The World Race - Anna Matthews

This is not the end....

Wed, 4 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT

11 months ago I was in the Myrtle Beach airport crying and wondering if I could really do this. If I could really leave my family and friends, miss holidays and birthdays. There was never any doubt that this is what God wants me to do. Going was the easy part. I was excited to go. It was what I was leaving behind that was tearing me apart. I can't believe that I will be home next week. This time I will be leaving my new family and stepping into the unknown again. I'm leaving people who have loved me through easy times and the hardest times. Even though I'm ready to go home it's still what I'm leaving behind that will tear me apart. I still don't know what's next for me. I've been praying into some things but God hasn't confirmed anything yet. So I'm transitioning into the unknown again which is scary but exciting! Society tells us we need a plan. A plan for our future - a plan for success. What is success? Success to me is trusting God with ALL of me and living the plans that He has for me - not the plans I have for me. It's trusting Him when I don't understand. Knowing that He is my Dad and has nothing but good things for me - even when it doesn't always feel like it. Knowing that He is in love with me and will NEVER leave me- even when it doesn't always feel like it - I know He is right beside with His arm around me always. Even though I don't know what's next, I do know that I'm in Gods hands and I trust Him to place me where He wants me. I do know that this is just the beginning!!

It's overwhelming when I think about trying to tell people about this past year. So much has happened - the ministries, the relationships, the physical and the spiritual. So many countries have my heart. So many ministries have my heart. The people in this world are beautiful!!!! They have my heart! We have seen God move so much this past year. It's been a personal journey as well. God has done so much in me. When I think about the woman I was and who I am now it overwhelms me. I've experienced FREEDOM. I now have a sweet intimate relationship with my Father. I did before but God had SO MUCH MORE for me to see, so much more love He wanted to rain on me. He keeps reminding me of what He thinks of me, what He says about me, how proud He is of me and how He is so in love with me. This has been an amazing journey - I can look back and honestly say I don't regret any of it. Even though the world race is coming to an end - I know this is just the beginning and that makes me smile.

I want to thank everyone for supporting me. Financially, encouragement and prayers - You will never know how much all this meant to me this year. You are a blessing from God and I can't thank you enough!!

Central America

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Last month we were in Jinotepe, Nicaragua. Jinotepe is a small beautiful town with perfect weather and beautiful people. Our living conditions were great and we had an amazing roof top view. We visited a Senior Center once a week, went to 2 barrios twice a week, hospital visitation once a week and church services. A local girls softball team challenged us to a game. We played two games back to back and WON both!! Bruce MacDonald, you would have been proud! After 4 weeks in Jinotepe, our team traveled to San Vicente, El Salvador and will be here for 3 weeks. We have been here for 5 days now. On the second day we learned 4 dramas. A Canadian team is here building homes for families in the barrios. They had a ceremony to give the families their keys to their new homes. We performed two dramas at the ceremony and visited families afterwards. We performed dramas at another barrio, at a park during a service and at a churches 29^th anniversary celebration before hundreds and on live TV. What a blessing it is to perform a drama about how amazing our God is on live TV. I have to admit my attitude was not grateful at first. I do not like performing dramas at all and still do not like it!! But God is still moving and using me and blessing me with amazing opportunities to share how awesome He is and Im grateful for that!

red and white polka dot cami

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

First night out for ministry in the bars and the search is on for a red and white polka dot cami. Some of us go out to minister while the rest stay back and pray during these hours. They pray for ministry, divine appointments, protection over us and where the Lord leads to pray. The entire day I felt like I was staying back. I've been broken for a few weeks now and really didn't think I had anything to give. Our team went out to eat and on the way back I felt God say "get ready". I said - really Lord? My heart really didn't want to. God lovingly said - "Just get ready. Trust Me. I got you." - So I did. We worship together as a team before we go out to the bars. During worship God gave me a vision of a red and white polka dot cami with a bow on it and the area of bars He wanted me in. This was the first time I got a vision like this. I was excited to find this girl. When we got to the red light district we set out in 3 different groups. My teammate and I went in the direction God gave me and looked in every bar for this girl. Finally with only 4 bars left on this street we see her. She was sitting at the bar by herself. We walked up to the bar and sat down and started talking to her. The conversation came naturally, like we had been friends for years. She stole my heart immediately. I just loved her and tried to show her that she was worth so much. She began talking about her life, her past and I just listened. Didn't have any advice or scripture but just listened. I felt her pain. I've been through some of the same things before so I know the hurt, rejection and the hopelessness. All I could do was love her, feel her pain and tell her how valuable she is. As the night went on customers came. She couldn't spend as much time with us because she had to go flirt with the men, but she kept coming back to us and talking and trying to take care of us. She told us why she couldn't sit down and talk anymore but she promised to keep coming back to check on us. Then finally my heart broke. She came over and told me goodbye. She hugged me and kissed my cheeks and said she had to go with her customer to drink at another location - in other words he bought her for the night. She asked us to come back and said she really enjoyed talking to us. It was two men. The other girl that left with them said she was 24. I met her earlier and I really think she is no more than 18. She had only been working there for 2 months. We saw another young girl there that looked no more than 14 with an older man all over her. She looked so miserable. Every time he touched her, she would always move his hand. She left with him that night. This is hard stuff and its real stuff. It's happening. It's not easy. Brokenness and hopelessness is all around this place. It's not just the women - the men are broken too. Some men are here on vacation, some men are in the bars with their wife and I have met many men that have retired here. These men are looking for fulfillment, love, acceptance, etc... They are looking for the answer in these women. The women make them feel great for a short time but the hurt and brokenness come back and it's just a cycle. A lifestyle of not being fulfilled and searching for hope in darkness. We all need to stand up and pray for this brokenness! For the women and the men!! Pray for the brokenness in this dark place. Only God can truly fulfill and heal. He loves the women and the men in this situation. We should to.

Teen Challenge Cambodia

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Our ministry is working with Teen Challenge Cambodia. We were teaching English, Bible study and just hanging out with the guys. About a week ago a team of Australian men came to build a pig pen for Teen Challenge so now we just go hang out with the guys and help build whenever we can. Teen Challenge has men from 14 to 45. We really think the 3 youngest are around 9 or 10 yrs. old. These boys/men are coming out of addictions. They come to Teen Challenge for 12 months for counseling, learning and Bible classes. They learn about Jesus here and many have accepted Christ. These boys/men all have a story. Some have signs of past abuse and some never felt love. I can't imagine what they have been through but God is working in them. All the boys here are amazing and so full of love. It's going to be hard leaving them. Cambodia does not have many Christians at all so it will be hard for them when they get out of the program. Some of them don't have family to go home to. They don't have anybody to love them and care about them. Please be praying for these precious boys. That God will provide community for them when they finish Teen Challenge. We love these precious boys.

