Tomorrow, my squad will be heading into the mountains for the next few weeks to live in remote villages, and we’ll likely be entirely off the grid for a while. That means that this could potentially be the last update you hear from me until I’m moving into my final month in Nepal! We’re moving from a predominantly Christian, largely westernized town into a village that’s never hosted Americans before. We could easily be the first white people they’ve ever seen. My team and Team MIX’d will be living together in one village and working in schools for a couple weeks before rejoining the rest of the squad. We’re also packing in all our food, toilet paper, and the like, so this is going to be physically barebones in a way much of my race hasn’t been so far.
Before going to the hills, though, I wanted to share a bit of what I know is coming, and ask you to be praying for me these coming weeks. This past Sunday and Monday, my squad had our second Leadership Development Weekend, 2 days where we get to pour out to each other by teaching, leading one another in worship, and refilling to go into the rest of our race and finish well. During LDW, my friend Chessie was praying for me and the Lord gave her the words “Live blindly, love blindly” for me.
The Lord is calling me into deeper abandonment with the way I follow him and the way I choose to love others. He’s asking me not to make assumptions about another person or experience based on what I see, but to simply learn to experience them and discover what that person is actually like with a blind trust. He’s asking me to love others wholeheartedly, as an act of trust that He’s good and has placed me where I am for the purpose of loving fully. He’s asking me to live with a continual yes upon my lips to whatever he asks me to do, even (or especially) when I don’t understand. Jesus is calling me to trust him so deeply that I don’t need to see what’s in front of me to be able to say yes to his call. I don’t know exactly what that looks like yet, but I’m excited to share stories with you of what Jesus does these coming weeks!
Please be praying for endurance on our part and the strength in the Spirit to continue running well and finish this Race strong. Pray for God to move and bring the Gospel, and that as we’re with unreached people, God’s Grace would be shown to be great. Pray for me as I’m still dealing with the effects of burnout and spiritual warfare in a country where the Enemy has some strong footholds. And pray that God would place a continuous yes in my soul, that I’ll be willing to say yes when he calls me in the big, the small, and the illogical.
Expect some stories in a few weeks, and thanks for praying. Grace and Peace!
~Joel
