And Now I See the Finish Line, oh I’m Gonna finish Mine…

To my supporters, family, and friends, 

 

Even if you haven’t read any of my blogs, this one is worth reading! 🙂 10 days until this chapter in my life comes to a close. What I have learned over the course of this year has amounted to more than I can write. Although I do want to share with you a glimpse of every country and what God taught me in each one! And even what God has called me to next!

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 In month 1—Albania, everything was new. A new culture, new community, new language…a whole new way of doing life. In Albania God taught me that when you step out in obedience and faith,  it does not mean that things will be easy. The mindset I mistakingly had was, “Okay, God! I’m here, I’m on the World Race like You wanted…now please make everything awesome and great.” Didn’t happen. While I do look back on Albania with fondness, the adjustment to World Race life made it very challenging. 

   

 

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In month 2—Romania, everything was hard. In Eastern Europe, Christianity has two hands around it’s neck, choking out the the joy of Jesus and life beyond being a nominal Christian. God is working through missionaries to loose this chokehold. The missionary family that my team worked with is one of them. In ten years of being a missionary in four villages where Daniel pastors four churches, he has seen a small growth. It was a great reminder that God goes after even the one lost sheep. It also helped me to press through, as I was not enjoying the Race very much. I was struggling to see why God would bring me to the World Race if I was not going to enjoy it. God showed me through Daniel and his family showed me that there is joy in serving and blessing in perseverance. 

 

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 Month 3, Bulgaria. Wow. Construction and cold weather. God was so faithful to me, because I wanted to go home. If you read my blogs that month you probably know that. I just couldn’t find much joy in anything, although I did enjoy teaching English! I kept asking God why I was on the Race. God taught me just that…why I was on this journey. He showed me though my funding that month. I was fully funded by the end of the month, which was God writing in big, bold letters, I WANT YOU HERE. I’m on the Race because it’s where God wants me. 

 

  

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 Month 4, Malaysia. A new continent and an answer to my prayers. The month I began to thrive over merely survive. Our team partnered with YWAM and helped to provide disaster relief to hundreds of families that were affected by floods that happened just a few days before our arrival. This is the month God taught me that no thing or person has authority over my thoughts and mind. That He has healed me. A stranger prayed these things over me. A man who had met me twenty minutes prior to praying over me words that were so true to my life about things I did not tell him. In fact, all he knew was that I was a missionary. So did I witness a healing on the Race? Yes. It was me. As a person who has battled depression in the past, I can confidently say that I’ll never experience it again. I was healed that very day. 

 

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Month 5. Christmas in Thailand. This month was a very routined month. My team was in the capital, Bangkok. We taught English every day in a school. I was teaching high school students, so I loved it! I was blessed to be able to share the story of Christmas from a historical perspective to students who believed it to be a fable. God taught me a lot about His grace in Thailand. God showed me that He knows exactly what I need and when I need it. So instead of praying for what I perceive that I need, I just began to pray for more grace. Grace is when God gives us what we do not deserve…which is everything good. So, in praying for more grace, I’m asking God for what HE perceives is good for me. 

 

  

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Month 6-Myanmar. The most confusing mix of poverty and wealth I have ever seen. A nation with poverty and genocide, with recently accessibility to 21st century technology because it’s a very young democracy. This month was exhausting, but our hosts were awesome! My NEW team and I were teaching English in the capital city. We were constantly doing something and did not have a lot of personal space or free time. As an introvert, never being truly alone the majority of the month was very draining. God designed me in such a way that I need at least some alone time in order to function my best. Not having that in Myanmar was a challenge and it stretched me. In that, God taught me that my strength comes from Him, and that there will be times in life when I have to try really hard to make time to be alone with Him. 

 

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Month 7. The MOTHERLAND. Africa. Malealea, Lesotho. A VERY small village in the middle of the mountains. Our host scheduled a morning walk/run just after sunrise every ministry day. We had electricity for 3 hours a day. We took bucket showers. We walked 40 minutes each way down a dirt road to evangelize in the villages for ministry. The mountains we hiked had to most breathtaking views I have ever seen. Our team saw several come to faith in Jesus. It was truly awesome. Our host’s sons were 14 and 16, and they were two of the coolest teens I’ve ever met.  This month I began to think and pray about my future after the Race. I asked God if He was calling me to another country, back home, or somewhere new in the U.S. God taught me to trust Him with my future, and He also revealed to me that He wanted me back in Virginia! It’s hard to believe now that I was nervous about going to Africa, because I wanted so badly to love it. I was afraid that I would be disappointed with my ancestor’s homeland. BUT, God is awesome, and I LOVED it! Lesotho was one of my absolute favorite months!