We also teach English classes at the church every night at 6pm. Cambodian people are just so beautiful. We love our students. They are so excited and want to learn English so bad. Our class is full of students from 6yrs old to adults. They all know different levels of English so it's hard to teach, but we all have fun in class and enjoy every minute of it. This past Saturday we shared our testimony with the class and surprised them with snacks. They loved hearing our story and loved the surprise party. Some students always hang around after class talking to us and just asking questions. They love asking us questions! They tell us they love us and don't want us to leave. God is moving here. I love the ministry this month and I love Cambodia! The people of Cambodia have my heart.

Sick for New Years

Sat, 8 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

I want to share with you my experience trying to find a doctor in Cambodia. So a few hours after crossing the border into Cambodia my body started aching. I thought I just needed a good night sleep to let my body rest. Well that wasn't the case and it wasn't just me. My teammate was sick also. The next day the fever starts and we are heading to the bush with our contacts. Two days in the bush, no peace and quiet, sleeping on the floor and fever does not equal fun. Cambodia is not the place you want to be sick or get medical treatment but we had to give it a shot. The fever wasn't leaving and we felt horrible. My team and translator pile into the van to go to the nearest town to see the doctor on New Year's Day. As we are entering the town our translator turns around to ask us if we want public or private hospital. Cambodia is rated among the 10 worse hospitals in the world so I immediately made the smart decision and said private hospital. Ten minutes later we discover that private hospital means- private residence. Immediately we were uneasy. The doctors family was still in their pajamas hanging outside the house. We asked to leave and go the public hospital but we were informed that we couldn't because the doctor had been contacted and was on the way back to the house to see us. So we nervously wait. Finally we could leave because it had been ten minutes and the doctor still wasn't back. Next stop, public hospital, found out when we got there that the doctor doesn't work on Saturdays. Plan C- go to a clinic to get blood work done. There is a clinic on every corner. This shouldn't be too hard right? Well, the first few clinics we went to turned us away. One clinic found out we had fevers and said they couldn't help. So after several failed clinic attempts we went to another private doctor. This one looked nice, but he was too busy and wanted us to come back after lunch. On the way to lunch we stopped at another clinic. This one helped us! Took our blood and said to come back after lunch for results. Went back after lunch for results - not really any results. Found out we were sick but didn't know what we had. So he wanted us to go to see the doctor. Took the paperwork back to the doctor's office. He was closed. His wife said he went to the hospital and we would have to go there to see him. Last stop, public hospital, which was worse than the hospitals I saw in Africa. After 30 min of looking for the doctor we were lead into a room with a young boy and girl in white coats. They looked like they were in high school. The young man asked to see my paperwork and then informed me I would need to check myself into the hospital to run more test. I almost immediately burst out into tears! I would never want to be in this hospital. So our translator finally finds the real doctor. He isn't wearing a white coat so we still aren't convinced he was real. While the doctor is looking at our paperwork and talking to us, a random woman and her child find their way into the room where we were. The little girl climbs up on the desk and is jumping up and down and acting like a precious child and has a bad cough while the doctor is taking our temps and discussing medical treatments. So finally the treatment is decided on. We are off to the bush to ride out the fever for a few more days. Still don't really know what was wrong with us. I think maybe Typhoid but God is really the only one who knows. Moral of the story - don't get sick in Cambodia!!

In His perfect will

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

We aren't in Africa anymore. It was culture shock at first but I'm falling more and more in love with Thailand and the people here! The amazing food and Thai Tea helps a lot! I make myself sick from drinking too much Thai Tea. I just can't control myself; I've been in Africa for 3 months... don't judge me! God is teaching us a lot here and showing us how much He loves us. My team was told in Nairobi that we would be working with The Well in Bangkok. We were so excited. This was our dream. We all have a huge heart for ministry in the red light district. We were on fire and ready to shake things up in human trafficking! The next day our squad headed to Bangkok and stayed there for a few days before we got final info on contacts and travel information. The day we knew we were traveling to the other side of Bangkok was the day we found out that in a few hours we would be on a 13 hour bus ride to Phuket, we would be working with another team for the month, not doing anything that we thought we would be doing. With this information came shock & heartbreak. The world race motto is to never expect anything. This takes it to an entire new level of not expecting anything. We have to live going with the flow. We had to get past the shock and hurt and realize that this was no surprise to God. He never had us ministering in Bangkok- He wanted us in Phuket all along. Yes I wanted to do red light district ministry - but it's not about me. I'm not here for me. I'm here to spread the gospel, His love and I trust Him to place me where He wants me and I don't want to be anywhere else but in His perfect will. I can either stay so focused on what was taken away from us (when really it wasn't ours at all) or choose to grieve it, get past it and focus on seeing thing through Gods eyes. Choosing to realize my Daddy doesn't make mistakes and He has a purpose for me here and I'm honored He is using me.

Fast forward to now. God is loving on us like crazy. We are living in a duplex right beside our contacts. We have free wi-fi, great food, perfect weather & we are a short walking distance from a beautiful beach. I feel like seeing Gods beautiful creation is a gift from Him to me. I feel Him loving on me here. We had a chance to take a boat to James Bond Island. The beauty on the way there and the beauty of the island is absolutely breathtaking. All I can think about is how God is so in love with me. Who am I to be this blessed?

Yes, ministry looks completely different from what we had planned but it's perfect. We are working with American missionaries. They stay busy here trying to spread the gospel and share the love of Christ. It's hard being the only American in another culture and Christians are very, very, very few. They are staying strong and I can see God moving in hearts here. God is using them to change this small fishing village and I'm honored to be a part of it. Our ministry is helping Cindy with English classes, helping Dana with street landscaping, handing out tracks and Bibles, prayer walking the streets, giving our testimony on the local radio station. Yes, I gave my testimony on a radio station in Thailand! How amazing is my life? I can't get over how blessed I am. How blessed I am that God loves me so much. I am so overwhelmed by Him.

A Letter from My Friend

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I hope this letter finds you well, that your Christmas shopping is almost finished, and the crisp winter weather is to your liking. I hope the nights are filled with hot chocolate and warm beds. I hope you are surrounded by your friends and family. Tonight I hope you are loved. Tonight I am riding in the back of a truck through Chang Mai, Thailand. It is a warm and humid 65 degrees and there is the delicious smell of spices in the air. It is going to be a long night and I won't get to bed until 2 or 3 am (that's about noon in California), but this is what you may not know about tonight.

Tonight 20,000 - 30,000 street children are impoverished, hungry and in danger of being exploited on the streets of Bangkok, Pattaya and Chiang Mai.

Tonight girls, age 13-15, who were sold to pimps by their parents for 5,000 - 10,000 baht ($160- $325), are working in bars and brothels of Chang Mai.

I know it is easy to stop here...but please don't...read on!

Tonight a rural family will eat thanks to the 300 million dollars transferred yearly by women engaged in prostitution in urban areas.

