Michelle Thompson - The World Race 2008

And We Walked

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

   After leaving Thailand, half of the squad went to Hong Kong, while the other half and I went to Vietnam. As senior World Racers we have learned to settle into and adapt to new places rather quickly, so Vietnam felt like home within a couple of days of arriving. My first impression was complete sensory overload. There was TONS of traffic, which creates a lot of noise, motion and some pretty interesting smells of pollution.   However, shortly after arrival the constant overload became natural. Walking into the street with 20 or so motorbikes zooming at you was perfectly normal as you would otherwise never make it across the street. As Matt (who had gone ahead to Vietnam with the July squad) said "just walk. Don't stop. They can dodge you. In fact they are really good at it. It is when you start to dodge them that they don't know what to do and then you have problems."  So you just step off the curb in faith and move at a slow and steady pace and let traffic go around you...new concept but I can handel that.

      The people in Vietnam as so incredibly friendly. They are helpful and considerate, and most speak at least some English. It was refreshing to be with people who genuinely care about you, and are interested in who you are what you are doing. Unfortunately because it is a communist country we could not share openly what we were doing in their country. There were also many government spies around who try to get us to say that we are missionaries. Christianity is a real threat to communism and the power it holds over people so they do not like Christians. There is an open church in Vietnam, to make their country look good to foriegners, but every person is recorded by the government, as is every activity. Each time we did any volunteering at a government centre it was recorded by the government. It was difficult to know what to share and with who. It is hard to catch someone by their words, and in Ho Chi Minh City where the open church is well attended there is a smaller risk of something happening (jail time or deportation) than in the countryside.

      We participated in many ministries in Vietnam. We went to centres, hospitals and schools for children with cerebral palsy among other disabilities, we went to an elderly ladies home to make jewellery with them, and we also did a college ministry with students our age, inviting them to a Christian coffee shop to help them learn English and to possibly share God's love with them. Each of these opportunities was incredible in it's own way. Over the next couple of blogs I will share with you some of the things I learned at each of the different ministries.

      While in Ho Chi Minh we got to visit the Presidential Palace, the War Museum and the Cu Chi tunnels. At the Palace we saw the central command system for South Vietnam during the war. We saw where the president lived, and where he made crucial decisions. At the War Museum we learned so much about the war but ot was hard to stomach, as there were many graphic photos. At the Cu Chi tunnels we learned more about the guriella warfare, and the countryside farmers battle. We got to crawl around in some replica tunnels that were tiny for us, but were actually replicated larger so that sliding on your stomach was not the only option for movement.

We made some good friends in Vietnam. A couple of our translators became good friends. Fuga and Hannah were so sweet, wonderful and helpful to us the whole time we were in Vietnam. They are Christians, filled with a passion to serve God. Often they would come to dinner with us or the market just to hang out, not to "translate" anything. It was hard to leave them but we know that someday we will meet again.

Now we have arrived in Cambodia. For this first week here we are having a sort of debrief, relax time. We are in Siem Reap, and at some point this week we will be going to Angkor Wat, one of the ancient wonders of the world. It is an ancient temple- the one used to film Tomb Raider. On Thursday or Friday we will likely be headed back to Phenom Penh to begin ministry for 2 weeks. As things go on the race our plans have changed, and so we aren't exactly sure what we will be doing for ministry, but it is our last country and so we are all looking forward to whatever God has in store for us as we finish this part of His calling on our lives. After the ministry we will be headed back to Thailand for final debrief (it's hard to believe our LAST debrief is so soon). After that many will be headed home on Nov. 21, however a few of us will continue on travelling for 2 more weeks in the Middle East. We have walked AS our Saviour has walked and we want to walk WHERE our Saviour walked. It will be a beautiful end to a beautiful year.

Thank you all for your prayers. I am looking forward to seeing you in less than two months! Love you all!

ministry in vietnam

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The ministries in Vietnam varied widely. We got to be with people from 13 days old to 92 years old. One day I went to a centre where we were able to hold and feed infants. They were so cute (for pictures check out Rubie's blog). Their hair stuck up in all directions and they all smiled when you picked them up. I got to hold quite a few of them, and I fed 1 from a bottle. Whenever you placed them back into their cribs they would cry. They are so starved for love, they want to soak it all in while they can. It was so much fun to be with them for a couple of hours, but leaving them in the cribs was heartbreaking. There are many cribs in the room, each with a child that has some disability or another. One had 6 fingers on his right hand. Another had water on the brain. Each child had their own special struggles, and all were left to live in this centre. While the nurses do their best to keep up with the babies needs, there are just too many kids and not enough staff to give them all the special love and attention they need. Any baby in that room would capture the heart of all who walk in.

In other areas of the centre there were children of different ages. There was a whole room with toddlers with HUGE heads due to the water on their brain. Some also have other problems such as fingers grown together, and breathing problems. Again, each of these children cry when you put them back into their cribs, but the smiles you get when you pick them up is uncomparable. In another area there are older children who are able to run and play. They have disabilities that are less severe than the smaller babies. With the oldest kids we were able to play clapping games, and even have short conversations in English. This centre was a really good place to go and spread God's love with the children, and even the staff who grin at you the whole time as well.

