Well, the holidays are over… There’s nothing to do now but fight off the cold and dreary weather and long for the glorious days of summer. Nothing much to looking forward to now except…. MY BIRTHDAY!!!!
January 27th will be my 21st birthday and I will be spending it in Chiang Mai, Thailand this year! I know that not all of you (or really none of you) can join me here in person, but there is a way you can help me celebrate half way around the world.
As some or all of you know in order to finish out this trip I need to fund raise $16,200. As of right now I am still in need of $1400 to be fully funded. The support that I have already received, both being on the field and before I left has been tremendous and I am so grateful for everyone who had come along side me both in prayer and financially so far!
Here is what your resources have been going to thus far:
Month 1- Philippines
The Philippines was our first stop in our 11 country journey we set out on this past September. While there we worked with Kids International Ministries or KIM. Because KIM is such a large ministry we were able to work in a number of different areas. My team and I worked as tutors in an elementary school, assisted in feedings (as pictured), worked in construction, and was also able to help in exploring a new ministry for sex trafficking in a city about 3 hours from Manila. Our first month our was spent together as a squad so there was about 40 of us working with KIM but doing different things each day. Although by the end of the month I was ready for a smaller group, I was grateful for our time together and the lessons that it taught me. One of the biggest ones was redefining my race and what it would look like. It wasn’t about me or my expectations, there is more going on in the world and we are just one small part of a bigger plan.
Month 2- Malaysia
Up next was Malaysia. My team and one other team off our squad was placed in a small town near the boarder of Thailand. We were working with a native Malaysian who was running a kindergarten as well as ministering to the Indian population in Malaysia (it was illegal to minister to the Malay people themselves because of the strong Muslim presence there). Most of us worked as teachers for the month, but we had about 5 too many people for the available positions. The remaining 5 (myself included) did various odd jobs and light maintenance to help our contact catch up in several areas. During our stay there our contact was a great inspiration and great example of what it meant to truly persevere and remain faithful to God even when His plan is unclear and difficult to follow. The places God has lead him and his family and the provision that has always follow his obedience was a huge challenge for me to take a leap, trust the Lord, and know without doubt that He will always protect you.
Month 3- Vietnam
Vietnam was by far my favourite month at this point. We were working in Ho Chi Minh City at a coffee shop that offers speaking rooms for the Vietnamese to come and practice their English with native speakers. We all took shifts speaking for 4-5 hours at a time and were highly encouraged to spend time outside of our shifts exploring the city and building relationships with the people who attended the speaking rooms. Since Vietnam is a communist closed country we were not able to openly minister to people. We had to wait for them to ask us and if they did still present it as our own thoughts or opinions. The ministry we worked with was an excellent testimony to what we lovingly call “planting seeds”. Although we did not see any dramatic change while there, our contacts had story after story of teams that had come in the past and because of certain conversations that were had, maybe six months or a year later, Vietnamese people were coming to know the Lord and the Christian community around the coffee shop was growing. I am trusting that someday soon one of those stories will include the conversations I had with my Vietnamese friends, and I pray for them often.
Month 4- Cambodia
During our month in Cambodia we were working in Takhmao City, which is near Phnom Penh the capital.We partnered with a small local church that had about 30 members all under the age of 30! Including the pastor himself… Who ever said age was a factor in life? The pastors vision for the church was to disciple and train the young people of his community to go out and share the gospel with the Cambodian people while Cambodia is still an open country for Christians. He also was working to evangelize and build relationships with 3 villages varying from 20 minutes to 2 hours away from Takhmao. We were able to come along side him and assist in teaching English to the members of the church and hosting bible studies and a VBS for the people in the villages. Having the opportunity to work with such a small unknown ministry offered a lot of encouragement in that God is working anywhere and everywhere in the world. A large well-known ministry, while a good thing, does not mean success or failure. I learned that the Lord works in small subtle ways and it’s ok if we do too. I pray that the Lord constantly reminds me that success is not measured by the amount of work that you’ve accomplished, the number of people you’ve won over, or the size of your ministry but rather by the way that you live your life, listening to God’s voice, having the faith and confidence to do what He calls you to, and growing closer each and every day to Him.
Month 5- Thailand
This month I currently have just one picture from (sorry if you’ve already seen it). My team and I are currently in Bangkok, but will be moving on to Chiang Mai and possible elsewhere later in the month. This month we were assigned Unsung Heroes or UH. What this means is that through prayer and God provision we have the freedom and resources to go anywhere in Thailand searching out new contacts for the World Race to partner with in the future. We have only been on the ground working for about a week but already God has been showing up with several promising leads and simple necessities such as places to stay. I cannot wait to see how much He does in the remaining time we have in Thailand!
This is just 5 of 11 countries we will be going to on the Race. Already the Lord has done so much in and through our team and I cannot wait to see how he continues to teach us over the next 6 months.
I humbly ask that you would consider coming along side me for the next 6 months in Africa and Europe, by helping me to continue on the Race through a small donation of just $21 in honour of my birthday this month. Already the Lord has shown his provision through what funding has already come and I know that the remaining $1,400 is certainly not too much for him.
All donations are tax deductible and can be made online by clicking the ‘support me’ button at the top of the page.
Thank you all for your prayers and consideration!