Tonight 18-20% of all Thai women aged 18-30 are in sexual slavery

Tonight the streets are walked by men who sell sex because it is the only work they know, the work they have been doing since they were children.

Tonight the industry is booming and 2.8 million sex workers, including 800,000 minors under the age of 18 are available for purchase in Thailand.

There are a lot of sad and discouraging numbers on this page but they aren't just numbers, they are people, beautiful people, they are daughters and sons, brothers and sisters, they are children.This past weekend over 1 million people changed their face book profile pictures to favorite childhood cartoons to combat child abuse. Over 1 million people were willing to take the time to change their profile to voice an opinion that child abuse is not acceptable. What if they were willing to do more? What if those 1million people descended on Thailand and outnumbered the 500,000 foreign tourists who buy women and children for prostitution every year, 2 to 1? What if each one of those 1 million people took personal interest a woman or child trapped in Thailand's sex industry and showed them real love? What if?

I can't stop sex tourism, I can't deliver a crushing blow to the sex industry or end human trafficking. What I can do is buy a woman or child for the evening and keep them from having to do sex work that night. I can talk to them about the foundations and the resources available to help them out of trap of the sex industry. I can become their friend and let them know not everyone in the world wants to use them... I can't do these things if I am not here.

At the moment there are 43 June 2010 world racers in Thailand. We are working with orphans, street kids and sex workers. We are building houses, doing out reach, making friends and even picking up trash. We have spent the last six months and hope to spend the next five (11 total) working with existing ministries in Europe, Africa, Asia and Central America to bring the Love and the word of God to the people. On December 15th,the final support goal for the world race requires each of us to have $14,300 donated or pledged to continue on the race, without it we will be forced to abandon our work and have to return home to the U.S. There are currently 11 racers in danger of leaving the field. 11 racers! That's 11 friends, 11 pairs of hands and feet, 11 smiling faces, 11 people doing the work and giving the love that you want to. I know finances are tight, I know Christmas is coming and there are so many things to do and to buy, I know I am asking a lot but if I don't ask you can't help.

Below is a link for each at risk racer and the amount they need to raise in the next 7 days, please take a little time (maybe the amount it would take to change a profile picture) to share this email with your friends and family and read our blogs. Read about what we have been doing, what we have been learning and who we are becoming and if you feel moved to help please pick a racer and commit to make a one time or monthly (for the next 5 months) donation to support their mission.

James:2-14-17 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Tom and Casey Kowatch, Colorado -$4,446
Rachelle Uribe, California-$3,575
Lili Mejia, Texas- $2,515
Anna Matthews, South Carolina- $2,100
Kris Tippett, Maryland- $2,088
Carrie Campbell, Florida- $2,000
Nathan Salley, Colorado- $1,800
Dan Montenegro, Texas- $400
Sarah Hogan, Oklahoma- $390
Garrett McNeill, North Carolina- $50

The Lord has called us to this and I have no doubt He will provide the finances necessary for His will to be accomplished. We are inviting you to partner with us, with God in the work He is doing in Thailand, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Guatemala and wherever else He sends our squad.

Thank you for reading, may God bless and keep you!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Shell

Fund Raiser!

Wed, 1 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

My family is having a drawing for a 32" LG TV(LCD HDTV) ON DEC. 18TH. Tickets are $10. They will also be drawing for other prizes. Please email me if you want information about how to get tickets. The drawing is to raise the rest of my support. I need $3,100 to reach my goal. I am currently in my 6th country and in a few days I will be in country 7 - Thailand. God is doing amazing things and Im so blessed to be used by Him. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement!

Tanzania Ministry

Sun, 28 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Our time in Tanzania is winding down. Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. Our time here has been just as amazing as the rest of our time in Africa. For the first time we are teaching English classes and computer classes. We also have a team that goes out every morning doing ministry- door to door & visiting Christians to encourage them. The church we are working with has bible study/group meeting on Tues, Wed & Fri evening. One of us usually teaches for those meetings. On Saturdays we go to a local orphanage to play with the children. We are staying pretty busy here. For me personally ministry looks very different. God has called me out of ministry to stay back and intercede. I love intercessory prayer but I've never pulled out of ministry all together to do it. So when God was trying to tell me to do so, I questioned it. I rather do physical ministry, that's why Im here right? So the first week we were here I relied on my own understanding and went to ministry- always feeling out of place- never comfortable. This wasn't right. I never felt so out of place in ministry. So I finally stopped doubting and just listened. This past week I've been out of ministry and in intercessory prayer. It was hard to listen to God at first because He was telling me to do something drastically different. It was hard at first staying back at home while my team goes out for ministry but God has been amazing with our time alone. I know this is my ministry for the month. It looks different for me but God has a plan and He knows best and I wouldn't rather be anywhere else than right where He wants me.

Last Deadline!

Sun, 28 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

So as you know God provided the amount I needed to stay and finish ministry here in Africa. The next deadline is Dec. 15. At this time I will need $3,300 to complete the total amount of $14,300 I need to complete this mission trip. Once I have the total amount of $14,300 I will no longer be in danger of going home. I will be able to stay and finish the last five months of ministry before going home next year. If you would like to donate any amount and help me stay in ministry please click support me on the left side of this page. Thanks again for all the support and encouragement you have given me since the beginning of the world race. If it wasn't for you this wouldn't be possible. I pray blessing over you for being such a blessing to me!

Last Deadline!

Sun, 28 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Cornerstone

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Cornerstone Orphanage has 27 kids from 2yrs through 11yrs. These children are so loving. They stole our hearts the first night we met them. They were so excited when they heard we were coming. They don't get visitors often so they couldn't wait for us to come. When the children saw the first glimpse of us they all ran as hard as they could and wrapped their little arms around us. We have been here for 3 weeks now and they still do this every time we walk through the door. We eat all of our meals there with them, we do devotions at night then send them off to bed and then we go pray for each one before they go to sleep. We have two artist on our team and they teach art everyday for an hour. These kids have never done anything like this. They started painting Thursday. They have never held a paint brush before. The Friday before the crusades started we took them outside the orphanage and played games with them for 2 hours. We taught them how to do relay races, red light green light (which was hard bc there aren't any stop lights here), Simon says and other games. This week we took them to pick up trash around town. They love picking up trash. They just love being outside with us. These kids are amazing and they all have been through so much. Four of the kids are siblings. 2 girls and 2 boys. They lived in a village about 20 min from here. They have different fathers that they have never met (nobody knows who the fathers are) and their mom killed herself leaving these four kids completely on their own. The youngest is around 2 but nobody knows for sure how old he is and the oldest is 8 or 9. The oldest became the mom to the other 3. She cooked for them and took care of them the best an 8 year old could. She has scares on the back of her hands from getting boiling water on her from cooking. The village did not take care of these kids at all. They were completely on their own. Even if they wanted to they had no money to feed four extra mouths. When the pastors from Cornerstone heard about these kids they went and got them. The youngest was 5 days from dying the doctor said. He was sick. He has AIDS. His sister took care of him the best she could but what can an 8yrs old do. Now they are safe and happy. The oldest is learning how to be a child again and the two middle children are happy and healthy and the youngest is doing good. We pray over him all the time. I believe God will heal him! He is smaller than most 2yrs olds but I believe he will be a happy, healthy, strong man of God one day. Cornerstone is a life changer for all the kids here. This is a safe place. They all get healthy meals 3 times a day, education, LOVE and they are learning about God. God is the center. The contacts here are totally focused on Him. They are committed to listening to His direction. They have amazing hearts for Him and His will for these precious children. Please keep these kids, contacts, teachers and all the workers at the orphanage in your prayers. Please pray for safety and protection. Elections are coming up in March and it gets very bloody in Uganda during this time. They expect it to start heating up soon and the targets are Christians. So please pray that God covers them with His protection during these next few months. I know God has a plan for each one of them. These kids are so blessed. There are so many kids here that don't get taken care of, will never have an education, barely get enough food to eat, don't experience love and many don't have a clue who Jesus is. I know God is moving here in Budaka. I believe the Orphanage will grow to house so many more kids. God is moving and He has so many more little lives to change. He loves these children and I believe they will grow up knowing God and will be so in love with Him.

