I have now been gone 123 days from home, that’s 4 months! In honor of these life-changing days, here is a memory from every day:
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Leaving. Saying goodbyes. Hardest thing to do after not sleeping all night, going into the unknown, weaving in and out of the line and saying “Goodbye” multiple times while doing the “Princess Wave” to my family.
It’s World Race time! - Reunited with Sam and all the other Squad, Team and Financial Leaders after driving through Pennsylvania and Maryland from Chicago all night with Jeremy and Toni!
- God is going to change my mind again and again while on the Race.
- Watched fireworks on Independence Day in Washington, D.C.!
- Perturb: we are all going to perturb some folk and establish the Kingdom as we all come together.
- Flying to India! First stop: Doha, Qatar then Kolkata, India, then Hyderabad, India!
- Still flying to India.
- Made it to India at 3am. First thoughts of India: 84 degrees at 3am?!, muggy, humid, lots of people, loud birds, wild dogs, people everywhere.
- 7-hour bus ride from Hyderabad to Ongole, India.
- Shower! Explore! Adventure! Nose ring!
- Made it to our ministry site in Kanigiri, Andhra Pradesh, India after a bus ride and being surrounded by Indians watching us all the time!
- Praying for boldness today as we go out into the villages and preach the Gospel for ministry!
- Remember that one time in India when we chugged all of our water in order to save ourselves 5 Rupee?
- This onion is starting to smell like an orange.
- Led church today; it consisted skits of Daniel in the Lions’ Den, Joshua and the Twelve Spies, and the Parable of the Lost Sheep.
- Pooped out in a field today.
- Town meeting in the villages for ministry! Showered with blessings of hugs and flowers from the children!
- Bugs flying down my t-shirt as we sit on stage and sing to the village!
- Team lunch on a mountain in India, praying for the city as we learned that it is not us that people are looking at all the time, it is Jesus inside us that attracts people.
- Healing in India tonight! Person after person, God is so good! Their belief is alive and strong!
- Stung by a jellyfish at the Indian Ocean where the beach was covered in garbage and the water was brown, but it was beautiful.
- Danced with the kids today for church.
- I’m seeing cake as we pray for healing in a woman’s hand.
- Eating dates to help balance my intake of rice, Indian food is so good, but it is affecting my bowel system.
- Christmas songs may or may not have been sung at ministry.
- Water fight with the team and contact family in a monsoon! This was our ministry for the night.
- GRACE! GRACE! GRACE! Lots of prayers today in communication with our contact and being the financial leader of the team.
- American homemade meal: chicken (cooked with real chicken breast and meat, not the bone marrow and insides), garlic mashed potatoes, grilled squash, onions and tomatoes, rice, pineapple, and apple dumplings.
- My stomach of steel is no longer in existence. So sick from the American meal.
- Last day in Ongole, India, goodbyes to Agape. Oh, India, you have stolen my heart.
- Hyderabad, India! Hard Rock Café and a mall! It felt so wrong to be there after being in the villages of India a few hours ago!
- Kathmandu, Nepal! First thoughts: Mountains! Green! Beautiful! Architecture! Hippie! Rain! Mysterious! Adventure! Cute!
- Sharing is caring, and expected when you are in the Nepalese culture.
- Drive from Kathmandu to Haripur involved a stunt driver from Tokyo Drift, a mudslide, rain, sharp curves, cliffs, being thrown from side to side and up and down the bus, a flat tire, Brody getting his foot ran over, stopping in the one place where we were told not to stop: in the jungle, heat pockets, and monkeys. Did you know that Nepal has a jungle? I know because we’re living in it.
- Tea at 6:30am, Lunch at 9am, Snack at 2pm and Dinner at 6pm. Some of the best food I have ever eaten. Oh Nepal.
- Walking to villages through the rice fields 2 hours away to preach the Gospel! To the ends of the Earth (Acts 1:8), to the ends of Nepal we will go and share the Good News!
