Well.
It’s been a hot minute.
So much has happened since my last post. I’ve traveled to three different countries. Learned three different ways of saying hello and had completely different experiences with the people and culture of each country.
I’m currently in Cambodia but for this post I will only be talking about the two months prior to month five.
In November we worked with two American women who had moved from the states to Thailand a few years ago in pursuit of the Lord’s calling to work with a ministry called Blessing Home. That took them to a city called Pattaya and then to a small town called Non Somboon where we met and worked with them. Working with them was such a delight for us! We came to love them as momma Carol and momma Vicky. They are both from Texas and so I, of course, felt an instant connection towards them. How refreshing it was to hear their Texan accents haha. They had developed a very beautiful relationship with the people from the church there and it was evident to us there was mutual respect and love. To be a part of that relationship for the short month that we were there was an honor and a privilege. We were able to serve the church by digging a drainage trench, leveling out the driveway, and pouring lots of cement. We also were able to serve some of the church members by putting up walls in their homes. We all gained some muscle, learned a few things about construction, got a tan and built amazing relationships with the church members. When I think back on that month my mind doesn’t go to those hot days when we were drenched in sweat. Instead, I picture us in the church sitting on pillows in a circle among the Thai believers at five in the morning, worshipping and interceding for their families, their church, and their country. I see our friend Sam coming around to all of us ready to hug us and give us a kiss on each cheek(because she thought that was how americans greeted each other), I see our friends Chat, Bong Ong, and Sow, who were out with us working and teaching us their ways. We communicated a lot through charades haha. I remember our last night with them and how they threw a huge going away party for us. After much eating and dancing it was time to say goodbye. It was the hardest goodbye we’ve had on this trip so far. We all saw the caring and loving nature of the Father through these wonderful people. There were many tears, hugs, and kisses exchanged that night and even the next morning when we left. I miss those beautiful people dearly and i don’t think I’ll ever stop.
December soon rolled around and it was time to move on to our fourth country. Our month in Laos was different from the previous months. To start off, we didn’t have a contact in Laos and we were going to be staying in a hostel for the month.
Our ministry that month was to find Christian ministries to hopefully be able to develop a relationship with. Our goals, once we found one, were to hang out with them for a few days, see what they’re about, help them with whatever they needed help with, and possibly seeing if there was any interest to partner with Adventures in Missions. We soon found out that this was not going to be an easy task.
The first challenge we faced was not having our own space to talk freely about Jesus, and the task at hand. Laos is a closed country and Christianity isn’t accepted, especially if you are a missionary with a purpose for that country. We stuck it out for about a week and half at our first hostel but we realized that we were going to need our own room for the sake of the team’s health so we went on a hunt for a new hostel and the Lord provided exactly what we needed. We were even able to develop some cool relationships with some of the people who worked at that hostel.
But let’s backtrack for a minute…
The first weekend we were in Laos we visited a church that we had a connection with through another squad mate. We spent time talking with them and then helping them by mixing and pouring cement. Throughout the day though, a few of the girls on my team had reoccurring inappropriate and unwanted encounters with one of the men from that church and as a result we were forced to cut our time with them short. We no longer felt safe and made the decision to leave sooner than planned. We returned to our hostel a little shaken up and knew that we needed to debrief the day. Even in the midst of some brokenness, talking and ministering to each other over this incredibly unfortunate event was actually quite beautiful. We were able to be there for each other in the mess and the darker places from our past and we were able to intercede and speak life over one another. The next day the two men on our team orchestrated a “date night” for us. Before they hopped on their bicycles that Sunday morning they told us to be ready at five that evening and to be dressed to impress. We went out and got our nails done, picked out our best “world race” outfits, showered and actually put on some makeup. By five o’clock we were ready to see what our guys had come up with. They told us to meet them by the Mekong River and as we were approaching the boardwalk we could see from a distance our teammate Chris dressed in his best and with a snazzy bow tie. He walked us over to meet our other teammate Jeremy who was also dressed in his best, slacks and all. He had his dslr ready on a tripod and we proceeded to take group pictures. After our photoshoot they presented a postcard to each of us with a prophetic word written on the back. They took turns reading them to us and handed them to us with a flower (which apparently had taken them all day to find!) and to finish off the night they treated us to a delicious Italian dinner. We could not have felt more special, treasured and honored that night. These men have for real redeemed so many of the experiences that myself and the rest of the team have had in the past and we are forever grateful to them and for them.
The rest of the month had its challenges for sure an. We definitely had things to work on as individuals and as a team and it may have taken us a bit to get to a solid place but I believe we eventually made it. There were some really wonderful moments too. We created relationships over time with people that were staying at our hostel, and with the lady who owned our favorite coffee shop.
For Christmas Eve/Day we went to a place called Vang Vieng. Five of us had the chance to ride on a hot air balloon on Christmas morning, had a relaxed day with the rest of the team opening our secret santa presents, floating down a river on tubes, and then lounging on hammocks. I mean, we were really living the life. Definitely a Christmas I won’t ever forget.
After Laos, we met back up with the rest of the squad in Pattaya, Thailand. By this point, Pattaya had been the sixth city we were able to visit in Thailand. We had a squad debrief, which is a time for us to debrief as teams with our squad mentor, squad parents, and squad leaders. It’s also a time when they pour into us through teaching and worship. This debrief had a little something special at the end. Team changes. So long story short, every team but one got changed in some way. I was put on a team with three other “Mosaic” members and three members from “Mountain Movers”. We’re now called “Fusion”.
More to come about them in my next blog…. which hopefully won’t take me more than a week to post about.. 🙂
If you stuck it out to the very end of this post.. wow! You’re a trooper! Seriously thank you for taking the time to read this. There’s not too many revelations and deep spiritual things here but I felt that I needed to paint somewhat of a picture of the two months that I didn’t post about.
I am having the time of my life on this trip. There are hard times when I sometimes feel like running away or wanting to hide out in my room back in Dallas but at the end of the day there’s no other place I’d rather be than here in this bug infested room. Sleeping alongside women who have been with me day in and day out on this field, walking through the things of life and what God decides to bring up to work on. I am reminded each day of just how truly blessed I am in my heart, mind and soul. It has been a joy to be on this spiritual and physical journey with Dad. My fuel for Him and the calling on my life is increased on the daily. What better place to be than in the will of God.
Alright, I’m done now for real. So excited to share with y’all about my new team and our time in Cambodia! It’s been cray here.
You can subscribe on the left side if you want to join me on this beautiful adventure. You can also click that wonderful “Support Me” tab on the left:) As you can see on the top of this page I still have more fundraising to go and I would greatly appreciate any financial help you can give to help me stay on the field and finish this race.
All my love.
Our Thai family 🙂
Date night in Lao!
