As you read in my last blog post, or you should have, I have felt a lot of brokenness from The L0rd in the last week. This has come in a variety of ways, mainly in relearning all I have ever been taught and discovering the truth from scripture. Not that what I have been taught is inaccurate or wrong but there is much more freedom in the B*ble than the way I have living my life. Among this brokenness I have found a new understanding to what intimacy is and such intimacy with my team. Living life together has proven to be the best way to get to know my team and letting it come naturally is the best way.
With this being said Sunday morning I attended ch*rch at a location that couldn’t have been more American. There was AC, comfortable chairs, English, w0rship songs I knew, coffee, and everyone was very friendly. During this time a song was sung with some very powerful words: ‘there is power in the name of Je5us: to break every chain: in the good and bad times.’ This took me to two very different times recently on the Race: one being this sweet moment at ch*rch and the other experiencing intimacy with my team in a hostel room among much brokenness in Siem Reap, Cambodia. It was such a sweet reminder that G0d is so good in the bad and good times. These two times were very different but both divine appointments with the Ho1y Spirit. The reality hit me that the next nine months will stretch me and make me more uncomfortable than I have been in my life. Through this I have found Ballin’ Brokenness and how wonderful G0d has been breaking me for H1s Kingd0m.
Heading to ch*rch Sunday am with a few other teams or half the squad.
Delicious street food complete with chicken, beef, octopus, shrimp, hotdog looking things, chicken feet, BIG shrimps(I think), and rice! I had the chicken and rice this night.
Monday was a day of adventure and full of many surprises. It began by sleeping in and I had the sweetest time with Je5us, on a balcony 50 feet above backpacker’s alley. At approximately 1pm my teammate Laura and myself set out to make our way to the other side of the city to a orphanage to seek opportunities to volunteer. Our walk there ended up being 1.5 hours with many stops that made the trip much worthwhile. Upon arrival we discovered due to the fact that is the Vietnamese Independence Day, the office was closed and we would need to return tomorrow. So, we left the premises and made our way to a café right up the street. It was a bit sketchy walking in but proved to be awesome. The walk in was like we were walking through a jungle, when inside we discovered very nice bathrooms with toilet paper and liquid soap, it also had AC, bottomless cups of Vietnamese tea with ice, food in budget, and Wi-Fi. You may or may not understand this, but we also were the only white people there. It was perfect and a great way to regenerate for our walk back. We began our voyage back, stopping at an International school, which was also closed due to the holiday. The last stop was just up the street from our alley in a park. Just walking through we noticed a group of local 20 something’s with a guitar. So we stopped and asked them to play a song for us. They performed 2 songs for us in English and before we knew it, there was a crowd around us. The crowd simply wanted to converse in English to practice their English. A young man whom I will call 'H', immediately sat down beside me and wanted to talk with me. The first question: where are you from? America, what state? NC, Charlotte? Yes!! He is very educated and knew of Charlotte due to a documentary. We shared about our lives and he is 26 years old, fluent in English, open minded, and very easy to chat with. The whole time talking with him the L0rd had laid on my heart to express H1s l0ve to him. So, finally I had affirmation and I did express to him. This was complete with my support card with info about my blog and email. He gave me his email and we are going to try and meet up Saturday at a local coffee shop.
Vietnamese Independence Day: Yes I wore the clothes of the Vietnam flag to be patriotic. I felt so amazing in this awesome outfit today.
To wrap up the day, I had 2 smoothies for dinner: one fruit and one veggie. I could not have asked for a better day or to have been more led by the H0ly Spirit. To top off all this greatness, we have decided as a team to have themed team times. Mondays is led by Katie, which is Mermaid Mondays, this particular Monday we did artwork. This artwork involved making posters of personal and team goals for the month to post on the walls of our room.
New friends in the smoothie alley.
Precious girl in the smoothie alley with a pink tutu.
On a side note, if you don’t know I am a very intentional person and it has hit me the last few days the reality of staying focused on where I am the next year. This means I will be throwing myself 100% into where I am and what I am doing. I will continue to post regular blogs, send supporters emails, Skype when I can, and reply to your emails and messages. I ask you to allow Grace and love over me the next 9 months. For each of you to send me personal updates through emails and messages. I want to know what the L0rd is doing in each of your lives and how H3 is using you to better the Kingd0m.
To end I would like to share some personal goals I have for my month in Vietnam.
- Patience
- Learning to love and expend Grace more Chr*st like.
- To have more intentional talking with G0d.
- Find my own flame/passion for my life in m1n1stry and what makes my heart happy in daily life.
Please take note of my way of writing this month, and leave comments accordingly!!
FYI: Thanks for the title to this blog, you know who you are! Know that I l0ve you both and am pray1ing for this next season.
