Firstly, after the mother of all travel days I'm currently in Jinotepe, Nicaragua. It took us about 110 hours from leaving our home in Kuala Lumpur to arrive here, but praise the Lord we made it. I promised one last blog about the Malaysian jungle, and I'm glad I waited until I arrived here to write it because the blessings of the jungle resonate even more now that I'm here in Nicaragua.
While still in Cambodia, before we had even the slightest clue we'd be in the jungle, I felt like the month in Malaysia was one where I was going to proactively eliminate some distractions in my life. I think a lot of people have this idea that when you're a missionary traveling the world and staying in villages it's so easy to wake up every day and easily make time for prayer and your Bible and the such. I thought it would be. False. I hadn't been spending anywhere near the time with God I had been, should have, or wanted to. So I decided to abandon.
Abandonment is talked about a lot on the World Race. Obviously we all live a lifestyle of abandonment to a degree: we abandoned home, our family and friends, the comforts of America. However, I was looking for the next level. I hadn't practiced it most of the Race and that was okay, but this was going to be a month for me to, well I guess, fast. I decided to give up electronics - no spending hours playing Angry Birds on my Ipod or watching a season of Modern Family in two days when there's a team to bond with or a loving, personal God to talk to. We had also just come from debrief where there was a lot of talk about life after the WR, so I decided I'd also fast those things to have focused prayer on that looming topic. I was scared about how difficult it would be being in one of the biggest cities in the world though. And how many loop holes could I find and still feel like I was abandoning like I was supposed to? I mean it's completely reasonable to think squad leaders wouldn't give me important travel info through e-mail and instead use Facebook, so I should probably check it every other day, right?
Luckily God made all that irrelevant when He sent me into the remote jungle. So after we receive our two hour notice and begin packing for the jungle I decide if I'm going to abandon why not go all out? If I'm going to abandon then by golly let's abandon. I crossed over from abandoning to avoid distraction to also abandoning to create dependency. So knowing I'd be gone for over 2 weeks this is what I packed: 2 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of shorts, 2 shirts, 2 pairs of underwear, a sleeping bag, a travel pillow and a whole lot of books. No computer, no sleeping pad, and most importantly no super special green pillow I've slept with since 5th grade. I think my team was a little shocked I was headed out with so little, and it'd be lying to say I was certain this experiment wouldn't end disastrously. But you know what? It turned out incredibly.
An example from a flight during our travel stretch of the powers of my pillow
I slept on a tile church floor on my back without my pillow, and I had some of the best sleeps I had in all of Asia without ever being attacked by a creature. Every night though as I laid down I prayed for safety and rest because I needed God's help. There was nothing I could do except depend, and He came through. It was one of the few times in my life I had no choice but to lean on God, and it's amazing the intimacy that comes from that.
I woke up each morning and to read my Bible and pray while gazing out at the gorgeous mountains we lived in. A huge part of this was lack of distraction. Some days I loved it, and honestly some days I had nothing else to do. Same with prayer throughout the day. I prayed when I was hungry. I prayed when rats invaded my house. But honestly sometimes I prayed because there was nothing to distract me so I thought why not. As the two weeks passed though, it became more of a lifestyle. It became less well I have nothing else to do but read my Bible and pray so I guess I might as well. Better than staring at the wall. It became hey that time in my Bible is really good - God's revealing Himself to me through it. This prayer is great - I feel closer to Him. My intimacy with my God, my Father, my Creator increased tremendously during the month.
Also, I started hearing Him speak to me about life after the Race. I put aside distractions and started listening and surprise He answered. I delighted in Him and He began saying yes to the desires of my heart. Incredible stuff.
So that was last month. Away from distraction, embracing abandonment, experiencing dependency and intimacy. Now here I am in Nicaragua blessed beyond belief to be staying in a city, in a hotel with Internet, showers, electricity and a bed - luxuries I don't normally have. It's wonderful, but dang it's tough. I can't imagine what it's going to be like in America drowning in distraction. So this month I've got a new prayer focus I'd love you to help me with: conquering distraction when it can't be avoided, the self-control to make time with God a priority even if I can watch live (SEC-leading) Alabama basketball games or downloaded episodes of Boston Rob and Russell back on this season of Survivor. These things aren't bad, but they can't take the top spot on my priority list. Because despite the catchy songs and the hysterical Sue Sylvester God's joy is greater than Glee.
