I’ve only heard bits and pieces of her story. There is so much I do not know about her, but one thing I do know is that part of the reason we are here, in Kenya, is to love and encourage her. She still doesn’t know my name, but I’ll never forget hers. Her name is Milka, but we call her Mama.
I was the first one to see her, the first one to receive her smile and warm embrace. We’ve only known her for two weeks, but her house has become home. Her living room has become the place we have our quiet times, the place we eat meals and the place we come to recount the day. She has provided us with a resting place, a place to lay our heads at night and for 7 people who have been traveling the world for 7 months that means everything.
She gets worried when she does not see all 7 of us together. If one of us is missing from the living room she says, “I have 5 girls and only 1 boy. Where is my other boy?” We all laugh and explain where the other “child” is, but she is serious when she says, “I know that I have to count my 7 children before I go to sleep at night.”
Every night after the 7 of us meet to discuss the day, Alyssa goes down the hallway to Mama’s bedroom. From the living room all we can hear is Alyssa say, in her sweetest voice, “Mama…Mama, it’s time to pray.” Each night she comes in with a smile and each night we thank God for this sweet woman and ask that He continue to bless and protect her.
God continues to amaze me with the people He has brought into my life on this journey. They have taught me what it means to truly love and selflessly serve.
Here is a video of Mama (on the right) and her friend Josephine. They were gracious enough to help me make a birthday video for a friend.
We didn't really know what to expect. We hadn’t advertised the event at all, but Pastor didn’t seem worried. When we asked him about it, he just smiled and said, “Don’t worry, they will come.”
It was 9 am on Saturday. Alyssa, Vivian and I stocked up on bubbles, balloons and nail polish at the local grocery store and then headed to Ngei Primary School with Pastor Joseph. The three of us waited in the car as Pastor got out to inspect the area. It didn’t take long before three young boys spotted us and ran over to greet the “muzungus” (“white person” in Swahili). After a few minutes Pastor walked over, bent down to speak to the boys, rattled off some Swahili and finished with two magic words: “BOUNCY CASTLE.” The words barely left his lips before the boys took off, down the road, to the slums where they live. No doubt they were going to spread the word that there were muzungus with a bouncy castle in front of the school.
Our worries that no one would show up soon turned into worries of “holy cow, we do not have enough balloons for this” when over 100 kids flooded the school parking lot. We spent the day being human jungle gyms, face painters, manicurists, human air pumps and Bouncy Castle attendants. I think my whole team would agree that it has been one of our favorite days in Kenya so far.
New motto: If you have a bouncy castle, they will come.
We have been all over the place this month. Unlike previous months, our schedule has been different every day. We've visited
pagodas
orphanages
a home for blind people
youth groups
a theology class
a home for men struggling with addictions
a home for unwed mothers and their babies
a school
parks to meet the locals
coffee shops to talk with students
We've also taken time to peruse the city and get a small taste of what life in Vietnam is like. The photos and video (all material courtesy of my wonderful teammate Vivian) should give you a small glimpse at how Team Salt Shakers spent Month 6 in Vietnam.
Top and Left: A Sunday school class we visited in a province 2 hours from Ho Chi Minh City. By the time we left they were experts at Simon Says and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. Middle Right: A kids group that Vivian, Alyssa and I visited one night. They loved Vivian's rendition of Noah's Ark and suddenly became really engaged when cookies were offered as incentives to answer our questions about the story. Bottom Right: The school class we visited on our three day trip to a different province. The church provides a free school for kids in the area (up until the age of 6) who cannot afford to go to school. Don't think they get many foreigners around there so we were quite the spectacle.
Top: The home for men who are struggling with alcohol and drug addictions. We've joined with them in worship, we've prayed over them and we've encouraged them, but I think they've done more for us. Their joy is contagious and they are fervently seeking after the Lord. Middle: The Theology students! These future preachers, teachers and Kingdom bringers are awesome! We sang songs with them, shared testimonies, played soccer and laughed a lot. Bottom: The older Vietnamese women in this photo have amazing hearts. They minister to young, unwed mothers by showing them the love of Christ and providing them with a safe place to raise their babies.
