I did one of these blogs at the end of Africa- a summary of my four months with some favorite memories and least favorite memories. I wanna do the same thing for Asia too beginning with Vietnam:
Vietnam
This was month 5. It was my first month with a new team (Sea Salt) and first month doing ATL ministry (ask the Lord). For me personally, it was a hard month. Oh man I was grieving the loss of my old team and grieving the loss of no longer being in Africa. I literally felt like a physical part of my heart got left behind in Malawi.
This month I stayed for a few days in Vung Tao, Hanoi, Sapa, Halong Bay, and Ho Chi Minh City. I think I spent more time traveling this month than I did staying somewhere haha. We didn’t have any specific assigned ministry which made Vietnam such a challenge for me. Looking back, I think my team did a lot of things wrong with how we went about ATL, but we used it as a learning experience because it helped us go about ATL so much better when we did it again a couple months later.
Rather than recapping ‘Nam all over again, here are some links to blogs I wrote during this month:
My least favorite moments:
I didn’t journal much at all during Vietnam—this is a big regret of mine. Why I didn’t journal much? I don’t really remember. Maybe it was because so many of our days were spent traveling and getting on and off buses. I also really struggled this month adjusting to a new team and new culture. I set high expectations for Asia that were not met and it left me disappointed. Before the race, Asia was the continent I was most excited for. Africa was the least. I always said “I’m glad Africa is first to get it out of the way” which sounds really horrible. But obviously I ended up falling in love with Africa and not so much with Asia.
My favorite moments:
Trekking in Sapa (it was probably one of the most “world race-y” things I did my whole race), kayaking/doing a boat tour in Halong Bay, continuing to be on a team with Khurry, giving myself and my team grace at the end of the month and using it as a learning curve
Cambodia
Month 6. So. Much. English. We taught English at a primary school every single day. I learned that I am actually really good at winging lesson plans and teaching children. This month we lived in classrooms/on the roof of an International Foreign Languages School (IFLS) building in Sisophon. For every meal, we walked over to the Khmer Lodge and ate lots and lots of bok choy, eggs, and chicken. This was one of my more spiritually dark months. My team had a couple demonic encounters, and I feel that somehow the enemy was trying to get us all to give up because we were EXHAUSTED like every single day no matter how much sleep we got or if we napped.
Here are links to some blogs I wrote:
My least favorite moments:
I was really sick the first week we were there (vomiting and diarrhea) because I was dehydrated pretty badly. I used my tent as storage for my stuff on the roof, but I did not put my rain fly on. One night it stormed so literally everything I owned got soaking wet. I realized this month that I was in the B Zone of the world race.
My favorite moments:
For some reason I had a hard time being vulnerable with my team, but I always pushed through that fear even if it meant having to write down what I was going to say and then reading it to them through my tears. I got back into my routine of journaling and reading my Bible daily which I had slacked majorly in doing in Vietnam. I spoke in tongues twice this month. The first time I was really unsure of what it was, but the second time I was confident. It was a really sweet gift to receive from the Holy Spirit. I made a goal to spend $20 personal money or less for the whole entire month and I did it! I found out this month that the Parent Vision Trip was green lighted meaning it was all approved and we’d officially see our parents in Ecuador 3 months later.
Laos
Laos was month 7. It was our 2nd chance at ATL ministry. I don’t think there’s a “right” way to do ATL—there are many “right” ways—but I’d say this was one of the “right” ways. We started every single morning together as a team. Every morning we would pray and ask the Lord what he had for us that day. Sometimes someone got a word, and other times we got nothing. But regardless of whatever we chose to do that day, we were attentive and chose to find the Lord in the little things throughout the day.
We stayed at the Dream Home Hostel all month in Vientiane and had our squad leader Hannah with us (shoutout, ily Hannah).
Here is a blog I wrote this month:
Living life in the most closed country on my route
My least favorite moments:
All the loud people staying in the room with us who had no regard for the other people in the room with them (cuddle couple, heavy metal ringtone, gucci man, etc). All the money i spent on soda water lol but lets be real, I’m not that mad about it (thanks Ailie haha).
My favorite moments:
I did a social media fast because I didn’t want comparison with other teams to distract me from giving this month my all. I also fasted from alcohol the whole month (and continued to in Thailand as well). I got to tap into my creative side this month and it was so fun! I got to paint on a canvas with acrylics, I got to dye fabric with indigo plants, and I got to weave my own threads to create a fabric patch. At the COPE museum, I learned about the history of war in Laos and the devastation cluster bombs has had and is still having on people today. Team Mosaic’s host took us out not he lake in his boat as a thank you for helping him with construction—it was such a fun day and probably one of my favorite memories of the whole race. I tried Indian food for the first time and found out that I love it. We found a coffee shop that supports survivors of human trafficking, and they had the BEST mango salad ever. We made a lot of connections with random people (the owner of the hostel named Anna, a missionary from America, a missionary from Africa, missionaries from South Korea, and some locals who worked for Campus Crusade for Christ). Despite this being a closed country, we saw Jesus all over the fricken place! Loas redeemed Asia for me, and it was a great month.
Thailand
Month 8 on the race which should not have been my last month but quickly became that because of the corona virus. My team lived in Udon Thani (really close to the border of Laos) and stayed in a Deaf Church. We worked a lot with children doing vacation bible school programs and teaching english. We also got to send a couple days in Ban Phue with Sister Oy handing out tracks.
I never wrote a specific blog telling you all what I did this month, and I don’t think I will. I think I am going to let my pictures I have shared on Facebook tell the stories, or I’ll tell you myself if you want to ask! The only blog I posted this month directly relating to something here was this one about sex trafficking.
My least favorite moments:
Receiving the news that the parent vision trip was cancelled, and being told we are getting pulled from the field due to corona virus and within a matter of a few days being sent home.
My favorite moments:
I loved all our hosts/partners (Pastor Jeannie, Joopjip, Pastor Ben, Wendy, Pik, Jade, and Sister Oy). Each one of them was so kind and inviting and friendly. I wish I would have had just a little more time with them or at least gotten the last few days I was supposed to get! I thrived during the kids programs this month. It meant I got to do a TON of singing and dancing. I also got to lead the English lessons every Saturday which is something I have grown to enjoy. My team played so much monopoly deal. I loved getting to hangout with Pik and go to the night market with her (5 rolls of sushi was about $1.50!!!!!!). On the last day of my race, I got to go to an elephant sanctuary which was my number one adventure bucket list item for the race.
Thank you for reading!
With love,
Hals
