It's been about a month since I last said anything on here, I apologize. It's time for a little update!
The last time we talked I was in Moldova, the poorest
country in Europe. It was beautiful, we stayed in a
little cottage in a remote village out in the country for about a week. We rested and helped fix a bridge thatwas destroyed during a flood. It was so refreshing being there, we ate fresh veggies from the garden, fresh eggs, (if the rooster kept crowing at 5am we would have had fresh chicken!) we bathed in the river, had camp fires and explored the huge hills around us. The second part of the month we moved into our contacts house and helped put on another children's camp. They would come to the church from about 9am-1 and then 4-7. We would play volleyball, soccer, frisbee, jump on the trampoline, sing songs, make puzzles, run around, play music, teach about the bible, arts and crafts, all that fun fun fun fun fun.
Next we met up as a squad for a couple days in the capital of Moldova (don't remember the name) it's always awesome to see everyone again.
Then we started off on our 36+ hour journey to our Ukrainian Ministry, a big blur of busses, various levels of uncomfortability and pain, and a lot of waiting later we were finally there! We were living with a pastor and his family at their house/church. We hit the streets at night trying to talk to people about his church and whats been going on in their lives and how we can help. We had devotions in the morning and prayer in the evenings, taught english during the day and spent a lot of time thinking about home and whats next. We helped the farmers pick their fruits and veggies, we visited an orphanage a few times to bring some love to the kids, went to the hospital a few times to pray with the sick and dying (which was amazing, a reminder about why I'm out here and what this is all really about) Then of course we went to the beach on our days off! The Black Sea was amazing, I always love going to the beach.
And now after a 16 hour bus ride sitting on the floor in the back of a van, I am in Kiev, about to head to Ireland for our final debrief and The Awakening! A scary and exciting time, the trip, the season, the year is ending. It's time to go back home and start the next adventure. For me that will hopefully look like G42 in January (leadership academy) and hopefully helping out with the World Race Training Camp in October, but I will explain more about my future... in the future. SO! That's a quick over view of the last month or so, I will be home on the 3rd of September, hopefully I will see yall soon!!
I have traveled the world for almost 10 months now, I have seen and experienced many things. Sometimes it seems that my environment changes every day. While it's hard to keep track of all the things
that are different, it's the things that are the same that stand out the most. One of these is that people all
over the world are starving. Some for literal food, all for spiritual food. Food that can only come from one
place, from one source, from God.
It's like a Koala in the middle of the Amazon, he has a million different kind of trees to eat from but
none of them give him the nutrition he needs to survive. So he dies surrounded by more food than he could eat in 100 lifetimes. All he needed was one Eucalyptus. We try to make up for our lack of food with religions, denominations, traditions, sermons, books, theologies, activities, charity, teachings, small groups, but is it working or making it worse when all we need is His words. It seems like all we are doing is creating new different trees that won't feed anyone.
The world is so loud with all these things that no one can hear the voice of God anymore or they are so busy and distracted they don't stop to. We have been lulled to sleep by all the pointless noise, we have stopped eating and now forgotten where to find food. We need to wake up. We need silence from the noise. Nothing is a louder wake up call than silence. Like when you're in a restaurant and all of a
suddeneveryone stops talking, the silence is so loud that it makes everyone in the whole room suddenly
aware of everything around them. We all need to stop talking and start listening. Stop preaching and let
God speak.
Can you imagine how powerful it would be if a church took a month and every Sunday they had
maybe a half hour of worship and then they were just silent before the Lord. They just let Him speak to them. I might be crazy but it gives me goose bumps to think
about. That congregation would be drastically
changed, inspired, refreshed. Things would start
happening in that church, in that town, in that country. Things would start happening inyour lifeif you stopped and listened to what God is saying to you.
"(1) Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!
Come , buy wine and milk without money and without price.
(2) Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in rich food.
(3) Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David."
Hey Everybody! It's been a while since I've talked to you last! I've been busy haha, I kind of fell out of the loop of keeping everyone updated. I've got a lot on my mind now days well see if any of my thoughts make it to the blog. Until then enjoy these sweet awesome vids! Later!
there are the doers and the senders. I am currently a doer, you may be a sender. Last month we started raising money for a fellow teammate Christina, we raised $7,000 in just under a month!
Lower standards - Toilet seats are HUGE blessings. Cockroaches are a stable member of our community. The food is most of the time gross. Nothing really bothers you anymore. When a huge bug wakes you up at 5am by crawling up your leg you just brush it off with a sigh rather than jumping up on the bed screaming with your headlamp in hand some how already on shining it on the thing wondering how you going to squish it when it all over your stuff (maybe that happen the second time it crawled up my leg... fool me once...) Feeling clean is a gift. There are levels of dirty laundry....there are ALOT more but you get the picture...