Now for the non-ministry aspects of the month...
Top: A typical van ride with our team. Mouths open, arms wrapped around seats, heads down. It's how we travel. Bottom left: Brian showing our favorite and most dangerous form of transportation...the MOTO. Definitely not for the faint of heart. Bottom right: Canoes on the Mekong River. These ladies were no joke. This was bumper cars Vietnamese style.
Top left: Brian has eaten his weight in Frozen Yogurt this month. He even acquired a members card to Yogurt Space so he now receives a whopping 10% off each visit. Top right: Our beloved bread lady. She provided us with a baguette filled with egg, cheese and vegetables every morning for less than $1 Bottom left: The dreaded supermarket. Although it holds products that we hold dear such as milk, cereal and peanut butter, the chaos that goes on inside makes each trip an adventure. Bottom right: Smoothie Lady! She whipped up a delicious concoction of any fruit you would desire as long as you immediately sat down in a plastic chair when you arrived at her stand.
Month 7 begins in 4 days. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel to Malaysia!
*** With monthly donors and the checks that have been promised, I am so thankful to say that I am now fully funded! The rest of this blog was created by my highly talented Squad Leaders. Some of my squadmates are not fully funded and risk going home if they do not receive the support they need by April 1st. B Squad wouldn't be B Squad without these people so I hope you'll help send them to Africa!!
Love,
Chrissy
Disclaimer: If you choose to watch the video above, you are making the choice to open your heart and ask yourself, "What can I do to help?" This may require a little sacrifice and we have no way of keeping you accountable but we ask that you give generously.. Thank-you and Enjoy!
Half way has come and gone...
Adventures have been lived...
Relationships have given us purpose...
The Spirit has sent us for whirlwinds...
The Father has prepared the way for us...
Worship has left us undignified before God...
BUT...
WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!
This is a cry out for support!!!
B-Squad has stood together through so much and we know that we are to finish this journey together. Every member serves as a piece to the Kingdom Bringing, Life Altering, Spirit Breathing, Love Giving and Good News Preaching that this journey and our squad have to offer.
We have had the opportunity to play with toothless kids, witness miracles, see people come to know Jesus, help each other become closer in our own walks, offer our bodies to grueling physical labor, laugh with people we have come to love but the following people need your help to continue and finish the Race...
Read their blogs and choose to support and fight for them! The amount is how much they have left to raise.
Each month on the World Race looks different. Living situations, ministry contacts, food and culture all change as we jump from country to country. This is month 6 of my race. It was originally labeled as “Challenge: Asia” on our route because the country we would be visiting was designed to be unknown to us until a few weeks before we were to arrive. When it was revealed to us that we would be traveling to Vietnam, I knew that they got the “Challenge” part right. Vietnam is the first and only closed country that we will be visiting on our 11-month journey.
So far on the race, we’ve pretty much had complete freedom. We’ve had teams worship openly in markets, we’ve done street evangelism, we’ve led services in dumps and villages and we’ve had the opportunity to share with everyone we’ve met. This month our freedom has been slightly restricted. We have had to tone down our American tendency to jump right into things and, instead, sit back and wait for opportunities to reveal themselves. In a country where the majority of the people are earnestly seeking out chances to practice their English with foreigners it is a challenge to stay on the “safe” topics when all we want to do is share the most important thing in our lives with them.
We may not be able to freely share with everyone we meet, but we are doing our best to spread love here. Our walks around the park where we strike up conversations with locals, our morning spent selling flowers with youth on the street, our words of encouragement to the men fighting past drug and alcohol addictions and our lovely rendition of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” at an orphanage/nursing home may seem small to us, but I have to believe that these instances are being used to open peoples’ hearts to His love.