Goal Met!!!

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Just a quick update.... God provided the support I needed to stay on the race! Im with my team in Tanzania about to start ministry. God always provides! I just want to thank all of my supporters for allowing God to use you! Thank you! I know how blessed I am to be doing this and I can't wait to see what else God is going to do! Thanks again! I will update my blog as soon as we get started with ministry here in Tanzania!!

I need your help!

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT

As most of you know Ifve wanted to be a missionary for a while. I was just waiting for God to say when and where. When He called me to The World Race I was very excited. I couldnft wait to completely live for Him and tell people about what Jesus has done for me. These past few months has been amazing. My relationship with Him has grown so much and He is growing and stretching me like crazy. Im getting the chance to see first hand the needs around the world and how great they are. Im getting the chance to tell people about Jesus who have never heard. Im getting the chance to tell people what He has done for me. I get to tell others how much God loves them and that He desires a relationship with them. My life is amazing. I love God so much and to be able to tell others the good news is amazing to me. Ive seen God do amazing things in the past few months. He has used me, my teams and my squad to do His work.

To go on this mission trip for 11 months we have to raise $14,300. Right now I only have $8,849 support raised. My next financial goal is $11,000 by Oct. 31. So I need a little over $2,000. If I do not meet this deadline I will be going home early. I know when God called me to the world race He wanted me to complete it. I donft believe He wanted me to sign up for an 11 month mission trip to only be on it for 5 months. Im asking you to please pray about supporting me. Any amount is a huge blessing. I canft do this without you. I canft spread the word of God or tell of His amazing love without your support. If God is laying it on your heart to give please click support me on the left hand side of this page.

I trust God completely with this. My Father can do anything. I trust Him if I stay and I trust Him if I go home. Either way Im in the palm of His hand and He has me where He wants me. God is amazing and Im a blessed woman no matter what happens. I want to thank you all for the continued support you have given me. The encouragements are very much appreciated and needed at times.

I want to remind everyone to check out my pictures from this mission trip atc.

annamatthewstheworldrace.shutterfly.com

No More Fear!

Sat, 16 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT

We are the first World Race team in Budaka. Our contacts are new and have been wonderful! We are working with Cornerstone Children's Home/Cornerstone Ministries Uganda. Budaka is a small town surrounded by several villages. There are a lot of Muslims and a lot of witchdoctors here among other religions. The first few days I was in Budaka I felt the evil oppression over the town. It was affecting me a lot and it was coming out as fear. I have been battling fear for years and I was winning but this time it was overtaking me. I was in the enemies territory. I felt paralyzing fear all the time. I had to make a decision to just make it through the month and hate Uganda or overcome the enemy and be the woman of God Im meant to be. God doesn't have me here just to get by. He has bigger, much bigger plans. But I couldn't overcome on my own. Ive been trying for days and nothing was releasing, I was miserable. Why couldn't I overcome? God told me to ask for help. That's what my team is for and that is what the family of God is for. God has given us all authority over the devil. We don't have to live in his attacks and be miserable we can overcome as individuals and live in the blessing of God. Sometimes the devil attacks are so strong that you need other believers to come along side us and fight with us. God was teaching me that its ok to trust and rely on others. I don't have to and can't always do it by myself. Thats not how He made us. He created us to need each other. We are here to fight for each other and build each other up NOT tear each other down. Why is it so hard for us to ask for help from other believers? When I finally told my team and contacts what was going on with me we prayed together and I felt the release from fear. FREEDOM!! I am a woman of God and I will walk in that. I am now walking everywhere with confidence and authority. Some things God is having me do I couldn't do at all with fear. No time for fear, Im here for a kingdom purpose. God is moving and I will be apart of it!!

Kingdom is coming to Budaka!

Sat, 16 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The kingdom of God is coming to Budaka!! That's what we are believing for this town. Cornerstone Ministries Uganda organized crusades everyday this week for Budaka and the surrounding villages. We would go in groups of 2 with our translators and evangelize in the mornings and invite people to the crusade. We walk hut to hut and shop to shop just telling people about Jesus and how much He loves them. The people here are very welcoming to us and are listening to what we are saying. People gave their lives to God during hut to hut ministry. I know that seeds were planted in the ones that did not give their lives to God. Hut to hut is fun and hard. Its hard talking to the women of the family because they are trained that they don't have a say. Everything is up to the male in the family. If the male isn't there the women will not respond to what we are saying most of the time. They are always polite to us but they will not respond to the gospel. Its hard to see women in this trap. I just try to reassure them of their value and let them know they are worth so much to God and that it is an individual decision. I had people come up to me and ask me to pray for them because they are demon possessed. The first thing I ask is - are you saved? They so no. Then I have to tell them that I will pray for them but its not me who gets the devil out it is God and if your not saved he will come back. We also have a lot of people requesting prayers for healing who are not saved. Again the first thing we do is say we will pray but its not us, it is God and God only. They know what God can do or they wouldn't come to us but they aren't willing to commit to Him yet. I believe seeds have been planted and God is moving here. The crusade starts at 4 and ends around 730. Every night gets bigger and bigger. Around 300 people have been saved!!! Thursday night a muslim man got saved and God healed him!! He said he had back pain for years and had been to several doctors and they couldn't help him. He got on stage and testified to the crowd what God did for Him! That same night a witchdoctor gave their life to God! The entire village was terrified of them and now they are new in Christ! We see God doing amazing things here. Some of these villages have never had a crusade and I met a lot of people this past week that have never heard of Jesus. This needs to change. Its an honor to be hear and see God moving in Budaka. We believe this is just the beginning. I believe Budaka will not be a town of Muslims or witchcraft or any other religion any longer. God is taking back His people who have been lied to and trapped for so long. Kingdom is coming in Budaka, Uganda!!