      On two occassions I went to a school nearby to the hotel we were staying in. It was a government run school, a part of the Vietnamese education system. It was a special school for children with learning disabilities, and some physical disabilities. At this school the kids learned many things- including math and language. We were able to sing songs in each class, and meet each of the children. One of the smaller kids was our favorite. He was so cute, and loved to play with you. He loved to blow kisses, and give thumbs up. His smile was beautiful. Unfortunately, after visiting twice the government decided they did not want us to go there anymore. They did not like us volunteering in a place that was not for charity. The teachers there all showed a great deal of patience. They smiled at us, and encouraged the kids to sing songs for us as well. They participated in the hokey pokey, and seemed to enjoy our visits.


      A couple of mornings we all visited universities. We went to chat with students, and eventually invite them to the coffee shop where we could talk more freely. Most of the students were thrilled at the chance to practice English. They lined up to talk with us and try out their conversational skills. A few evenings a week we would go to a Christian coffee shop to speak with students there and help with English. Here we were able to build relationships with students our own age, and become friends with them. I really enjoyed these nights, getting to be a part of a different culture in a way we previously hadn't been. One of our nights there we had a games night. We played many different games, and enjoyed the company of the Vietnamese youth. It was Mark's birthday and he was lucky enough to have Happy Birthday sang to him in 6 different languages by native singers.

      We also participated with a weekly activity that the students at the coffee shop do. Each week they go to an elderly woman's home to make jewellery with them. It is a fun activity for the women and they are able to sell the jewellery to make some money for the home. It was really sad to see the conditions these elderly people were living in. They slept on concrete beds, with only a grass mat on them. However, the women seemed joyful enough and although they did not speak English we were able to joke around and help them with the jewellery that they had difficulties with.

Overall Vietnam's ministries were an enjoyable experience. We built some real relationships, loved the forgotten, and learned from all those around us. Everyone was welcoming and I really enjoyed waking up and being able to meet with these people.

The Whole World...

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Here is another video from the Thailand series. There will be one more and then I will fill ya'll in on what happened in Vietnam.Thank you all for your support and prayers. We are beginning our last month of ministry on the Race so please pray that we will all end strong and united.

P.S. I really love reading all your comments so please post them.

Tears of Joy...

Thu, 2 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

We started this month with tears of pain and heartache and finish it with tears of JOY!

Monday was our last ministry day in Thailand, the one that many of ya'll have been praying for. And wow were your prayers felt, heard and answered. We took two of the bar girls, Kung and Gifzy to visit The Well. The Well is the ministry we have been working with during our time in Thailand that takes girls out of the bar scene, gives them jobs, an alternative to making money, they teach them English, life skills, and about Jesus.

It was so awesome hanging out with the girls outside of the bar scene. I love them so so much!!! It was great to take them there, seeing the excitement, joy and huge smiles that lit up their faces. They sat and talked with some of the workers there, heard a story of one of the girls asked questions. I could see from the moment they got there that God was there, in those moments and something inside of them was stirring.

After taking them to Center 1 where they saw the Jewelry Making, we briefly stopped to show them the place where they learn and do Sewing then went to Center 2 where they make Stationary and Journals. We sat outside beside a yard of green grass which is a rare find in the city of Bangkok. I just know this really will be their home someday.

aswe waited for a taxi they told us... they were going to leave the bars in one month (due to lease and apartment finances). WOW! I am so EXCITED!!! And truly on the brink of tears! Gifzy made her fingers like scissors and laughed and smiled as she said "I want to learn to cut!" and Kung wants to learn to sew. They both desire to learn more English and there is no doubt in my mind they will meet the man of their dreams-Jesus when they move there too!

Later that night we visited them for the last time at the bar, knowing the next time we pass through Bangkok they will no longer live there because they will be living at The Well! On the hour bus ride there I was so sad that we were about to say goodbye to them. When we got off the bus Becky shared with us that the Lord had told her that this was to be a night of celebration...and it was.

(((last night at the bar with the girlsKUNG, BECKY, GIFZY, MICHELLENATALIE and RACHEL celebrating!)))

As I write this I fight back tears of joy of the beautiful, perfect fairytale the Lord has written this month!

I thank you all and praise the Lord for your prayers and support!

Please continue to pray: -protection over Kung and Gifzy during their last month working in the bars.

- he Lord continues to stir up a desire inside of them,

-and continues to stir up that desire for them to get out so that really they are at The Well the next time we visit them in November.

PS. LAST NIGHT WE MADE IT SAFELY HERE TO VIET NAM!!!

Closing Time...

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

TEAM G.A.T.O

((Going After The One))

We have been called here to Bangkok to reclaim what the enemy has taken over. And that is exactly what the Lord has been doing through us. We have spent a lot of time bonding with two girls in particular since we have been here. I still remember the first night we spent with them. That night we asked the Lord for just one girl to be brought out of prostitution during our time here. While we did some prayer walking we felt the Lord speaking strongly to Go After the One, and that's what we did, but it looks as though He's sent us on a mission chasing after and fighting for two of His precious children.