- Worth mentioning now since it's playing while writing this, but the village knows 3 American songs and plays and sings them over and over every day. Right now they're playing their favorite - Waka Waka by Shakira. The other 2 are I've Got a Feeling by BEP and of course they love Bieber like the rest of the world - so they sing Baby a lot. - Took a shower in the "shower stall" which has a huge hole in one of the walls so I'm completely exposed to anybody who wants a peek. Luckily the girls were at the river. -Physically fading from lack of nutrition. Getting difficult to eat rice and soy sauce with my hands meal after meal. Slept past 9, took a 2 hour nap, and now it's 8:15 and I'm ready for bed. Praying for energy. -Speaking of bed- unfortunately, it's band practice tonight. Double unfortunate - my bed is 3 feet from the drum set. Let's see if I can make it until 9. - Just discovered the giant spiders jump. Encouraging.
Day 9 - Friday, February 4
- One week anniversary at our village. Hoorah!! Celebrated by stringing an entire green bean field. We're turning into pros. - Tedium is setting in. Played a marathon 18-hand game of spades. Kyle and I lost, but really we all did because it's not even 2:00 yet. Tried to name all the countries. Got 193 out of 195. Luckily I had killed time by doing this before and looked up the ones I missed. Only 4 more days to entertain ourselves - it can be done. - Insanity is also setting in. Kyle stood over the dog and yelled domination at him repeatedly while flexing his muscles. I'll spare the other details so Kyle can keep some pride. - Clouds cleared tonight - best night sky I've ever seen. There are perks to being in the middle of nowhere. It's crazy to me people can see this and believe there is no God.
Day 10 - Saturday, February 5
- Ashley and I went to the river to bathe/do laundry and on our way back our dog Trey started barking at something in the bush. Locals go in and shortly return holding what we later discover is a jungle rat by it's tail. It's like a gigantic rat with beaver teeth. Exciting animal encounter, but far from the day's most exciting because... - We had a real legitimate tarantula sighting in the church tonight. Kirsten was the unlucky soul who discovered it. She let out a shriek of terror that brought half the village over. Even they were scared. Don't worry - a village killed it so we're safe..ish. I'm moving back into Kyle's tent though.
The beast before a villager killed him and afterward for size comparison. Day 11 - Sunday, February 6
- Incredible news!! After church this morning a man comes to me and says 'Leave, Monday' repeatedly. I say no we're leaving Tuesday. We go back and forth until we discover it's not a question, it's a statement. We're leaving a day and a half early! Kyle got a ride out to the cell tower and got a text out. We'll be picked up tomorrow at noon! Hallelujah! Crossing our fingers all goes smooth! Please.. - Nope. I knew it was too good to be true - we received word at 7:30 tonight there was miscommunication. One more day. Devastating - at least we got a (slightly early) chicken farewell dinner. I wash it down with a glass of my tears. -Quote: "It's Super Bowl Sunday." - Kyle, as we waved our hands and danced while singing Malaysian songs during church
Day 12- Monday, February 7
- There's a Super Bowl champion and I have no clue who it is. We spend our last day with our favorite past times: a nap, reading, cards and a river bath.
Day 13- Tuesday, Feb. 8 - One of the greatest days of my life
- FREEDOM!!! We get our tractor loaded and head out. We wait at the next village for our ride to come. We're supposed to not get out until noon, but it shows up at 10:30. God's smiling on us today. We drive for a while and get into town where I immediately pack down some fast food. Chicken sandwich, french fries, 2 Pepsis (shows how desperate I was) and later a Snickers. My stomach's going to hate me later, but I don't care.
So that's my time in the jungle. The next 4 days we spent in another city in Malaysia being spoiled by an incredible church family there. They're definitely in the minority surrounded by Muslims and it was really encouraging to see their dedication to Christ and spreading the Word. They took us to beaches and bowling and fed us like kings. We all nearly cried when they served us cinnamon rolls. I'm going to post one more blog talking more in depth about what I learned in the jungle. I gave you a comical look, but despite the crazy stuff that happened it was a good place to be.
Finally, travel prayers would be much appreciated. I start a long travel stretch tonight getting from KL to Bangkok and then flying out to Central America where we'll arrive on the 20th including a long layover in Los Angeles. God bless America and Chickfila. So update you from the road or from Nicaragua where we'll be this next month. Oh yeah and we're getting to go to 12 countries so we'll be in El Salvador and finish in Nicaragua. Only one continent to go - thanks for taking this journey with me. Love you all.
