Asia has been a continent that I’ve wanted to experience for quite some time now.
As a little girl, one of the missionaries who spoke at my church–one of the many people whom God used to set me on this missionary pathway–was a missionary to China.
One of my classmates from high school–a consistent field trip day buddy for our anatomy classes–was Filipino.
I lived with a Filipino and a South Korean for two years in college. As members of our school’s Asian club, if a meeting place could not be found on campus, they offered our apartment for the club’s meeting space. The club also would also come over for dinner, just to hang out, and to study. It did not take long before the Asian club were our friends. As a result, myself and my fellow Caucasian roommate were declared to be honorary members of the Asian club.
My first route would have taken us to five Asian countries.
My cousin and his family live and work in Southeast Asia.
I have had many dreams about different parts of Asia. My heart has had high hopes and big dreams for years for what Asia has for me and for what God will do in my heart and life because of being in Asia.
Asia also boasts adorable panda bears and elephants, amazing technology, beautiful vacation views, and delicious food. It is not hard to figure out why so many people love Asia, including me.
Upon arriving in Cambodia, our first of three Asian countries, my heart was filled with deep joy. Excitement and anticipation for what was about to unfold made the sights seem to sparkle (even brighter) in my heart. We are spending a month in an actual kingdom. We rode in tuk-tuks and were amazed at the sensory overload surrounding us that is commonly known as culture shock outside of the Race. Our ministry for the month would be teaching English in a school about an hour outside of Phnom Penh (via tuk-tuk).
We were able to spend part of our first full day in Cambodia visiting Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is a tourist attraction and a World Heritage site. Cambodians have such pride in Angkor Wat that it is part of their national flag. Ankor Wat is a well-photographed location (and I am included among those who photographed it), but I cannot help but wonder how many people see Angkor Wat through their cameras for what it truly is–a city of temples devoted to false worship. Idols and temples are what defines Angkor Wat.
Sorrow-filled reality check number one for my heart.
My team also had the opportunity to visit the Killing Fields last weekend.The Killing Fields are exactly what they sound like–fields used for killing. In the 1970s and 80s, a man named Pol Pot came to power in Cambodia. Under what was known as the Khmer Rouge, a genocide of millions occurred. People who were seen as a threat to his new society were imprisoned and brutally killed. “Killing Fields” were located all over Cambodia and were locations of mass murders and executions. During this time, most of the world had no knowledge of what was happening in Cambodia. As my team walked through the most well-known “killing field” and listened to our audio tour, words could not even be spoken to explain the heaviness, sorrow, and sadness that were surrounding us (think Holocaust museum in Washington, D.C. or visiting a Holocaust concentration camp). There is no way that any Cambodian who was alive during this period of atrocity walked away without deep emotional wounds on their hearts.
Sorrow-filled reality check number two for my heart.
My team spends our weekends in the city of Phnom Penh at a hostel. We are close to the riverfront, which means close to a lot of restaurants, shops, and things to do. We are also within walking distance of streets with bars after bars. We have to pass many of these bars to get to the riverfront area. It did not take any of us long to figure out that these bars are not just bars where drinking and drugs are the main attraction. Prostitution (and as a logical assumption, sex trafficking) is not hidden. We have made eye contact with these girls as we walk down the street or as we see them in conversation at a restaurant. A few seconds of seeing them are enough to see the pain that they carry in their hearts and the captivity they are trapped in. A few seconds are enough for our hearts to break for them.
Sorrow-filled reality check number three for my heart.
During our launch a few months ago, a group of the original S squad gathered together on our last night to say our goodbyes and to take group photos. S squad members were dispersed onto different squads–R, U, and T, with a couple of others waiting until the fall to launch. In a moment that could not have been planned better if we had tried, Bill Swan (World Race director) turned the corner and walked by. We cheered and asked him to join our photo. At first, it was clear that he thought it was just another photo of World Racers getting ready to leave the country. Once he was in the photo, Kelsey Sutton asked him, “Bill, do you know what this is?” Bill looked around, unsure. Kelsey continued, “This is S squad.” Bill burst out laughing and shook his head as he smiled for the photos. Even though all of S squad found new families in our new squads, we knew that we would forever be united.
I’m convinced again and again that the Lord has a sense of humor. This month alone, November 2015, almost all of the S squad members are in Asia, as well as my friend Olivia from back home who is a member of Q squad. In other words, almost everyone I know who is on the field as part of the World Race is in Asia right now.
Q squad is in Vietnam.
R squad is in Cambodia.
T squad is in Malaysia.
U squad is in Nepal.
V squad is in Japan.
Even though we are all in different countries and on different squads, it’s clear that the Lord has us all in an “Asian invasion.” When S squad was dispersed, none of us thought that we would be together, in the same region of the world, at the same time. This “Asian invasion” is an invasion of hope, an invasion of light into darkness, an invasion of love, an invasion of the Kingdom of God. When the members of S squad had to make introduction videos before training camp, we came up with the hashtag #dontmesswithS to intimidate the other squads. We all envisioned ourselves as one powerhouse squad, taking the world by storm for the glory of God. None of us could have seen how one simple hashtag would be used to bring the Kingdom of God. This month, S squad-ers are literally trekking the Himalayas, working in orphanages, teaching English, sharing the love of Christ with Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims–and many other things for the glory of God and for the furthering of His Kingdom! I do not believe in coincidences–I know that we are all placed in this part of the world at this time for a purpose that is beyond our understanding. At training camp, one of the former members of S squad, Christina, said that God had given her an understanding of why S squad was dispersed. She said that as a squad, we had such an anointing from the Lord that we had to be separated so that the other squads could benefit; so that more people and nations could be reached for the Kingdom of God. For one month, we get to do this “together.” What a gift from the Lord.
I am only two weeks into my three months of Asia, but I already know and see the grand ways God is moving and is preparing to move–in those immediately around me, in Asia as a whole, and in my heart. It may be hard to see when the kids in class decide that climbing on their desks and screaming is more important than learning their letters and numbers, when I see people devoting their worship to idols and temples, when my eyes see the weighty emotional scars of a national genocide, when my eyes see the pain of a woman forced to be with yet another man for the night, but the knowledge is still there. I have waited and prayed for my heart to experience Asia. I am rejoicing that those prayers have finally been answered. The delightful joy and the sorrow-filled heaviness of Asia have finally become real to me. My heart has experienced an Asian invasion, and I would not have it any other way.
