Debrief in China!
Debrief in China was about a week long. It was on the outskirts of Beijing. It was so amazing seeing my squad mates and telling them about China. There was such a change in every single one of them. C’mon. It’s so beautiful. That night we get there and relax and have a great worship time. So great. At debrief he go over what we learned in that month and learn more about what God has. We do one on ones with team leaders and mentors. We also go over things that need to be done. We do learning sessions about Joy, Brokenness, abandonment, and obedience. Literally learning how to live life. So beautiful learning all these revolutions and God is changing me daily. I’m fresh of China. I had the an incredible month of in China. All of China I felt a presence in my life that has never been there. I wake up to a beautiful morning and explore this awesome place by going for a run. I wake up to my squad mate “Stone” is his nickname. He’s sitting at the side of his bed. We literally freak out when we see each other. It was incredible. Two morning people so exited to be a live! It was a little morning burst of life. God is literally changing me into a new person and I can feel it. I have new purpose in this life. We do a little learning session and we breakout. Each leader leads a session. I took away so much. Eric a team leader leads a session. I learned so much from this man. He tells story’s of his time home last week he had for a wedding. He said sometimes God will fill your cup up and empty it so it can be refilled again. Me and Eric had an awesome one on one. He taught me that God has something more. We take abandonment and the brokenness to fill it with something different. Something better. Me and one of my best friends Zach go out to explore this place. We find so much gold in this place. There is so much beauty. Later me and Aaron go into a story telling session. He’s telling me he got lost in Beijing last week. No phone and no place to go. It was hilarious he had a Australian man walk him 3 hours to his hostel. I told him the story of how we met Andrew on the subway. We do worship that night and all I see is tigers in my mind. It was crazy. The next morning me and Stone are going out for a morning hike and bible session. We walk past this campground and check it out. We find this huge rock climbing wall. Literally up a cliff. We look at each other like two kids. Let’s do it. It was so scary it was literally rebar into a cliff. There was a cable next to it for a harness but, we didn’t have one. We get so high. At least 100 feet or more in the air hanging off a cliff by rebar. C’mon. We realize we can’t get to the top of the mountain or we might die. So we find a little Cliff hanger. We read Psalm 118. I love this psalm simple yet so beautiful. Me and Stone will take that with us forever. We get to a morning devotional led by Meghan. She’s such a beautiful person to follow. She points out “the greater the love the greater the grief” and Joy is accessible at anytime. She makes a point to say “it is so beautiful to say I will have joy no matter what”. She had her dad die when she was on the World Race last year. She said the first thing she did when she heard the news was go by the water and worship! C’mon this woman is a beautiful being inside and out. God uses broken people! We are switching leadership so we are washing each others feed. My team leader is Ari. She is a beautiful creation out of L.A.. I love that woman. Learning so much! I remember asking Eric at one point, What do I do when I feel I’m having to many revolutions and knowledge? His answers is stay humble and embrace it. I’m learning so much, my heart is literally about to explode. I feel like a kid again. I wake up the next morning and go for a run in the rain! So amazing. We do a fundraising session because some of us are not fully funded for this. I found it interesting that 70% of missions are support based. I learned that fundraising is an act of worship. It’s vulnerably asking for money to help for a better cause. It was like a business meeting ran by Molly and Stone so beautiful. They did a fantastic job. Me and Aaron walk to the soccer field to play some soccer with the fundraising crew. We play soccer to take away from stresses of fundraising. I tell him we need to take a longer walk and tell him I have to much information running in my head I’m starting to get stressed out. Me saying that to him took a weight off. Talk therapy and I also opened up to him about a past mistake I had and he told me to say it out loud and ask God for forgiveness. Amazing. That man is a blessing. Later, I got to go for an awesome walk with Leah my team leader. The team leaders are about to go home since our team leader change. They go home after month three. I feel so close to Leah. She’s from Minnesota and I have gotten so close and learned so much from her. We had Midwest connections engraved in us. It was a sad and happy walk. I’m going to miss her but, goodbyes are temporary. I’ll see her again. We later do a fooseball tournament called the “Bob Johnson” fooseball tournament. It Stone’s grandpas name and he let me have a pen that said “Bob Johnson Insurance”. It was a great pen and now we always talk about Bob Johnson and it’s hilarious. He was a good man. I was paired with my good friend Ashley. Were a great team. Winner got $400, on a two person team to donate to someone. I’m still very much fundraising and any little bit can add up to a whole lot. If you reading this you should consider donating to me and his blog! The next morning was lead by Leah. Leah got in front of everyone and said that I don’t know what to say. She felt the Holy Spirit calling her to say what she had to say. Mark 13:11 “Whenever you are arrested and brought to trail, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given to you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit”. She said so much by saying nothing at all. She was talking about obedience. She was showing obedience just by being in front giving her all. She did come up with beautiful words to say. She knows who she is and how she got to be how she is today. God! She later comes to say “let the little things go because they are little for a reason”. Walking in lightness is something God has taught her. My heart and cup are so full. I then listen to a podcast about the roots of anxiety. I always listen to random podcasts. This rocks my world. I can’t get over it and my mind just completely stops and the podcast made me think there is something wrong with the way my brain works. It was so sad that I let this get to me. This gave the enemy a gap to come in and I let my guard down. I do a one on one with Matt. Matt is literally a walking bible. I tell him and he tells me a bunch of information and I can’t clear out the thoughts. My brain spirals and we say goodbye to celebrate our leaders that night. We celebrate them but I can feel a distance between myself. I just wanted my thoughts to be straight! I go to bed and people are up packing because it’s the last night here and I literately just want to go to bed. I wake the next morning at its still settling in my head. I keep calling to God. He’s answering but telling me to walk it out. Eric talked about God filling up your cup and emptying the cup to be filled again with something new. I knew I was just waiting to be filled again. My trust in the lord has come so far in the last months. The next day we travel to an awesome hostel in Beijing. It was such a unique place. Writing all over the walls. People and backpackers from everywhere! I’m still in a little fog. I meet a fire fighter/paramedic named Louis. He was awesome. I also meet Mitch with a Harley and his wife Kim from Canada. Amazing people. We end the night with a team meeting. I tell them some of the things that happened at debrief and why I can’t get my mind right. It was Aaron’s birthday so me, Parker, Jordan, Brandon, and Aaron get a big beer tower. It was a good time. We are only allowed to have two on the world race witch is a great limit because I love beer. We wake up leaving to Mongolia in the morning. We say goodbye to Leah and Eric for real. It was sad but, so beautiful. There going to do great things where ever they go. I lead us to the bus station and get us lost right away. It Is funny to think about now. We get blessed with a sleeper bus for a 12 hour ride. Right after we get on a bus to get out of China and into Mongolia. We the take a 30 hour train into Mongolia. We get to Mongolia and I just know I’m going to love this place. We have a great time on the train watching movies and talking. I get to come close to some more squad mates. I can feel God working something out in my head. I really open up my heart to every single person on my squad! Read my next blog about my week in Mongolia! It’s quite a journey!
Much love!
