Journey through My Eleven Months
1. The Dominican Republic– The first month of my race was spent tenting on top of the beautiful mountains in the DR. Here we got to walk three to four hours every day to bring hope to villages of people who have never heard the name of the Lord. Without bathrooms, showers, running water and eating chicken feet soup this month was a pretty big culture shock to say the least but one of my favorite months. Some times we would spend our days picking coffee beans to help out local farmers, playing with beautiful children, or teaching Sunday school in the mornings. This month the Lord showed me what a life of worship looked like. People in this area of the DR have almost nothing but those that know and love the Lord live a life of worship completely sold out to him. As you walk around the mountains you might hear some of them singing songs of praise to the Lord continuously throughout the day and praying to him. What a sweet sound it is the Lord’s ears and an example to us of living in constant worship.
2. Ecuador– I spent month two in South Quito working with a ministry called Inca Link teaching English at a school. Living with a host family this month made it completely different than any of my other months on my race. I would spend my time in the days teaching English to kindergarteners and in the evenings loving on my family. There were days when the mom and I would just start laughing because of the language barrier but somehow I knew when she smiled that her love covered all. This month held a lot of unexpected circumstances and the Lord began to teach me how to live under the umbrella of his expectations and not my own. The Lord let me know that whether I was ready or not he was bigger than my grasp and beyond what I could see. This was the month when I really started believing in the things of the Lord that I could not
3. Peru- Month three my team was in the city of Trujillo, Peru. During the day we did painting for a local church in the area that was renovating their building. This month was particularly difficult for me because I love ministries that interact with people but the Lord was teaching my heart how to be faithful and serve him in the small things. So often we expect to see the fruit of our labor but the Lord asks us to serve with the same fervor whether we are seeing the outcome or not. What a privilege it was spend my time painting the heading on the front of that church building even though I may never see the people whose lives will be changed there. Halfway through our month we visited the local garbage dump in the area. My heart was broken as I watched a generation of people scavenge through the rubbish for recyclables as a means of living. I met a beautiful mother of two that day and as I worked alongside her helping dig through the trash I began to ask her story. I prayed over her as we left that day as tears streamed down her cheeks I saw the love that her father in heaven has for her.
4. Honduras- The fourth month of my race was spent on a farm outside of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. This month we worked alongside a man named Tony who has a heart for teenage boys who have bad home life situations and are wanting to break their addictions to glue and other various painkillers. The boys spend their time on his farm learning responsibilities, trades, and that the Lord loves them. We had the wonderful opportunity to spend our time with these boys that month. Some of what we got to do with them included painting, making a garden, dying Easter eggs, campfires with smores, a baptism, and various other activities. The Lord taught me what his relentless love looked like that month and that it is his love that draws us to him. I absolutely feel so blessed to have walked out that month loving on those boys and sharing those moments with them.
5. El Salvador– I got to wake up to the beautiful faces of twenty children in month five when we were living in an orphanage in San Salvador. We spent every day with these sweet kids whether it was taking them to the park, zoo, movies, or just baking cookies we had our hands full! The Lord really taught me how to be a prayer warrior this month through intercession for my team and the children in that place. The owner of the orphanage has an incredible testimony of how he was a very successful business man in the states. When the Lord asked called him to start this home over seas he gave up what was good for something better. The Lord was alive in that place and that home and what a blessing and incredible opportunity it was to get to spend my days there with those children.
6. Thailand– Month six was one of my favorites on the race! We spent our time in Chiang Mai, Thailand working with an organization called Lighthouse Ministries. This month we had the opportunity to serve in a local coffee shop that provides a means of income for girls who are coming out of the sex trade industry. Along with the coffee shop we spent time at the local Chiang Mai University getting to know the students and sharing about the Lord with them, playing with beautiful Thai children in the slums, and going to the Night Bazzar district every night to spend time with the girls in the bars speaking truth and love into who they are. I had the privilege to become good friends with some of the girls in the bars and to spend time with them outside of their vocation in the city. Loving on these girls and sharing about their worth to them was very near to my heart. Seeing these broken things and hearing the stories from these girls the Lord put a fire in my heart for people to know who they are in him and that their worth and beauty comes from him and him alone.
