It’s hard to believe that it’s basically the end of May. Didn’t it just start? Sometimes it seems that way, however I’m getting to the point where I really want to be home. I’m tired of living out of a pack. I’m tired of packing and unpacking all the time. I’m tired of the same clothes worn every week for 10 plus months. I’m tired of not being able to eat what I want to eat when I want to eat it. I’m tired of not being able to do what I want without having to ask for permission. I’m tired of using Skype and e-mail as my only sources of communication back home. So many things I’m tired of, so many things I’m complaining about… maybe I should say what I’m thankful for too.
I’m thankful for the weather right now… for the breeze, the sunshine, the birds singing. I’m thankful for this balcony and this view of hills and farmland. I’m thankful for rest. I’m thankful for friends who listen and keep listening to what goes on in my heart and my head. I’m thankful for this journey and that God kept providing even when I thought I didn’t want it. I’m thankful for the people I’ve met along the way. I’m thankful it hasn’t been easy, but at times it’s been really hard. I’m thankful for the lessons learned and the ones I’ll keep on learning. I’m thankful God has given me strength and endurance to the very end. I’m thankful I’m not alone, but You’re always with me. I’m thankful for a supportive family—especially my parents. I’m thankful that I’ll get to see them in a little over a month. I miss home, but I’m thankful that I miss it because I know I can go home and be welcomed by my loving family with hugs, stories, tears, joy and good food!
So we’re in Romania and have been for about a month now. This past month we have been working at a camp called Seventh Springs. The camp is nestled in hills of Lipova, Romania. We’ve been so blessed by the simplicity of life here. Cows and sheep graze in the pastures. There's one store we frequent to buy ice cream. We visit our neighbor, Sophia... she is the sweetest lady. A group of us went to go milk her cow the other day. All we wanted was to milk a cow to say that we have milked a cow. Too our surprise, Sophia offered us the fresh, frothy, warm milk from her cow. She poured us each a little cup. So we each said cheers and drank the fresh, frothy, warm milk.
Since we’ve been here we have been helping get the camp ready for summer. We have scraped paint off the windows, tile floors, door jams, and baseboards. We have swept and mopped the camp facilities many times, done countless loads of laundry. We have weeded and mowed the grass. We have taken out the tile carpets in all the rooms and scrubbed them by hand. We then proceeded to put them back in the correct room… each room like a giant puzzle. It’s been a good and tiring month.
We’ve been in Ukraine for a month now. We’ve stayed with an American missionary family, so we’ve had some comforts of home—like warm showers, toilets, cheese, a normal kitchen, home-cooked meals. When we first arrived in Ukraine it looked exactly like I thought it would. It was gray, cold, dirty. However, as the weeks have passed by it has turned into spring! The trees are budding, the grass has turned green, and people walk around in the warm sun.
While we’ve been in Ukraine we have helped out at eyeglass clinics. Our contact goes to different towns in the area and holds an eyeglass clinic at a church. They perform eye exams and give people glasses for free. Through this ministry they hand out Bibles, pray with people and share the love of Christ.
Throughout our time here we have traveled to different schools and given a presentation about all the things that we have done so far on the World Race. We share about the different cultures and the work we have done in each country. It’s been a good way to prepare for coming home and having to talk about all that we’ve done this past year.
We have also worked at different churches teaching English and getting to know the youth. It has been so much fun hanging out with them. It’s been amazing to see the youth being active in the churches here. They have been so welcoming and have a special place in my heart.
After we left our ministry site in China, we headed to Beijing to meet the rest of our squad for our 8-month debrief. At debrief we talked about coming home. We talked about what it might look like for us when we go back home to the way it was before the race. Honestly I don't think it will be that hard to come home. There will definitely be things I miss, but I'm kind of excited to be somewhere longer than a month. Plus, I have such awesome support from all of my family and friends that it will be a blessing to be able to see and talk with all of you.
However during debrief, there was one night where we worshiped in an upper room in the hostel we were staying in Beijing. As we were singing, telling stories, and laughing together I had this thought that what we were doing was really special... we were praising God and enjoying one another in Beijing! We were in China, a place where so many people are persecuted for their faith, and we were praising His name boldly. It's been over two weeks since this happened, but I was reading Psalm 67 the other day and it made me think of how we all came together in Beijing to praise Him.
Psalm 67
"God be merciful to us and bless us,
And cause His face to shine upon us, Selah
That Your way may be known on earth,
Your salvation among all the nations.
Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!
For You shall judge the people righteously,
And govern the nations on earth. Selah
Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
Then the earth shall yield her increase;
God, our own God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us, And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him."
