God’s Glory in Kyrgyzstan!

Hello family and friends! 

I hope you guys have all been enjoying the summer sun and the Son who loves each and every one of you! <3

In my last update I shared about our June Training Camp we had with Y-Squad (my new squad that just left for China early August).  From there I headed out to T-Squad’s (my squad that left in January of this year) debrief in Kyrgyzstan. Debrief is an awesome opportunity for me to connect with the teams. We gather for fellowship, worship, and growing together as a body through study of the Word and encouragement. This debrief time was incredible! 

One of my favorite highlights from debrief was one of our worship times. The Spirit of the Lord was very evident that night- the presence of the Lord bringing a teammate to his knees then face, people praising God inhibited, sharing words the Lord spoke, dancing, and much more. I was looking around during worship and thought ‘wow God, if this squad is already here with their love and pursuit of You, where will they be by the end of their 11 months (November).’ Immediately after thinking this thought, I was reminded of a vision I received from the Lord in 2013. In the vision there was a group of people who were traveling the world and releasing sparks of Holy Spirit movements everywhere they went. In an instant the vision came to mind, and Holy Spirit spoke to me, “they could get to here, if they choose it”. Right after that was spoken to me, prayer tongues blurted out of my lips, I couldn’t even stop it! I allowed my spirit to pray for a bit with my arms open. As I prayed in the Spirit I felt the presence of the Lord on my through a hot fire feeling on top of my arms and shoulders. After a few minutes the fire feeling went away and the tongues ceased. It was a crazy cool and touching experience the Lord shared with me and was SO encouraging! 

The next morning I shared what had happened and the word of the Lord spoken with it. What I discerned that the message for the squad was that we get to decide and dictate how much we are used within the Kingdom of God. That if we seek and choose to be bold and step out in faith to what He is asking we will see/do ‘even greater things than these’. But we need to choose it. We need to step out and DO it! We will never feel bold enough, or prepared enough, or good enough. We need to choose to believe what Jesus said about the movement and involvement of His Church in His Kingdom is true- which is one of action and authority! It was a very encouraging and sobering call to boldness and action for the squad and the greater Church.

Another highlight was when the squad set out to the streets to strike up conversations with people to share the good news of the gospel.  I went out with two of the girls from the squad. During that time we had a few really good conversations with people and was encouraged by the way God was moving around us that day. Just as we thought we would head back to our hostel, we stopped at a local store to get some water. In line to check out a Krygy girl who spoke great English started talking to us. After we left the store she went on ahead of us and stood near a bus stop with her friend. Just as we were passing them I heard Holy Spirit say, “ask her if she knows me”. I thought, ‘really? Just like that? Straight up ask her?’ He said “yes”. So I went over to her and said, “Hi again! I just thought I would ask you, do you know who Jesus is?” At this she looked puzzled and said “no, who is he?” I asked her if she had heard anything about Jesus, Christianity, Bible, anything? And again the answer was “no, never”. So I proceeded to tell her the wonderful news of a God who created the whole world and desired to have connection with the people. Leading all the way into the fall, God’s plan to send His Son Jesus to earth to restore that relationship with his children. It was an INCREDIBLE conversation. Holy Spirit was definitely speaking straight to her because she was just glowing and excited the whole time. She even said these exact words: “Wow, that is such GOOD NEWS!” Yup she said those exact words, I kid you not!  (She doesn’t even know that we call the gospel ‘good news’!!!). I left her with the Jesus Film and a link to a Bible in Russian. She told me that she was going to go home and watch the movie with her parents. Pray for our dear brothers and sisters in Kyrgyzstan! God is moving! God loves all His people and is drawing every nation, tribe, and tongue to Himself! <3

The next, I won’t say highlight, but impactful moment was a time I was eating breakfast at a coffee shop. It was definitely a coffee shop for tourists as it was more expensive and had all the things Westerners would want to eat! As I was inside eating my awesome breakfast I stared through the glass wall at the people who ate on tables outside. Then I noticed a homeless man walk up to the table asking for money or food. I watched him get refused by all the tables. My heart broke.  I looked down at what was left of my meal, threw it in some napkins and ran after the man to give it to him. By the time I reached him he had started to walk away. I caught him on the street and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and my heart stopped. He was dirty, with torn clothes, had blood on his face and his eyes bright crystal blue, full of such sadness and despair. Our eyes locked and we just stared at each other. I handed him the food and all I could muster to say was “Jesus Jesus Jesus”. I said nothing else to him and he said nothing to me, we only stared. After awhile I turned around and walked away. I sat back down at my table and cried. 

I had come to this place many times before. A place where the brokenness of the world around me is heavily felt and once again realized. I allowed a few minutes to mourn the immense amount of pain in this world. I think almost yearly I reach a breaking point like this. A point where I cannot take it any longer. All the pain and brokenness I have seen all around the world. It crushes me. It’s a needed place to be every once in awhile in my line of work. It’s needed to keep myself sensitive to the pain and hurt. After seeing so much pain, one can become desensitized to it all. We can become hard and no longer care as much as we once did. Also needed in order to realign yourself with dependence on God. To realize the task is too big too great for one man/woman to do alone. Important to be reminded that only God can heal the sick and broken hearted. Only God has the plan and ability to restore and reconcile the world to Himself. This is His task. And though I get to be a part of it if I choose, the weight and responsibility is not burdened on me and me alone. After a few minutes of crying and journaling my thoughts, the sadness lifted and the focus and foundation of Christ and Christ alone returned. The positioning of my mind to rely on Him and depend on Him steadied me and then I got up and left. 

These stories are just a glimpse into my life. I am aware that my eyes have the blessing to see things many people never will in their lifetime. And with that blessing comes responsibility to share. May you be both encouraged and challenged that this life we live is both beautiful and painful, fleeting and eternal. But praise God that He is still on His throne. And that He IS good! 

 

Y-Squad Field Updates:

Over the last few months, this squad has been in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan! Check out some of their blogs below!

• Check out Molly’s reflection on her month in Kyrgyzstan here.

• John David shares about what he is learning about the different names of God here.

• Susanna writes about an interesting blog about a ‘mundane’ day in the life of a racer here. 

• Heidi’s blog highlights their time working at an archaeological dig in Kazakhstan here.

• Stone’s team was in Uzbekistan and had an incredible time working and learning alongside the persecuted believers there here. 

• Ashley’s blog that recaps the last 7 months abroad here!

 

Will send update about Y-Squad’s launch and time on field shortly! <3