Higher standards - All those great things that the bible tells you to walk in... we walk in now. Things like character, integrity, honor, respect, self-control, servant-hood, higher levels are required all the time to keep the growth of our community on track and healthy. Walking together towards the goal.
Is it worth it... YES!A thousand times yes!
Hospital Visits
I was in the hospital again this week, this time food poisoning causing massive dehydration, something that would be easily taken care of back home. But here #1 who knows what you have, it could be anything #2 Your already dehydrated so a morning of visiting the bathroom for multiple reasons literally 'takes it ALL out of you' #3 You eventually learn that here it's better not to wait to see if you get better, A. because when you get worse it's exponential B. You don't have anything with you that can help you C. Getting to the hospital requires a way to get there and an open hospital, both can't be taken for granted.
Now something rather odd happened while I was laying on the first bed. While they were taking the initial blood samples and everything, many nurses were coming in and out but one nurse (and Josh can back me up on this) had some interesting questions..
If I remember right our casual conversation went something like this...
"Are you Chinese or Canadian?" - Nurse
"Chinese" - Me
"Where are you from?" - Nurse
"United states" - Me
"United States of Canada?" - Nurse
"...yes" - Me
As she was leaving...
"Estas Bien?" - Nurse
"....Si" - Me
As I was leaving...
"Is he a man or a girl?" - Nurse
"He is a man" - Josh
"His hair looks like a girls" - Nurse
Hahahahaha... apparently I look like a spanish speaking Chinese woman from the United States of Canada!!
Real life World Race: Viewer Discretion Advised
Community - Not always butterflies and rainbows... Sometimes it's 6 people living in one room all with diarrhea at the same time... and on top of that one has malaria, and one has typhoid and another food poisoning....
The moral?
Where dirty, nasty, smelly sickness abounds, love and grace abound.
We are blessed. We are so blessed! We are staying in beautiful Togo in a sick hotel, not only do we have AC but we have a pool, ‘drive-in' movie's once a week, café/bar, foosball and ping pong and monkeys!! Plus it's walking distance from our ministry site, it's too much, but there's more... We have been working on a ship that has AC, couches, 3 free amazing meals a day, as much coffee as you can drink, 400 people who all speak English, internet... and Starbucks! We started this month not having any idea what was in store. Little did we now that soon we would be working on the Africa Mercy part of the Mercy Ships fleet. God's so awesome haha!
I've been working with the Deck Crew, basically painting all day, and I have loved it. Besides painting we have helped with everything from moving cargo down on deck 2 ( There are 8 decks total ) to grinding some metal stuff to tightening the ropes that hold the ship to the dock. Its all been great, I think everything is a lot cooler when done on a ship.
This month I have had the opportunity to spend all day with my iPod which means I've been able to spend all day listening to sermons and worshiping. It has been so good for me, steady work and steady filling. God has shown me a lot this month too much for words. It's always hard for me to express in blogs what is going on inside of me and what he is doing, but it's so awesome haha just trust me! He has been building me up, speaking to me about the future (can't wait!), speaking to me about the present, speaking to me about me, speaking to me about Him. Conversation with God is something that most people are missing. It's the key element of relationship. Talk and listen, listen and talk.
Quick future update. We leave for Nigeria on Wednesday! First debrief and then the start of our last month in Africa. Please keep us extra in your prayers while we are there! God is going to move mightily. Also, it's been on my heart for a while to step it up and start to make this blog excellent. So officially I am starting.
I spent some time today catching up on some of L Squads recents blogs.
I put together some of my favs...
"I wrote this poem upon recognizing a gross fact; my fulfillment, happiness, and desires were the aim of my life; my highest goal. It was through Christ I sought to obtain this goal, believing myself to be serving Him with my life. On the contrary, I was serving myself with His life."
"But what God has really been teaching me this month, is that I WAS ACTUALLY MADE TO WORSHIP! I WAS CREATED FOR THE PURPOSE OF WORSHIP! Worship is not just something we love to do. Worship is something we were BORN to do. Worship is something God put inside of each and every one of us. It is a part of who we are as human beings. Our souls actually long for it. We are incomplete without it."
""Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor." 1 Peter 2:17"
"The past several days Tim and I have painted, all day... just painting and while we paint we listen to worship music, sing to the Lord, listen to a sermon... or just flat think. And I cannot tell you the freedom that has come along with alone time in the presence of the Lord. I know I just know God took a big sigh when I was assigned many days of painting, I bet heaven said something like this "its about time we have her all to ourselves!". All my mind and focus is on listening. My ears are new, my eyes are new, and my heart has never had so many doors opened to the heartbeat of Heaven. Everyday I learn from the Lord. EVERYDAY. What an honour, a privilege to HEAR from my God, my King. To have Him WANT all of me... all my attention, He has so much to say. I am a believer that God is always speaking something. Sometimes our ears and hearts are not in tune with the station he is speaking on. (Hindes from Training Camp).