Another amazing week in Kenya!!

Sat, 25 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

God is still showing up in Kenya! We are still going to secondary schools (high school) in the afternoons. Over 30 students this week asked Jesus in their hearts, recommitted and were encouraged by the word of God. I canft believe God is using me for this, Im so blessed! Its such a joy seeing young people hungry for God. After we talk to the students we get to talk one on one with them about anything and everything. We are noticing that these kids need discipleship and are hungry for it. There is a saying is Africa Christianity is miles wide but only an inch deep. We are seeing first hand just how sadly true this is. These kids need committed men and women to disciple them. They need to see first hand what a true woman and man of God is. They are hungry for this!

We were blessed with two opportunities this week to visit New Life Home Trust. This is a Christian childrenfs home here in Kenya. The Kisumu branch has the only Special - Care Center. This is where God guided my foot steps both times. I fell in love with these precious children. The oldest is almost 7. All the workers in this childrenfs home are amazing and they love what they do. You can tell this is a ministry to them - its not just a job. All the children here are being well taking care of. Gods blessing are on this place. Please go to www.newlifehometrust.org to see how amazing this place is.

We are only in Kenya for 6 more days. I donft want to leave. I love it here but I know God has big plans for us in Uganda. Please pray for safe travel and pray for our entire squad. We have been attacked with sickness but itfs a good thing. It means the devil is scared. Praise God we are more than conquers!!

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School Ministry

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I truly love Kenya! God is moving and itfs a gift to see. We are mainly doing school ministry. Our team splits and we go to 2 schools. Here the students go to school from 7 to 5 and we talk in the afternoon. We give our testimonies or speak whatever God puts on our hearts. The kids are hungry. We have been to 8 schools all together and kids are getting saved! Students lives are changing because of God. Praise Him! Tuesday afternoon I really felt the Holy Spirit telling me to give my testimony. The time was pushed back from an hour to 20mins so this only aloud time for me to speak. My team and I went into this with prayer before and during. We wanted to make sure we were listening to the Holy Spirit and say to these precious students what He wanted them to hear. He confirmed this was what He wanted. We invited Him to show up and take over and He did! I gave my testimony in front of a large room full of students (this is all God. Years ago I would never talk before a large group of people). God prepared their hearts to hear. 9 students asked Jesus in their hearts!!! Thank you Lord for taking over! God is moving and the students are responding. Around 20 students have asked Jesus in their hearts! Praise Him!!

I bought an English to Kiswahili book today. Pray for God to give me wisdom while learning this language. God has put the people here on my heart. They are so precious. Please continue to pray for my relationship with the Massai (our security guard). I will witness to Him. I just want it to be in Gods perfect timing. Here are some fun facts about himc. His name is Lazurth, he is 24, married, has a 6 month old son and has killed 3 lions, a buffalo and a cheetah. A young man in the youth from church is educating me about the different tribes and what needs to change. My heart aches for this change. We praise God for opening doors for us to share His love.

Loving Kenya!

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Kenya is amazing! The people here are great and our ministry contacts treat us like family. I can't say enough about them. The weather is perfect, we have cold showers, sleeping in a bed with a mosquito net that has holes, meeting wonderful people everyday and get to share the love of God in Kenya...Life is perfect right now. We are in Kisumu and we are working with Deliverance Church. Our second day here we were able to split the team and go to two schools and talk. 6 students asked Jesus in their hearts!!!! Saturday we went to Deliverance Church choir practice to meet some of the members and Sunday we started church at 730am and finished the second service at 1pm. After dinner we headed back to church for a youth meeting for a few hours. Ministry here will be going into the schools and talking, going in the jails and talking and visiting the hospital. Ministry for me personally is just talking to random people that God puts in my path. The security guard were we are staying is a Massai. Which is one of the largest tribes in Kenya. He has the sweetest heart. He doesn't speak any English. God has put him on my heart. I really want to share Jesus with him. Please keep him in your prayers and pray for God to open doors and for understanding. God is so good and I can't wait to see Him move in my friends life!

Changes!

Sat, 4 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Im writing this blog in a tent in Ireland (The first time I used my tent!) Praise God I got the 20 degree sleeping bag! The first night here we all woke up at 3am freezing. God is good. It hasn't been that cold since. Sunday our team left the comforts of the hostel and met up with the rest of our squad at a campsite outside of Dublin for The Awakening. This is a conference for all the world racers on the field to come together and get fed some meat and to get awakened! (One squad is going home after this and a girl gave me 2 months supply of Malaria medication! I didn't bring any with me! Praise God!) God moved so much this week! He revealed some things to me about myself and where He is taking me next in our relationship. Im so in love with Him!

Thursday night was the last night of The Awakening and Friday morning squad debrief began. This debrief was heartbreaking because it meant team changes. I tried to prepare myself and start the grieving process the week before but it was still hard. Lovesick514 was an amazing family with the most beautiful men and women of God. Everyone on this team has a passion for God and desires to go deeper in Him. God responded to their desire. Im a blessed woman to get to see God do amazing things in and through these men and women. The beautiful thing is that God is just getting started!! Although Im going to miss them like crazy Im so excited for them! I know Gods plans are bigger and better so I can't wait to see what God has next for them!! I love you Lovesick514!!

While Im still grieving Im celebrating! God has placed me on an amazing new team! Im excited to dig deep and bond with them. I can't wait to see where God takes us individually and as a team. He placed us together for a time such as this. He has a purpose and I can't wait to walk in it with them. Once we get a team name I will let you know what it is and introduce my new family to you.

Monday morning at 7am we are leaving Dublin for Kenya!! Africa here we come! This will be our fourth country on the race. Please be in prayer for support. I need $3,000 to be on schedule with the world race. If you would like to support me please click support me on the left of this screen. I thank God in advance for providing the support I need to continue. I want to thank everyone for all your support and encouragement to me. It means so much!! I love you and miss you and I can't wait to tell you what God is doing in Kenya!

Romania and Dublin Ministry

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

This is a blog I wrote when I first got to Dublin. I will give update later on todaycc.

I want to say Im sorry for not posting a blog last month while in Romania. Im not going into detail about why I didn't and I will not go into detail about what all happened. I would love to tell you a few things that made Romania awesome for me. Romania is beautiful!! I have pictures uploaded to my shutterfly website that you can check out. I loved seeing the beauty that God created. It takes my breath away. Romania is filled with beautiful hills. I tried to climb the hill behind our contacts house every morning and every time God met me up there. I had the most amazing time with God on this hill. Our team fell in love with it. This was a place we could all go to spend time alone and admire the beauty He created. There is something special about pouring your heart out to your daddy when your surrounded by His beautiful creation. When I came down from the hill I would visit some of the older ladies in the village. These women are so precious. I fell in love with them! I just wanted to spend time with them and let them know how special they are and they are not forgotten. They loved me back and stole my heart. One lady gave me a beautiful flower out of her garden. I was so touched because we just met and she gave me the biggest one and it was so pretty. Another lady I was close to led me to her garden everyday to pick apples and berries and she invited me in her home. The last day I was in Romania I went to tell her bye and that I loved her and she held me tight and cried as I walked away. This broke my heart. I wish I could take her with me. She was so sweet and precious. She has my heart.

