So I’ve been informed that it’s been a long time since I’ve written a blog.
My apologies.
For some reason I just don’t do well with keeping up with blogs. I know there is no excuse and I truly appreciate everyone who has supported me on this journey. I just pray that you will have grace for me and my shortcomings of keeping you updated. So I’ll give you some updates and I’ll try to keep it short and simple.
1. We are currently in Nepal. I am on a team with some awesome women who are like sisters to me. This month we are doing UNSUNG. Unsung is when a team spends the month dedicated to finding new ministry contacts for Adventures in Missions to partner with. So, essentially, we get to travel and meet believers all across the country and find out more about their ministry. This month we really lucked out because the team that was here the previous month did an excellent job of finding new contacts, so much so that we don’t really have to look for new contacts because we have so many. So our job now is to continue to connect and fellowship with the Christian community here in Nepal and to continue to keep those relationships going. And can I just say REVIVAL is coming to NEPAL! Connecting with the Christian community here has been amazing. There are some awesome on fire for Christ people here that are doing some amazing things and I’m so privileged to be able to witness it. There is something so unique about the Christian community here. So many different kinds of people are here from all different kinds of denominations doing all kinds of work but they are so connected here. They operate as family. Everyone is connected and it seems like everyone knows each other. It doesn’t matter if you work with a different organization or go to a different church, the people here are about building the body of Christ together and they support each other like I haven’t seen Christians do elsewhere. We can really learn from them here. They are doing it right!
2. Last month we were in India. I LOVED IT!!! I loved everything about India. I love the culture, the people, the food and our ministry. I fell madly in love with the family we stayed with and I thank GOD that he allowed me to meet them. They are forever a part of my life and I can’t wait to see them again. I had the most intimate times with the Lord in India. I walked and talked with him daily. Everyday I set aside time to spend with the Lord. I consecrated that time for just me and him. Many days he would wake me up early before the sun rose to have quiet moments with HIM. The lord met me there. It was such a precious time in our relationship. I think I fell in love with the Lord all over again. Everything in India reminds me of the bible. It’s an amazing place.
3. Parent Vision week happened at the end of India and my mom came to spend the week with me!!! It was a great time for her to see me and what we are doing in these countries. I just love having my mom around and I also realized that I am more like her than I thought. It was also good to have her there to talk about my life after the race. I recieved a message from my pastor the day before my mom came regarding some ministry opportunities available when I get home. It was the perfect timing to be able to talk with my mom about my passion to serve Christ and for her to see it first hand.
4. Before India there was VIETNAM! Can I just say, Vietnam was way cooler than I expected. It is a BEAUTIFUL country!! It’s also a communist country and it was interesting being in a communist country for the first time. I took my first 24 hour sleeper bus ride to our ministry and if your gonna take any kind of 24 hour bus ride it’s got to be on a sleeper bus! It was my first month with my new team and it went way better than expected. I fit right in. My old team got desolved and so I was placed on an already existing team. Team Fidelity! These girls are awesome and they welcomed me with open hearts! Vietnam was like a vacation. We stayed in an awesome hotel all month. I got a bad cold that month but it was great having such a nice place to stay and relax. Also, did I mention I became FULLY FUNDED!!!! I got a message from one of my elders at church that the Lord laid it on their heart to pay the rest of my balance I had left to complete the race. Can you say HALLELUJAH!!!!!! PRAISE BREAK!!!! God is so awesome and I am so greatful to the people he uses to bless me. Thank you brother Joseph and your wonderful family for helping me finish this race.
5. Then there’s Cambodia. The month of December. That means my birthday, Christmas and the end of the year. Cambodia was month 6th for us. My birthday marked the half way point of the race. Cambodia was like an up hill climb. Being stuck in the middle of this thing called the world race can be tough. I also learned a lot about myself in Cambodia. God chose that month to teach me about my love walk and what ways I needed to grow in it. It was a time to be called out of the childish things into adulthood. Love is hard and I realized that I want to be a woman that does hard things. DO HARD THINGS! Was my motto for that month. There was so much growth for me that month. It was a month of being put under the knife to let God expose and remove the things that are not of him. I also journaled ALOT that month. I like to take a look back at my journal during that month and see the things the Lord taught me. I will say my birthday was awesome!!! It was way better than I expected. God showed me just how loved I am even tho I may at times not love well. I ended that day in tears after I received a phone call from my first team (tikkum) wishing me a happy birthday. Yup, I am truly loved.
6. Before Cambodia there was Thailand. Land of dreams!!! Thailand is a magical place. Rich culture and beautiful land. Any adventure you are seeking can be found there. I feel like I did it all! From petting tigers, riding elephants, Christian concerts with Franklin Graham, lighting lanterns and watching them float in the sky, seeing the sky light up with thousands of lanterns every night from the roof, going to night markets and buying cool clothes while checking out entertainment. We stayed at a wonderful place called Zion’s cafe. It is run by a wonderful woman of God. One of the most humble people I’ve ever met. Her name is Emmi and I will always remember her telling me “Emmi must decrease, and HE (Jesus Christ) must increase. Ministry was awesome. I got to work in the cafe. Zion’s Cafe is really a beacon of light in a dark land. I also did MONK CHAT!!! Monk chat is where you can go to the temple and talk with the monks. I learned all about Buddhism while touring the temples, talking with monks and praying over the land. I also got to participate in bar ministry and befriended some of the workers in the bar. And then there is Pattaya. Pattaya is on the coast of Thailand. We landed there at the beginning of our month in Thailand. If you ever want an eye opener of what the sex trade really looks like, go to Pattaya. What I saw there will be forever ingrained in my head. Pray for those who are caught in the bondage of sex trafficking. Pray for the men and the women. The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Pray the Lord of the harvest will send laborers to the field.
And before Thailand there was the phillipines. And I’m sure you heard what happened there. I DELIVERED A BABY!!!! But I won’t bore you with the details of that again.
So there you have it.
From Thailand to Nepal in a nutshell.
So much has happened in the past few months. It’s weird to think so much time has flown by. Time is so weird here on the race. It goes so slow yet so fast at the same time. Being in month 9 has me thinking about month 12 being back in America and what that will look like. But the one thing I know is God is holding my hand and walking me through it all. One of my new favorite verses is found in psalms 73: 23 were it mentions that God holds our right hand. LOVE IT! So that’s it.
FYI: I’m doing an 11n11 video question blog challenge. I’ll try to answer 1 question a week over the next 11 weeks about my time here on the race and I’ll post the video on my Facebook page. If you have a question you want me to answer then inbox me on facebook or leave a message under this blog.
Welp, I love you all and I’ll see you sooner than I care to realize.
J
