So in honor of Mothers day....I would love Love LOVE to be home, order some chinease and give you a singing balloon...BUT that would require a top secret ninja mission and I hate to say it but I just dont possess those necessary ninja skills. So, instead of using my mental telepathy powers to buy a Hallmark card...this video that I made with the team will just have to do for now.
So, since I've been in Eastern Europe, God keeps speaking to me about going. Not in the sense of go out and spread the word. Cause I'm already doing that. Its more of a reminder. Watch and see how I can use you Rebecca.
Too often I find myself frustrated because I feel like some of my gifts are useless during outreach (which is a lie) but I am often left wondering or trying to figure out how to use my art in ministry. For the majority of the race I've felt almost envious that my teammates could just take their guitars anywhere, sing a few songs, and its an easy way to draw people in.
For awhile I've pondered the idea of learning guitar but came to the conclusion that music just isn’t my gift. Never has been and I doubt it ever will be. God just chose to give me other gifts that are needed to build the kingdom.
But it still brings me back to the question thats been floating around in my head for some time. How can I best use art to reach people in the moment? Whether I'm in the park, at church, or visiting people. There is always the obvious...draw pictures with children or come up with a craft for them but I want to get beyond that. I want to be able to evangelize with it. Be able to really speak deeply to people through it.
The Lord has gently been reminding me that He gives me what I need...He equips me but its up to me what I do with it. Do I use it and let it grow or do I hide it and keep it to myself? This something that the Lord is still working on in me.
Along with art God has set other little things on my heart. I have felt the little tug on my heart a couple of times recently. Sometimes I listen to it and other times I ignore it. Has that ever happened to you? Where you feel the little whisper and then you have the choice whether or not to go. How often do you listen to the whisper and follow through? Or do you place it in the back of your mind preoccupied by other things that come up in life? Just some food for thought.
This month we are partnered with Hope ministry which is an evangelical Christian church based in Draganesti-Olt, southern Romania. The church was first established in 2003 to spread the gospel to the most unreached region of the country. With more than 500,000 people,Olt County has less than 1 percent of people as born again believers.
Ministry so far this month has looked a little bit different than usual for me. There are so many different ministry opportunities this month and I decided to help out with logistics which basically means I get to play secretary for a few weeks.
So, you are probably wondering why I would choose logistics over playing with gypsy kids or helping with bee hives. I had been wondering for awhile what it really takes to start a ministry/church and have it be successful. Now, I know the real secret is having God center of the ministry but I really wanted to get more of a glimpse into that hidden world. Lucky for me, the Pastor needed some help in the office.
I worked in the office this past week and it has almost been overwhelming to see the needs of the ministry. They already have 19 full-time missionaries working with the ministry but they could still use more help. Hope Ministry is currently working in sixty villages doing a number of outreach programs.
One ministry that they have been focusing on is handing out the New Testament. God has placed a strong desire in their hearts to provide each household in the area with a copy of the new testament. There are currently about 300,000 people living in the area that do not have a bible. They have been working on handing bibles out for a couple of years but they are met with a lot of resistance. The people have heard lies about the church and are scared of coming near us. It is not uncommon for them to be in a village handing out bibles and get shut down and told to leave. However, If even one person receives the gospel, God is able to work wonders.
Thanks for reading my blog and I am sorry for the lack of updates recently. More to come soon.