- Wake up groggy because I took an Ibuprofen PM last night for my cracked toenail that's oozing green. It's better though, Praise God. Have not-breakfast. A glass of tea. Apparently most important meal of the day isn't universal. - First taste of gardening ministry. Picking green beans. Yeah! Get back and play the exciting game of guess if lunch will come. Good news it does, and there's barely any anchovies. It's the small victories that count - Try to play cards after lunch. Enter village children. One hops on my back. One pretends to stab me repeatedly with a pencil. One starts playing the drums. One pees on the floor. Two run through said pee and scatter it about the church. It's total pandemonium. Oh kids, got to love them. - Time for English class (turns out to be the first of two before the children stop coming). Our translator offers Lili a "marker-pen" to write on the white board. It's a ball point pen. It shockingly and fortunately does not work.
Day 4 - Sunday, January 30
- Dog fight breaks out at 7:00 so I awaken. We get a special Sabbath treat - rice for breakfast! Hallelujah. - 9:00 - Time for church to begin. Nobody's here however and we're told the pastor isn't here today. Will church go on? Nobody knows. - 9:35 - "Maybe church start at 10?" - Translator. The wait continues - 9:40 - Village chief shows up. Good sign. He's got a machete tied around his waist. Questionable sign. 10 minutes later we receive news a singer is on the way. Things are looking up. - 10:05 - People have begun to filter in. The first breast-feeder enters. We must have been waiting on her because service immediately begins. Maybe she's the singer. - Later in the day go to the river again to bathe. Uneventful until Kirsten finds a dead scorpion a solid foot long. Biggest I've ever seen. Not okay. An excavator then pulls into the village. Of course. Why wouldn't it?
- Quote: 'I challenge the village chief..' - Kyle, at church asking the chief to gather the men for a village meeting since there were so few at church. Never thought I'd hear that phrase.
Day 5 - Monday, January 31
- While enjoying our regular lunch of a bowl of rice (eaten with our hands of course) we begin to discuss about what we'll eat at the Outback upon our return to KL. It becomes a common theme. The power of cheese fries... - Team gets back from the farm and our wildlife adventure begins. Kirsten is showing us a huge roach she found on her when our village dog drags a snack onto the porch - a huge reptile foot. Likely a water monitor, possibly Godzilla's child. Whatever it is I don't want to come across it even if it's only got 3 legs. Add that to the scorpion and I might not leave the church for a while. This doesn't even include the bird that ran into the wall and hit Kyle on the way down. Where are we?
Day 6 - Tuesday, February 1
- Farm this morning. God's answered prayers and after essentially 4 straight days of flood the sun's come out for most of the last 2 days. - Spend over an hour with Kyle on a bamboo tower structure at the next village trying to get cell service to tell our contact we need breakfast food. We ask for Cookie Crisp if it's not too much trouble. We're able to get a few texts out by leaning off the side and stretching the phone in the air while our translator offers constant advice, and by advice I mean he tells Kyle to do the exact opposite of whatever he's doing. - Okay the wildlife encounters are no longer humorous or acceptable. Tonight during dinner we hear a sound on the roof. Then the terror...the noise stops temporarily and there's a soft sound of something hitting the floor. Not one but two rats have fallen from the ceiling. Being team leader I realize my survival is vital for the team's success so I immediately run to a chair while our dog kills the rats. - But wait, there's more! As the rat corpse cleanup process was winding down I hear the 78th scream of the night. Don't worry, it's just a spider..the biggest spider I've ever seen in the wild complete with glowing eyes (until this point). I'm done asking how our animal situation can get worse because each time the ante gets upped. I'm just praying now (from the safety of Kyle's tent in which I now sleep instead of on the unprotected open church floor) that the giant 3-footed reptile doesn't come looking for foot number 4.
- Quote: I need photos of 2 confirmed dead rats before I get off the chair. Embarrassingly, me.
Day 7 - Wednesday, February 2
-Shockingly nothing exciting happens. Don't worry, the excitement is far from over though.
Coming next. The exciting conclusion to my jungle adventure including our most surreal animal encounter yet.
As I frantically told you last blog, my team and I had the pleasure of spending 12 days in a remote village of the Malaysian jungle. As you'll read, it was an incredible experience very few people ever get, and I'm incredibly grateful for the experience. However, to say it was a memorable, unique experience would be an understatement. From quite early in the adventure I sensed this would be true, so after doing a pretty poor job of journaling the first 8 months, I did so every day this month. So enjoy direct from my journal part one of my chronicles of our adventure into the middle of nowhere.
Day 0 - Wednesday, January 26 - Kuala Lumpur
- We're in KL with Team Dove and our contacts have made talk of one team going to the jungle for ministry - which hasn't really been discussed before arrival. And surely they don't really mean jungle. It's probably nothing.
