Hello Everyone,
Thank you so much for reading my update blogs month after month. I really appreciate each of you for the multitude of ways that you have supported me throughout my time on the Race.
If I was to describable this month in three words it would be seeking, waiting, and preparation. I have had to seek the Lord on all fronts this month. Seek him for ministry and what that looked like, seek him as I process the things he has revealed to me in my own life, seek him on behalf of my squad and team, and seek him for what is next after the Race. I have been expectantly waiting on His voice in all matters and have waited this month in every way one can wait. I also feel like this month the Lord has been preparing my heart for something big. I am super excited to do ministry in these last two months and I can’t help but feeling that He has something great in store for us. I also have been preparing my heart for my time on the World Race to end and for what is next. Thankfully where there was anxiety about what is come there is now excitement and anticipation.
Botswana has been a wonderful mix of characters. We have met some amazing and hilarious people who have permanently marked our hearts. While I am very ready to move on to the next place I will miss the faces that have become so familiar to us. I will miss saying hi to people in the coolness of my morning runs and our friends at the small shop near our house. It has been a good month overall.
Ministry
At first glance this month’s ministry seemed to be not at all what we were told it would be, in fact it seemed to be nonexistent. This month we learned a new meaning to making your own ministry. We were able to visit a few homes, play with some children, and befriended local shop owners. I still don’t know what was accomplished this month. To be honest I’m still talking to the Lord about some of the things that He starting laying on my heart for the community. I do know that God is moving in Werda and doing something beautiful there.
Challenges, Lesson, and Goals
This month I blogged about a few of the challenges my team and I faced in Werda and some of the things the Lord has been teaching me thought it. We faced challenges with not having the scheduled ministry that we thought we would have and having a lot more free time on our hands than we really knew what to do with. We were discouraged when our attempts to do ministry outside of what was scheduled fell through or no one showed up. Through all of this the Lord has been teaching in new ways and reminding me in others how important prayer and intercession is to any ministry and how sometimes in certain seasons your only ministry is a ministry of prayer, intercession, and seeking the Lord for what He has for a community or area. As I committed time to pray for Werda and the community we were living in slowly the Lord revealed some things to me.
Since my last blog the Lord has been opening my eyes to some of the spiritual warfare and oppression over Werda. He has also been showing me how my team and I were at under attack at certain times. One of the ways that I feel the Lord was showing me how the enemy was manifesting himself in Werda was by isolation. There were several ways that I was or felt isolated from my team, times I struggled with comparison, and feeling like I didn’t belong. Feeling these things pushed me further into isolation and further into feeling the things I was feeling. In order to combat that when I would start feeling these things I would go pray and then make myself go and be with my team. I feel like this was happening around Werda as well. This community is extremely hospitable and loving but from what I saw they really only gather on Sunday’s. There is no active community that helps it’s members grow in the Lord. There is no community that speaks truth and life into the church body. They act a individual units and not a body. Community and fellowship as a body of Christ is so a vital part of Christian living in my opinion.
My goal for this next month is to carry over the importance of praying into and for the community we will be doing ministry in. To start asking the Lord form the beginning what he has in store for this community and begin to pray those things. Trusting that even if I never see these things that the Lord is faithful to do what He says he will.
Mongolia
For month 10 we will be working YWAM (Youth With A Mission). We will be spending a few days in the city before heading out to our ministry locations for the month. My team will be partnering and living with two other teams this month. Our teams will have the opportunity to do needed work around the YWAM base, church visits, and maybe work in a local coffee shop.
Please be praying for my team, team Anchor, and team Phili 3.14 (pronouced Philipie) as we prepare our hearts for this month of ministry.
Prayer
Please be praying for E squad as we travel to Mogolia. We have gotten really good a travel days and packing up our packs in under an hour, none the less travel days are still exhausting. Please be praying that we would be able to get out Chinese visas while we are in Mongolia. We have been facing a lot of obstacles in being able to get them in South Africa and in Botswana. Please pray that this process is quick and seamless. I know the Lord has amazing things in store for us in China.
Before heading to Mongolia E squad will be spending a couple of day in Johannesburg to discuss the recent events of three of our squad mates getting sent home and one choosing to leave. Several people on the squad are still processing how they are feeling about it all and several people have some really strong feelings about how they feel about it. World Race director, Bill Swan, will be flying out to spend time with us and talk with us about everything. Please pray that this would be a productive time for everyone. A time for healing, reconciliation, peace, and moving forward. Please pray that everyone would be respectful of each other’s feeling and that this would not be a time of more finger pointing but a time of conflict resolution and moving forward as a united body no matter the outcome.
Please pray for my team as we do ministry in Mongolia. We are excited to be working with YWAM. Please pray that we would stay present in ministry as home is just around the corner.
Fundraising
As of today I am currently only $423 away from being fully funded. Thank you so, so much to all of you who have supported me financially. It is so incredible humbling that you would invest in me in the ways that you have. Your generosity doesn’t go unnoticed. I continue to pray that they Lord would bless each of your for the generosity you have showed me and how you have been such a blessing to me. You support allows me to follow what the Lord has called me to. I know it sounds cliché but this truly wouldn’t be possible with you and your obedience to the Lord. I can’t thank you enough.
What’s next: After the World Race
At this point I am happy to announce that I am considering three post Race options. I am not sure if these options are a choose one and not the other kind of thing or an all of the above things and just a matter of timing. I am not ready to give full details about either of the options right simply because I don’t have all the information yet. With that being said here are my options.
Option 1: G42 Leadership Academy in Spain (6 months)
Option 2: Pursuing a Master’s degree in Nutrition or Counseling
Option 3: Studying Yoga and pursue a teaching certification
I realize that these options are extremely varied but as I have been praying and dreaming about what is next these three things keep coming to the front of my mind. I find myself day dreaming about European adventures. I can picture myself going through the process of picking grad schools and see myself exploring and falling more in love with yoga. I don’t really have any major details yet and each option is on level playing field.
I do know that these options have come from the Lord. They will involve many sleepless nights I’m sure, more support raising, and lots of new adventures and lesson. I’m really excited to begin to pray about these options and see what the Lord has to say about them. Whatever comes next I know that it is going to be another amazing adventure and I’m really excited to see what exactly the Lord has in store.
Next month I should have a few more details about each of these options. Right now I would greatly appreciate prayer as I seek the Lord about what is next. The idea of more school and more support raising is a little daunting but I know The Lord will provide. I would love prayers for clarity in hearing the Lord’s voice, for the ability to decipher my own heart and feeling about these options, and openness as God and I dream together about the next season of my life.
