Goodbye 2011, Hellllllo 2012!

Hello all! It is hard to believe that the first month of 2012 has flown by. My time at home has been very restful with friends and family. I am extremely thankful for a family who believes in me, supports and prays for me as I follow the Lord across the world.

(family vacation)

EUROPE:
We are just 27 days into the new year, but God has already put me on a crazy adventure. In less than 3 weeks, I will be heading to Spain on a 1 way ticket with 4 other Awakeners. AH! This past summer, some of us started to dream about what it would like to see revival happen all through out Europe. Europe has been called 'hopeless' with the amount of wars, and human trafficking that have increased over the past few decades. The spiritual atmosphere has simultaneously been under attack. Estonia has been named to be the least religious country in the world along with other countries taking God out of the picture. Our hearts have been broken for Europe yet we have so much joy, excitement, and hope for what God is doing and will do there. It is our desire that during these 3 months of traveling across different countries, we will see an awakening in hearts to know their Father, the lost come Home, the broken be made whole, and the hurting be healed. Along the way, we will be partnering with other ministries, evangelizing, and looking into potential long term commitments to this nation. This will be an incredible faith building journey and I am excited to see where we will be at on the other side of it :)

AWAKEN DTS:

Once our Awaken Europe trip has come to an end, I will be heading back to Kona for round 2 of staffing! The Awaken DTS has been growing and changing at a fast pace for the past couple of years. I run with an amazing crew of Awakeners who I am sooooo thankful for. Last year, God completely highjacked our plans and implemented His own through out the entire summer. And IT. WAS. AWESOME. Those 4 weeks that speakers had cancelled and left us to rely solo on Him were by far the most life changing weeks of lecture phase. A 50 hour burn, faith journeys throughout the island, and speakers who came on last minute notice, changed the course of our school. Students were encountered and grew in ways only He could do. We are so excited to see what He has up His sleeve for this year! A part of my trip in Europe will be to scout for potential Awaken DTS outreaches. Bosnia has been laid heavily upon my heart over the past months, especially those who are held in sexual slavery. This country is definitely out there on the prayer table for future missions!

SUPPORT:

God has abundantly provided for me these past 2 years and I know He will continue to do so, for what Good Father does not provide for His children? It is my goal to raise $2,000 a month for room, board, travel, and other expenses. I have already received some support, which I am so grateful for! It is, however, difficult to financially plan for a faith-led trip, so I will be on quite the trusting journey! I am excited to see all the ways that God is planning on providing for us. If you feel led to support, you can do so (tax deductible!) by clicking on the "donate" button on the right side. Airline miles are also greatly appreciated!

PRAYER REQUESTS:

• Finances for the year
• Safety during travels
• Team unity
• That we stay completely submitted to God!

Thank you all! Love.

To sum it all up

Of the past 3 months, I can’t tell you how many pounds of rice I have eaten, baby wipes I used, or bugs I have accidently swallowed. I still can’t count past 10 in Khmer or carry on a conversation beyond “hello”. I can’t even begin to describe the smell of the meat market or what its like to ride your bike in Battambang traffic, and I am pretty sure dirt is permanently embedded in the soles of my feet.

(market food)

But I can try to convey how incredible this chapter of my life has been. To say that God has amazed me would be an understatement. From the first week in the village to the last goodbye at the bus station, He has never stopped pouring out His peace, joy, grace, faithfulness, strength, provision, wisdom and protection over myself and my Fambodia.

The people of Cambodia are some of the most giving, joyful, hopeful people I have ever met. Many have close to nothing, yet they would offer you the shirt off their back if you needed one. Even as I write this on the bus to Phnom Pehn, the pregnant woman seated next to me offers me a bite of her spring roll with a smile, even though we have never met before.

In the last 2 weeks of outreach, I started to hang out with 2 older women (the mom and aunt of a friend) in the slum across from our base. Their home was made of wood and a tin roof upon stilts to avoid the floods that come with monsoon season. They sleep on bamboo mats, have river water delivered into giant clay pots so they can shower, and keep their possessions in since they have no room for shelves. The aunt makes money by sewing children’s shirts out of worn out adult clothes. Each shirt takes 2 hours to make and are sold for 50 cents at the market. Whenever I came to visit, they made sure I left with a belly full of rice and soup. They made me laugh, even though we don’t speak the same language. They ask me to pray for them, even though they do not believe in God. Hope, hope, hope.

The Lord was true to His promises He made my co-leader and I earlier this year and marked our team with unity and joy in abundance. 6 months ago, we met as strangers. 3 months ago, we came here as friends. Today, we leave as family. I will forever be thankful for the lives of these 12 and that the God had their paths cross mine. The memories of family bike rides, mandatory fun nights, and family banter at the dinner table will always bring me joy.

