Once Upon a Time- {How 1 month in India changed my life}

"How did I become to so blessed to grow up in the country that I did? How is it that, what I can pack in 80 gallons worth of backpack space, is worth more than what these kids will ever see in their lifetime?”  It feels just like yesterday, that I nodded in silent agreement, at loss for anything else, at my squad mate’s question.  She voiced what we were all thinking.  It was the same thoughts, questions and conversations with God, that I had each and every day as I walked passed the shanty village, to and from Grace Home; our sight of ministry for the month. 

If I am being really honest with you, India was the one month on the World Race that I was NOT looking forward to.  In fact, I will even go as far and say that I was dreading each and every moment of it.  Nonetheless, it is in India that I found myself in October 2013. 

Despite the fact that India has become one of those months that I don’t find myself talking a whole lot about, I am continuing to realize how perfectly timed it was that God placed it into my life when He did.  3 years later and the impact remains. 

It is in India, where I ate more rice and curry than I ever thought possible and it is in India that I TRULY discovered my love for authentic chai tea regardless of the sweat pouring off my face in the +40 degrees Celsius temperatures.  It is in India, where I (we) aimlessly followed our fearless (female) contacts through a literal wall of fire set ablaze across the street (after having been yelled at in a foreign language, by locals on motorbikes). It is in India, that teammates and I hopped on a Tuk Tuk and told the driver to “take us on an adventure”, all for only 10 cents. It is in India, that I learned that Larry the cucumber was right-not only does everyone WANT a water buffalo…everyone HAS MULTIPLE water buffalos! It is in India, where team mates and I unknowingly ‘crashed’ an Indian wedding.  It is in India, where I discovered that “OFC” was the next best thing to KFC- just don’t ask what the “O” stood for…and, thanks to India, I can officially take “survive an international newsworthy typhoon” OFF my bucket list.  Ironically enough, it is also because of my experience IN India, that led me to even consider the current profession I am in (direct support worker with adults with Intellectual/physical disabilities); I truly believe that my time in India, has given me an unique understanding/perspective (and passion) for my job each and every day.

More importantly; it was in India, that I truly began to become aware of the spiritual world around me.  It is in India, where the Holy Spirit began to make His presence known in my life.  It is in India, where a squad-mate spoke a bold Truth INTO my life; thus challenging me and giving me a different perspective on who I was.  It is in India, where rooftop worship became one of my highlights of the entire 11 months and sleeping in my one person tent-took one a whole new meaning.

It is in India, that I fell in love with the ‘lowest of the low’ on India’s Caste system; (special need) orphans and widows and it is in India, that God showed me what it truly meant to give up everything for Him through women younger than me, foster mom’s Hannah, Sarah, and Jenny.  Young women Natasha and Abby also gave up their lives in North America, to serve Jesus in India.  Shout out to all you ladies-thank you for being an inspiration. In India; God furthered showed me my passion FOR those with HIV/AIDS through Nora, a young girl with a world of opportunities before her.  India is where I met “Wendy”, a young lady who suffered a stroke at a young age which lead to Cerebral palsy; but it is her gorgeous smile, incredible strength and a bold uniqueness that God has used to change my life.  This Wendy also happened to share the same name of my own auntie Wendy- another lady with a story uniquely her own but who shares that same beautiful smile, incredible strength and a bold uniqueness that God has also used numerous of times within my life.  Through both of these ladies, God joined to totally different worlds and used them both equally to begin to teach me the power of (physical) healing power within Him.

I don’t know why God allowed me to be born into the country that I have been.  As I walked by the shanty villages, the thought of ‘that so easily could have been me’ wasn’t too far out of my mind.  Although India was FAR from being an ‘easy’ month on every level, what I experienced was NOTHING compared to what the locals live through each and every day.  Truth is, I honestly don’t know if the young naked child who held my hand every day on the walk to Grace Home, is still alive.  I don’t know if her home consisting of scrap metal, wood, cardboard and anything else random, withstood the latest downfall of rain.  I don’t know the last time she had a bath in clean water, or even DRANK clean, non-toxic water.  In North America; law suits would quickly be set up and fancy lawyers would be pointing fingers at one another because of human right violations…but for this little girl, and those like her around the globe who I’ve had the true honour of walking with and holding, if even for a moment, I can only pray.   I can only pray to God above that, above all else, He will hold them and never let go.  Believing that one day, God will rise them up and place them right next to Him in the eternal realm of Glory.  After all, the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to children such as these.