It has been such a tremendous blessing to be here working with and simply lovin' on the bar girls. I feel as though we have become such close friends with them and now, more than ever, there is a passion and strong desire burning inside of us to get them out! Our hearts are overflowing with so much love for them.

This week we spent time bonding with the girls, laughing together as we ate live shrimp, grasshoppers, crickets, and grub together. Tonight we took pictures with us to introduce them to our families which they totally loved. Afterwards we shared with them a video Tom, a girl from The Well who used to work in the bars and now loves Jesus. We prayed as the girls watched her share her story. Words cannot describe the beauty of tonight. Their eyes watered and you could tell God is stirring something inside of these two girls.

Tonight while the girls watched the video, I had this beautiful vision. I saw a vision of us ((team G.A.T.O)) with wind blowing through our hair, standing at the gates of Hell. Then we did a karate kick breaking down the gate. We stood there with our hands on our hips saying... "We came to take back what you stole from us!!!"

So this is it, we only have two more nights working with these girls. On Monday they are going to come with us to The Well to check it out, talk with Tom and some of the other girls there. This is huge and so exciting for us!!! We have seen God work in incredible ways, using us to bring Kingdom this entire year and continue to pray His glory will shine through especially these next few days.

We write to you sharing our hearts for these girls, for this ministry and for the praising the Lord is doing here through us. We cannot fight this battle alone and so desperately ask that everyone saturates us, this ministry and especially the two girls in prayer especially these next five days. So we beg you to partner with us in prayer, fasting if the Lord leads you to that. Please help us fight on the front lines for Jesus. There's so much love inside us, it would be a shame if we could not spend eternity with these girls. Please please please pray!!!!

Pray: The Lord continues to speak to their hearts and stir up a desire for them to get out.

He will protect them as they are in they are still in the bar.

He will annoint our words and time spent with them.

For protection of what the Lord has already done through our time with them.

....and of course however else you feel led.

THANK YOU SO SO MUCH FOR BEING OUR PRAYER WARRIORS!!

much love.

Spiritual Gift of Teaching???

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I don't know if I have the spiritual gift of teaching, like this video may suggest, but I had such a good time with the kids in Burirum this past week. We played games and practiced the alphabet, numbers and directions like up down right and left. The kids were more into singing songs and playing games of course so we did a lot of that. They loved races and games that were boys against girls. I got 'em all wound up and then gave them back to their teachers. Here is a video clip that will show you a little more about out week. I love you all. Thank you for praying for me!

The Well

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The ministry organization that we have been working with here in Bangkok is called The Well. This is a little bit about what we have been doing during the day:) If you haven't seen the first part of this video series please go to Going After The One...G.A.T.O to get the full story.

Tonight, we get on a bus and head to Burirum... a 'feeder city' for the red light district of Bangkok. Its a place where many girls who now find themselves in the bars, spent their childhood. Over the next 5 days, we will have the opportunity to be like that one teacher you had that impacted you to strive for greater things, and to push yourself to be better than the world's expectations. We'll be hanging out with the kids in the schools, teaching English, and bringing hope to families who think that prostitution of their daughters is the only way to put food on the table.
Please, keep us in your prayers, and I'll update you when we get back!

Going After The One...G.A.T.O

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Bar ministry in Thailand is the ministry I have been looking forward to all year. Since we started ministry we have walked in some of the darkest places with some of the heaviest spirits I have ever experienced. When you walk in these places the atmosphere is so heavy that you almost can't breath. My heart breaks for all the women and men in those places. I originally thought that I would be so angry at the men but it's almost just as sad to see them there as it is to see all the beautiful young daughters of Christ selling themselves.
Men walk around with their left hand in their pocket to hide their wedding ring while holding the hand of young Thai women who stares at the ground as she walks slightly behind them on their way to wherever he paid to take her. Heartbreaking...
Here is a glimpse of what we have seen.

Please vote now!

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

As a part of our CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION we had a door decorating contest.
We need YOU, (our friends!) to vote for the winner!
So here are the entries.

PLEASE VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE!

deadline for voting is: SUNDAY AUGUST 31

one vote per blog site!

have fun! :) hah.

door #1

door #2

door #3

door #4

and door #5

vote now! thanksssssss!

What happened next....

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I must update you on what has been going on with Nana and Nani at the Leper colony but I was not there the day that all this happened. I chose to play with the orphans that day. But Becky Miller has an account of what happened next and here is the story in her words. For the first part of this story please see "A Sad Day at the Leper Colony"

All weekend long we looked forward to going back to see Nana. To see if his swallen arm was in the process of being healed, just anxious to see what work the Lord was doing in Him....perhaps a healing. You know, the Lord can do pretty amazing thing. On our car ride there we talked about how we could not wait to see him. It was Matt's first day coming with us and I remember specifically telling him I could not wait for him to meet this man! Little did we think this would be a day at the leper colony we'd not likely forget.