- 5:30 - It's something. Our team is leaving for the jungle...for 2 weeks...in 2 hours.
- 9:00 - It's the WR, of course 2 hours turns into 3 1/2. We throw our bags in a truck driven by a man named Santana and meet our contact Tony. I don't know it yet, but the man is hysterical...he also looks just like Alvar Hanso/Pierre Chang from Lost.
- 11:30 - Arrive at someone's house somewhere and crash for the night in a room with a mattress and ceiling fan...last taste of civilization.
Day 1 - Thursday, January 27
- Buy all of our groceries for the next 12 days - lots of rice. Can't forget anchovies in bulk either!
- We arrive at the road to the village. Unload bags from the truck along with the wagon we'll hitch to a tractor to help get us and our stuff through the mud to our new home.
- Ashely and I get in Santana's truck and he drives us 100 yards away to the main road. We expect the other 3 to follow. False. We wait. Santana points to a stream to wash our hands - on the other side of a barbed wire fence. Ashley rips her pants on it, then we nap on a random road side bamboo bed.
- After an hour, Tony returns. He's taken the others to the 2nd village on the road - one shy of our target village, and he's back for us. We get there and I take a nap on the floor while Tony talks to the village head man (not village hit man like I originally thought he said - whew.)
- Tony has Kyle and I help take bags and food to the next village. It's been pouring, and we're not sure we'll be able to make it. We try though. - We fail. We make it through some treacherous stretches, but eventually
get stuck. After repeated attempts the village local hops out to walk
to the next village to get the tractor. We wait.
Shockingly we couldn't get through this stretch.
- 1 hour passes - no tractor. Looks like rain, so we head back so our stuff doesn't get wet. We get back safely despite slipping and sliding like wild and getting tossed all over the truck. Just the latest form of WR travel- mudding. It's decided we'll spend the night in this village and try again in the morning after it's hopefully dried out.
- Tractor arrives back. We follow in the truck and afterward as we slide back to the village, Tony points out the spot where he once wrecked into the mud wall so he didn't slip the other way into a huge ravine. He says it was in nearly identical conditions as the ones we're driving in now. Tony laughs, which he does a lot. I don't. We survive.
- Bed time approaches. When asked where to use the bathroom they point to the trees. Tony and I find a semi-private spot to relieve ourselves right next to each other.
- I sleep in a room of a neighboring bamboo house. I'm joined by Tony and Ashley. At 12:30 I'm also joined by a cat playing with my head. I freak out determine it's a cat, not a rat, but still a little too wired to sleep. The cat comes back a few times to curl up on my legs. I inform it no such thing will happen. The next morning as we talk about the cats I tell Tony I woke up once and it was curled up by his feet. He told me he thought that had been my feet. He appears to be relieved.
My hotel for the night, minus the attacking cats
-Quote of the day: "The men don't have anything to do at night, so they get bored and make life." - Tony, explaining why the village we're going to has so many children
Day 2 - Friday, January 28
- Awaken. Eat fried noodles for breakfast. (Little do we know how much we'll miss this.) Pack up the wagon and everyone hops in. Off to the village!!
- The wagon breaks 100 yards later leaving us sitting at a nice 45 degree angle. A large horde of locals is called, we pull the wagon back, and jam a log in the front to brace it.
- After a few minutes we're told, or charaded, to start walking. The tractor will eventually follow with our stuff. It's only 12 km, why not? The mud is awful - sometimes slippery like ice other times deep and thick. Eventually the mud is so thick Kirsten, Ashley and I take off our shoes so they stop getting stuck. Time to go barefoot. - About this time our tractor catches up to us for just a minute until it gets stuck and we regain the lead. Very soon after this our tractor drivers pass us in a motorcycle - minus the tractor with out stuff of course. Ashley and Kyle hustle back since we decide leaving our stuff unattended in the jungle isn't the best idea. - A motorcycle gang of 8-10 pass us. One speaks English. He asks us where we're from. We say US and he peels away yelling Obama! - After 2 hours and 18 minutes I arrive at our village. I didn't fall the whole time. In 2 minutes and 18 seconds I manage to fall on my butt right outside our church. -Lili, Ashley and I head to the river to bathe. Feel great. Until of course we all fall on the road trying to get back up to our church making our bathing quite futile. - Dinner time! We didn't have lunch so we're quite hungry. Good thing dinner is tapioca and anchovies - my favorite!! Oh well, I guess I have some weight I can shed this month.
Coming soon: days 3-12 including little food, lots of time with the Lord and an absurd amount of animal attacks!
