It’s March 20th. I’ve been 26 for a whopping 18 days. We are almost done with month 7. My parents arrive in the Philippines 35 days from now. And time is flying by. Cue the ‘world race time warp’.
It’s currently a different kind of March Madness (but still – UK for the win!)
A quick summary of life lately: In January we spent our time in Cambodia where English teaching bounded aplenty. During the month we trained new raised up squad leaders to join me in the endeavor of taking over the world investing in, pouring into, and challenging the squad. My coleader of 5 months, Ashley Mueller, left for the States at the beginning of February BUT not before a week of quality time with her to end our season of Jashley. February looked like Nha Trang, Vietnam spending a few weeks with team Fusion teaching more English and celebrating the TET holiday (the lunar new year – aka the year of the goat). In the transition from Vietnam to our next country, H squad painted Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia red while we submitted our visa applications to the Chinese embassy and waited with high hopes, crossed fingers, and bated breath. Suffice to say that a majority of us received invitations to visit the Motherland, for up to 10 years; our Canadians only received a year invitation.
Which brings me to the month of March (Madness). This month is unique and desperately necessary. A vast majority of our squad is spread out across Malaysia and every single one of them is a female. I’m currently residing in Bandung (pronounced bahn–doong), Indonesia with the men on our squad (all 4 of them) with what we affectionately call Manistry. It’s one month out of the year where men are separate from the squad doing our own thing (it’s roughly an 7:1 ratio). The World Race has never really invested in Indonesia but thanks to one of our guys who grew up as an MK here, we have the opportunity to pioneer the world’s densest population of Muslims (Indonesian is the 4th most populated country in the world with the predominate religion being Islam).
This month, we’re pioneers. Trailblazers. Forerunners. Groundbreakers. Something like that.
Much of our ministry this month is meeting with people already doing Kingdom work in this country, hearing their stories, and looking to maybe partner with them in the future. At the beginning of March, we flew into Bali (can you say… unbalivable?) where we met with local Indonesians, YWAM, participated in prison ministry, and visited an orphanage.
We had the privilege to visit an orphanage located on the east coast of Bali, in a region called Karangasem. A fierce woman named Tina, who did a DTS with YWAM Bali and felt the call to the orphanage, runs it. They have about 20 children of all different ages, from 11 months to 16 years. In a place where Christianity is a minority religion, these kids have the privilege and blessing to grow up in their childhood hearing the good news of unconditional love.
We call people like Tina Unsung Heroes, people who are laboring for the Kingdom and their stories are relatively unknown. From the crowded, loud streets of Kuta, we found a place of peace, not because of proximity or geography away from the noise but because a few passionate people constantly invite the Prince of Peace into their lives.