As much as a privilege we have to re-present Christ, it is also and importantly a responsibility. I wrote down a lot on this while God was teaching me about who I am becoming... here comes some heavenly vomit...
I represent Jesus Christ, the Risen One. I represent true-heavenly-unending love to all of brotherhood. I represent the grace of God by me walking in salvation. (living as saved, He did NOT die for us to live in fear, or shame, or insecurity) I represent transformation. I have a new life. I AM free. I represent inner-eternal beauty that fades NONE. He is beautiful, he is in me. I am responsible for justice to reign (Isaiah 42:1). I am responsible to influence this WORLD with faith. My life is to be evidence and living proof of heavenly experiences. My life proves sufferings to reveal blessings through Jesus (Deut. 8:5). My everyday, OUR everyday holds significant meaning and purpose. Every breath, every word is a moment to reveal Christ. I am part of the body of Christ, I am part of the church. We as Christians, we all are a different part. I am responsible for surrender (1 John 5:21). I am responsible to fear NONE but God (1 John 4:18) that means I don't have to fear spiders... by the way I am less and less fearless of them all the time, my non-fear of them has actually frightened me. Haha! Anyway...I will choose to love. I am CHOOSEN to do the will of God (Mat. 7:24). To seek the Kingdom above all else and to live righteously (Mat. 6:33). " And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father" (Col. 3:17). Our duty, our calling as representatives of Christ holds weight everyday. Notice the word represent... to "re" and "present". As Christ is no longer living ON EARTH, we are to be like Christ. We are to be what he is, to re-present ALL that He is."
"The most important piece of armor that we can wear is a garment of humility. To forget humility is to walk away from God. "
"So here I declare that I am not bound to my past.
I am not a captive of fear nor a slave to men.
I am free from rejection, from man's judgment, from the malarkey of the enemy.
I am worthy of being pursued by the Lord and by a man after God's heart.
I am created in His image meaning there is nothing that must be altered about my image. It is perfect just like He made me...
I have wisdom and a gift to share with others.
"The Lord is my shepherd... I have all that I need."
I am not a slave to finances for my Father has infinite resources.
I am free to dance and praise His name continually.
I dream God sized dreams for I am called to live in a God sized reality.
Within me is the power and authority given by the Father to heal the sick, raise the dead and to set the captives free.
I have the Spirit of the Lord within me, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, a Spirit of power, of love, and of sound mind.
I am a beautifully fierce Daughter of God and I am not the same woman I was when I left seven months ago..."
the church from about 9am-1 and then 4-7. We would play volleyball, soccer, frisbee, jump on the trampoline, sing songs, make puzzles, run around, play music, teach about the bible, arts and crafts, all that fun fun fun fun fun. 
uncomfortability and pain, and a lot of waiting later we were finally there! We were living with a pastor and his family at their house/church. We hit the streets at night trying to talk to people about his church and whats been going on in their lives and how we can help. We had devotions in the morning and prayer in the evenings, taught english during the day and spent a lot of time thinking about home and whats next. We helped the farmers pick their fruits and veggies, we visited an orphanage a few times to bring some love to the kids, went to the hospital a few times to pray with the sick and dying 
(which was amazing, a reminder about why I'm out here and what this is all really about) Then of course we went to the beach on our days off! The Black Sea was amazing, I always love going to the beach. 
We are blessed. We are so blessed! We are staying in beautiful Togo in a sick hotel, not only do we have AC but we have a pool, ‘drive-in' movie's once a week, café/bar, foosball and ping pong and monkeys!! Plus it's walking distance from our ministry site, it's too much, but there's more... We have been working on a ship that has AC, couches, 3 free amazing meals a day, as much coffee as you can drink, 400 people who all speak English, internet... and Starbucks! We started this month not having any idea what was in store. Little did we now that soon we would be working on the Africa Mercy part of the Mercy Ships fleet. God's so awesome haha! 
I've been working with the Deck Crew, basically painting all day, and I have loved it. Besides painting we have helped with everything from moving cargo down on deck 2 ( There are 8 decks total ) to grinding some metal stuff to tightening the ropes that hold the ship to the dock. Its all been great, I think everything is a lot cooler when done on a ship.
future (can't wait!), speaking to me about the present, speaking to me about me, speaking to me about Him. Conversation with God is something that most people are missing. It's the key element of relationship. Talk and listen, listen and talk. 