We have been in Ireland for 6 days now and loving every moment of it!! Dublin is awesome! The city is amazing and we love our ministry here. On Tues, Thurs & Sat we work with a homeless ministry called Lighthouse and we are also working with Dublin Christian Mission. They work with kids from broken families. Next week we will be leaving Dublin and traveling to a camp that DCM is having for the kids they work with and their parents. We will be using our tents for the first time! Please keep these two ministries in your prayers. We are excited and we just want to let everyone that God puts in our path know how much He loves them and how special they are to Him.

God has been blessing us so much since we got here. Our first day here we got tickets to a Manchester United vs. Airtricity soccer game. The first game ever in Dublins new stadium. This was amazing!! This past Sunday we went to a church right across the road from our hostel and it was amazing!!! I didn't want it to end. It was great going to church in English and we didn't have to do anything, just get fed! We needed it. It was so refreshing! God is so good to us!

Ministry in Dublin

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Im sad to say our time in Dublin has come to an end. Dublin feels like home now and Im going to miss it so much! I love this city but mostly I love seeing God work here. He has been so good! The first few days we were here I met a homeless man named Richard. He is one of many homeless people sitting on the streets of Dublin. As our team was walking from eating out back to the hostel Richard caught my eye. Daniel and I went back to talk to him. My heart went out to him. We talked for a little and he let us pray for him. God kept him on my heart. Everyday when we would be out in that area I would look for him but never saw him again. (This is how great our God is!) So a few nights before we left for family camp my computer screen cracked down the middle so my computer has been useless for a while. I didn't do anything about it then because we couldn't use it at family camp so I decided just to wait when I got back to Dublin to worry about it. I took my computer to the shop on Sunday and they were closed. I went back the next day and they told me they needed my charger. After the third trip I finally dropped my computer off. This time I didn't cross the road to walk back like I usually do. I just kept walking straight. God guided my footsteps straight to Richard!!!! God used a not so great situation for me to bless me in huge way! I was so excited to see him. Richard was painting pictures to give away for donations. This man has a gift!! He had some amazing stuff! He looked like he had life in him again! Richard was excited to see me too. He said he had been looking for us but figured we had left already. We talked for a while and I just kept telling him what a gift he had for painting. He surprised me and said he wanted to paint one for me since I had been so nice to him. He loved talking to me because he said most people just pass him by so he doesn't get a chance to talk to people that much. He was excited because he was leaving Sat to fly to London with a friend who was going to help him get back on his feet. Things were looking up for him and I was so full of joy for him! A few days later I saw him again. This time he was lifeless again and my heart broke when I saw this. Two men woke him up with a knife the night before and took all his money and he got news that his plans for London got delayed two weeks. My heart broke for him. I just tried to encourage him and speak life into him. I saw him the next day and as I was walking up to him he was finishing my painting. Love it! He had life in him again. God blessed me so much with meeting Richard. He is an amazing man. I ask that you all pray for him!! Pray for his safety and that he gets back on his feet soon!!! Pray that God keeps putting people in his path that show the love of God.

Last week we camped out at family camp for Dublin Christian Mission. This camp is a refuge for these families for a week. Its amazing how much this one week means to these families. They are from broken homes in very bad areas of town. So the kids are exposed to very hard things to deal with at a very young age. When we first got to camp it was hard for me. The kids were hard and will tell you they didn't like you and stuff like that. By the middle of the week we were able to see major changes in All the kids. They just let their guards down and were truly having a blast! I was blessed to be one of three leaders for the girls 10 -12 yrs old. On Thursday night in session two girls asked Jesus in their hearts!!!!!!!!!!! This was an amazing night!! Praise God for these precious girls. After camp we came back to Dublin and went to church across the street from us. Some families from camp met us at church! This was the first time they have been in a Christian church. They loved it and will be there with us tomorrow! Please pray for these families. They are so beautiful and I just want to pray for protection spiritually and physically for them.

I just want to share how God used me today. This is amazing. I haven't taken any pictures of Dublin yet because when we go places its just easier to go and worry about pictures later. Well today was my last day to get out in the city and God reminded me to take my camera. I didn't want to because I knew my batteries were almost dead and I didn't know where my camera was. Basically I was being lazy. But God made it obvious that I needed to get my camera. So I did. Since I was taking pictures I was taking my precious time. Not in a hurry at all. On the way back to the hostel I crossed to the middle of the road, at the spike. Again taking my time taking pictures. As I turned around from my last picture to head back to the hostel a woman was walking into traffic. She wasn't paying any attention and was looking the opposite way of traffic. God placed me there that exact moment. I was the only person yelling and grabbing to pull her back on the sidewalk. I look back at everything that happened today up until that moment and I see how God perfectly placed me there at that moment. God is so good!! Im a blessed woman.

Please pray for our squad. The Awakening is next week then after that we head to Kenya!

Good-bye Ukraine!!

Wed, 7 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

This is our last full day in our host family's home. I can't believe we are already saying goodbye. I'm quickly realizing that good-byes will be constant on the world race. Our team has said good-bye so many times to different people we have been working with and have grown to love. Good-byes are tough but I thank God for giving me the opportunity to meet these wonderful people and if we don't meet again on earth I can't wait to see them in heaven. I am a blessed woman. It's still hard to believe I'm actually doing this. I'm actually here on the world race. Am I really ready for this? Am I really ready to leave my family for 11 months? It will be hard and it will not always be easy but God has a purpose. I know God is going to do amazing things through our team. I see my team growing everyday as a team and as individuals. This is a gift from God to see. Thank you everyone for keeping Lovesick514 and this softball ministry in your prayers. God showed up! So many kids and young adults came out and heard the gospel. Not only did they hear the gospel but they saw something different in us. They saw joy in us and they felt Gods love pouring into them. Most of the kids, young adults and people helping us with the camp have never felt love. Nobody has ever shown them love and they have no clue what real joy is. As we get ready for 43-hour train ride to Romania tomorrow my heart is still broken for East Ukraine. God showed up and the people are hungry. Please continue to keep East Ukraine & this softball ministry in your prayers. Ukraine is broken and only God can heal! Please keep our host family in your prayers. This is a precious family that we all feel apart of now. They have shown us nothing but love and have gone above and beyond. We will miss them so much. Also please be praying for our Romania mission. It sounds like we will be doing some of everything there but we will know more when we get there. Please pray we give it all to God and don't hold anything back in Romania. Thank you so much for being so encouraging to me! God has used you to bless me in so many ways! I love you all and will be saying Hello from Romania soon!

