I hope you have all read Part 1 and Part 2 of this series. I have been trying to give you all a summary of this past year. It’s all a little much to think about at one time, so I have been taking a bit of time in between each blog. I am also using this time to make my super awesome scrapbooks too! Ok, so Asia was really awesome. Much more than I expected it to be. It was the continent I was least looking forward to, and ended out being my favourite.
New Delhi, India: We spent this month all together living in a house which regularly lost power, had no air conditioning when there was power, sleeping on beds that were harder than our Thermarests. This was August, the hottest month that India, the hottest country, has. We washed our clothes by hand, and with the humidity they never really dried right. This is not to complain, but to paint for you a picture of where I was as I began to deal with my inner turmoil of being held up by gunpoint. As for the ministries our squad split up to do different things. I was part of the “morning orphange crew” that went to paint the orphanage we worked with. The “afternoon orphanage crew” went to play with the kids who would then be home from school. There was a “leper colony crew” and a “burnese refugee” crew as well. We painted a large room blue, and wrote the fruits of the spirit in a border around the middle of the room. The children got to also put their handprints around the border.God taught me: About His peace, and His protection and to TRUST Him. He taught me how to give my WHOLE heart to Him. He taught me more about free will and choice, about being vulnerable, that He uses all things for good, to pray for my enemies, and how to depend on God and on the body of believers around me. I had a lot of hard times, and hard lessons this month, but Michael likes me better this way.
Fun things this month: We had the opportunity to go and visit the Taj Mahal. We also had “Christmas in India” that brought us together as a family, and gave us something to occupy our evenings. We decorated the house, had a reading of “The night before Christmas”, a door decorating contest and a gift exchange.
Phuket, Thailand: I went to Phuket with a small girls team of Gretchen, Sarah, Jenn, Rubie and I. We had a lot of fun there, and really fell in love with the ministry. We worked with SHE Ministries which is a business that is run by a British missionary couple, Mark and Sharon Biddell. They employ women to make jewellery who would otherwise have no alternative to prostitution. Being a Christian is not a requirement for the women to work there, but they are exposed to the Gospel through daily devotionals and Wednesday afternoon small group Bible Studies. I was able to teach the morning devo’s for the time we were there, and I taught the women all of the books of the New Testament. 3 became Christians while we were there. During the evenings we would go out to the bars to build relationships with other women in hopes that they would decide to work for SHE.God taught me: Who I am in Christ (finally I got around to starting to figure it out), the authority I have in Christ, how to use my giftings and how to wait on the Lord. This was what everyone else had been learning all along, but Thailand for me was a great big epiphany and all of a sudden something kind of clicked. It was a great month!
Fun things: Phuket is a beautiful island. I got to ride an elephant, go to a first class movie theater, and ride my first motorscooter. At our Thailand debrief I got to go parasailing.
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: We did many things in Vietnam. I got to work with people from 3 days old to 90 years old. A lot of our ministry was in homes/centres/hospitals for children with disabilities. We held babies, and helped feed children. Many we just sat and played with. We went to colleges to speak English with students and invite them to our evening ministry at a local Christian coffee shop. One afternoon we went to help elderly women make jewellery to sell to raise money for the home they live in.God taught me: To work for Him and not for others (Col. 3:23, 24b; 4:2, 3, 5) and that He will finish His work in me as I do His work (Phil. 1:6; Col. 4:17). I learned to learn and move on from mistakes not dwell on them, and how to love the unlovable.
Fun things: We visited the Presidential palace, the Vietnam War Museum and the Cu Chi Tunnels which is a system of tunnels built by local agricultural locals to live in during the Vietnam War.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia: Our ministry contacts were not ready for us when we arrived, due to holidays and other things, so we were only able to do about 1 week of ministry here. However, once we got going I was involved in a really awesome ministry. Each afternoon Nate, Jen, Rubie and I would go to different small group Bible studies. We went with a Pastor, who is affiliated with Bible League. We got to share with, encourage and pray for local Cambodian people, and have them do the same with us. It was a really great time, and different from other things we had been doing all year. Seeing where and how these people live is quite an eye opener as well. Although living in very poor conditions they are full of joy and faith in the Lord.God taught me: He healed me from being sick! He taught me about being chosen, about materialism, resting in Him, and again about the roles of men and women. I continued learning about waiting and TRUSTING. I learned about pride and selfishness.
Fun things: We got to visit Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, one of the wonders of the world. We also held World Race Olympics to bring our squad together as it was our last month before the end of the race. At final debrief I won the Olympics MVP award, due to some very hilarious events during the games.
During our final debrief Andrew Shearman said a TON of wonderful things to us. What I took away from it the most is that WE WIN THIS THING! To read about it click here.
Overall this year has been so wonderful and fabulous. Yeah, there were some rough spots, and tough things, but let’s face it, this was a whole year. Of course SOMETHING will go wrong. With the amount of things that went RIGHT (like getting out of Thailand 3 hours or so before the airport shut down), it’s hard to look at the bad things and think they could spoil such a wonderful amazing crazy ridiculous year. Thanks for sharing my journey with me, and keep looking for more blogs that will keep you posted on the new ministry opportunities I will be participating in next!
