What I’m Thankful For

Over the past 9 months, so many things have happened. Easy things, hard things, fun things, but through it all, I’m so thankful to be here. Here a few things I’ve been thankful for in each country I’ve spent a month in this year:

1. CHILE

     1. James and Coletta, my hosts, and all the love and wisdom they shared

     2. my team- getting to know them, and not spending our first month with another           team

     3. Great adventure days- hiking and driving through the mountains

2. ARGENTINA

     1. The variety in our day-to-day ministry with YWAM

     2. Being able to sleep in my tent

     3. Playing sports with my squad and the camp staff

3. BOLIVIA

     1. How welcoming and sweet the girls we were working with were

     2. How much I bonded with the girls in only one month, and how hard it was to               leave

     3. The Teléferico from El Alto to La Paz 

4. CAMBODIA

     1. Going with my teammate, Maria, to a Mennonite church and to her friends’                   house for lunch after

     2. Overflow Guest House- the staff, the location, the pool, a great place to rest

     3. Bicycles we could use to get to Siem Reap whenever we wanted

5. THAILAND

     1. So much to do in Chiang Mai with my new team

     2. Buying a ukulele

     3. Spending a day at the “Grand Canyon”- cliff jumping, swimming, paddle                       boarding, sunbathing

6. SERBIA

     1. Spending a month with a few extra squadmates: Jaivie, Grace, Matt, Jon,                     Kelsey, Tim, and Zach

     2. Our hosts- Zoli and Tanja, and their daughters Victoria and Anastazija

     3. The town of Sombor, where we stayed

7. ROMANIA

     1. All the kids’ ministry I did

     2. My dad came to visit for PVT

     3. I was able to train for a half marathon in such a beautiful area

8. BULGARIA

     1. Bonding with my team

     2. Yard work, manual labor, weedwacking, digging holes

     3. Events at “the Secret Place” and traveling to visit people

9. ETHIOPIA

     1. God’s provision- transportation, connections, lodging

     2. Home visits

     3. So much space to grow in my Bible reading

For month 10, I’m in Rwanda! I’m in the capital, Kigali, and am working with a couple locals that run 4 churches. My “Mama Africa” is the pastor of one of the churches, and so far we’ve been working with her a lot. 

Each day we walk a mile, take a bus, and walk another mile to get to church. Then some of us help teach kids at school and while the others do door-to-door outreach. And one of us has to preach almost every day, so we will each be preaching about once a week. I shared a message yesterday! 

Ministry should look similar this week also, except that our hosts are bringing us to the Rwanda Genocide memorial and museum on Thursday.

They are trying to buy the property they have been renting for church, so please pray for them to receive the necessary funds! (If you are interested in donating, I’ll have more information on that soon).