has been to 60-some countries in his lifetime! He’s a born traveler and an awesome addition to our team 🙂
This is Stephanie and I – the two Alumni Squad Leaders! Stephanie is from Orange Country, CA and was on the first Fusion squad last year. She started out as a team leader, but was raised up as a squad leader. I’m SO thankful for her. I went on the race 5 years ago and there is plenty that has changed and plenty I forgot about. Not to mention I wasn’t a team leader, finance or logistics person, nor a squad leader on my race, so this is all new to me! Stephanie has been incredibly patient with me and has taught me lots. We are similar in the best ways and compliment each other in areas we need to be complimented – a great team! Our team name is “K2”. The day before we were to choose our team name someone spoke over us that they saw us as sherpas climbing a mountain and leading the way for their team. As most of you know, I love mountains 🙂 so I loved this! “K2 – The Kings Two” K2 is the deadliest mountain and we are paving the way for our squad!
And this is our squad! Fusion Two a.k.a. G Squad! We have four teams:
- Team Avanti
- Team Lift
- Team Trotos
- Team Meraki
We’ve had a few off days and our racers have been ambitious! Some have already ridden elephants, went bungee jumping, climbed waterfalls, jumped off cliffs, and more I’m sure. All within 3? days off – dang! This picture is from Sticky Falls, an awesome waterfall with an interesting, sticky texture to the rock that you can easily climb up and down. I also went with a group to the Chiang Mai Grand Canyon, where we jumped off 50 foot cliffs and floated around in inner tubes. Stephanie and I took an extra morning to visit Remember Nhu, the children’s home I worked at when I was in Chiang Mai for my race in 2011. It was amazing to see the home and visit with some of the kids. One of which, Tia, was only 8 months old when I met her and she is now an energetic little 5 year old!
Blessings from Zion Cafe – Chiang Mai, Thailand!
We leave for Cambodia on Saturday. Please be praying for a smooth transition and safe travels! One of our squad mates, Dani, had an emergency appendectomy and is still in the hospital – should be released this morning. Travel day will be really tough for her and your prayers will be appreciated! If you would like to join us for our nighttime intercession for the bars and women/men working in the sex industry, we will be praying from 8 to 10pm each night, which is 8am to 10am EST.
Thank you!