These are things that in a past life seem so crazy, but now seem so routine. We're here in Kuala Lumpur and we thought we'd be working in the city for the month, but we found out today that's not exactly true. So in a few minutes my team and I head into the jungle with no electricity or well anything really to work in a remote village doing some farming and construction. I think we're building bridges? Crazy. We'll then spend a few days doing ministry in a beach town in northern Malaysia before returning to KL on the 14th when we'll enjoy a few off days before starting travel to Central America (with a stop in the US!!).
So that's the update for now. Prayers for my team and I are super appreciated. I'm sure I'll have some good blog stories for you in a few weeks. Until then faithful blog readers, take care.
Cambodia was a good month. Simple statement. Nothing too exciting. Doesn't seem like a big deal. Wrong. The fact that I'm able to say that is a testament to the power and love of God.
The month couldn't have started a lot worse. Near the end of Thailand I started to hit a little bit of a physical wall, then after a pretty exhausting 3 day travel stretch from Chiang Mai to Phnom Penh I smashed into that wall and broke into a lot of little pieces. I was physically exhausted to the point where just standing for a few minutes was tough and that exhaustion led to spiritual, mental and emotional fatigue as well. Rough would be an understatement.
I had been praying to God for dependence. Having no choice but to rely on Him, and boy did He answer. So I left the village my team was staying in and headed into Phnom Penh to see a doctor. I had to see him a couple of different days so I ended up staying in town for 3 days and getting some rest. Physical rest, mental rest and also just resting in the Lord. It was beautiful, and it was just what I needed. I came out re-energized.
I had this new energy, but I still wasn't exactly where I needed to be. Basically anybody who's met me knows I'm a happy dude. I love to have fun, smile and laugh as much as possible. However, I hadn't been doing those things a lot the last two months. I love kids. My year before I started this trip I had three different positions where I worked with kids and loved it, but I just didn't seem to have any desire to hang out with the tons of kids who were always around our house. I had energy now, but something was still missing. I wasn't myself. My joy was missing.
So fast forward to our last night in the village. What better way to celebrate than a dance party. In all honestly, a big part of me didn't want to go. I just wanted to stay upstairs and pack, but I went because I knew it was a big deal to all of the kids.
The kids knew how to party. Check out the system.
Almost immediately after walking in the room, I felt a change in my Spirit. Joy was starting to pour back into my heart. The kids were just so happy and excited. I had no choice but to join in their dancing and celebrating. They were wild: break dancing (very impressive break dancing), mosh pits, and then it happened...they played Justin Bieber. I thought they were excited before, but Cambodians love their Bieber. So we all danced like we hadn't danced all night.
In that moment, singing and dancing to Justin Bieber, I realized what I had been missing- life, enthusiasm, joy, the real me. And God used a dance party with Cambodian children in the middle of freakin nowhere to bring it all back to me. That guy - He's funny.
It's not back 100% of the time. I still am having to fight for it, but I got that free taste and I loved it. I can look to that time with the kids and remember how alive I felt and that will help me push in to moments where I'm not fully into it. I can remember that time I didn't want to dance with the kids but I did and I got to celebrate God and all He has to offer me.
So thank you God for joy, for loving me, for sweet times of worship, for the kids showing me these things and thank you for Justin Bieber.
This month my team and I are staying in a small village
about an hour from the capital city of Phnom Penh. Probably more so than any
month yet, I'm roughing it this month. We're staying in what's most commonly
described as a tree house, which is a nice way of saying we don't have windows
and the boards bounce a lot when you walk on them. But at least I get to pull
out the trusty tent again.
Home sweet home.
We don't exactly have running water and so ironically I
shower once a week when we go in town because I don't want to get dirty by
washing with the water from the same trough our water comes from we dump down
the squatty potty to “flush”.
After 6 days of not showering.
Also, our neighbors love to blast music as soon as they wake up...at 4 or 5 a.m, so I'm back on the Ugandan sleep cycle of 9 to 5. My teammate Kirsten made a sweet drawing about it.
We also share our grounds with a wide variety of animals including magic
ants that are able to get into still unopened food packaging, geckos with
bullhorns in their mouth that call throughout the night, and most importantly
puppies!!
All that aside, I actually really like it here. There's
always kids around playing volleyball who I've humiliated myself with a couple
of times, and we eat ridiculously good food.
Ministry is definitely different this month. The whole team
has transformed into English teachers for a month. Some body is teaching at
least 8 hours of the day, and we all average teaching about 3 classes. Many
people discover giftings on the World Race, and I have discovered a new one for
myself: pronunciation. One of my teachers told me the students understand me
very well, so for an hour or more each day I simply read words and sentences over
and over while the children repeat after me. So if anybody's looking for a
professional basic English pronunciatior give me a call in a few months. I'm
thinking fulfilling a life dream and trying out for the position of National
Spelling Bee word reader.
