sorry this is late (oops)……
Sometimes the race isn’t always fun adventure days and fruitful ministry (life never is). The month of December was definitely one of the harder months (at least for me). i constantly had to be conscious about my mindset and continuously press into the Lord for joy in the midst of hard things around me. However, in the midst of everything, God showed up and taught me so much (as he always does).
So, for the month of December, my team and I were in southeast asia. We lived in the living room of our hosts apartment right downtown of a huge city. We slept on our sleeping pads, (at least i got to get some use out of that bad boy) and packed up our stuff every morning to put it in our hosts bedroom. The room we slept in served as not only our room but the living room, the classroom for english classes and basically the main center for the ministry. We always had people coming in and out of the apartment to spend time with our hosts. Our ministry was helping lay the foundation for the center. We passed out flyers for English classes the first week we were there. The goal was to get students to come. We were supposed to teach classes Tuesday-Saturday but the whole time we were there, we taught a total of 3 classes. So, our days normally looked like spending time at coffee shops and having lots and lots of down time. Sundays were our busiest days. We had church (in that same classroom/living room) in the mornings. Me and Joy would lead worship and the service would conclude with an amazing meal cooked by our host’s wife. Then we would go to an English church service across town and share testimonies and take part in the service.
Even though, looking back, our situation really wasn’t that bad.. in the moment it took a lot for me to keep a positive mindset. We went from 40 other people around, to the 6 of us. From someone planning all our meals for us, to planning and budgeting ourselves. From nice bunk beds to sleeping on the floor. It was a difficult transition. The holidays were hard without my family. It was hard to watch them be all together when I was having a miserable time (i was sick on christmas). And, in the midst of that, the 6 of us experienced some hardcore spiritual warfare that none of us were prepared for or really knew how to handle. It was difficult for me to keep trusting God and who He is because what we were experiencing was unlike anything I have dealt with before.
However, in the midst of things being hard, God was there. (it’s almost like he is ALWAYS there no matter what?? what a concept). He showed up in little conversations i had with my team and the smiley barista who was fine with me and my team sitting in the shop for 5 hours. He was there on Christmas when we got to worship Him, and teach our hosts White Elephant. God also blessed us with a beach trip our host planned for New Year’s! He taught me so much about his perfect character and love for me. He opened my eyes to the little blessings around me and how He has already won every battle we fight.
The coolest God moment that happened was in the last hour of being there (lol). About an hour before we left the apartment our host came to the living room (we were all finishing up our packing) and said he was having some students coming over and we should talk to them. The first thing that came to mind was “oh crap, really?” I was not in the mood to talk to more people and was so ready to leave. But, sure enough, 20 mins later the doorbell rang and 3 girls, around my age, came in. I was in the room at the time so my hosts said “Kate come here, they need your smile.” So we all sat down around one of the tables. As we started talking we got into the subject of religion. They told me how they were buddhist and i got to ask so many questions about what they believe. Then the question “What do you believe?” was directed at me! I felt such a peace and excitement when i got to share the gospel with them. My host was next to me translating and filling in gaps i could have missed but it was so cool getting to have this conversation with these girls. They were so curious and hungry to know more. I could feel the Holy Spirit there, beginning to work in their hearts. They said they would come back to study more with our host.
It was so cool to be apart of those 3 girls walk with the Lord. To be the person God used to introduce them to the gospel and the amazing love of Jesus. That short amount of time, right before leaving the country, opened my eyes to just how much God had been working the whole time I was there. He reminded me of why i’m on this trip in the first place. Why i left everything I know to follow what Jesus has for me. And even if my purpose for coming on this trip was for that one conversation, it was worth it because that’s 3 more people that know about the greatest gift ever given. My prayer now is that they choose to receive it!
Even though the month of December was difficult, God used it as a reminder to me of his faithfulness. The whole month was just a simple reminder that in the midst of hard things God is there, he is ALWAYS there. We may not always understand His ways but we were never meant to. We only see a narrow perspective of God‘s bigger picture. It’s infinitely beyond anything we could ever understand. We were made to trust that He is who He says He is and He has everything under control.
Hebrews 11
Kate:)
P.S…. I posted pictures from my time in Southeast Asia! You can find them under the pictures tab!