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To learn more about organization I worked along side; click here 

Dear Cambodia (a message from my heart)

Dear Cambodia

You’ve wrecked me.  I left your soil just over 2.5 years ago, yet my heart remains broken for you.  My feet yearns for the day that they will walk upon your land once again.  My eyes cannot wait to look upon the beautiful faces of your people. My soul is restless, begging me to return to you and share with you, the hope in which you have renewed in me.  I’ll be honest- I never thought I would fall in love with you in the way that I have.  Truth be told, at the time I thought you were ‘just another country’ in South East Asia.  A country in which I had to spend time in before returning to the red soils of Africa.

Isn’t that how God works though? Revealing Himself to us in ways we sometimes least expect it?  Ironic isn’t it? That you, Cambodia, were the one country in which I spent 2 months in?

Cambodia, I miss walking among your streets; taking in the many sites and smells.  I miss buying fresh pineapple for 10 cents from local vendors and walking among the rice fields.  As the rain hits the ground outside my home here in Canada, I recall sitting beneath the shadows of palm trees, sipping fresh coconut milk while enjoying the company of the local people.  Oh the lengths I’d go for a roadside smoothies consisting of dragon fruit/pineapple and apples and to taste a deep friend banana for breakfast once again.  Playing hide n seek among a Buddhist temple (opps!) and even hearing off tune karaoke…praying that it would end, now becomes a moment in which I yearn for.  Waking up early, reviewing the English lesson for the morning and then finishing up the day with worship, songs and testimonies from local Khmer university students, renewed my soul in a powerful way.  Time spent with my Phnom Penh Cambodian contacts, turned family, at “Beautiful Feet” dorm, are precious precious moments that I will forever be grateful for.  Words cannot express how they changed the course of my life in 3 short weeks.  To Ango, Asui and Kaka…thank you.  From the bottom of my heart, with everything that I got, thank you so very much.  Your friendship, your mentorship, means the world to me.   

Is this all Ironic? Coincidence? Perhaps a ‘freak thing’ that the one country that I had to spend two months in, is the one country in which I yearn to return to the most?

Or is it a part of God’s continual plan to break my heart for what breaks His? 

Cambodia through you, God began to begin to stir a passion deep within me, not only for a foreign land and its people, but a future career as well. Yes Cambodia, it is because of those two months of teaching English to your people, that God revealed another calling within my life, to me. A calling that came full circle in just over a year, when God led me back to Zambia to teach English.  February 18, 2014 while I was in the middle of my second month teaching English to local Cambodian university students, I journal the line, “I want to use my TESOL to be able to go back to Zambia, and teach at Seeds of Hope.”  May 1, 2015 I found myself back at Seeds of Hope at the start of a 3 month term of teaching English.  So Cambodia, today is April 16, 2016 and I cannot help but wonder at what point I will look back upon this entry and realize that it has once again come ‘full circle’.

James 2:14-19 says, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.  But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”  Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.  You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder."

Cambodia, you are no longer simply a place on the map to check off that I have been too…rather you have become a ‘home away from home’ and one day I will return.  More so, now that I have seen, I know that I am responsible.  I know that my faith also requires action.  I know that it will be a few years yet before I return, but know that God is preparing me during this season of my life to better able to serve HIM among your people and your land.

You have captured my heart, Cambodia, in a very unique way.  You’ve captured my heart in a way that I thought only Zambia would ever hold.  I don’t know when God will lead me back to you, but I am praying and believing that He will…all in His due time.  Until that day; know that I am praying for you.  That God will continue to move through you and your people; to bring darkness into light, bringing about rescue and restoring justice in places of injustice.  Until that day we meet again, I promise I will continue to do all that I can right here and right now, trusting God each and every step of the way.