A bit of an overview:

Once again the Lord has shown me his incredible planning abilities, grace, love, and teaching and challenging ways. Our team arrived safely back in New Braunfels earlier this week after about 24 hours of travel from Peru. Every day we saw God show up and move. The first two days we were in a village in the jungle of Palm Real. A real life jungle village - river, muddy ground, bugs and all. We had flown from Lima to Cusco to Port Maldanado, and then an hour or so boat ride down the river to reach the village. We spent the morning there going hut to hut and then the afternoon playing games with the kids. Hut to hut, we visited several women and families and had the chance to share the Gospel. We also got to sit and talk with a group of teenage girls about the Lord and life there in Peru. We had brought a huge beach ball which was just as big as some of kids that they had a blast with, and taught them baseball and Frisbee. It was fun to see the kids learn something new and language barriers weren't an issue in the least when it came to games. Later in the evening we showed the first half of the "Jesus film" outside and had a good sized crowd. The second day looked the same - swatting mosquitoes, sweating, playing with kids, sharing the Gospel!, and showing the 2^nd half of the film. The Lord held off the rain and we had another good turnout! We were able to some of the play equipment behind and discipleship material for the pastors there in the area. 

The next day (3 am!) we left to start our journey to the highland mountain area. It started with a 4 hour boat ride up stream back to Port Maldanado, where we caught a plane to Cusco because the roads were too bad from mud slides to travel by bus (praise God we got tickets! And for less than a bus!). We arrived in Cusco and stayed the night in a hotel/bed and breakfast/home ran by an older couple that we bonded with who greeted us with Coco tea. It was a good time to adjust to the altitude and get some much needed rest before we started our hiking portion of the trip in the mountains. The next morning we had a several hour drive to the mountain area around winding roads, up and up we went. The next several days were similar. We spent the mornings hiking from village to village, the afternoons handing out Bibles (almost 400!) and visiting homes and playing with kids along the way, and the evenings showing the "Jesus film." The views were incredible and the people of Peru with their decorative bright colors and warm and welcoming personalities will be something I will always remember. I have many stories from these visits I hope to share with you all soon! ...I suppose this blogging endeavor will continue! :) 

The kids loved Keith our leader- you would hear "Papa Keis" with some giggles throughout the village. 

The last day before we left we had a chance to go to a little ole place called Machu Picchu ...one of the wonders of the world!! Very cool. For sure an incredible site to see, and the train ride there along the most raging rivers I have ever seen was awesome. It was  a good wrap up/fun day to end the tip on! 

Thank you all for the continued prayers and encouragement and joining our team!!You all for sure played a big part in this trip and I'm continually grateful and blessed by it and it's fun to see be a part of the Kingdom growing with you all. I look forward to sharing more stories soon!  

I must admit, my attempt at blogging lately has been less than hot. So this next blog may come as a shocker (of sorts) or may be an "oh, I already knew this!" or "I vaguely remember you mentioning this at some point" but here it goes. The newest news I have to fill you all in on is that this Sunday, I'll be off...to....Peru! Yup, I'm headed out to the remote Amazon area to share the Gospel with villagers while backpacking from place to place for about a week and a half. We will be working with some contacts TBarM has established over the years. We will have the opportunity to do some of our camp programming (fun game stuff!) with different communities in the area in the evenings, while during the day, we will be doing door to door...or really hut to hut visits.

I want to keep you all in the loop because 1. I'm excited about this! Excited to see what God has in store and excited to share the stories and His works with you all. And really 2. Because Peru/We/I will be needing some prayer. And lots of it! It has been so awesome to see and feel the results of prayer, and see how the body of Christ works together in all different ways. And we gotta cover this trip in prayer! Prayer for the villagers, translators, our team, health, travel, safety...lots of prayers, but more specifically that we can effectively share with the Peruvians and have words to speak at the right times. Also, we will be hiking quite a bit, yikes. I'm ganna be needing some extra prayers to make it up those mountains..and then down..then back up...then back down... yeaaa! So if in the next 2 weeks you have a chance or think about it, then feel free to pray. Lots. And join on the team and adventure : ) I'll be sure to send out an update once I'm back. I pinky promise. 

Oh yea, umhm, it's ganna be good and God is ganna do some pretty great things. 

(pictures are from a TBarM Camp Amazon mission trip)

May Madness!

I can't believe it, but it is already May! After 2 nights of train travel we have safely made it to our final country and ministry location in Penag, Malaysia. I am entering this month with bitter-sweet emotions about this journey coming to a close, but am ready to work hard and fully experience and give all that the Lord has to offer.

Thus far, we have explored the area for a day or so, rested up from our travel days, and had an orientation briefing about our ministry for the month. I will be working at a homeless drop in shelter and street outreach center probably preparing meals and helping with whatever needs to be done. We are working with YWAM which houses many ministry opportunities here, so our group (we have 3 teams working together) will be all over the town and probably getting a taste of a variety of things from hospital volunteer work to teaching English. It seems like a cultural melting pot of sorts here which is nice to see and ironic that it is the accumulation of our past 3 months meshed together here. So, so far, so good!

April Adventures and such.

A bit to wrap up month 10... Our ministry finished strong as we were able to complete the ditch we were working on, build a wall, and work on a chicken coop. We left with many new friendships from all the girls and staff and volunteers at Remember Nhu. Mixing cement and pouring it everyday wasn't exactly what I had envisioned Thailand to be like, but it was definitely one of my more favorite months  and I found joy in our manual labor and loved getting to hangout with all the girls at the home everyday.