I also got to step back into my life as a substitute teacher
when I took over Kyle's class Tuesday while he went into town to watch the
Auburn game. Well, except for the part where there was no educational movie to
watch, the kids didn't really speak my language and I didn't have my USA Today
crossword. Other than that: just like Huntsville Middle School.
It's really interesting working in a ministry where sharing
your faith really has nothing to do with it. That's been the most difficult
part for sure - something I've really had to pray about. How can I show Jesus
by reading English words? God provided me with the answer through a sermon I
was listening to that I had downloaded in Romania and never listened to. It
talked from Galatians about leading a Spirit filled life. That Christians
that let the Holy Spirit fill their life act, speak and look differently than
others. So that's been my prayer. I'm still not sure what it looks like, but I
trust that God can show these children that my team and I are different - that
we serve a living God different from the idols so prevalent here- a God who
desires a loving relationship with each and every person.
View from our house
Finally, I couldn't finish this blog without recounting one
of the most absurd things that's happened to me on the Race - and there's been
a lot. Lili and I were teaching a class together when the teacher handed out
lyrics to a song the class was to sing to practice English. So we all practice
a good ten times, and then we're told each of the 16 students will come to the
front and perform the song. Oh and by the way Lili and I will be grading the
performances. I've already experienced an episode of Survivor on this trip and
now here I am right in the middle of an episode of American Idol playing Simon
to 10 year old Cambodian children. (You'll be glad to know I gave nobody a
score lower than a 12 out of 15 and verbally berated none of them.)
Oh and just in case you were wondering what song we sang here are the lyrics. We hope to have a video up soon of our team I still remember my parents singing it to my sister when she
was little - too bad it failed.
She wants to be an engineer. She wants to be an engineer. Her father was an engineer. Her mother was one too. She wants to be an engineer. She doesn't want to be a nurse. She doesn't want to be a sailor. She doesn't want to be an English teacher. She wants to be an engineer. She doesn't want to be a lawyer. She doesn't want to be a rich man's wife. Oh no! She wants to be an engineer, just like her mama. She wants to be an engineer.
Finally, next month is our Ask the Lord month where we had 5
countries to choose from for ministry, and my team will be partnering with one other
and traveling to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 25th. We'll be living above a Chinese
restaurant and ministering to a wide array of people including prostitutes, refugees,
the homeless and more. I'm so excited.
PS Sean Kelly, your blog is in the works. You're not off the
hook.
First of all, praise report: I am fully funded. A
huge thank you to everyone who supported me financially and through
prayers. In fact even though it looked quite bleak, not a single person
on our squad had to go home due to funds. Praise God. Our Father knows
how to provide.
So this month all 13 men on the squad are working
together. It's "manistry" month. What exactly is manistry month all
about? Well, at times it's definitely what one would expect. As I type
this the 3 guys next to me are watching a YouTube video of guys shooting
powerful guns and falling down from the force of it. In fact we shot
each other with guns today at an air soft range. We often ride places
hanging off the back of a truck. We make up absurd games like walking
touch football and hand volley pong. We laugh. A lot. And during the
days our ministry is manual labor. We dig ditches and chop and burn
brush along a fence line at an orphanage. But my favorite parts, and
what I think are truly the most manly, of manistry are the ones that may
not be the first things you think of when you think of manly.
Every
night after we've finished our hours of manual labor supervised by
celebrity Ron Roloff of TLC's Little People, Big World fame we eat
dinner with the girls who live at the orphanages. These are girls from
about the ages of 5-13 who were deemed high-risk for falling into sex
trafficking. We eat with them, and we try our best to converse with them
- they learn a little English, I try to learn a little Thai. After
dinner we might help them a little with English homework, but best of
all we simply play. We sing, dance and laugh. We play games like Uno,
Thai paper, rock, scissors, Tigers and Cows, and we made one up last
night called Tunnel. We simply make a human tunnel, chant tunnel as the
girls walk under and then randomly drop the tunnel and trap them. Oh and
then they scream, laugh and beg to do it again. We also play a lot of
games where we actually have no idea what we're doing. Probably the
favorite though is simply chase, hug and tickle.