(family bike picture)

My own heart has undergone a major transformation. My trust in the Lord was put to the test more than once and is now stronger than ever before. I relied way too much on my weak human strength and when it failed, His abiding strength would catch me. The reality of Jesus and His heart for every single child of His on this globe has been awakened in my spirit. Not a single Khmer person was born to worship a mute, deaf, and emotionless god, and then fade out of existence when life here on earth ends. Every single body has a soul. Every soul has a Maker and every soul was meant to meet that Maker. And that is my prayer for this world, that sleepy souls will be awakened.

Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart, for all your prayers and support! The Lord did SOOOO MUCH and we were protected the whole time, thank to all the prayer coverage we had. It means the world to me to have the support from friends and family :)

I am blessed to be sitting in an air-conditioned room, enjoying ice water and cream cheese wontons with a TV radiating light from above. I glance out the 2^nd story window and am reminded that right outside, people are no where near as fortune as I. Take a right outside the front doors of Café Eden, hang another right on the first street, and about 2 blocks down on the left hand side, make a stop. There you will find 12 young Khmer boys, homeless, dirty, and high off of glue-sniffing. Some abandoned and the rest homeless by choice, these 12 now call this street corner their home. Aging from 16 to 20, they roam the city during the day, asking for spare change, or take a hit off glue fumes, trying to escape the pains of life for just a few hours.

After being asked for change by them last week, Kim, a girl on my team, invited them to our Wednesday Night Gathering (basically, a church service) at the YWAM base. Surprisingly, all 12 showed up, suspicions guarding their faces, not knowing what to expect. After the gathering ended, some of the guards fell to the wayside and they began to chatter outside of their clan a bit. They left with bellies full of corn, and logan fruit, some even grinning and waving goodbye. After a few days of planning, 4 of us showed up to their “home” Saturday, arms filled with bags of rice and meat-on-a-stick. No picture can capture their surprised delight. No words can express the way my heart strings were plucked.

That night with them was more than a reality check. I can leave this nation. They can’t. I can go to the store and pick up whatever food I was craving. They can’t. I can call my parents and tell them I love them. They can’t. It is moments like these that keep me going. It is the reason my heart is filled to the brim with thanks. It is what spurs me forward when all I want to do is quit. To see warmth light up their eyes and hope dance across their faces adds new sparks to the flame that is already in my spirit.

I long for the day when I won't wonder how many kids have empty stomachs, or how many are hardened from years of abuse, or how many are orphaned because sickness has claimed their parents. My heart burns for it, to see a generation who knows their identity as Heavenly Royalty. If it is this strong on my broken, feeble, human heart, how much more can it be on our Father's?

I am thankful to my Father for how He has provided in abundance my entire life.

I am saturated with hope for what God can do in these kids’ lives.

I am carrying a soul full of Fire, ready to see His Kingdom come to this earth.

"No place I'd rather be, than here in Your love. So set a fire down in my soul that I can't contain and I can't control. I want more of you God"

These lyrics by the United Pursuit Band have been my prayer over this past year. How faithful the Lord is to answer the deepest cries of my heart. He has been incredibly faithful to the desires of my soul, to be taken deeper in the Spirit, for Him to be my teacher, the first love of my life. To open my eyes more to how He moves in the world, from the biggest to the smallest of ways.

It can be a challenge, to wait on the Lord for prayers that have been prayed for what seems like eons. To not give up but to keep pressing in because you still have that tiny strand of hope that He will still answer, even when all is quiet. And just when it seems like He won't, He opens your eyes to the ways He has been moving during your entire life, all for you so you can bring Him more praise.

One of these ways I saw Him pour out faithfulness was back in the village when we were staying at the orphanage. A few days before we left, for some random reason, an ice cream truck was driving down the dirt road. Sunny, a girl on our team, saw it, flagged it down, and we had all the kids come meet us on the road. All the kids got ice cream that day, some for the very first time.




Squeals of delight came from behind me as I stood in front of the truck. Nead and Minn came flying out form the back of the village, racing through the front gates with water dripping from their hair. Of course there was no time to dry off after a shower when there was ice cream! The joy that lit their faces up was indescribable. The ways that He is faithful to even the little prayers for ice cream is so sweet.



We have truly been seeing the Faithful heart of God here. Our classes are all going great. We have started to make friends with them and other locals, building up relationships and going deeper. Our team unity is still amazing and we are all becoming more of a family by the minute. With outreach half way over, we are seeking His heart for more of what He wants to do with us while we are here.

Thank you for all of you prayers and support while we are out here! They mean more than words can describe.