2nd softball camp!

Sat, 3 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Week two in ministry was awesome! Another week in softball ministry and praise God for showing up!! It's crazy how you can fall in love so fast. I'm going to miss these kids so much. This past week we worked with a local churches youth group. This church has amazing youth, they are set apart! Please pray they will stay focused on God and will not get distracted!! They were a true blessing to work with and thank God for letting me meet them in this life. So many young kids and young adults showed up for the softball camp! So many people heard the gospel! God was there and I know a lot of seeds were planted. Please continue to pray for these kids. They have my heart and it's hard to leave them not knowing what the future holds for them. These kids are so sweet but the devil has them down. Please stand and fight with me for them! Please do not stop praying for east Ukraine! They need God and He loves them! These softball camps we had 2 young men helping us. They are amazing young men and we have fallen in love with them. They are like family to us now. These two young men are not saved. Please pray hard for them. Our hearts are broken for them. We witnessed to them and I know they see something different in us. Please pray God does amazing things in their lives! Their names are Leosha & Eugene. These are special young men who we love so much! I believe God is working in them. We will be leaving our host family next Thursday for a 43 hour train ride to Romania. This family is amazing and they will be missed so much. Please pray a blessing over this family. I can't wait to see how God is going to continue to use them here. I love you all so much and you are missed!! Thank you so much for all the encouragement!

pictures!

Sat, 3 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Just a quick update... I created a shutterfly account to upload my pictures. I'm finding out quickly that anything I can do to save time will be a huge benefit and a must!! Please sign up to get updates. I have more pictures but my camera is lost at the moment so also please be praying God reveals where my camera is soon! I love you all so much!!

http://annamatthewstheworldrace.shutterfly.com/

First week in the Ukraine!!

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

One week of ministry down. God is moving and I'm in love with East Ukraine. It was clear as soon as we stepped off the plane that Ukraine needs God. Everyone has empty stares and will not smile at you. After a 12 hour train ride we made it to Lugansk where we met our host family. They are missionaries and have been here for 5 years. They have 12 kids. The older ones are back in the US and the 5 younger ones are here. LOVE THEM!! God has blessed us so much. We haven't used our tents or sleeping bags yet. So much has happened this past week. God is moving in East Ukraine but the workers are few. These people are hungry and searching but East Ukraine has few missionaries. Please pray about this!! We are 30 miles from Russia so everybody here speaks Russian. We now know 6 Russian words and we use them ALL the time! lol!! We have to take army showers and outside of our missionaries home we can not flush the tp down the toilet, it goes in the trash can, and I ate cow tongue last week. Life is very different now but it's been amazing. I have so much to tell about last week but I don't know how to get it on one blog. So I'm just going to write and see where God leads. Monday we left for a town 2 hours away. This is where the softball ministry took place and where we lived for the week. We stayed with a doctor, his wife and their 4 wonderful kids! LOVE THIS FAMILY!! They didn't speak any English and at this point we didn't know our 6 Russian words lol but this family took us in with open hearts and loved us and treated us like family. I can't say enough about them. Doctors in Ukraine only make $200 a month. He is serving his community through this. This family wasn't always Christians. When they were building their house they had to stay there all the time or the workers would steal things from them. They went through several builders then finally hired Christian builders. They noticed something different about these Christians, they were happy, they had joy. The doctor and his wife wanted to be happy and have this joy. After talking to the Christians they gave their lives to God. Ill say more about this later. They fed us so much!! The people in Ukraine don't buy much at all from the store/market. They have gardens. Everything that we have been eating has been fresh from the garden. The bread here only last two days.

Now for the ministry update. He did softball missions this past week. I'm going to try to post pictures soon. We played softball on a soccer field in the middle of huge apartment buildings. We had young kids all the way up to early 20's coming out to see the Americans and learn to play softball. These people have never seen an American before when they told people we were here playing with them they didn't believe them. We went to the field at 4 and played softball till 8. When it got completely dark we played a Christian movie for everyone. We were able to connect with everyone who came out and share the gospel. It was amazing. By the last day they didn't want us to leave. We handed out salvation bracelets one day and explained what each bead meant and the next day we handed out New Testament Bibles. Softball camp was from Monday to Thursday. Friday we did a eyeglass clinic for the community and we were there to pray for them if they needed prayer and handed out salvations bracelets. Please pray for these people. Here church is viewed as a cult so it's hard to talk to some of the adults. Please pray for our ministry next week! We will be going to another town an hour away and doing another softball camp and eyeglass clinic. Please pray God prepares hearts to hear the gospel and keep our team in your prayers as God uses us!

Now back to the doctor's family....Tuesday we couldn't watch the movie at camp because a bad thunderstorm came. We ended up going back to the doctor's house. We gathered in the living room and sang praises to God. We found out the next morning that when they were building their house the Christians that were building it prayed over the house and told them one day they would have a room full of Christians singing praises to God. We all got so attached to this family. We cried when we had to leave them and they were crying too. Please pray for them! It's hard to be the only light in such a dark place. They have a huge heart for this region. Please pray God uses them to change Ukraine!

Hello from the Ukraine!!

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Hello everyone!! I just want to say thank you to everyone for praying for me and supporting me! I left Myrtle Beach Airport at 7:15am on Wed (with a pack that weighed 44.5lbs) and we arrived in the Ukraine on Thursday. We stayed the night in an hostel checked out of the hostel around noon, walked (forever it felt like) to the train station with internal frame and day packs on (i realize i packed way too much and will be going through my stuff soon! lol) , hung out at the train station for hours waiting on our 7pm train, spent 13 hours on the train and now we finally arrived at our host families home! One other team traveled with us to this city but they are with another host family and will be doing another ministry. Our team will be helping with softball clinics for kids / youth. We will travel to different cities for a week at time then come back to our host families house for the weekend. Thats all we know right now. We just got in a few hours ago and were blessed with an awesome meal (first since the states)!!! Please continue to pray for our team as we start ministry soon!! I love you all and will update soon!!

Meet my family for the next 11 months....

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Hello everyone! I told you in the last blog that we met our team for the next 11 months. I want to introduce you to this amazing group of Godly men and women!! Im so excited about spending every moment of the next 11 months with them! lol First let me tell you our team name and how we came up with it. After lunch one day at training camp the teams were revealed (we knew right away our team was the best! lol) we were told we could leave the campus and do whatever we wanted for a few hours, just take this time to bond. So the first place we decided to go in civilization was Starbucks. After brain storming for a name for about 5 mins somebody came up with the idea that each person would close their eyes and flip open the Bible and point to anywhere on the page and see what we came up with. Well Matt went first. He pointed to Sodom. We decided to keep moving on. After 3 or so rounds of this it was clear we weren't getting anywhere so we stopped and started discussing. Matt said when he pointed to Sodom that first time he happened to look at some scripture above it and lovesick caught his eye. We were all immediately like yes thats it! Thats the way we all feel. We are so in love with our Lord, our Daddy! He is an awesome Father and we want to be in His presence. So Lovesick it is. We wanted to add some scripture to the team name. 2 Corinthians 5:13-15 was one of Rebekah's favorite verses. When she read it we all agreed this is it! This is us!