7. Kenya– I was in Kitale, Kenya month seven on my race. This month we shared the Lord’s love with people wherever they were at. We might have been painting a school building and playing with kids, visiting and orphanage and heading up soccer games, walking around to local villages meeting people and helping them out, or spending time with the local street kids loving on them. One of my most memorable days on the World Race was the day that we visited an abandon babies home here in Kenya. What an honor it was to spend time with those precious children that had been left on the streets or back alleys and to love them like their father does.
8. Uganda– Three years ago I started praying for the opportunity to return to Busia, Uganda to see the kids from New Hope Orphanage again and this month the Lord answered that prayer! Month eight we got to spend time ministering to the street children every morning through tea and bread, prayer walks through the town, house visits to the local people, and of course at New Hope spending time with the kids. What an incredible opportunity and blessing it was to go back to Uganda. I had no idea when I started praying years ago when the Lord would answer my prayer but I know a God that is faithful so as I kept asking I waited in faith for the Lord’s response. This month the Lord reminded me to wait on his perfect timing for everything! During our time in Uganda my team was also able to get two of the street boys off the street and into a school system, clothed, and supported to be able to get an education. Praise the Lord for moving in these young boys hearts!
9. Tanzania– Month nine of my race I was in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. This month we worked alongside the Masai tribal people building relationships with them and encouraging them in the Lord. These people really do live a tribal way of life hunting lions, ritual dancing, war-painting, and many other things. It was such a blessing to get to work with them and share about the love of Christ. Teaching Sunday school and giving messages were a normal part of everyday living this month as well as praying over many of the sick for healing. The Lord showed us that he works in ways beyond our understanding when a man who had a broken leg began to get up and walk normally after our two teams prayed over him. I saw the vastness in the beauty of the Lord this month in the way that he has created so many tribes and nations yet his love burns for each one of them the same.
10. Vietnam– I spent month ten all over the beautiful country of Vietnam! During my time there we had so many incredible opportunities working with the underground churches, deaf and blind ministries, and people who are sold out for Jesus. The people of Vietnam who know the Lord treasure their faith and are willing to give it all even their life for the sake of the gospel. This is a closed country so talking about your faith and portraying it out right could get you imprisoned, beaten, disowned from your family, or many other things. We met countless individuals who had spent years in prison, or had been abused physically for believing in the Lord. Sitting in an underground church service with people praising and passionately crying out the Lord was one of the most moving experiences on my race. I have never seen a people so sold out for the Lord before and constantly reminded me of what an honor and treasure it is so bear the name of the Lord.
11. Cambodia– My last month on the race I spent in the rice fields on the outskirts of Phenom Penh, Cambodia. We were partnering with an incredible young man named Vuthy who has a heart for the young generation there and wants to see a people rise up to know the Lord. During the day I taught English to the youth and visited the people in the local area. It was such a blessing to take these kids on a camp retreat while we were there and pour into them. Besides Bible studies, game activities, and worship we were able to build relationships with them. Most of the youth in Cambodia who know the Lord are the only person in their family who believes and more often than not endure persecution from the family. It was an honor and blessing to spend that time with them and encourage them to keep on running the race with the Lord.
Where do I even begin to thank all of you who have blessed me so that I could be a blessing to others?
Thank you thank you so much for supporting me on this journey. Thank you for sowing into the things that the Lord is doing and praise God for all that he has done and will continue to do. Thank you for your encouraging words, prayers, and funds that you have so generously given. This would not have been possible without all of you! Let everything that I have said and all that the Lord does be a testimony of his faithfulness, who he is and his furious and great love for us. Thank you so much!
A new blog about where the Lord is taking my heart in the next season and my new website is coming soon! Blessings
