Hi friends and family!
I am currently writing this blog in the Bangkok airport, which means my time here in Thailand and Asia is coming to an end. Wow, what a time it has been. It’s so crazy to think that I’ve been gone for 4 months already. Though at the same time, it’s amazing to look back and see how much God has grown me in 4 short months. I’ll be honest, it hasn’t been an easy trip so far, and I know that there are more hard moments ahead of me, but my excitement for what God has done and will do is so much greater. Plus, I have the Lord providing me with strength, which is what keeps me going in the harder times.
My ministry here in Asia has not looked like what I had expected, and it was honestly hard for me at times to see the point in what we were doing. In my mind, I was going to be going to unreached towns and sharing the gospel, and also I had envisioned doing a lot of manual labor for people in need. That has not been the case. In both countries I was helping teach English, one of which was in a country where I was legally unable to share the gospel to the students we were teaching. In both countries I had a decent amount of free time, and I honestly wasn’t good at taking advantage of that time to help further the kingdom. In Thailand, we had set ATL time a couple times a week, and I only ended up sharing the gospel a few times. Basically, I was having a hard time seeing the purpose because I wasn’t seeing the fruit of my work. I had mentioned this to my team leader, and she told me that she had gone through the same thing during part of her race, then she told me something that helped change my mindset. She basically asked me if I was on this trip to feel good about myself and all the work that I am doing, or am I here to help further the kingdom and be obedient in what God has for me to do. She told me that sometimes ministry means laying down your preferences and trusting that God has you where you are for a reason, even if you can’t see it. Also, a big part of this trip is helping established churches in whatever they need so that they can successfully continue helping and growing their communities, and sometimes that might look like looking after kids or helping with maintenance care while the locals go out and do the other stuff. At the end of the day, my actions and the work I “accomplish” don’t really matter, what matters is where my heart is at in all circumstances and that I have my eyes set on the Lord and what He has for me. I was also given other advice. One of my coaches told me that we often are so focused on what we think we should be doing that we miss what God actually wanted us to be focusing on, so I should start asking God what He wants me to do or pour into when I find myself discouraged or doubtful about my ministry.
Basically, I think my biggest growth in Asia was giving up my preferences and growing my trust in that the Lord has a reason for everything and that He is in control of the outcome of everyone’s life and faith. Also, I guess lowering my pride in a way and learning that my works are not what’s important, it’s my obedience and the love in which I carry out His plans for me.
That’s another thing, I think my main ministry in Asia was showing Christ’s love to everyone I had an encounter with, and this is a good reminder that sometimes that’s all I can do, and maybe sometimes it’s the most effective way of sharing Jesus with people. Also, this is something that I can/ should do for the rest of my life, it’s not just a mission trip thing or another country thing, it’s my entire life.
Ok, so that was Asia, now onto Europe. I am so excited for these next two months. As you guys know, I’m going to be in Albania. I finally have more details on where I’ll be and what I’ll be doing. First off, I’ll be staying at a YWAM base in Tirana (the capital), which is really exciting. Hopefully there’ll be other people around our age who speak English that we can hangout with and talk to. Now for our ministry. We’ll be mainly helping out with our host’s church as well as helping out with special needs kids. That’s honestly about the amount of information we have about our ministry, but we’ll get more during our orientation. One thing that we do know is that there will be opportunities to help out in areas that are geared towards our individual strengths, which I think will be really cool and beneficial for my whole team.
I can’t believe I get to start this new year on a mission trip and serving the Lord, what an opportunity this is. If you’d like to keep up with updates and also help me raise enough money to finish this mission trip, you can subscribe to my blog and also donate. It doesn’t have to be much, I just ask that you would take a look at my adopt a square fundraiser (shown below) and choose an amount to donate. Your donations will help me continue to spread the love of Jesus to people around the world and tell them of the amazing news of the gospel. Also, if you could keep in prayer for me, my team, my squad, and all the people we are interacting with would be very appreciated. Thank you so much!
Love, Gabi
Adopt a square fundraiser…
Here’s a little Asia photo dump…
