Whats up fam! This blog will be a bit different then my other ones. I want to give you an overview of what a month for a racer looks like. Woo hoo! To make it easier to follow I will use our month in Thailand as an example.
Warning*: There is a lot of information crammed into this blog and if you got all the way through kudos for you. I felt like people were wondering what my race looks like from month to month. I hope this helps and if you have any questions or want me to go into more details about different ministries or different countries please let me know. Be looking out for my next blog I have some news that will change my race in some ways.
So here we go…
First you got to understand the terminology:
squad mentor- our mentor who works at AIM in the states and is in constant communication with the squad leaders and team leaders. Our mentor supports and helps us in any situation as well as gives us wisdom when needed.
squad coaches/parents- They are a married couple that really act like our parents in the best way possible, they speak life into us, challenge us, and loves us. They are a part of the race to support everyone on the squad in anyways we need it.
…To set the scene we left the Philippines and flew to Bangkok, Thailand.
Then we drove 12 hours to Chiang Mai. Once there we started month 3 debrief.
What’s debrief? Well Every 3 months or so we have this debrief thing. It is where the whole squad, 50ish people, get together with our squad mentor and squad parents for 4 days. It is a time where we are able to take some time and process what has happened in the past three months and rest. On one of those days we get together as our individual team and sit down with squad leaders, squad mentors, and coaches. This time is called Team debrief, it is time to process things as a team and figure out how to make your team become more healthy. We are also able to have one on ones with squad leaders, squad mentor, and squad parents. Each day we usually have worship and a session, sometimes two, where squad mentors and squad coaches speak. Then the squad usually plans a day to do something fun together. This time we were able to go elephant riding, bamboo rafting, and swim at a waterfall.
For our squad we had or will have a debrief in Nicaragua (beginning of month 2), Thailand (beginning of month 4), Nepal (end of month 6), sometime around month 8/9, and then a final debrief after month 11. When debrief aren’t happening we either head straight to a contact for the month, or do what is called an LDW(Leadership Development Weekend). And that is two/three days of rest, worship, and session that are led by squad leaders.
Back to our debrief in Thailand, we just finished debrief and head to our ministry contact by bus. The team leader can now fill us in on what our month looks like. We are with a ministry called Outpour Movement located in Mae Sot, this city is about 15 mins from the border of Myanmar/Burma. We are with another team this month, so 13 of us our traveling together to Mae Sot, which is about 7 hours away. My mind begins to wonder, “what is mae sot going to be like?, Is are contacts going to be awesome?, where are we sleeping?, are we in a big city or in the bush?, am I going to see healings?, how is God going to show up this month?” Then I remind myself, “I might have expectations, but God, I will trust you, I will remind myself that where ever I am, whatever I am doing you have a purpose for it, you are using it to grow me.”
Arrive in Mae Sot about 8:30 pm. Contacts pick us up and drives us to where we are staying. The next day we find out more information and hear more about their heart on why they are here and what they do. They are all about community development, self sustainability, and desire to have deep relationships and to see the kingdom come in Mae Sot and Myanmar/Burma. They work a lot with the Burmese refugees that live in Mae Sot. There heart is to love them and to bring life to people that have been persecuted and oppressed by their own country and this new country that they have tried to find refuge in. They help run and support children Homes, that our run by Burmese people, as well as help support brick making villages in Myanmar/Burma. They do this by running two business a bike shop and a restaurant that they have employed burmese people to empower and disciple. There future goal is to have them to eventually run the business. This is just one aspect in the many ways they love and serve their community.
The second day is to gain understanding of what we are going to be doing this month and to get an idea of the culture and how to honor it well. This gets the ball rolling and on the third day we begin to jump in a do ministry with them..
The month flies by, days are filled with working in the bike shop, to leading teaching in discipleship classes, to doing door to door evangelism in small villages, to going to Burma to a brick making village and sit with people and share Jesus with kids (pictures below), and going to no-mans land (That place is so unique! It is a small strip of land, probably a little bigger than a football field, that is in between Thailand and Burma that neither country owns, and where criminals, untouchables, and outcast live. Once in no-mans land there are no laws, no government, and no sort of protection. picture below) where we do prayer walks around the area. Days can feel long but weeks fly by and before you know it its your last few days there. It sucks you are finally feeling like you are getting comfortable and have just formed some solid relationships and then the rug is pulled up from under you and you have to leave it all. I’m still trying to figure what God is showing me in that.
Then we travel 10 hours to Bangkok to meet up with the rest of the squad to travel to Cambodia and wait expectantly for what God is going to do next…
There you have it a look into the month of a racer. It is full of new relationships, crazy revelations from God, and growth that can be painful, yet so good. Each month is so different and all you can do is say, “here I am God, I am ready”, then let Him use you and see what he does. It one of the most emotional, physical, and spiritual roller coasters you will ever be on. And once you get on you won’t want to get off…
Welcome to the World Race.