Hey Everyone,
I'm back!!! China was amazing and I'm really sad my time had to come to an end there. However, I am in the Ukraine now and I am enjoying this land of mysteries. My teammate Elaina made this video about our time in China and I figured I would share it with all of you since she did an awesome job summarizing our time there. I hope you enjoy :)
Malaysia has really stolen my heart. Ministry this month looked pretty different from past months. Coming into Malaysia I had some expectations like my team would be working with the homeless and a soup kitchen. Haha...You would think by now I would have known better than to walk in with expectations cause God blew me out of the water. This month I was a volunteer at a Hospital...YAY!!!!! My team was given the task to earn money for the Heart Patients Fund at the Penang Seventh Day Adventist Hospital. So, showing Jesus's love this month meant walking around the hospital for about five hours each day selling teddy bear cell phone charms and asking for donations. It costs about 25,000 RM which is aprox. 8,000 USD for one heart surgery so we made it our goal to raise 15,000 RM which is about 5,000 USD in about two weeks. Don't worry...we pulled out all the stops. Lilli and Billy played guitar and made up three jingles about buying a bear, saving a life. They even made up a special Valentines Day jingle. Elaina made a sign with a thermometer that she would fill in at the end of each day. I must say that the team really pulled together and got really creative with fundraising in a hospital. It was probably my favorite ministry so far. It wasn't until our last day at the hospital that I realized the connections I had made with people at the hospital. A lot of the time I would hang out by the bakery in the hospital to catch people on their way out. Anyways, I got really close to the ladies who worked at the bakery and they were just the sweetest ladies. I had also built relationships with some of the patients at the hospital. There was an Australian couple who I would speak to when they left the bakery. I don't really know how to explain the relationships I built this month because I haven't quite processed it but I do know that they saw something different in me. Many of my new friends commented on how they couldn't understand why or what would motivate a young person...a young American to travel the world and volunteer. I figure I must be doing something right.
So, here is some interesting to know, I am heading to China tonight which means I will not have internet at all in the coming month....Translation: I am going to MIA for about 3 weeks :/ but then I will be back :D
-Rebecca
It was the day before Valentines Day and I was at the mall with one of my teammates shopping for winter clothes. Apparently t-shirts and shorts just are not going to cut it in the forty degree weather I am heading to. As we got off the elevator on the top floor we saw about 10 people sitting at easels painting shirts. Well of course, I was instantly drawn into what was happening before my eyes so I dragged Crystal over for a closer look. A lady came up to us and asked if we wanted to sign up to paint a shirt for free. Yes, that s right FREE. Come to find out some store in the mall was sponsoring this event where you are suppose to paint a shirt for your loved one. :D Well, I just couldn't pass down the offer to paint on a shirt for free at the mall next to a bunch of crazy talented artist. As I signed my name on the registration paper...I started to feel the panic set in. Why in the world am I doing this? This is too crazy...I have one hour to come up with some kind of concept before I sit down to create my masterpiece. I would like to say I had some kind of idea floating around in my head but I had nothing. Not to mention, its not like I had any idea of who I was painting the shirt for.
Fast Forward... 30 minutes later
Frantically searching stores for some kind of inspiration while trying to remain calm. I mean, I literally got all worked up into a nervous mess because of some shirt that I was going to paint.
Fast Forward a Little Bit More...ITS TIME!!!!!
(This is the fun part...because you get to see pictures.)
I was standing anxiously near the registration table praying desperately for some direction from God. I know its weird but its the only thing I could think to do in my remaining time. And then it hits me...kind of. God has been speaking to me a lot about being the bride of Christ. He has been slowly romancing my heart by giving me little pictures here and there. As I sat down in front of the shirt I started to draw...just draw. I didnt really know what I was drawing but I just drew an outline of the picture. I then started to paint and this is what came out.
Sketching an outline.
Beginning to Paint.
Halfway there....
Tada!!!!
So, I am going to give you some time to think and meditate on the symbolism of this painting.
Highlight below to see what the symbolism is :D
The picture depicts a crown, heart, and an umbrella. God has spoken to me a lot about being a princess in his eyes and royalty so thats where the crown comes into play. The heart represents my heart and the umbrella speaks to me about guarding my heart and remaining pure for Jesus.
Hey Everyone,
I just want to thank everyone again for their love and support while I am on the adventure of a lifetime. I never thought I would see the day I was fully supported. So thank you, thank you, thank you. I cant thank you enough for having supported me.
