It’s taken me a long time to actually put words to what these last four months have been. I’ve said more times than I can count that I capped out in Guatemala, it was “my country,” the one where I fell in love with the land and its people. But the cool thing about the Father is He wasn’t finished with me in Central America, He had so much more in store for me.
Asia was hard. There’s no scooting around that truth. I cried, I was angry, and I doubted my ability to finish the Race. Below are 11 solid nuggets of gold the Lord taught me even though I was determined to learn nothing.
- Food creates community. Whether it was Vottey, Naomi, and Srey Mao cooking us dinner in Cambodia or our favorite shwarma guys in Malaysia, there’s something about sharing food that causes people to come together. It may not always look like what you want but it will always leave you feeling full of love, joy, and fellowship.
- Healing comes through laughter. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve laughed this past four months over my own blunders or the (mostly) harmless blunders of my teammates. Some honorable mentions are Gracie falling down a flight of stairs with dirty mop water, Caitlyn falling through the sketchiest wood floor, and me falling in to a door frame while playing with some kids at church. Pain is funny. It’s just fact.
- The Bible is the best place to start. At the beginning of month 5 with a new team, I wasn’t sure how we’d ever mesh to become one cohesive unit. Leadership told our squad multiple times that if you have nothing else in common, you have Jesus and that is enough. So that’s where we started. Our morning Bible studies quickly became one of my favorite parts of my day because I knew I’d leave with knowledge I’d never have gained on my own.
- Sleeping in the same room breeds unity. We didn’t get to all stay in the same room a lot but the few times we did, we were guaranteed a night full of giggles and joy. When the lights go out the truth comes to the surface and like pain, it’s always funny.
- Being different isn’t bad. In Malaysia, one of my very closest friends ended up being someone society would never have put me with. Despite religious and cultural differences, I know the Lord gave me a forever friend in Nick/Justin/Ammar. I pray each day the Lord continues to bless that friendship and that our differences disappear over time.
- Shirts may not be required but kindness is. It doesn’t matter if the person in front of you creeps you out, if they never wear a shirt, and if they always stare, the Lord calls us to love anyway and to love deeply. You never know where a person is at emotionally and sharing a cup of tea may turn their whole day around.
- Comfort is overrated. Even though I’ve been blessed to avoid them the majority of the time, squatty potties aren’t the worst thing ever invented. Neither are bucket showers. Or cold showers for that matter. There’s something glorious about an ice-cold shower after doing construction in the Philippines where humidity is a million percent all the time. SHOUT OUT TO JESU CRISTO FOR COLD WATER!
- Prayer doesn’t always mean instant answers. On the Race, we pray for healing. A lot. In Cambodia, I learned that not only does healing not come instantly, it also doesn’t manifest in the way we would always like for it to. Sometimes healing looks like going home to be with the Lord and the end of suffering and that’s worth celebrating.
- The Great Commission is not a suggestion but a command that is so needed. Before the Race I knew that making the Gospel known was important but to be honest, I didn’t realize the gravity of the situation. It only took one day at a Hindu temple for me to realize the deep hunger in the world for Jesus and I knew that I’d never be the same.
- Children’s prayers can change your life. In Cambodia, I got to live each day with 10 girls and y’all, their prayers put me to shame. The relationship each of them have with the Lord is something that encouraged and challenged me to seek more with the Father. I’ll never forget listening to them pray for strength, thank God for His good gifts, and sing His praises at the top of their lungs. It was genuine. It was deep. It was earth shattering.
- Community matters. Over the last four months, I won’t lie, there are many times I tried to do this thing on my own strength. I thought that doing my quiet time and going about my day would be enough but I was so wrong. God created us to live in community and ignoring that doesn’t make it any less true. Choosing in to doing life with people different than you can teach you more about the Father than you ever could’ve learned on your own.
Those are just a few of the many things God taught me the last four months. As we move on to Africa, I’m excited to see the opportunities the Lord gives me to implement these lessons and I pray that I am not as quick to forget as I can be.
Hard places are hard for a reason. If that’s where you are right now, I’m telling you from experience: press in. The Lord will bless it.
All the love from Asia,
Katie Mere