- Through the schoolyard, over the fence and weaving in between the giant sugar cane stalks and to the bamboo forest we will go. We cut down bamboo using machetes while avoiding massive piles of monkey poop, swatted away swarms of mosquitoes and hauled them back through the sugar cane stalks, over the fence and through the schoolyard of waving children and to the church.
- “We went out to the villages again. I was so exhausted and my eyes were so drowsy. We walked for only 3 ½ hours this time.”
- Fence building day! Came across some crazy creatures as we pulled weeds for the fence: disco-spider-scorpion, millions of ants, mosquitoes, and centipedes!
- Played a Nepali shuffle board game with Joansh while he lost on purpose so that the game would last longer.
- “Why are you here?” was a common question to be asked by the natives while we went out to preach the Gospel.
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Church day: heart of thanks here in the people’s hearts. Dhanybhad Jesu!
“Dhanybhad Jesu! Dhanybhad Jesu! Dhanybhad Jesu mira mon de aqui!” (Thank You, Jesus, Thank You, Jesus, Thank You, Jesus from my heart!) - Pet a wild monkey today.
- Saw the biggest spider in my life today while clearing out weeds for the bamboo fence.
- Why bother even putting on bug spray? I wake up with new bites everyday. I have now over 120 bug bites all over my body.
- First day for a full on shower after 16 days of not taking a real shower.
- Made momo with the family today! Made some sneaky “empty” momos, double stuffed and starship momos.
- Taught not only the students, but also some teammates, how to multiply with 2-digit numbers.
- “It’s time for dinner, time for the mosquitoes to eat!” Pastor. Oh Pastor, you are so right.
- Sam and I were grillin’ so much that we were an Oreo as we rode to town on the back of Pastor’s motorcycle for internet.
- Tears today as we left our family in Haripur (did not see that happening when we first came down for ministry in the jungle).
- Helped team Doulos with ministry at Asha Nepal; tutored some girls by playing Bananagrams.
- Went for a run up and down the foothills of Kathmandu.
- Arrived to Annapurna Guest House in Thamel for the rest of our time in Nepal. City life, here we come!
- Spent most of the day alone and sleeping. I needed some alone time so that I could better love my team.
- Ministry out on the streets included talking to local shop owners and building relationships with them, visiting a boy on the street and having him throw corn at us, and saw a monkey on the power lines in the city.
- English speaking church! My heart rejoiced as we walked up the street and heard them singing “Hosanna” in English.
- Visited our squad leader, Joel, in the hospital and watched Animal Planet with him and our other squad leader, Melina.
- Went to the Monkey Temple and prayed for the people in the city. The reason there are so many wild monkeys there is because a monk ended up with lice in his hair and he shaved it when he was not supposed to. The monkeys represent the lice that he had.
- In order to fit, I laid down across Josi, Garret, and Brody’s lap as we rode in the back of a taxi to visit the hospital and Asha Nepal.
- Prayer walked and visited local shop owners as we walked the streets of Thamel for ministry today.
- Flight to Thailand today!: Kathmandu, Nepal to New Delhi, India (back to India?!) with one of the best layovers I have ever experienced in the world’s 2nd best airport (Haagan Dazs ice cream with Sam, laid down in reclined seats and relaxed before we had to board the plane again) to Bangkok, Thailand!
- Debrief with our coaches, Chuck and Selena Day, and squad leaders, Joel and Melina. It was a time of honesty, but not a lot was discussed in the short amount of time with the leaders. Can we have a second meeting, please?
- Got my tattoo! VOICE
- Went around licking teammates’ elbows with Phillip Benavides as we toured the city of Bangkok during debrief.
- Played in IKEA with Josi as we walked around the Mega Bangna Mall in Bangkok during our free time during debrief.
- Our squad found our voice.
- Team change: Michael Clevenger is now officially on team Rooted Freedom (Brody went to another team).