On Saturday, I went to see one of the seven wonders of the world. The team took a bus to Siem Reap which ended up taking way longer than originally anticipated. The bus ride turned into a five and a half hour trip where Brian gave his seat up for a lady with a child and sat squished on a step with his shoe as a cushion. Go Brian :) Moving on, this blog isn’t really about my speed tour to see Angkor Wat (we only spent a little over an hour at Angkor Wat). The point to this paragraph is that we arrived home super late around one am with church early the next morning (and to brag that I have now seen Angkor Wat). Now, the beauty to this is that we sleep in the church meaning we had to get up fairly early to pack all our stuff up before the church service.
So, the agreement with our contact was that if we went to Angkor Wat, we would not let it affect Sunday which is a ministry day. During lunch, Pastor mentioned going to a cell group and I assumed it would be like last week. We would meet in a house, have bible study and then walk around a little bit. Haha!!! Just goes to show that I shouldn’t make assumptions. In the afternoon after lunch, we drove to the bush of Cambodia. Now granted, I already thought I was living in the bush but nope we went to the middle of nowhere which was really somewhere. We arrived and were greeted by at least twenty smiling faces of children. Come to find out, our Pastor started this cell group where he drives to this off the beaten path village to teach English to the children three times a week. His ultimate goal is to share about Jesus but the villagers rely heavily on their idols and are not open to Jesus. He is doing an amazing job building relationships with the villagers and I cant wait to see how God moves in the village. So, we were taught English, played games, sang some songs, told a bible story and then it gets better. Surprise!!!! Pastor handed me a black plastic bag and told me the kids have lice so we were going to wash their hair. Ok, so you may not know this about me but I am constantly paranoid about lice. I had it once as a kid and then I was scarred for life. Just thinking about it now is making my head itch. I had one thing going through my head the entire time. Lord, I love these children...Lord, I love these children...I just repeated it over and over and over again. As I was washing the sixth head, God kind of showed me a bigger picture. I’m almost hesitant to share this but its relates to what God spoke to me about. Cambodia is known to have a lot of sex trafficking and most of the girls come from poor country areas. I was reading a book about a month ago called Road Of Lost Innocence which talks about it. I’m sure you can find it at your local public library in the nonfiction section. If I had to guess, probably somewhere in the 300s or 400s. Anyways, God spoke to me while I was washing hair that most likely well over half of the girls will be sold/forced into prostitution before they turn 13. God spoke to me a little bit about how some of the children were orphans who truly are alone in this world. That this was one of the few times that they received love from others. God reminded me of my purpose which is to love these little ones even when I can see lice crawling all over their hair. My chant of Lord, I love these children turned into prayers for each individual child as I massaged shampoo into their hair. That He would protect them and allow them to see His love through my actions but through others like Pastor who continues to build relationships with them. My hope and prayer is that they come to know God even though there is already so much hardship that they have to endure in their young lives.
Wrapping this up, I learned a valuable lesson about humility and I will happily wash lice infested hair again if it means ridding the world of lice and showing Gods love all in one.
-Rebecca
So, here I am in Cambodia feeling like I’m in Africa so I figured I would give you a little tour of what I experience day to day. So before I go into detail I guess I'll write a quick preface. So when my team mate googled our city to find out what kind of touristy things there were. She read that this is where you experience the REAL Cambodia. Translation: Houses, Rice Fields, Bikes, and lots of People. No, restaurants, no internet cafes.
We are living in a church this month which is pretty sweet. Just a random tidbit. In case you were wondering... the mosquitoes are vicious in Cambodia and attack you during the night so we set up our tents for fun and for practical reasons.
We walk to our Pastors house for each of our meals. They set up a table under the house where we eat our food really quickly before the flies figure out we are there. Pastors mother is a Caterer, so I am getting to eat delicious traditional Cambodian food. My favorite meal so far is a pineapple pork dish with a pumpkin custard which isn't really a custard for dessert.