After an hour traveling the crazy roads of Inida, we arrived and walked down the main street, but something did not feel right. The streets were more crowded than normal and there was Nani (meaning Grandma; Nana's wife). It briefly crossed my mind the fact that it was weird she was not by her husband's side. We talked with Nani asking her how her husband was doing, or attempting to do so again due to the language barrier. She guesturred something that gave me an uneasy feeling, thinking of what seemed to be the impossible.

We followed her between the rows of homes on a little brick sidewalk to her home. She pulled back the black cloth functioning as the door, and nothing. Nana no longer sat there on the floor in the dark little cement room. We felt her pain as she burst into tears. There were no words to say, just a widow before us in pain in desperate need of love and something more. Weeping together, Tammy and Caroline embraced her as Matt and I stood back in disbelief and sadness.

She soon invited us in to sit, mourn and love on her. Nani guesstured at her arm, trying to tell us that his arm just kept getting bigger and bigger. Sad. For awhile then we sat in silence, mourning with her with tears running down our cheeks and broken hearts. I sat in the same place I did the other day when Nana was there looking where he sat, but he wasn't there. I picture that day like it was yesterday. I really missed him and wondered if he ever met Jesus, and loved him. Breaking the silence of quiet prayer and mourning, we began to sing her a song (Holy Spirit Rain Down) and with that I felt such a sense of peace accompanied by the comfort of the Holy Spirit. It was totally THE MINISTRY OF PRESCENSE. (matt's blog).

Our friend, Sunita (aka my fav person from India! :)) stopped by a little bit later. She speaks English so was able to get us a little more information. She explained his conditions...he suffered. His arm swelled up even bigger than before and he literally had holes of his skin eaten away on his bottom. Nana had died on Friday, one day after we had seen him. The funeral process and final goodbyes had taken place over the weekend.

There is always joy to find in difficult situations and was searching for it. I talked with someone from home who reminded me how much of it was a blessing it was that we were able to spend time with Nana during his last week and finally, on his last day of life on this earth. From that as well, I realized that it is a blessing in my life to have met him and spend time with him. It comforts me to think Nana got a taste, maybe even a glimpse of the love and image of Christ in the times we sat with him.

The Lord knew. He had these moments planned from the beginning of time. No doubt, he worked through us in his unbelievable ways. How? I have no idea. He works in ways we cannot see. I do not know where Nana's heart was or even where Nani's heart is, but what I do know is they have experienced first hand, the love of Jesus Christ through us. I praise God he chose us to, on earth, in human form, be his angels to visit His lost, suffering, and now, mourning children.

Sad Day at the Lepor Colony

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

They call him grandpa and today my heart broke for this man. It was just another day at the lepor colony....

A few days ago we sat with this man who is suffering from leporsy. I did not stay long with him that day, but today when we went back my heart hurt for him like never before.

We sat there with him and his wife in their dark cemented one room home. His wife sat faithfully by his side, in shock due to the recent death of thier only son in an accident and now she is losing her husband. Hopeless. Nana (that means grandpa in Hindi) was hunched over there on the floor...wearing just a cloth around his waist that hid his weak and skiny legs. The rest of his body was fragile and bony, his arm was swallon and bubbled up with an infected sore, missing fingers on one hand, his hair, long white and stragly with a beard to match. It broke my heart to look at his wrinkly face into his dark brown eyes.

As I looked deep into his teary eyes I saw suffering, pain and emptiness. It was like he has nothing to live for, a life of hopelessness and time of waiting to die. I never felt so helpless in my life. We could not do anything to ease the pain, we could not even tell them about Jesus because we speak different languages. I looked deeper and deeper into those eyes, still searching for something more but all I saw was an empty, hopeless, hurting spirit that longs for something more! I wanted to cry as we prayed and prayed, but no emotions came until now as I sit and write this. We prayed Jesus heal him, help him, take away the pain, let us share your love with him. I don't even know....anything!

Although I saw hopelessness and emptiness in his eyes, I felt as though I was looking into the eyes of Jesus. His eyes were filled with love despite the pain and suffering reminding me of the greatest sacrifice on Earth...God sending His only son to save us all from our sins... A gloriously painful image of Nana that shows me Jesus. Man! I wish I had a picture of Him so you could see how beautiful this man is, made in the image of God!

I don't know what else to say, it hurts me to see people living a life of hopelessness. Jesus loves them both so much, the great healer, comforter and Almighty. My God is bigger than Leporsy and the pain that comes with it! How to pray for something like this I have no idea, I do not understand his ways, or how he wants to use us there, but I pray they can see Jesus in our smiles, hear Him in our voice and laughter, and experience His love just by us sitting by his side rubbing his back and holding his hand. I pray the Holy Spirit can supernaturally come and minister to his empty broken spirit! That our words of Jesus will be heard and understood to them in their langauge!

Why is there so much suffering and hurt in the world? Do they know who my God is, do they know Jesus!? Suffering when you know Jesus changes everything. Yes, it still hurts your flesh and is painful, but to know you are suffering for the sake of Jesus and living for an eternal purpose changes everything. He will never leave you, nor forsake you! Put your hope, trust and faith in the Lord. Plant your roots deep into the soil of the eternal hope we have in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior! He never intended it to be this way. Our God is good. He always loves, he hurts when we hurt and works in so many ways we cannot see!

