Goodbye Asia
My World Race route started off with three months in Central America (Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica). Here is a quick recap of the middle 5 months of my Race…in Asia!
Thailand (December)
Thailand quickly became one of my favorite months on the Race. Primarily because our ministry that month was Unsung Heroes. Because of this my team, Daughters of the Vineyard, spent the month traveling the country and meeting with various ministries—potential contacts for future World Race teams. This included meeting a missionary family supported by my Seattle church home, ministering to women in prostitution and trafficking, helping with a Christmas program held in a Buddhist temple, and of course amazing food and beautiful sunsets! Read more about Thailand here.
Cambodia (January)
I brought in 2014 in Siem Reap, Cambodia with my new team, Unveiled. While teaching English, Bible, and P.E. at a Christian school, we encountered blatant spiritual warfare. This quickly brought out our gifts of prayer and spiritual discernment and required a new level of boldness and dependence on God in my leadership. Additionally, a renewed sense of urgency to share the love of God surfaced in me. I celebrated my 25th birthday and our contact took us to visit Angkor Wat! Read more about Cambodia here.
Malaysia (February)
Malaysia is beautiful. It’s green, mountain & jungle terrain was refreshing after Cambodia. We taught English and were challenged as Malaysia is a risk country for missionaries, so we couldn’t openly share our faith. Additionally, our ministry schedule left us with a lot of free time. We spent a lot of time in prayer for the nation, community, and ministry. Our faith was tested with questions about the role of prayer and if we were being used while having so much free time. God confirmed that in fact prayer is work in itself when He blew our minds with this answered prayer (read here). The team continued our Bible study on 1 & 2 Corinthians and I personally found myself sick often as God taught me a crucial lesson about rest and yes, dependence on Him. Read more about Malaysia here.
India (March)
India is another closed country. So, it’s illegal for Christian missionaries to be there. Indian Christians are persecuted often in this majority Hindu nation. This was another stretching, yet beautiful month as we worked with orphans, women and children with HIV, taught English, and encouraged the Body of Christ there. We were served Chai tea A LOT and often came face-to-face with one of many cows roaming the streets. Women and men sat separately in church and women had to cover their heads during worship and prayer. On a day off we got to visit this ancient fort that had wild monkeys roaming around. I had problems with God that month because He wasn’t doing what I wanted Him to do, and He loved me well as He quickly humbled me. I left India overwhelmed by the risks Christians take to follow Jesus and grateful to live in a nation where I can now freely worship God. Blogs about India.
Nepal (April)
We spent our 5th and final month in Asia in Kathmandu, Nepal. We had a blast with our main project–to design and remodel a school for children who live in the slums. We also spent a week working with a Pastor in the Himalayas teaching and encouraging new converts there. We had to trek to most of the house churches. During our time there we had fun jumping up and down on the line at Friendship Bridge dividing Nepal and Tibet (China). Personally, I was grateful for the beauty of Nepal and the opportunity to worship weekly at the Gethsemane International House of Prayer. This easily became some of the most intimate and refreshing time I’ve had with the Lord on the Race. I suffered major writer’s block in Nepal, so blogs are coming, but check out this one in the meantime.
Hello Africa!
I am writing you from Nsoko, Swaziland where my team is working for the month! After 5 months in Asia, this continent change came right on time. Swaziland is breath of fresh air as it’s naturally beautiful, spacious, and much quieter than our overall experience in Asia.
We are starting our final three months in Nsoko, Swaziland. Adventures in Missions (AIM) has bases here and in Manzini, which includes 35 carepoints (communities they support) around the area. Our ministry focuses on three areas: home visits (delivering food and water & prayer/encouragement), children’s Bible lessons, and manual labor. Our work days are Sunday-Friday and go from 9:30-5pm.
Please pray for Swaziland!
Swaziland isn’t expected to exist after the year 2050. Prior to leaving on the World Race, this fact blew me away as I researched the nations on my route. I was humbled to think we could be a part of the last ones to meet the people of this small nation. Swaziland is about the size of New Jersey and is the last absolute monarchy in all of Africa. The average monthly income is $150. That is for full-time work (mostly sugar canes and coal mines) and is for average family size of 13 people. AIM in partnership with Children’s Hope Chest has been present here since 2007 and since then has developed care points around the country. Each care point offers daily discipleship for kids, medical care for children and the elderly, school fees after grade 6, feeds up to 6,000 kids every week, and 3 now have self-sustaining churches.
Swaziland just made it to the top of the list for highest rate of HIV. Tuberculosis is the leading killer of those with HIV. HIV alone has wiped out a while generation with people from ages 20-45 virtually extinct. So we are surrounded by a generation of children without parents who are being raised by their aging grandparents (mostly Gogos-“grandmother”). Additionally the country is suffering from a 13 year drought.
God is fighting for this nation and in 1996 the Bible finally made its way here! This is definitely something to celebrate, but there is still a clear deficiency in Bible literacy. Most people still receive the Word through preaching and some have audio Bibles since many cannot read. Swaziland has also been heavily influenced by the Prosperity Movement which focuses a lot on works righteousness and behavior modification (i.e. abstinence to stop the spread of HIV). There are still a lot of tribal spiritual influences including human sacrifices, polygamy, and the idea of dancing around a pole to get prayers heard.
In just our first week we came face to face with the spiritual strongholds of alcoholism, apathy, sexualization, and hopelessness (e.g. our first two house visits included Gogos who are praying to die). Seem dark, heavy, hopeless? It is clear that satan has a major presence here. There are false teachers and prophets everywhere and recently a random string of fatal car accidents. The enemy does not want to lose his power here, but it’s a good thing the future of our precious brothers and sisters don’t end with his desires. God is doing an amazing thing in Swaziland. With every child we pray over and every Gogo who says God sent us-His angels to comfort them in their darkest hour-and every time we dance in praise at church, we see God’s light. In the smiling faces and deep cries of agony, I see more and more room being made for the Holy Spirit. I am personally convicted when I see the joy, humility, and overflow of gratitude among the people we’ve met. Beauty radiates from this nation, in the people and nature. But, the enemy is relentless and this nation needs prayer. The LORD has burdened my heart like never before to pray for a nation. Please, join me!