2 Corinthians 5:13-15
If I acted crazy, I did it for God; if I acted overly serious, I did it for you. Christ's love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do.
^{14 -¹⁵Our} firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.

So of course we couldn't put all the verses in our name so we decided that Lovesick514 would be our name!! So when you think of Lovesick514 remember this verse and pray this stays who we are and we never lose focus! So now that you got the scoop on the most awesome team name let me introduce you to the best team the world race has ever seen!! From left to right me, Rebekah King, Garrett McNeill (our fearless team leader), Matt Delaney, Rachael Ratz, Jessica Sims.

I love these people and I thank God for them daily! He has blessed me with an amazing group. These young ladies and young men have a pure heart for God and He is going to use them in awesome ways next year and Im blessed to get to see what He will do in them and through them!! We bonded and fell in love with each other quickly. Each one of us brings something unique to the team. I love my new brothers and sisters and ask that for now own when you pray for me, to please pray for Lovesick514, my family for the next 11 months.

Training Camp

Mon, 31 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I just got back from 9 days at training camp in White, GA. What an amazing time! This past week was very emotional, spiritual and physical. Thank God for an amazing staff at AIM who love Him with everything in them. Its because of them listening and obeying God that the June 2010 squad will change the world next year! Training camp was sooooo long and intense but life changing! God showed up and changed lives! He did amazing things in people in just one short week I can't wait to see how everyone on the squad is dramatically changed during the next 11 months. No more ordinary - only extraordinary life after our Fathers heart!! Im going to try to break down the week for you in detail without boring you. Jonathan Helser did our worship for the first few nights. This was the first time I heard them. Needless to say we were blessed to have his band. Very anointed! We arrived at training camp on Saturday night around 7pm. After supper we had our first session. Immediately after this was over we were led down to an open field (no talking aloud). Tiki torches were lit in a circle around the field. We broke up in small groups and rotated from tiki torch to tiki torch. Every tiki torch asked a question about expectations that we discussed as a small group. As we opened up about expectations - we soon learned to lay ALL expectations down! That is the one thing training camp stressed - to expect nothing! Because nothing is for certain on the world race. Not even our race route. Here is our new race route (that can change at anytime - even while we are on the race). Romania, Ukraine, Ireland, Kenya, Uganda, Thailand, Cambodia then to Central America! I have to admit I was looking forward to going to Israel and Egypt but its not about me. I will gladly go where God needs our squad to go. Our meals were themed by the countries we are planned to go to. So needless to say this was interesting and always a surprise. Not only did we eat the food from these countries we learned about the culture. For Africa day the ladies served the men their food. After all the men were served we sat on the floor to eat our meal. Tuesday after lunch we were told find a partner and pack for a camp out. We could only take one backpack. No tents aloud! We had 10 mins to get our stuff together. We hiked 15 min or so to the lake. Our squad made several trips back and forth in canoes to get everybody and everything across the lake to an island where we spent the night. We cooked our supper for the night over fire. Once back at the camp grounds the next few days consist of team building exercises. The first one was just us girls. We did the exercise where we had been in a plane crash and we had to get everyone to safety. Once everyone was safe we had to get them up the hill to the pavilion. Easy right? Well we all had handicaps. Some of us were blind, unconscious, lost arms, legs, etc. I lost a leg in the crash. Let me just say hopping up a hill with one leg isn't fun and took forever! It took us 30 mins to get everyone to the pavilion. Once we made it we were debriefed about what went wrong, what we could have done better, then were told we had to do it again but this time we only had 10min to do it. WHAT?! Guess what! We did it!!! My O squad women are awesome!!! (june 2010 is called the O squad). After a few more team building activities and a lot of prayer our leaders were picked and our teams had been formed. Let me tell you how God blessed me! I have the most amazing team! We are like a family already! As soon as I get a picture of my brothers and sisters for the next year I will post it for you to see. I love my team so much. I can see God in them and I know He will use us next year. We were able to spend Thursday afternoon with our team (off campus!!) to bond and to decide on a team name. After an amazing time with our new family we returned to campus for night session. This session was very hard on us and the AIM staff. We were told to go put on clothes that we never wanted to wear again, close toe shoes and headlamp. The AIM staff created a simulation of an underground church. (Im not getting in to details about this because this blog is already very long but if you want to know more please send me an email). This was very hard emotionally for ALL of us. Some people couldn't finish the game because they broke down. The staff did a great job making this real for us - I know they hated every minute of it. Its something that will stay with us! Thank you AIM staff!! This was just a little about my life last week. Sorry its so long! We will be leaving on June 16th from JFK for Romania. Thank you for your prayers and support! Please continue to pray for us as we leave our love ones behind in 2 weeks and start this life changing adventure with our new family! I love you!!

Only two more months!!

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Only 2 more months before everything changes. WOW!! June is getting here fast and God has been awesome providing for my needs and just showing me that He is right here beside me going through this with me. The race will be hard but I'm so excited to see what God has planned!

I just wanted to let everyone know where I am right now in the process. A lot has been done but I still have a lot to go. I'm done with most of my vaccines - only two more to go (Hepatitis A & B & Japanese Encephalitis)! God has provided financially for most of these vaccines! Thank you Father! This was a huge blessing. I now have my future home for the next 11 months - internal frame backpack, tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, mess kit, head lamp, etc. God blessed me with an awesome sale!! It was much needed! How wonderful is our God! Everyone has been so encouraging to me! Thank you!! You will never know how much this means to me and how much it has helped emotionally.

I just got back from an awesome weekend. I met a few of my future teammates for the first time. We have an awesome group going! It was great hearing what God has done in their lives and to see their heart for Him. I can't wait to share Gods love to the world with these people.

So much has been done and time is flying by! I still have some needs that I'm asking you to join me in prayer for. The total amount to go on this 11 month mission trip is $14,500 and I need no less than $100 a month in my personal checking account for any extra needs I might have. My insurance will cost $500 which will need to be paid in full before I step on the plane. Please pray about supporting me financially either one time or monthly. A missionary is only half of a team. We can not do what we do without our supporters. You are a very important part of spreading Jesus to the nations and making Him known. Will you pray about joining my support team?

Please also keep me and my awesome team in your prayers. All of us are leaving are lives as we know it and stepping into the unknown that God has called us to. Please pray for us emotionally, financially, our safety and for our health. Pray that we bond quickly and stay focused on God

I love each of you and I can't wait to update everyone from Ireland in June! Please forward my blog to anybody you think might be interested in keeping up with what God is doing and how He is changing me and using my team!