Lord! How do you want to use us!? We are pleading on behalf of Nana and his wife! I trust Lord you are working in miraculous ways specifically the one of salvation! :) Use us however you wish so that one day Nana may walk, run, laugh and smile with us for eternity on the golden streets of Heaven.

The Road to South Africa....

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

After our time in Northern Malawi we headed to southern Malawi to meet up with another team and make the trip down through Mozambique back to South Africa so we could finalize our Indian visas and make our way to India. The plan was to drive non-stop for two days and hopefully make it to Johannesburg on the morning of the third day.

After about 18 hours of driving the engine just stopped while we were driving so we pulled over to check everything out and there was no visible sign that we could see that anything was wrong...all the fluids were good so we waited about half an hour and then the car started right up again. Phew.....thought we were going to be stranded on the side of the road in Mozambique...that doesn't sound like fun.

About an hour later the engine stopped again...'this is not good' I thought. And it wasn't...It was about midnight thirty or so and our truck wasn't going anywhere. We made a few phone calls the guys checked under the hood to see if we could figure out what the problem was. No luck. So we saw some lights in the distance and praise the Lord we were at the top of the hill so we decided to push it to town. We got it rolling and took a running leap inside as the car rolled down the hill. We pushed it over a long bridge to a highway check point just after the bridge.

One of the officers working the checkpoint escorted Kelton and Caroline to the village mechanic's house. At this time it's about 2:00A.M.. They woke up the 'village mechanic' and told him our dilemma and he said he would be there to help us at 5:00am.

At about 6:00A.M our Mechanic showed up...that's approximately 5:00AM Africa time. We pushed our truck over to his shop and he took it apart in about an hour. Of course you know how it goes when you get your car fixed...it starts out with a gasket and then your replacing the whole engine...so I guess we blew a few gaskets and wrecked a few pistons and maybe something else I don't know but basically the whole engine needed to be replaced.

We had been in contact with the people that let us borrow the car and they contacted one of their ministry partners in Mozambique and asked him to come pick us up so we didn't have to sleep on the side of the road in the car again. Someone had to stay with the car and the brave men Kelton and Matt said they would do the job. So Jaco came to our rescue and took all the girls to a camp site where another AIM team was having a little retreat. It just happened to be right on the coast and we got to play on the beach and go swimming in the Indian Ocean. Don't tell the boys that though....they had to sit with the car all day and sleep in the car that night.. shhhhh....

That 'Real Life Team' that was already there took us in and cooked us dinner and we got cleaned up and got a good night sleep.

We eventually got the whole car thing taken care of and made it back in time to go to the 'Brown Sugar', a backpackers hostel, where our team was going to stay while we waited for our India visas. That wasn't the end of the chaos though. That night at the Brown Sugar is one that I will surly never forget.....check out "Held up" coming soon...

Held Up....

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

It was really like something out a of a movie, the kind of movie that I hate to watch. We were staying in the dorm room section of the backpackers hostel called 'Brown Sugar' .
I left the room to go to the bar area to find one of the other girls from my team because I told her that I would have tea with her that evening. As I was walking through the door that lead to the bar area someone wearing a 'security' vest grabbed my arm and pulled me through the door and as I turned around to look at him and see what was going on he cocked his gun and said 'I am robber' and then he put his gun in my back and pushed me into the other room and told me to get down on the floor.

He announced to the whole room " I am robber, get down on the floor, everybody get down" so everyone laid down on the floor. At that time I couldn't tell how many of them there were. I only heard three voices in that room and at that time I didn't know that there were three other guys in the dorm room. All I could do was pray for everyone that was there and I wished I could go back to the dorm room and warn the people who were in there. This kind of stuff happens all the time in South Africa, I was so afraid that someone was going to get hurt or worse. I felt helpless, all I could do is put it in the Lords hands.

One of they guys came up to me with a gun and took my purse and my sunglasses and the ring I had on my finger and told me to lay down or he would 'shoot me dead' and he kept saying that to everyone. "lay down or I shoot you dead" "shut up or I shoot you dead".

They have a dog at the hostel that lives there and she was barking and growling they kept telling her to get back. They never shot the dog and that made me feel better. I heard each one of them cock their guns though so I wasn't sure what to think. After we heard then drive off one of the guys from my team got up to make sure they were really gone so we could all get up safely and we ran back to the dorm to see if everyone in there was alright. There were mostly girls in that room and that is where the more scary guys were.

We all cried and comforted eachother and tried to call home.

Some people lost ALL of thier stuff, clothes, underwear, thermarest, sleepingbag, shampoo, camras, laptops, cell phones, watches. Thank God it was only stuff......

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Every heard of Christmas in July?!? Here we are going to celebrate Christmas in India in August!! Follow along to see how our squad celebrates Jesus' birthday!!!

Malawi Part 2

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Well I know this blog is a little over due to say the least but so much has been going on that I just didn't have time to put it all into words.

