This month has been one of the most unique on the race and it’s only week 1. Normally for this month, we would be set up with a ministry in Thailand and then proceed to debrief for the last week of the month. Instead, my team was chosen for something else.
For this first week we are in Pattaya, Thailand: a beautiful beach town known primarily for its sex tourism. Partnered with YWAM (Youth With A Mission), we do bar and walking ministry, which I’ll explain in the next blog.
Tomorrow, we are packing our bags and heading back to Cambodia! Returning to a previous country is not what I was expecting but clearly God had other plans. (Yay for 3 currencies!) AIM recently (like it opened on February 1st recently) acquired a hostel in Siem Reap, Cambodia. (P.S. It has a pool!) Last month a team from X squad worked there, this month my team (Z squad) will work there for the next 2 weeks and then Y squad will send a team next month. We are there to make sure that the hostel thrives. It was formerly not run by Christians, so there’s been a lot of spiritual unsettledness around the building. The last team removed all of the Hindu and Buddhist influence; now we are working on the business aspect of it.
After we are done working at the hostel, we will pack up our bags again and head to Phuket, Thailand for debrief. We had one debrief in Rwanda, one in Nepal (where team changes occurred) and now one in Thailand. Only one more until final debrief! Debrief is a time to take a breather. Our coaches and staff for our squad fly out from America to come see us! They love on us and pour into us; it’s a pretty great time. I’ve now been on my new team for 3 months and that seems absolutely crazy to me. I love these girls fiercely and consider them sisters. I don’t think we’ll be changing teams at this debrief but who knows! This last month my team stayed intact while some were changed for “Manistry”. Manistry is where all (7) of the guys on our squad are put into a team for a month for some Godly bro-bonding time.
Well this was a summary to let you know how this month is going along! Surprisingly my structured self has been doing ok. In my next blog I’ll tell you how this week has been and what we’ve been doing.
Katie