Being white Americans, we tend to gather crowds of children however these three kids are special. We call them our three amigos because the follow us everywhere which is cute. And since they are so cute I figured I would add the picture of them running to greet us.
When we are visiting people in the village the three amigos tag along. Its intriguing because whenever we stop to talk to villagers who are normally working, the kids will sit down and help with whatever the task is. In this picture the girl is helping cut the grass (its not really grass) into strips to be dried and later woven into mats.
Bikes are really the only way to travel besides walking and it has turned into my new obsession. I try to go on a bike ride at least once a day whether it be on the way to meet with villagers or to the market which is about 7 killometers away. Its hillarious to watch Pastor borrow bikes for us. He just wanders over into the next door neighbors yard and just borrows their bike for us. And if you are lucky the bike will have brakes that actually work. Oh and I almost dies on my bike ride yesterday. A cow literally jumped over the fence right in front of me and my bike just happened to not have brakes that day...but thankfully I narrowly missed the cow.
We are so blessed to be living next to the most incredible rice fields I have ever seen. We were able to help for a little while with pulling rice seedlings that would later be resold.Beyond the rice fields is a river that runs all the way through Cambodia. Its just a little muddy but its a great place to go cool off in the afternoons when its like a thousand degrees outside.
Just to end on a good note. I was walking to the river and well...I thought the puppy on the calf was too cute and I just had to share it. :)
I’m fully funded and I cant thank you enough for the support and encouragement you have given me. Its been amazing to watch God work in wondrous ways regarding my support. Thank you so much to ALL my supporters whether you gave financially or by praying for me. I thank God everyday for the opportunity He has given me to be able to travel around the world to share His love and it wouldn't have been possible without all of my supporters. So, Thank You :D
So here’s the deal. My friend and teammate Crystal Abold is going to have a one way ticket back to good ole Nebraska, USA in like FOUR DAYS unless she becomes fully supported. Crystal still needs $3200 to be fully funded. I have seen God use her in so many ways and I would be extremely sad to see her be sent home before the end of the race. So I ask that you check out her blog www.Crystalabold.theworldrace.org and pray for her.
Our contact this month is pretty legit and so impressive that I figured I would share about the ministry I am helping with this month. Yeah, thats him right below. We are just going to call him Pastor because his name is pretty long and super difficult to pronounce.
Pastor started an English school in Cambodia for the children of the village. Most of the students who attend come from families who are really poor and cannot afford to send their children to the private schools. Currently, there are about 150 students who attend the school for approximately seventy-five cents to a dollar a month whereas most of the other schools cost a minimum of five dollars. Pastor uses a room in his house as classrooms and he built two additional classrooms next to his house. He once mentioned that for two hundred dollars a month he could run the generator, pay the teachers and afford to have 200 students attend for free. All that to say, I help teach two to three classes a day and it has been such a joy to work with these students. The first day I taught I tried to picture a five year old version of myself going to school each day for one hour just to learn English. It made me wonder what the purpose was for learning only English. What about Math, Science, History, the Arts? I later found out that most of these children have little opportunity’s and knowing English can help them get a better job in the future rather than having to stay in the cycle of poverty. His goal is to not only teach the students English but to also teach them about Jesus which isn't exactly the easiest task in Cambodia. Most people in Cambodia have never even heard the name of Jesus which almost seems unimaginable. Last night, I was speaking to one of my students elder sister and she started to ask me why I was in Cambodia. Now, as a "seasoned" missionary...I have learned the word missionary does not translate very well. :) So, I replied with my usual response of; I travel around the world to share Jesus's love with the people of the world. What I didnt expect was for her to ask if Jesus was an American who is running for President. I don't think I have ever really encountered anyone who has never at least heard of the name of Jesus but, it gave me a great opening to share Jesus with her. The great part is that she wants to know more and I am able to see her for a little bit everyday after classes end. Anyways, I have really enjoyed working at this English school.
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