The team on a 2-day trip to a nearby province
(usually not a good thing to stand on the shadow)
Alyssa and I sporting the local hats on the Mekong River
It’s 9:45 pm on St. Patrick’s Day. I sit here, on the roof of our hotel, in the middle of Ho Chi Minh City. The sounds of people on the street and motorcycles passing below are slightly muffled by the music coming out of my computer’s speakers.
Rooftop worship. It’s funny because for the past 5 St. Patrick’s Days the word “rooftop” would have meant a rooftop bar and the only kind of worship I was doing was the worship of green beer.
Today has been a reminder of where God has brought me from and how He has changed my heart. This is not to say that St. Patrick’s Day was the only day of the year that I sinned or that throwing on some green clothes and doing a little celebrating is a bad thing. For me, today represents a different celebration. A celebration of the Father who never let me run too far before bringing me back to Him. I’ve been listening to a song that says, “You, and You alone, keep bringing me back home.”
He sought after me even when I was knowingly turning from Him. He continues to seek after me when I turn to worldly ways. He is faithful. He is always good. He deserves some rooftop worship so I’m going to return to that and leave you all with a song that I’ve had playing on repeat…
I would love to find the life timeline we were assigned to make in Elementary School. I'm sure at age 24 there would've been a stick figure picture of me and my "husband" standing in front of a cute little house with a white picket fence. Well, today is my 24th birthday and my timeline was WAY off. I've just ended the 5th month on the race and while there is no husband, house or picket fence in sight, I couldn't be happier. I know that this is where God wants me to be, and I can't wait to travel to Vietnam tomorrow to begin month 6.
While I especially miss my family and friends at home today, my new B Squad family has done their best to give me a birthday I'll never forget! I also lucked out in the fact that the whole squad is staying together in a hotel tonight before we leave for Vietnam, which means a bed, air conditioning and a hot shower! SCORE!
they've only been with me for two months and they already know the ways to my heart
sweet notes and cards
reeses (well, any chocolate really)
Coke and Dr. Pepper
a comfy bed
our translator, pastor and new BFF, Thyvenn, with a postcard he painted and gave me for my birthday
The only thing that could make this birthday away from home better is if you all could help me reach the Fully Funded mark. One more month until the last deadline and only $2,050 to go! Click the "Support Me" link on the left side of the page if you'd like to bless me on this day!
I’ve been asking God to challenge me, to change me. I’ve wanted to come to the place where I am forced to depend on the Lord and not on my own abilities. Well, God has responded to my request.
He is conforming me each morning when I wake up sticky from sweat and with back pain from sleeping on the floor. He is conforming me when no amount of bug spray seems to fend off the mosquitoes. He is conforming me when the only option for a shower is a bucket of not so clear water. God is putting me in situations where my only options are to be miserable or to look to Him for strength and joy.
Most of all, He is conforming me when I visit the 3 villages that we refer to as the Flood Village, the Dump Village and the Rock Village. As soon as I enter these places, my sense of living uncomfortably is put in check. My American grip on rights and expectations are left on the street, and I walk humbly down the dirt paths that lead to places unlike I’ve ever experienced.
When I enter these villages, God calls me to step into the villagers’ shoes and with that the hard questions come. Would I be as faithful to Him if I had been born into these villages? Would I find rest in Him if I were elbow deep in trash searching for material that would only earn me a dollar? Would I find joy in the day-to-day struggle to provide for my family? Would I find joy in the battle?
As I sit here, on our day off, in an air conditioned restaurant with wifi and a stomach overstuffed with food, I realize that God still has a ways to go with me. BUT He won’t give up on me or any of the people we have met in the villages. He is protecting us, He is shaping us and He is the reason that there is joy in the battle.
Brett showing us how high the water rises during rainy season at the Flood Village
A little girl at the Flood Village
The Dump Village
A family in their house at the Dump Village
One of the Rock Village kids (photo: Laura Gamble)
Helping to prepare a meal for the Rock Village families (photo: Laura Gamble)
Four month Squad Debrief meant a lot of things. It meant processing the first four months of the race, saying goodbye to the old Squad Leaders and initiating the new and four days of acting like tourists in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
My unofficial “to-do” list was comprised of taking full advantage of the hotel and its amenities, visiting Angkor Wat and spending time with the squad. While I accomplished each of those things, God also took my mini-vacation and turned it into another opportunity to show me how blessed I am to have Him as a Father.
