It’s never easy sitting here thinking how to paraphrase these last three months of my life. So many things have happened. So many hard conversations, changing of hearts, breaking of old chains, miracles, blessings… I could sit here all night and pray for the right words and the perfect blog title to come but it just doesn’t come. Before sitting down a few minutes go to write this long awaited blog, a squad mate of mine said “write what you want to remember”. So that’s what i’m going to do.
I want to remember the first country I fell in love with on the World Race.
The first country on the race that I truly allowed God to start molding my heart to mesh with His.
I want to remember a month when God started to reveal to me just how special, unique, and gifted I am in so many ways. How I have a place here on Earth in the body of Christ that noon else can fill.
I want to remember how content, willing, and diligent Sarah, Joe and their four kids are to do what God asks them to do whether its at 2 AM in the morning and in a place where they know absolutely no one.
I want to remember how I started to realize just how selfish I have been in telling God what I will allow Him to use me in and not use me in.
I want to remember walking through the store as 9 year old Marissa shared with me about how they would take their friends to the grocery store and tell them to buy whatever they wanted when their family had barely enough money for themselves. I want to remember learning sacrifice from a a young girl.
I want to remember The first country I rode a double decker bus in, and on that note, the first time I used an Asian double decker bus bathroom and got sick every ten minutes for twelve hours all the way to our destination.
The first country I ate lizard in.
The first place I finished my first painting and experienced Gods hand in it.
The first time I jumped off of the second story of a cruise ship with my contact and his kids into clear blue water with fish swimming all around.
The first time I snorkled and of course sucked salt water in through my breathing tube because it wasn’t sealed completely.
The first time I ever got picked up by an Asian Beach Games olympic competitor on a jetski and drove it.
The first time I did zumba with two beautiful and contagious Filipino girls on the beach sweating under the blazing sun.
The first time I ever walked down a street like Bangla street which is better known as a red light street with women and lady boys everywhere selling themselves for profit.
I want to remember the first time I locked eyes with one of those girls and saw the hurt within her.
The stories of the asylum seekers (people running from being prosecuted for their faith) and how they survive without their families and knowing if theyre okay and in the little work they can get.
I want to remember how alive and on fire the Burmese were at 1 AM in the morning to hear just a sentence translated about Jesus to encourage them after working all day.
I want to remember almost slipping through sewage water and ducking in a broken door through several stories of a crack house to get to where our Burmese friends had invited us to their home to share coke and cookies with them.
I want to remember jumping over waves backwards with the kids and getting stung by a lot of little jelly fish.
I want to remember having thanksgiving with three different nationalities in the room.
I want to NEVER remember the day we were supposed to teach English at the university in Phuket and instead the home ec class had prepared 8 different traditional Thai deserts for us to try as they presented in English and we had just eaten a big lunch.
I dont want to remember the texture of of these cornstarch and food coloring immitation fruits that the students made. I dont want to remember gagging after the first bite and staring at the 7 other tables in front of me that I so humbly had to try each desert at.
I want to remember the light festival and watching all of the light flickering in the night sky standing next to the crashing waves of Patong Beach.
I want to remember singing 3 part harmony karaoke with my team in the back of a pick up truck riding through the village of Ban nam kem.
I want to remember being forced to take showers when we went to stay the night n the village without a towel or soap.
I want to remember singing the same hymnn but in three different languages.
I want to remember walking the beach where the tsunami hit the coast of Thailand and walking through the memorial seeing all the destruction and feeling all the hurt of the lives lost.
I want to remember sitting in the heat in the small room of people in the village praying and waiting on the lord to speak through us and our translator.
I want to remember getting baptized in the rain and crashing waves on Thanksgiving day with my team and a beautiful family who loves the Lord and has shown me what forgiveness and freedom from God truly look like surrounding me.
I want to remember all the car rides with all 14 or more of us packed into one little van.
I want to remember the smiles on the faces of the women in the massage parlour I would pass every day as I spoke what little Thai I knew to them.
I want to remember Hasane, the banana pancake server who was so quiet but became one of our friends.
I want to remember the time half of my team almost got arrested and were harassed by Thai police and didnt have their passport but didnt.
I want to remember Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand. And I want to remember Sarah, Joe, Joey, Jacob, Tyler, and Marissa Nelson. I want to remember just how much I saw Gods hand in each and every moment of last month. It gave me so much joy to spend time with an American family out here on the field. To encourage them as much as I could in the midst of their own journey and be encouraged to continue on in our journey. God blessed us last month with four exciting, crazy, hilarious kids which filled up our love tanks and had so much fun with. The Lord showed me just how diligent and hard working and faithful the people of the Phillipines, Burma, Myanmar, and Pakistan are to God and their faith no matter what hour of the day or how much it costs them. God showed me that if we expect Him to do big things He will.