The girls love
to be hugged or picked up. They're orphans in an orphanage so they don't
have dads or brothers. This month we're the males in their life and
dang it we're going to shower them with love. Yeah some nights I'm
exhausted, but it's nearly impossible to deny their desire for love and
affection. So that's what we do as men: we love them. Two guys who could
combined probably crank out 1,000 pushups use those arms to play
pattycake, a guy with a tattoo covering his neck takes part in dance
routines, and an Army medic with two tours of Iraq under his belt used
to fire fights now taking part in massive tickle fights because that's what men of God do.
Last
weekend my team was off, so we came into the town. We did some good
touristy stuff and visited some markets and even got a real Thai massage
(1 hour-about $6), but Saturday night we joined the two girl teams here
in Chiang Mai and hit the bars. Prostitution is obviously a huge issue
in Thailand, and Chaing Mai is no exception. There's one main street
filled with bars which is where the men and women do business, so me and
six other guys spent our night there. There's a physical heaviness you
can feel as soon as you enter the street so for the first hour we simply
walked the street several times praying out loud for the place and the
people. We stopped outside a strip club for a while and all prayed
loudly - for freedom, for truth, for light, declaring God's perfection,
love and presence.
After this some of us started talking to the
girls. We were able to show them what real men look like. Real men don't
want to buy them for the night - they want to sit and talk to them and
show them real love. A teammate Justin and I talked to a woman named An
for about an hour - the first half solely about herself and her family
and the second part about God's love for her. She asked us once what we
did for fun like drinking or dancing, and I honestly told her there's
nothing I'd rather be doing than talking to her about her life. Tonight
we went back again and I watched Justin play connect 4 with a young girl
whose age I'd prefer not to know for at least an hour to keep her busy
from men who might want to buy her, to let her have fun for a change, to
show her someone cares about her. That's what men of God do.
The manistry gang and Papa Ron
Finally,
real men are open and vulnerable. We sit around as a group and share
our struggles. We shed our pride and admit our weaknesses. Real men sit
around a camp fire and share their stories about their pasts: the hurts
and the trials. You've made mistakes? That's okay, we're not going to
look down on you or judge you. We're going to help you through it. Then
men build up and encourage. They speak truth and life to other men. They
point out strengths and gifts and call them into bigger and greater
things.
So I'm less than two weeks into manistry, but I'm
already aware that Godly men don't always look like what the world says
real men look like. We don't care though. I'm excited to be a part of
this group of men - a group that realizes sometimes the most manly thing
you can do is laugh through a game of Connect Four, play patty cake, or
engage in a tickle fight.
Love it will not betray you
Dismay or enslave you, it will set you free
Be more like the man you were made to be
There is a design, an alignment, a cry
Of my heart to see,
The beauty of love as it was made to be.
A look at some of the fun we have in ministry: Papa Ron taking part in our blow dart game.
Quick logistical update. Internet in Africa is bad - that's not an update - it's just a fact so it's taken me a few days just to get enough Internet to get this posted. Hopefully I can get some better Internet in Asia and let you know all about last month in Tanzania - my favorite of the Race so far.
Today is our last day of debrief in Nairobi before we head off to Asia tomorrow. We're blessed to have this month as "manistry", so next month I'll be with 12 other men in Thailand serving and praising the Lord. I'm excited to see what this month has in store - I'm assuming a lot of wrestling and grunting, but hopefully a little more.
One other quick update: we changed teams yet again - seems like just yesterday I got this last one. I'm back to having a guy on my team and continuing an earlier theme from the Race I now have Kyle on my team, another Auburn graduate. Growth doesn't come without challenge, right? Our new team will start ministry together in a month in Cambodia when Kyle and I meet up with our girl teammates.
So that's my life. Prayers for safe travel and energy would be super appreciated. Also, it's now under 2 weeks until the finance deadline and I'm still sitting about $1,850 short of the amount needed to continue, so continue praying for that.
So I still don't know the exact date I'm arriving back home
yet, but making an arbitrary guess of May 1st that makes yesterday the halfway point of my
journey around the world. I really don't know what to think about that. On one
hand, this life has become so normal to me, and it feels like I've been doing
it forever. Europe seems like years ago. On the other hand, I can't believe I'm
nearly done with Africa. I feel like I arrived two weeks ago. Time crawls and
flies simultaneously.
Regardless of how long it feels like I've been here, I'm so
glad and blessed to be doing what I am. I absolutely love it, and I've
definitely had some incredible experiences and memories. There's really too
many to list, and I've talked about a lot of them already, so this blog is all
about things I've done or experienced for the first time on the World Race.
My thanks to everyone who has prayed for and supported me on
this journey and made these things possible. Words can't express how grateful I
am. I'm three weeks shy of the final support deadline and still about $1,800
short. I'm fully faithful God will provide and allow me to have even more
incredible experiences and memories from the 2nd half of this
journey. Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement. Enjoy a look at what
my life has been the last 5 months.