Two conversations. Two men. Two identical answers.
Our statement and question: “Yes, we believe in Jesus. What do you believe in?”
The answer: “I believe in myself.”
It was the second time in two days that I had heard those exact words in response to our question. First from James, the Khmer fish tank massage man, and then from Mr. Hong, the Khmer tuk tuk driver. They were two unrelated and unconnected men. They had two very different stories, yet they had the exact same answer to this open-ended question.
While Buddhism is the main religion in Cambodia, in reality most people are just worshipping themselves. After hearing James and Mr. Hong speak about how they find their hope in working hard and making money, all I could think was how thankful I am that I have more to believe in than myself. How I’d be in real trouble if all I had was what my two hands could provide. How limited I would be if I had to live solely on my own strength. How a lot of times what keeps me going is knowing that Jesus is there guiding me. How I don't have to have a plan because He has already made the perfect one for me.
James asked if believing in God meant that he could ask God for a million dollars and He would give it to him. He also asked if he were on a sinking ship could God save him. Our response to both was, “if it’s His will.” God isn't about pleasing us. God is ultimately about God. It’s through worshipping him that He leads us to joy and freedom. God saves. God saved us when he sacrificed His Son for us. God saves us when we realize that He is offering us the keys to the Kingdom. God continues to save us each day when we seek Him and not ourselves.
I love that what began as three women on an unknown adventure ended with buying food for two kids and sharing Jesus with a man who works at a fish massage tank. I love that what began as 4 friends on a tuk tuk ride to Angkor Wat ended at a Mexican restaurant where we had lunch and a conversation about Jesus with our tuk tuk driver. I love the way God teaches me when I least expect it. I love how even when I technically have “days off” from ministry that God still ministers through and to me.
Prayer. It’s a word I’ve heard all my life. It’s an action I began doing at a young age. It’s what I did in the morning, before I went to sleep and whenever I wanted something. It quickly became part of a “Christian Checklist” instead of a daily delight.
One of our first days in Phitsanulok, our team went on a prayer walk around the city. It was the first time I’ve ever been in a place where Christianity is the minority religion. I was shocked by the amount of statues and idols placed around the city and even more so at the sight of people approaching them to kneel, pray and give offerings. It's hard to see such a beautiful group of people giving their hearts, time and obedience to statues.
It's moments like these, where the situation seems hopeless when my mind asks the question, "why do we pray?" If God is so big and has power to do anything then why does he need me to pray? The simple answer is that He doesn't need me to, but He asks me to. God has designed it so His will can be accomplished through the prayers of the saints. I recently listened to a sermon that presented God as an interactive God, not just a declarative God. My mind is totally blown at the realization that there are events and situations where God has invited us to turn his hand.
Isaiah 30:18-19 “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him.”
Our ministry contact, Taa, is a man deeply rooted in prayer. Each morning he has us gather together to worship the Lord through song and prayer and each morning our prayers are focused on different things. We've prayed for the youth in Thailand, the churches here, the believers, the non-believers and for our time in Phitsanulok. There is something so powerful about standing in a room of believers and all lifting your voices together in a united prayer, especially when you know God is smiling at the sound of it.
This month, God has turned on my heart for prayer. He has opened my eyes to people who pray to false gods, He has taught me about discipline versus delight and He has stopped me throughout the day and called me to pray. My prayers won’t end when we leave Thailand or even when we leave Asia. God doesn’t call us to have seasons of prayer. He wants us to consistently and constantly come before Him. Unlike earthly fathers, He delights in being pestered and prodded with our questions, concerns and requests. We have to come boldly, we have to plead with him and trust that he is accomplishing things beyond our understanding.
Luke 18: 7-8 “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.”
1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