We didn't have internet while we were in China, so it's been awhile since I've blogged... but here's a China blog! This past month we were in China working with an orphanage for disabled kids. Disabled children are hardly ever wanted in China due to the one child law, and the conditions these children live in are usually pretty bad. However, the organization we worked with has partnered with the local government’s welfare center in order to improve the children’s lives. The director of the welfare center is an atheist, but calls the people that work with Christian organization family. He loves the work that they are doing there. There have been times when others don't understand why they would want to better the lives of the disabled, but he defends the work that is being done. It was pretty amazing to see the welfare center knowingly working with a Christian organization.
China was a great month. I loved getting to work with the kids there… even if they were a little rambunctious. For the majority of the time I worked in the toddler room where they threw chairs, choked me with my scarf, bit me, snotted on me, begged to be held, played air guitar, blew kisses. It was definitely challenging because some of the kids were little bullies and you wanted to smack them. Or sometimes I just wanted to cry because the kids didn’t get all the love or attention a child would receive in a home. It was good to be there—to see the kids light up when we would walk into the room, to hear them laugh when you tickled them, to see them get so excited over going outside, singing a song, or having snack time. We all grew to love these kids. They taught us to laugh more, to get over the snotty noses and to love more.
*Due to privacy I cannot post the kids’ pictures online.
So for the past few months we’ve been English teachers. This month, in Malaysia, we really feel like English teachers. We are working with an English center. There are multiple classes everyday and the center even offers tutoring. I guess it’s a good thing that I had such a thorough education in grammar in school. I never ever thought that I would be teaching English! I’ve been able to pull out all those verb tenses that you know how to use, but didn’t think you’d ever have to explain. Anyways, it’s been a pretty good experience. I’ve been tutoring a 19 year-old girl for the last few weeks. She doesn’t know English very well at all. She’s a Muslim girl and wasn’t taught English at her school. However, in order to get into a university she has to pass an English comprehension test. She was in a larger class, but felt like crying because she didn’t understand what was happening. She told the director of the center that she wanted to give up, but she knew that the center would never give up on her. I think there’s something about this center that gave this girl hope.
That something is the light of Jesus in this place. We are in a state that has a high population of Muslims so we can't talk about our faith at all, because it could jeopardize the ministry. Even though the people here can’t talk about the love of Christ, they definitely live out their faith. Our God is faithful and works through these communication and religious barriers. I’ve been really blessed by our contacts here. It has been amazing to see their obedience to God in coming to this place to be a light to the people here.
"Lord, grant that I might not so much seek to be loved as to love." --Francis of Assisi
A little girl drowned yesterday... SreyPoa. SreyPoa (pronounced ShriPo) would always say "Hello Orea (becuase they can't actually pronounce my name here)!" and I would say "hello ShriPo!"... and we would go back and forth. Her funeral's today. I have a lot of questions. Why are we here? Why didn't God perform a miracle? Why didn't He save her? Why couldn't we save her? How do we do ministry in the midst of mourning and sorrow? I think this is giving us all a taste of reality. This is real life. There's life and there's death. We can't just do our ministry, programs, say our prayers as if it's just another thing we're supposed to do. Our lives, the fact that we're here really means something. The love and Gospel we have to give is worth life. I don't know what the protocol is for grieving in the Bhuddist religion. i know we're getting a taste of it... people giving offerings to Bhudda, praying, crying out, wailing. Last night they kinda had a wake for her. Lots of crying. It seemed like they were trying to bring her back to life by rubbing her arms-- get the blood flowing. Lots of incense burned. A man prayed over her sister, SreyDad, something about spirits because she was there when her sister drowned. We don't really know what to do, but we're present and we cry and mourn with the family too. We pray and try to comfort. We love. I guess that's all we can do. We don't know why, and we'll never know all the answers. However, God continues to be good and worthy to be praised.
Praise God! I'm fully funded! I am so blessed and overwhelmed by your support. It means so much to me, and I am so thankful that I'm able to be here.
I'm in Cambodia right now. It's hot and we sweat all the time. We're living in a small village just south of Phnom Penh. It's really peaceful here. It reminds me of Africa in a lot of ways... squatty potties, bucket showers, roaming cows, handwashing our clothes, power only on at certain times if the generator's working. A simple life. In the mornings we play soccer with the kids, then work on building a fence. After lunch (which consists of some type of stir fry with rice) we either teach English to the kids in the village or we go to an orphanage 15 minutes away. The orphanage is a sustainable garden and has 41 children living there. When we work at the orphanage we work on the garden for a couple hours, then we hang out with the kids when they get home from school. I really love it there. In the afternoons, we usually swim in the rice patties just down the road from where we live... oh and by the way, I'm actually using my tent while we're here. Then we eat dinner, have a Bible study with the village kids, hang out and go to bed by about 9pm. So that's a day in my life in Cambodia. Well, my internet's running out... I hope to share more with you soon.
Hey guys!! Check out this awesome video my teammate Jessica put together to show a glimpse into our life this past month, albeit the more funny side of our life ... and to come to you on behalf of our team.
We need to get fully funded by February 1st or we will be sent home ...
