Before I tell you much about what is going on during my trip I want to first apologize to all of you that care for me and follow my blog back home. I have not written a blog in a long time which is partially due to the fact that internet is very spotty here in Africa and also partially due to the fact that when I do have internet I do not make much of an effort to update you. So I want to apologize for that and hopefully when I go to India this upcoming month I will be more diligent about updating you on my ministry.
I just want to update everyone on what has been going on the past month and a half. After spending a month in Cape Town, South Africa the whole squad that I am apart of spent the entire month in Nelspruit, South Africa. It was actually very unexpected because we were supposed to be in Swaziland but we got stuck in South Africa due to logistical issues. While there we did a lot of manual labor and it was a good time to bond with my new team.
After waiting the whole month, we were finally allowed to go to Swaziland at the beginning of December, and so three teams from our squad have all been living together in a three bedroom house which has been a challenge. While there we were able to do hospital ministry (visiting patients and praying for them) and children’s ministry.
Currently, we are now back in South Africa because the ministries we were with in Swaziland shut down for Christmas. Thus, we are now in Pretoria, South Africa for the next week or so until we fly to India.
Though I want to update all of you on my life there is actually something much more important that I want to write to you about. It is about one of my squad mates that has become so incredibly dear to me.
Karah Park is one of my squad mates that used to be one of my teammates. We were on the same team for the first four months together and God really has given us such an incredible friendship that has only come through prayer.
Karah is a beautiful and incredible person that I am so blessed to be friends with. She constantly challenges me to live out my faith because she is so desperate for God and she loves the people around her so much. While on the race there is always ministry time and then we have off time so that we can rest. Well Karah is so in love with people that she constantly looks for ways to love others at all times of the day.
I have seen Karah clean houses for others at six in the morning, spend hours loving on and sharing Jesus with prostitutes, cling to children with incredible compassion, and many more things that I could go on-and-on about.
If there were one person on this squad that I had to say loves and cares for me it would be Karah. Not only that but I have such a love for her because she is so genuine, honest, and, above all, loving.
I am telling you all this because Karah is very much a sister to me and right now she is in danger of being sent home from the race early. Karah has really been struggling with her financial support and if she cannot find any more support she will be sent home likely at the end of this month.
I cannot stress enough to you the fact of just how devastating that would be for her, but also how devastating it would be to our squad. There would be so many people that would miss out on the love and compassion that God has placed in her. If she went home it would be difficult on all of us but especially me. I love Karah so much and she is a beautiful and sincere woman of God of that I would vouch my life on.
So what I am asking of you is not that you would give more financial support to her, rather, for all those of you that are currently supporting me to now shift your monthly support to her for the next 5 months. I am fully funded and am no longer in any need of support; therefore, those of you who are supporting me monthly if you could by the grace of God support Karah now it would be an incredible blessing not only to Karah but also to me.
I am not giving this recommendation idly. I would not ask this from you unless the person I was asking on behalf was extremely special of a person. I am telling you all that this girl is more than special and God is going to use her in incredibly big ways in this life and on the rest of this trip.
So please, each of you, pray about giving to Karah. If not for her then please do this for me. You can go to Karahpark.theworldrace.org in order to see her blog and support her.
I am begging you please, please, please support this girl. If you don’t and she goes home (which could very well happen) then the people she would encounter on this trip will really be missing out on someone incredibly special.
Thank you so much to each of you for all of your support to me and I will be praying through each of your decisions.
