It’s been nearly nine months since my squad and I launched from Atlanta and took on the world. We stayed in Guatemala for three months and as a team we went to San Luis and met JJ. We created friendships throughout the small town and we were able to teach and preach and love on those we met. We had a movie night where we played the Jesus film for the many small children that attended. We were poured into by the amazing base staff, learning new things daily about our faith and the character of God. We hiked volcanoes and we traveled to big cities and saw Guatemala in its truest.
Next was Thailand, which was easily my favorite country. Month one we stayed at fountain of hope. Daily we woke up to 17 beautiful children. We woke up to Aaron and wuanita. Truly a Godly couple. They showed us generosity and love. They took us to hot springs and to caves. They cooked us the most delicious meals. Rice, chicken, noodles, soup. We were spoiled. Our ministry was manual labor. We cut down bamboo for a few days. Then we cut down trees for a few days. Then we distributed cinder blocks to the outskirts of the property. We helped build a wall. We had hard goodbyes and we were on our way. Month 4 debrief? Blake Bohning went home:( miss you B.
Myanmar (Or Burma.) such a heavy place. It reminded me a lot of Haiti at first. We took a 10 hour bus ride to get to the border and yet another to get Yangon. We were picked up by random taxis and taken to our house. Teacher Mang and Ruth, yet another Godly couple. We lived in their living room, A very small space. WE HAD AC. Our ministry started with handing out fliers. We invited people to come to English class. Krispy Kreme and relational ministry was a lot of our time. We explored. We taught English. The first class period only three people showed up. By the end of the month we had about 15.
The month went by fast. Teacher Mang and Ruth (and shellee) showed us so much love and taught me so much about generosity. More hard goodbyes.
Thailand part 2. We lived Zion hostel. Our ministry was with the free Burma rangers. We handed out fliers and promoted the 5k run for relief. We made friends, lots of friends. Bailey Brown was our host (if you’re reading this Bailey I miss you!) she showed us friendship and kindness and was truly a friend to all of us. More than a ministry host. Zack and Sarah showed us a glimpse of home. We had TONS of Thai food. I love Thai food. Pad Thai. Wow. We had many more hard goodbyes. We were off again
Africa?? Swaziland?? How did we get here? It’s been 6 months already? Ministry was a lot different. David and Jenna are our ministry hosts. Such beautiful people. They have two small kids, Manning and azariah. We went each Monday to Leo and Jill’s, a missionary couples house. We spent the night each week. Then on Tuesday’s we go to prison. We preached and prayed for the prisoners. Men of God. We went to care-points. We met Shepard’s, leading kids and teaching them about God and life. Awakening… we met O squad. Godly people, searching after the lord. It was a week of worship and of evangelism. PVT… my parents didn’t come to see me so instead I was able to grow close with a group of people from my squad. We went to mahageni and we hung out with children. We went to Durban. I have one week left… a week to be intentional and a week to make memories. In ten days I’ll have the hardest goodbyes of my life, more like cya laters but they’ll still be hard. It’s 9 months later and my life will truly never be the same.