 

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Month 8. South Africa was so amazing! My team and I were camp counselors. And if you don’t know, I worked at a camp for six summers throughout high school and college. It was amazing to be able to pour into youth through playing games, sharing meals, and having late night talks in the cabin(which was a hut, #AfricaCamping). This month I also prayed even more about my future after the Race. About what it really looked like. Since we were in civilization, I gathered my resume and applied for a few jobs. I really had to fight uncertainty about my future this month. I questioned whether I had heard God right in Lesotho. Does God really want me in Virginia? Does He really still want me to teach? I was reading the Old Testament that month, and God taught me what has turned into my overarching theme for the Race. God taught me that He delights in our obedience to Him more than what we sacrifice to Him. Even though obedience to God often requires us giving up things we want, that’s not where God focuses, nor is it the reason He blesses us. He blesses our obedience. 

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Month 9. Zimbabwe. The country with the 10 hour boarder-crossing. At the boarder, amidst the chaos, I decided that I was going to hate Zimbabwe.  I am grateful that I was wrong. Zimbabwe just gained it’s freedom from Britain in the 1980’s amidst a violent race war…so recent that it was pretty shocking.The result though, is a pretty westernized city with virtually no economy. They use the U.S. dollar and Zimbabwe bonds because their dollar is worth virtually nothing. God blessed me to be able to work with youth once again, through Youth for Christ. They used dance as an outreach ministry, so my team and I were able to watch talented teens dance all month, ending with a dance competition. We also went to orphanages and put on  VBS programs. We also evangelized throughout the city. We met some great people who truly became our friends. I was frustrated with my future here. I wanted to apply for jobs, but was limited in my access to the internet in a way that frustrated me. God taught me that it is not by my power that an opportunity will come, but by His. The very last day of ministry is when the first interview was requested, but I was traveling to Haiti for the five days, and didn’t know if I would even have internet.   But I just had to trust in what I had learned. 

  

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Month 10. Haiti. The long haul. Haiti is a beautiful country. It is also a very broken country. If you read my last blog, you saw that our ministry was working with kids and the elderly. We did a lot of evangelism as well. This month was a challenge. Haiti is known as the poorest country in the world, and as soon as you leave the airport that is very evident. While I had already experienced many levels of culture shock, Haiti is still the poorest country I have seen. That is not why it was hard though. We lived in a small compound and did not really leave unless it was for ministry. Our host was very gracious in creating adventure days for us, which were great. To be honest though, I am exhausted. I was ready to go. God, in his faithfulness had something else in mind for this month. He taught me what it really means to fast and pray. I had applied for teaching jobs the past few months, and truly believed that was what He had called me to. So I fasted and prayed for my future and what God had for me. I had never fasted more than a day, but God confirmed through Scripture that He wanted me to fast for three days! I honestly didn’t think I could do it, but I really felt that the Lord would show me something great if I was obedient. By God’s grace, the missionary house down the road had internet access, and I was able to set up a phone interview for a job with a connection that was a bit shaky. I had multiple phone and Skype interviews in Haiti, which blew me away. While our ministry was giving hope to those in Haiti, God was giving me hope for the future I believed He called me to. 

     

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Month 11. WHAT?! I can hardly believe I am in my last two weeks! Month eleven has been all about God’s faithfulness. God has brought me here, and it’s by His grace alone. This month, we have been given the freedom to pray and go wherever God leads us in ministry, and debriefing the past ten months before heading home. So our squad is all together and the month has looked like a lot of reflecting, helping with local kids clubs, street evangelism, performing dramas for a local youth group, and ministering to the people who work at the Aparthotel we are staying at. The hotel manager even accepted Christ over a dinner that my squad hosted! God id doing great things!

 

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Life is moving forward. This global journey God has taken me on is coming to an end. Excitement, nervousness, and gratitude are the three feelings that are following me around right now. For eleven months, God has been teaching me that He always has a plan. Yet, seizing in fear is still a temptation whenever God calls into something new. God has called me to a new place and to a new mission field. I am really in awe of how God has used my passion for youth on the Race. He has blessed me to be able to work with them in some capacity almost every month of the Race. Praise God! I will be moving to Alexandria, Virginia to teach at the end of July. It is a place I never expected to live, so I know in my heart that this is more than a job, it is my next mission field. 

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! 

Love in Christ,

Talya