- Cleaned out the slums in Bangkok. Sam and I pulled up 16 shoes, not all were pairs.
- Stayed back from a day out with the team. Pain in my chest.
- Went to the hospital and was diagnosed with having an ulcer in my esophagus. I guess I ate too many octopuses.
- Left for ministry in Nakhon Si Thammarat at 6pm. 12-hour bus ride until we reach our site!
- So blessed this month of ministry! American born Pastor, living in a church with air-conditioning, mattress pads to sleep on, fans, showers, Western toilets that flush toilet paper, a kitchen, a safe location, shopping center and food court within 5 minutes of walking. We toured one of the oldest temples in Thailand with our contact after resting for a few hours.
- First day of ministry in Nakhon Si Thammarat! Went to an elementary school and did skits on David and Goliath, and Jesus Calms the Storm; sung a lot of action songs, and colored with chalk with the kindergartners.
- Painted bathrooms purple while Sam painted 1 Corinthians 13:13 on the wall of the school we went to the day before (this is not a Christian school).
- Stopped taking my medicine for the ulcer in my esophagus and started relying on my Healer to heal me.
- Played Musical Chairs for Children’s Church.
- God totally took control of church with the college girls; peace and love throughout the whole time we spent praising and talking to our Father.
- Taught English to 3 high school classes and did the “Human Pretzel” for an icebreaker.
- Tricked university students into coming to our ministry by passing out flyers that said “Fun Night: Games, Snacks and Come practice your English with foreigners.”
- Happy Birthday Mama!
- Went to the same school where Sam painted the mural with 1 Corinthians 13:13 on it, and our team taught a Bible class to the students. Let me remind you, this is not a Christian school. God is opening up doors!!
- Ate corn on a pizza today and did Children’s Church out at the fishing village.
- I had an alone day while the team went to the beach for our team’s day off from ministry. I ended up cleaning, singing, dancing, journaling, watched a movie, cooked banana pancakes, exercised, listened to music and had a wonderful day with just myself and God.
- We went down to the river to pray, church at a national park with our contact and his family.
- Ate bugs off the street.
- Ministry at the university, tricked a lot of students to come again with our flyers. A lot of Muslim students came and heard the Gospel tonight.
- Team dinner at a buffet with our contact and his family! All you can eat sushi!
- Beach day with our contact and family! I spent the day exploring and looking for crabs.
- In Phuket (for our mini debrief with the rest of the squad), Josi and I got our feet eaten by fish. So hilarious because Josi could not hold still because they tickled her feet so bad, and she kicked a fish out of the tank!
- “Make a Memory Day” with our new teams. I am now on Team Ascend the Hill with Chip Carnes, Ga’Nene Edwards, Alison Gray, Amanda Kerr and Tyler Vessels. We rented mopeds, went to a scenic viewpoint, held a monkey named Muay, helped bandage Chip up after his accident, ate delicious Thai food, lost 2 of our teammates, rode to Big Buddha, prayed for the people and the city of Phuket, stopped and took photos at a beach, and watched the sunset on Karon Beach.
- Stuck at the Thailand-Malaysia border for 5 hours because we overstayed our visas by one day.
- Spent the day exploring George Town, Penang Island with the team. We found the ocean, ate Malay food and napped.
- Explored the different ministry sites for the month: Kawan, PenHOP, Just Caffe, Evangelism Nights and Adventist Hospital.
- Evangelism Night on Love Lane. Falling more in love with talking with my Father and praying for others as we come into contact with them.
- Fundraised at Adventist Hospital for the Heart Patient Fund; raised 512.20 Ringgit. Fundraising for ministry. Ha.
- Cut toenails off chicken feet for lunch at Kawan.
- Non-naan date with Lizi.
- Ultimate Frisbee after a giant rainstorm makes for playing in a giant puddle.
- Passed out clothes out of a closet to men and women at Kawan.
