We spent the last 2weeks in Almaty Kazakhstan. We continued our work with the youth teaching English club Monday through Friday in the evenings. We usually had anywhere from 6-15 kids. We would incorporate grammar, vocabulary, games, and conversations in both a large group and smaller groups. The kids were awesome and always ready to participate. It was great getting to know them and spending time with them.
We were blessed with free lodging during this time. It is always our goal to bless our hosts in creative ways which we especially wanted to do for them since they were such a blessing to us. We made dinner for the family we were staying with, cleaned their house when they went out of town, did yard work for them, and hosted a dinner game night for the youth workers. Anna our resident photographer did family portraits for the youth Pastor’s family. We also had the opportunity to give a foster mom of 10kids from the church a day off. We invited all the kids over for the whole day, played with them, fed them, hung out with them. God bless this woman who does this everyday cause the 6 of us were exhausted but in the best way! 1Peter 4:10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.
Our host above and Kailey falling asleep during English club from exhaustion below!
Lastly and most memorable we made some amazing friends!!! Yulia and Raushan are two amazing women that help out at the church and fit perfectly into our group!! They were such a blessing from driving us all around, to translating, to sharing our stories and just connecting with over our love for Jesus. I felt like God was teaching me a lot about friendship during our time here. From being a good friend unlike Job’s friends, to being carful who I surround myself with because of the impact friends have on your life and attitude, to trusting him as things change with friends both on the race and at home. Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. I feel like in a lot of the lessons that God teaches me there is always an aspect of trust. Do I trust him with my friendships, do I trust that even when I feel alone I always have a friend in Him. All I know for sure was I really needed a friend during this time and He gave me Yulia. We were able to connect on the things we had in common, she challenged me when I needed it, and we prayed with and for each other. Also we just got to have fun whether bowling, walking/running, playing cards, or just chilling. It was the hardest goodbye of the trip but I hope we find a way to remain friends for a long time. But it was a reminder that God is ALWAYS faithful and ALWAYS in control even when things get hard. I would not be sad to return to Kazakhstan one day…
But for now it’s on to Azerbaijan. How does one get to Baku, Azerbaijan from Almaty, Kazakhstan you ask???? Well you start with a 71hr bus ride across the country. It was a sleeper bus and we did make bathroom breaks and meal stops but it was still a long time to be on a bus! But our whole squad was together and we got to catch up with each other and swap ministry stories from the last 2 1/2 months. Once we arrived to Aktau it was time to figure out how to get across the Caspian Sea… and way overdue for a shower!!! One might think we are talking about a ferry but you would be mistaken. Why take a ferry when there’s a cargo ship?!?! We spent one night in Aktau and early the next morning we headed to the port to catch our ship. During the checkin process we asked how long we would be on the ship. The response… anywhere from 21hrs to 4days haha. Can you guess which one is was??? It was 4days!! In all fairness the trip only took the 21hrs but once we arrived there was no open port for us so we anchored about a mile off shore for 3days. I will say the crew was super nice and accommodating, we got 3meals a day, had a place to sleep, and even a shower so I can’t actually complain. Definitely an experience!
Group movie on the bus and me driving the ship!!!
We passed time chatting, listening to music and podcasts/sermons, reading the word, watching movies, writing blogs to be posted once internet is a thing again, even working out (which is a little nauseating at sea). My favorite moment was a night time worship session on the back of the ship. The sound of the waves, the moon, stars, and even planets visible, a cool breeze and the sound of G-squad praising Jesus. It is one thing I think our squad does exceptionally well, when our voices all join together it’s a powerful thing and I always look forward to it! Will you join us? He is always so worthy of our praise, let’s do it today! Make our praises even more powerful as you add your voice to ours.
1Chronicles 16: 23-32 Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy in his dwelling place. Ascribe to the Lord, O families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, ascribe to the Lord the glory die his name. Bring an offering and come before him, worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. Tremble before him, all the earth! The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!” Let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!