For the second part of Malawi we headed north to a village called Nkhotkota and we worked with an organization called HIM (Harvesters International Ministries). We did door to door evangelism in Muslim communities and we showed 'The Jesus Film' successfully 3 times with an attempt at 5 times. The people in these villages are so hungry for the Jesus.

There is a strong Muslim presence in Malawi and it is really heavy in Northern Malawi. It started back in the beginning of slave trade. Arab people came to Malawi, lets just say a long long time ago, and they would go into the little villages and give the people a choice. Either become Muslim or become a slave so the mosques started going up right and left.

While we were there we learned a lot about ministering to the Muslim community. We worked with a pastor named Eddie who grew up in a Muslim family and was being trained to be a Muslim leader when the Lord got a hold of his heart. Now he is an amazing man of God. Because he grew up in a Muslim family we had the opportunity to meet some of the Muslim leaders in the community because Eddie was related to them. We had a chance to ask questions and even pray over one of the leaders in their community.

We attended many church services while we were there and we saw 3 people baptized and over 50 people receive Christ.

Off To India...

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Our time in Africa has come to an end and we are off to India! I have so many stories to tell you and I will post them very soon. In India we well be working with an orpahanage and a leper colony. Please pray for our safety as we enter a new leg of our journey. I will have more updates soon! Thank you all for your prayers!

Magowi

Thu, 3 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

For the past three weeks we have been in a little village called Magowi in the southern part of Malawi. So much has happened in the last three weeks I don't even know where to begin.

Pastor Dunkin was our Pastor and he is also the Director of the high school in Magowi. Him and his family welcomed us into their home and took very good care of us. They were so welcoming and such a blessing to live with for three weeks. While we were with them we were invited to teach Conversational English to a couple of the classes and we made ourselves available if any of the students wanted to ask questions or just practice speaking English.

Pastor Duncan also arranged a conference for the pastors in the area and each of us had the opportunity to speak to them about what the Lord had been teaching us and share a bit of our testimony with them. That was something that was really hard for me. I am not a huge fan of public speaking. But I got up there twice and said what I thought I needed to say. I get so nervous that I don't remember anything that I said afterwards but I think it went well. It will be ok if I don't have to do that again for a while though.

After the last church service that we were going to be able to attend there were a few people that asked us to pray for them before we left. They all had different physical ailments and they all got healed when we prayed for them!!! One of them was an older man and he was having pain in one of his legs and he said that first it was one leg and then the other and the Lord revealed to Meredith that it was a problem with his back and that was making his leg hurt so we prayed for his back and his leg and when he stood up he said all the pain was gone!!! That's the first time I have been there when the Lord has healed someone instantly.

We also had the opportunity to teach at the student Bible study / Youth Group on Wednesday and Saturday nights. The students there had a lot of good questions about talking to God and the power of the Holy Spirit and it was really fun to see them get excited about that. Our team had the opportunity to bless them with Bibles for the school library. When we got there they only had the New Testament in English so the Lord made it possible to bless them with Bibles in Chichewa and English. Now they can read the word of God in their own language and they have the Old Testament available.

We are moving on to our next ministry sight now and we will still be in Malawi for the next two weeks or so but I do not know what we will be doing yet so I will keep you posted.

Welcome to Malawi...

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Well, after a lot of prayer and a few extra long days in the car, the Lord has brought us to Malawi. We are the first World Race team to come to Malawi and we are hoping to establish a contact here with a local orphanage and help them with only the Lord knows what. After however many days we end up staying in Malawi we will head down through Mozambique to meet up with an organization called "His Ministries". I don't know what that hold either. Please pray that we would be in tune with the Lords voice as we continue our ask the Lord trip to different countries in Africa.

Update

Sat, 7 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I am sorry that it has been so long since I have updated everyone. We have been in Africa for about 6 weeks now and my team was in Botswana for the first month working with Fly Missions. We visited orphan feeding programs and put our painting skills to work again in an apartment. That month was about building unity in our team and learning about our spiritual gifts.

Unity was something that we had to work on every day. Where we were staying there were two little plastic kids tables with 6 tiniy little chairs and at the end of every day we would sit down for dinner at the tiny tike's table and talk about the things that annoyed us or frustrated us about that days events. Sometimes we just needed to establish our team norms like; when your done with your dishes wash them and don't leave hair in the bathtub. So we've started becoming a family and we are starting to prefer each other.

Twards mid month in Botswana we started to pray about going to Zimbabwe. Several members of our team have heard from the Lord that we are supposed to go there we just didn't know what time. We had a contact and almost everything set up but not enough set up to enter the country safely because of the amount of unrest they are experiencing right now. So after all that planning and the Lord clearly closing that door for right now we are on a ATL ( ask the Lord ) road trip right now. The Lord told us to go to Namibia and here we are. He didn't tell us how long and He didn't tell us what we would be doing. We just take every day one at a time. So right now I am in Windhoek, Namibia staying at a backpackers hostel called "The Cardboard Box" and I don't know how long we will be here.

Since we have been in Windhoek we have gone to the Park downtown to do a little bit of a prayer walk and I met a woman there that I will call Mary and I have had a couple conversations with her and hope I get to have lunch with her before we have to go.