I also had a Thai birthday! I worked in the morning, had some rest, went into town and found a Starbucks :), enjoyed a meal complete with sticky rice made by my house mom, and got a about 30 hugs and birthday cards from the girls! I never imagined having a birthday in Thailand, but it was so good!

Here are a few pictures from our off days this past month. We had the chance to ride elephants, be a part of Songkron- the Thai New Year when the entire country turns into a huge water fight, visit an orchid garden and enjoy some starbucks and relax! 

6^th Grade geography class with Ms. Coleman was the first time I had ever really thought or heard about Thailand. I remember my teacher telling us a story about when she was in Thailand (something about passing the soy sauce?) and since then I thought Thailand sounded pretty awesome and wanted to visit one day.

I must say, Thailand is living up to many of the expectations I had gathered over the years. Both seeing the beauty of the people and culture I had so often heard about along with seeing the damaging and heartbreaking effects of the sex trade industry in full swing, it is similar to what I had pictured in my head.

But, our ministry and work this month are nothing like what I imagined us to be doing. This month, the women and men on my squad are split for a month of "ministry" and "womanstry." The guys are off doing manual labor, grunting, sweating, doing guy things, which is normal. And the women are divided up among the country working with various organizations that deal with sex trafficking. This month our "womanstry" is looking an awful lot like "ministry" that we didn't expect. We are living and working at a children's (all girls) home that works with preventing girls from ending up in the sex trafficking industry by providing a safe home to grow up in for children who are classified as "at risk." Usually, the men are sent here because there is a lot of work on the property to do, but this month, our contact was met with 11 ladies! We have been mixing cement and laying in trenches on the property to prevent flooding along with helping spread gravel in front of the house.

This work isn't at all what we expected to be doing, but it is just as important as any other work in this country to piece together God's puzzle. We are helping keep up a place for girls to say safe and getting to love on them as we live with them. I have this picture of Thailand in my mind like a huge puzzle being pieced together. Missionaries have been here working to end human trafficking for years and help orphan children, and it seems overwhelming to see how intense the problems still are here, but none the less the puzzle of restoration is coming together. Piece by piece women are coming out of the industry, customer's hearts are being changed, and children are growing up in a safe and caring home. The puzzle takes time and work, pieces are being found, and slowly but surely things are happening and the picture God has for the country is coming together and it is incredible to see and be a part of.

The secrets revealed. For the month of March, my team was in northern..way northern, pretty much Russia northern, China. We were in the town of Harbin working with church led by a couple from the states. We spent our month getting to know and building relationships with college students in the area through English corners where students would go to practice speaking English. We saw God move through these relationships, as the more we got to know them, the more they knew us and saw what God was doing in our lives, and opened opportunities for us to share with them. We also helped with getting the word our about the church by posting flyers and meeting people around the neighborhood. One weekend we even put on a children's festival, which was a huge success. Our contacts Steph and Jake along with the other church members were incredible in welcoming us and making us feel at home. They all even helped keep us warm J Our team arrived from the Philippines with tank tops to find snow on the ground in Harbin and ice sculptures still standing. The month was much different from what any of us would have ever expected. We were able to be open and share our beliefs with people all in the area and experience a freedom of faith that we weren't sure would exist in China. But God granted us with many opportunities to share and be a part of a growing community of Christians. All in all, it was a very busy, cold, and excellent month and I thank you all for all the prayers that went into in the month and being a part of seeing change happen.

steph and jake, our contacts, and their friend ava

hanging out at english corner

english corner friends

children's festival - the bead table

get to know you BINGO winners at one of the parties we hosted at our house with our church friends and english corner friends

We have a pet monkey!! His name is MoyMoy, which in the Philippines, means "monkey." He loves to cuddle, eat our leftover fruit, take our sunglasses, and he even comes to work with us sometimes! Just had to share that to kick of the news of life in the Philippines!

We boated over last week from Manila to the island of Puerto Galera where our ministry site is for the month. We are partnering with an incredible organization call "Threads of Hope" started my a man named Alex on vacation with his family 7 years ago who bought a bracelet and began a friendship with some venders on he beach. When he realized one of the ladies wasn't there selling her crafts, he asked a friend where she was her friend told him how she had turned to prostitution because she wasn't making enough money. With that he bought a bundle of bracelets with what he had in his pocket, sold them back in the states at a camp almost instantly, and sought the Lord for direction- and the Lord lead him to begin "Threads of Hope" to employ women on the island with a steady job via bracelet making - they make them in their own time and sell them on the beach or fill orders for people to sell them in the states at events, churches, fundraisers, and camps- this organization allows the women to provide for and be with their family and keep them from turning to the sex trafficking industry.

Here on the island, we are working with a pastor that partners the organization. Alex wanted the women in the area to hear the gospel in their own language, so Pastor or "Kuya" Al, a native, joined the crew and has been serving this community and leading a growing church of 500-600 people.

My team, along with another, live with Pastor Al and his family. We work in the mornings clearing land near by to help expand the church, prepare and teach Sunday school lessons for the children, help with Wednesday evening prayer meetings, and spend our afternoons on the beach, getting to know the women selling bracelets along with other venders, and workers in the area. Our hearts have been touched by what our eyes have seen as we walk down the beautiful coast of the island and see first hand the sex trafficking industry alive and working. God had provided opportunities in our first week of being here to talk to and encourage both the men and women involved in this through what can be counted as nothing less than divine appointments. Check out www.bethsaidaportalatin.theworldrace.org and www.leahmorigh.theworldrace.org for some awesome stories of redemption.