- Spent the day at PenHOP and resting in Your presence.
- Fundraised at Adventist Hospital and raised 833.10 Ringgit with Alison and Chip.
- For ministry at the hospital we got to visit patients and pray for them. One patient we visited was Buddhist and did not want prayer. When we were leaving his wife came in and wanted to talk to us. She shared that she is a Christian and their story about how 3 months ago they needed to come to the hospital for his surgery, however, they could not afford it until now. She continued to share about how her husband went into surgery and the doctors told him that his condition was only at 20%. She prayed for a miracle and when he came out, he was 100% better! She shared many miracles that God did in her husband’s life that it was really encouraging. We prayed for encouragement in her life and for the community back in Indonesia to see God’s hand in all of this and for God to work and soften her husband’s heart through the healing that He did.
- Chili’s for dinner with the team! Bottomless chips and drinks? We got a little picture of what we look like when we go out to eat back in America.
- Monkey Beach really has monkeys on it. The monkeys that like to take your stuff and run.
- Teaching Sunday School at Tamil Methodist Church consists of adorable little children running up to you and giving you big hugs over and over.
- Listened to Graham Cooke’s sermon, “Keys to a Breakthrough” and I recommend for everyone to listen to it.
- Visited the Muslim mosque and prayed for the people there as we walked around.
- Fighting to have a Spirit of Praise as we are in Malaysia.
- Got pooped on by a bird for the 6th time since I have been on the Race.
- Watched a 66-year-old man with a mohawk beat everyone he played chess with at Kawan.
- Was encouraged by a man’s testimony about how God delivered him from being in a cult, demons and a life without Him and how we can actively pursue God and all Authority that is living in us.
- Fireball Grandma was fired up on preaching how to share about our Best Friend.
- We got smoked out of the kitchen while the extremely hot chili sauce was being cooked. We could not see, breathe or smell anymore.
- Created raps about cheese with my family as we Googled+ for 3 hours.
- Visited 13 patients in the hospital today for Chaplain Visits.
- Started the 72-hours of prayer throughout the whole squad today. Prayed for God’s glory to fall on the squad, unity, healing, hunger, love, ministry, contacts, teams, desperation, rest, teammates, restoration, travels, protection, Malaysia, persecuted church, Cambodia, and to be moved by the Spirit.
- Walked to the mall to help Toni get a pair of pants. She ended up finding 2 pairs for RM 100! Steal of a deal!
- Started the day by watching an animal sacrifice at the Muslim Mosque. Not the way I wanted to start my day. It ended with a Squad Wide Worship Celebration and a Dance Fest-a-Palooza. That’s how I want to end my day.
- Birthday celebration for Meghan, Ultimate Frisbee with DTS YWAM, birthday celebration for Karissa and I at 11pm with home over Google+.
- Travel Day!: Leave George Town, Penang Island at 7am. We walk to the ferry station and wait for 10 minutes. We then load up on the ferry and count how many jellyfish we see as we travel for 30 minutes to Butterworth. Next we walk for 5 minutes to the bus station and sit down for an hour before we travel for 3 ½ hours. Then we walk to the ferry station for 5 minutes and sit for 30 minutes before we load up on the ferry. We then ride the ferry for 20 minutes and reach Pangkor Island. We then walk for 10 minutes and reach our hotel for the week. Best travel day yet.
- Debrief with the team in the morning. Best debrief meeting yet. I love my team and am excited to live life with them!
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Halloween Party! Costume contest between all the teams on the squad!
123 days I have been gone, 123 memories and many more to come. Thank you for all of your prayers and support that are continually helping me out on the field.
Prayers: My teammate, Ga'Nene Edwards, injured her back today on a boat ride. She is in a lot of pain and rest.
We leave for Kampong Cham, Cambodia on Saturday, November 3rd. We will be working with university students for our ministry. Prayers that hearts are going to be rocked.
I love you all!
Love, Kaitlyn