Mary has an amazing story. She was born in Germany in 1975 and when she turned 15 in 1990 her and her family were forced to come back to Namibia ( her family is originally from Namibia) after the war ended. Her dad died when she was young and she is an only child so it was just her and her mom growing up. When she was old enough she started to work so she could put herself through school. She would still like to finish school but she hasn't been able to . She got a education certificate and started to work in the tourism industry and has been for several years now until the company she was working for started to go bankrupt and they didn't have money to pay her anymore so now she comes to the park every time she has free time and thinks while she waits for interviews to call her back so she can start working again and take care of her 6 year old son. We just sat in the park and talked for a long while and she let me pray for her. I don't know what is going to come of our friendship only the Lord knows...

Thank you all for all your prayers and support.

Don't Let Money Tear Our Family Apart

Sat, 31 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Please take a few minutes to watch this video.

Then read the portion below.......

Rusty Support Video from Kim on Vimeo.

Rusty means a lot to us, as you can see.

If just 8 supporters
from each member of our squad of 26
gave $25 each, Rusty would reach his goal.

$25.00 is
1 week of Starbucks
2 tickets to the movies
3 meals at Taco Bell

But to us out here, $25 x 8 x 26 = Keeping Joshua with Israel and our brother with his family

Every donation is tax deductible, and I promise you, has great Kingdom worth.

Please click here:
Rusty's Support Page

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Sun, 11 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Tis the day to honor all moms....I love you mom and I hope you have a wonderful, special day. I love you!!!

Happy Mother's Day MOMMMM from Kim on Vimeo.

Our Open Road Singing Debut: Mother's Day: Part 2 from Kim on Vimeo.

Off To Africa...

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

It's all kind of a blure...we started in Cochabamba Bolivia and ended up in Nelspruite South Africa. From Cochabamba to La Paz to Santa Cruz Bolivia to Miami to New York to Abu Dhabi to Johannesburg to Nelspruite.

We had a 12 hour lay over in New York and I got to see my beautiful mom for a few short hours. Thank you mom for flying across the country to spend the night with me!

6 flights and one 3 hour bus ride later we are "prayer mountian" for 4 days of rest. We got in at about 2:00am and crashed until 1:00pm.

We are safe in Africa and I will be spending my first month here in Botswana. I don't know what that holds yet so I'll keep you posted.

I fear not...

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When I got there I thought "it's too bad I'm too scared to be able to do this..." and I looked and the deep beautiful gorge and I watched my brave friends Terry and Megan fall to what looked like to me thier death. They didn't die and they had a good time so I started to think "maybe I could do this..." and then in one crazy fleeting moment I decided "I am not going to let fear make decisions for me I am going to do this and nobody can stop me." So I signed the waver and paid and all of a sudden I"m being harnessed up and attached to ropes and clips and then I'm standing on the ledge and this guy is telling me to lean back over the gorge 400 feet below me. Is he crazy!? I'm not leaning back. I"m not doing this. I can't do this. Kelton is leaning back ready to go and I pulled him back. I am not going to do it I decided and Angie called my name and looked at me and said "you can do it" so I leaned back and down down down I went swinging through the gorge.

It was the most freeing thing I have ever done. There is something so amazing about conquering your fear. If I wouldn't have done it I would have never seen the beautiful waterfall that was right under the platform I jumped off of, it was so beautiful.

Weeeeee

Breakfast

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Please check out my friend matt's blog on cereal. We had a wonderful community breakfast yesterday morning and the pictures are awesome!

Breakfast Cereal.....so good.

The Faces of January 2008

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

My sister Kim put together this video. Its my world race family that I have totally fallen in love with over the last 3 months. Every one of us has a special and specific roll in the body of Christ and on this team. I am so blessed to be able to spend a year with these brothers and sisters in Christ.

On Tuesday our time in South American will come to an end and we well begin our journey to Africa. We will be on 4 different contents in 3 days! Please pray that we all stay safe and that all our stuff gets to where it needs to be going

Patience My Child

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

We just spent the last 9 days or so working on an orphanage in the Bolivian rain forest. We painted it inside and out varnished all the bricks, sanded and varnished all the wood and our carpenter mark built a beautiful stair case.

On about day 3 of our working adventure 7 out of the 9 men on our squad left for another work location. So that left our leader Rusty and carpenter mark to fend for themselves with 15 women. They survived and we had some great girl time.

We got up every morning and had some bread for breakfast and if we were lucky it was cheese bread and then get to work painting, varnishing or digging. Break for soup lunch at about noon and then work until dinner at 5 and immediately after dinner we all head to the river for bath time. Community bathing is really best done in a river. After we were clean we usually went for a walk down the corner store to get some cookies. After that it was too dark to do anything else so we just went to bed.

