I never thought I, a 23 year old hairstylist from Colorado, would ever be able to say, “I have slept on the streets of a foreign country”, but here we are.
April was our first month of ATL ministry. ATL or “Ask The Lord” month is when a world race team comes into a country with no ministry hosts or contacts and “asks the lord” where and who to minister to. ATL is complete reliance on the Holy Spirit to provide.
My team and I were assigned to ATL in Malaysia on our 4th month of the race. Our wild spirits wanted to adventure to the border of Singapore! However, Singapore was almost as expensive as America and given our $5 a day lodging budget, we could not afford a place to stay.
We debated on whether or not to go to the unscheduled county, but in the end we decided we would cover our trip in prayer, show up, and ask God to provide a place for us to stay.
Another obstacle my team and I were facing was who to minister to. My team and I often found our ministry opportunities were with men and that was great, but often they would get the wrong idea that one of the 6 of us girls wanted to date them. As my team and I embarked on our blind, lodge-less journey to Singapore we prayed for a woman of peace.
We left our hostel on a Thursday night and took a night bus. The plan was to sleep on the bus and save that $5 lodging money to help cover the next night.
But our bus ride was not what we expected. Our driver drove super fast and crazy preventing us from sleeping. When we got to the border of Singapore our driver started yelling and rushing everyone to get through customs as fast as they could. He didn’t even let me put my shoes on!
My teammate Molly and I were the last ones to get on the bus. As we walked out of customs our driver took off without us!! We ran (me barefoot) to the bus waving after it and luckily he stopped and let us get on.
We arrived in Singapore earlier than expected. We were scheduled to arrive at 7am, but we got there around 3:45am. We hadn’t slept due to our crazy route and we were exhausted.
We walked around to many different hostels, but everything was too expensive especially since we would only be staying there a few hours.
We found an exceptionally clean Starbucks sidewalk and decided to sleep there for a few hours.
At 7am security kicked us out of our resting place and we carried our packs downtown to try to find a place to eat.
Nothing was open.
Hungry, exhausted, and all with headaches, we trudged on to the church we wanted to attend for Good Friday.
The Church was called Kingdom City and it was in a huge mall. We found a nice bathroom where we washed our armpits, changed our clothes, one girl threw up, and we headed to church.
We stuck out like a sore thumb. We were a group of 6 white girls with huge backpacks. Everyone in this mega church noticed us.
All of us fell asleep during service. One of our girls was even puking the due to fatigue inducing migraine. We needed to sleep so badly, but we were even getting kicked off the streets!
At the end of service a girl our age named Rosanne came up to us said, “the Holy Spirit told me to come and talk to you”. We were really tired and kind of trying to head out and find somewhere to sleep, but we started up a conversation.
She asked us about our trip and what we were doing and our weekend in Singapore. We then asked her if she knew of any good places to stay.
Rosanne made a quick phone call and said “you can come stay at my house!”
Rosanne invited us in, let us nap and shower, and then took us out to dinner to try Singapore foods.
We quickly discovered her amazing sense of humor and love for Jesus.
We stayed with her that night and then had $15 in the budget for a place to stay which meant we could afford a hostel!
She also took us to some of the best places to eat and see in Singapore including their famous botanical gardens and the Singapore McSpicy (it’s better there).
The most memorable part of this trip though was going to Rosanne’s small group. We got to fellowship with English speaking Christians our age and try hot pot!
As I reflect on my race my Singapore adventure is one of my favorite testimonies to tell.
My team and I never “felt called” to Singapore or anything super deep and spiritual, we just wanted to go see and experience something and God showed up in huge ways!
Journeying with God isn’t confined to huge burning callings and passions.
One morning I had to make breakfast. I had to make 50 pieces of French toast with 6 eggs. I wasn’t like “GOD! MULTIPLY THESE EGGS WITH YOUR HOLY SPIRIT IN JESUS’ NAME!!!!!” I literally was like “Well Lord, I know you can do it,” and he did. I had just enough.
Whether you’re embarking on a huge calling you’ve had for years, going on a weekend adventure, or cooking breakfast, call upon the Lord, cover yourself in prayer, and he will show up in huge ways.
attached is a funny video of us during our struggle.