Obviously
I've traveled to many different places. I've been to Europe and Africa. In
order I've been to: the airport in Paris, Ukraine, journeyed in a train across
Moldova, Romania, Ireland, the Istanbul airport for probably about 20 minutes,
Kenya, Uganda, traveled through Kenya again, Tanzania, and Zanzibar. Yes,
Zanzibar isn't a real country, but as we learned it's apparently close enough to require passports to get in, resulting in another first - writing a request for entry without a
passport on a piece of computer paper. Luckily, we looked trustworthy I guess,
and we were in. Finally, I've been in the Black Sea, the Indian Ocean, Lake
Victoria, and the Nile River. I've also
traveled many different ways. I've driven a car from a right side driver's
seat on the left hand side of the road. I've ridden on a motorcycle - called
boda bodas and basically the taxis of Uganda…and they hold 3 people.
Exhilarating and terrifying. I've been in a bus that was forced to slow down to
allow a baboon family to cross the road. I've taken a 33 hour bus ride. I've
ridden local buses and trams where the number of people in them is over twice
the seating capacity - the team gets real close riding the local bus here in
Dar es Salaam. I've walked across an international border. I've slept in an
airport, and I even nearly flooded my first Air France flight. Luckily between
two attendants and myself we finally got the faucet to stop seconds before
overflowing. Oh, and on one flight I even got to make one fake landing attempt,
go back up and then upon landing only use half of the plane's wheels - the
pilot was so good he didn't need them all…yeah, that's it. I've got a little sick. I've had a staph infection, an amoeba, a fungus and a little
parasite called malaria…all in Africa. I've visited a doctor in every African
country. The good news is I'm going to have a killer immune system when I get
home. For some reason Mom took little comfort in that viewpoint. Seriously
though, God has really provided for me in these instances. Much praise to Him. I've
extended my fashion sense. I haven't cut my hair in 6 months, and I'm
currently wearing my hair in a ponytail. I also have discovered a fondness of
V-neck t-shirts, but not so much the mockery and awkward sunburns that come
with them.
Speaking of killer
fashion sense, check out my friend Steve looking very sharp in his new shirt.
Oh yeah and I wore a mustache for
a few days in Ireland. The ladies loved it.
I've also
expanded my diet. I've had shaormas - delicious burrito like dishes
containing French fries found often in Ukraine and Romania, Hobnobs - the
world's best biscuits (cookies), blood pudding and oddly enough Indian food all
in Ireland, a full glass of tea - Kenyan chai every morning at breakfast, all
over Africa I've had chapatti (basically a delicious African tortilla) and goat
meat - which has led me to floss regularly (another first) because it has built
in magnets for the gaps in your gums, and finally here in Tanzania I regularly
have glass bottled Mountain Dew - a gift from Heaven.
I've had
some new living experiences. I've spent a month sleeping in a tent, another month sleeping in a hammock,
and I've used a bucket to shower the last 3 months. I've done
some other random stuff that I can't find a category for. In Ireland I
climbed a mountain and watched a hurling match - a mix of rugby, soccer and
hockey. I watched a major sporting event - US World Cup game - on my computer
at a McDonald's in Ukraine. I got a tattoo of a leprechaun in Ireland…just
kidding…it was a pot of gold..but seriously, I didn't. Just making sure
you're still paying attention. Finally,
I've done a lot of growing and a lot of things for the Kingdom I never thought
I would do. I've preached multiple sermons. I've done street evangelism,
shared the Gospel with numerous atheists and Muslims, and just strolled into
African homes and told them God had a word for them, and I was there to deliver
it. I've shared visions from God with a group of 50 people and told a woman in
the hospital I was so impressed by her joy in the midst of challenge I wanted
her to pray for me (she did). I've taken part in an impromptu dance party
during worship services and been told I dance like a real African (greatest
compliment ever). I set an alarm to wake up early to sing praise songs alone in
my room. I've become a spiritual leader called and anointed to push and show
others how to come up higher because there's so much more to see.
So here I am, half way done with the greatest journey of my
life. It hasn't always been easy, it hasn't always been fun, but it's always
been worth it. The growth I've experienced in 5 months is more than I would
have experienced the rest of my life how I was living at home. I can't wait to
see what this list will look like after the 2nd half. I just know
I'm excited to see what I'm going to look like when this is all said and done,
and it's got nothing to do with my girl's hairstyle and creepy facial hair.