Sleeping didn't come very easily for me this week. There were a few sleepless nights and one night while I was tossing and turning listing to the roosters crowing at 3 o'clock in the morning I asked the Lord "Why am I awake right now Lord?" He said "I"m teaching you patience" I remembered asking for patience but I forgot that you have to learn how to be patient. I do desire the ability to endure waiting, delay, or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset, or to persevere calmly when faced with difficulties. So the Lord begins that process in my life. The Lord blessed me everyday with enough energy to do His work in the orphanage but I spent most of my time at night talking to the Lord and waiting to fall asleep and sometimes never did. If I did get to sleep I would usually wake up itching my bug bites or have to go to the bathroom and then wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. Even though all that wasn't really that fun for me it gives me great joy that the Lord heard my prayer and answered me. It wasn't in the way I expected but you can't put God in a box right.

On the more fun side here are some pictures of bath time after work...

pictures by Rubie Palmer

Bolivia

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

After an eventful day in Iquitos saying goodbye to all our new friends, we were off to the airport. When we arrived we were greeted by almost everyone from the church we had been working with. They all came to say one last good bye and while we waited to be able to pass through security we sang worship songs in Spanish and they sang a good bye song for us. It was the most amazing airport send off I have ever received.

My team and I successfully made it to Lima, Peru but I did not make it on my flight to Bolivia. When I arrived in Peru and they stamped my passport I was only given a 30 day visa and I had been in Peru for 71 days so I was in a little bit of trouble. Thankfully I wasn't the only one. Two of my teammates had the same problem and our team leader stayed back to make sure we were ok. We got it all worked out but we had to stay one more night in Peru. Although it stressed me out at first it turned out to be a huge blessing...we got to go to Starbucks! I also got to spend some quality time with my good friend/teammate Angie.

The following day we finally made it to La Paz, Bolivia late at night and the Lord blessed me with my own room with my own bathroom in the hostel we stayed in for debrief. It was such a nice break from sharing everything. So far community living has been pretty awesome but it was so nice to have my own space for a few days.

During our down time in La Paz we had he opportunity to go four wheeling. They actually let me drive! We had such a good time flying through the streets of La Paz and through rolling hills of the Andies. Here are some Pictures from that day.

Thank you all for your prayers. I"ll be in the rainforest for the next couple weeks working in an orphanage there. Please pray for safety and the health of my team.

Whats Next?

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

On Sunday the 16th I will travel with my team to La Paz Bolivia where we will stay in a hostel for 5 days for debrief.

On the 21st we will leave early in the morning for an eight hour bus ride to our ministry location in Cochabamba where we will be staying for a few days and visiting 4 different orphanages.

Eventually we will travel to the rainforest for about ten days where we will be helping build a church...painting, maybe some construction Im not sure.

After our time in the rainforest we will return to Cochabamba for about 10 days to help start building a 5th orphanage!

That is the latest in World Race news...

Prayer Request

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I know there are more than a few of you praying for me and my team right now so I wanted to ask you if you would pray with me for the illnesses we have encountered in the last week.

Right now on my team we have several people with head colds, a few with chest colds and a couple with both. We have two team members with ringworm and one with athletes foot. We had lice last week and sometimes till wonder of those little buggerse are still around on any one of us. We have had two go to the doctor, one with parasites and one we dont know about yet. A couple with migraines, some bug bites that turn into big blisters and we have had a few throwing up as well. We have one team member with a sprained ankle and a bunch of tired brothers and sisters.

I know that the enemy wants us down and out but we recognize that and we dont accept his plans. Please pray for healing of my team and restored energy and joy. This family belongs to Jesus and the enemy is trespassing on private property and I wont have it.

Thank you all for your prayers.

What the Lord is Teaching Me Part 1

Sun, 9 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Lord has been carrying me through a lot the past couple of months. I have been trying to understand how big His love really is and its not something I can wrap my mind around. He loves each of us personally not just as a whole human race but individually. Until this point in my life I counted myself in as just part of the mass of humans that Jesus loves because He loves everybody, but ts so much more than that and I knew that and Ive told other people that before but I never really took it to heart. I just feel like Im so not worthy. Why would the King of kings, the Messiah, love ME like that? He really wants to walk with me and run with me and dance with me and take care of me and pick me up when I fall on my face and hold me until it doesnt hurt any more. As beautiful as that sounds to have the Lord love you like that its been hard for me to come to grips with. It hasnt been easy to accept that truth into my life even when I have believed it for so long.

Since I embarked on this journey with the Lord He has completely taken away my comfort zone and the identity that I created for my self has been disassembled. The Lord has created me to be something else and I haven't even touched the surface of what he has for me. Before I came to Peru I identified myself by my work. If my job was going well and running smoothly then i was ok but if work wasn't running the way it should then it was a direct reflection of who I was and I must be a wreck if I can't even keep things going smoothly at work. You can count me out of that. But if I"m not defined by my work and I am defined by the Lord then who does the Lord say I am? I've been told so many lies by the world about who I really am and I'm just beginning to sift through them, recognize them and rebuke them. It takes a lot out of me though, I"m at constant war either with flesh or the enemy and sometimes both. I can't even believe how many lies I have written on my heart because I have been letting the world tell me who I am for so long.

This is just the beginning of what I've been talking about with the Lord I will continue when I have some more complete words from the Lord.