India bound!

T-minus 3 hours until we start the journey to India! I am excited, nervous, and totally don’t feel like its actually happening.

While we are in India I will be in charge of transportation. Little did I know that the job would be become difficult! When I went online this afternoon to check on trian ticket prices I noticed that EVERY train had a waiting list…of 30 or more people!!! Thankfully, I was already all packed because I spent the afternoon with Manuel looking up transportation options. We called the Darjeeling base and they said the internet is usually not totally correct…which means: When we arrive in Kolkata at the crack of dawn (literally) Manuel and I will have to go to the train station to try to book train tickets. If they don’t have tickets then we are going to a travel agent who will find us transportation. Here comes the adventure!  

 

But that isn’t the only unexpected situation. Our wonderful outreach leader LJ has been really sick so she decided that she is going to stay back and give the leadership position to Gabie (orginal second in command). Manuel, Miriam and Kayla will be Gabie’s support. LJ hopes to join us in a week. Please be praying for LJ: healing, that she will get the rest she needs, and the doctors will figure out whats wrong.

 

 India already has shown a lot of surprises and I sure that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The base told us that it has been cold in Darjeeling (first time I will be in cold weather since January!!). Man I am really excited about the adventure ahead of me J

 

Quick overview of last week: Wed-Sunday was Camp Zoe, a camp for teens that are a part of our Nak Suu (rugby) program. It was SO much fun! I especially loved getting to work with teens again…I really miss The Next Wave and Campus Life kids at home! I was a behind the scenes person and helped with Freetime and the Water games. I especially loved coloring, feeding fish, and playing hide and seek with my leader’s kids. The kids attending the camp are from some slums that Ark works with and a Boys home. All of them come from Buddhist families and for many of them this was the first time they were told that Jesus loves them and He can be our friend. We had a time for the kids to write out their prayers and put them on a board. So many of them broke my heart: “I want higher education” “Whenever I wake up I miss my mom” “I want a real family” “I wish I knew my real mom and dad and that they would love me”. We had 24/7 prayer going on during the camp. It was hour slots and I absouletly loved every turn I had to pray for these kids!

 

I still can’t believe India is really here!

 On a different note: I only have a month and a half until I am home! Its really crazy and kinda scary!

 

Prayer requests:

-team unity

-blessings for transportation

-wisdom for our leadership

-safe travels and health

Elephants, Easter, and movies :)

I had one of the best weekends ever!
After arriving back in Bangkok on Friday 6 of us were ready to leave at 5:45 am to head to elephant camp! We went with a tour company (it was just our group though). We stopped at a floating market and at a bridge that was used during WWII. Come to find out the train track and bridge we visited will be featured in movie called "The Railway Man". Colin Firth stars in this movie and it's about the prisoners of war that the Japanese forced to help build the track and bridge. I had no idea that I would end up getting a history lesson.

So riding elephants...
It was one of the most amazing things I have ever done!!! We got to ride the elephants bareback to the river and then got to play with them in the water. It was so cool! If any of you ever come to Thailand you have to do this! My elephant kept giving me kisses with his truck (or smelling me haha).

Easter Sunday! We left our house at 5am for the sunrise service at church. Due to being up so early it really felt like the day was never going to end. After the service we had the rest of the day off so almost everyone went to a market downtown except for Kayla, Shaneen, and I. Want to guess what our Easter dinner was? Yep, McDonalds. But get this: McDonalds delivers in Thailand! After our "nutritious" dinner we had a movie night.

Monday morning we started on Camp Zoe prep and have been really busy with that for the last two days. I did the Devo Monday morning. I talked about how thankful we should be that Jesus gave up EVERYTHING for us...He paid for us so salvation is free. Because of Jesus we can nail our sins to His cross instead of doing an animal sacrifice. Think of how much animal sacrifices that have happened and how many animals you would of had to sacrifice for your own life. Jesus took EVERY sacrifice and made it so instead of having rituals we can come directly into His presence.

As for evening activities: Monday night Kayla, Shaneen, Gabie, Jerome and I went to see Captain America 2. The theater is huge! (Thailand are known for their HUGE malls, theaters as well). Before the movie they have the song to the King, which you have to stand for. I almost put my right hand over my heart but caught myself before I did.

We leave for Camp Zoe tomorrow morning and will be at the camp until Sunday! I am really excited :) I am helping with the water games on Friday and with the Freetimes :) Please be in prayer!

Only a week away until we leave for India!

Khmer New Year & goodbye Cambodia

Back in Bangkok! I can't believe our three weeks in Cambodia are over already!

This last week was really good but super busy. We unfortunately had a lot of people battling a cold...one girl getting a sinus infection. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday is the Khmer new year celebration and due to that a lot of businesses are closed and the YWAM base was closed. So our team, a team from Australia, and the Titus were the only ones on base. Those three days in the morning we had bible teachings from the Titus team. In the afternoon we deep cleaned Cafe Eden (a YWAM ministry) with the Titus Team. It was a mission to get that placed cleaned with only having 3 afternoons to do it and missing some team members due to sickness. We were incredibly blessed with leaders who spoiled us with cold drinks half way through our afternoon. Random side note: Coke only cost .38 cents here. I can usually get a meal for under 3 dollars.

Yesterday was a GREAT day! a part of the New Year celebration is that you get people wet. It wasn't uncommon to get water balloons thrown at you and water guns shooting you as you walked down the street. Thailand also celebrated this new year and I am told that it is 10X worse there; it almost impossible to go anywhere without getting wet. Cambodia really wasn't that bad. Anyway yesterday we went to a girl that we work with in Thailand through the Nak Suu program village. A lot of the kids we work with in Thailand are actually Cambodian and quite a few of them were at the village, which was really cool. When we arrived in the village we received a huge welcome. The grandma came over and gave me the hugest hug and laughed and started to talk to me in Khmer. I didn't understand most of what she said but she was so sweet. I love old people in Asia! Turns out we were also the first foreigners to come to this village as well. After eating lunch the kids took a few of us over to a pond nearby. They pulled us in and next thing I knew I was playing in a pond with the kids and a cow and her baby drinking from the water nearby. After the kids found a crab that was bigger then my hand and chased me with it I decided to get out of the water...no I didn't scream my head off like a little girl. After hanging out a the village for a little bit the water fight began! It was SO much fun! It was us against the kids and everyone against Jerome and Dillon. We had water guns, buckets, hoses and lots of water! After about 5 mins of the war raging we started to slip and slide because of the now muddy floor. Quite a few of us wiped out on the mud a few times. The water fight probably lasted for 45 min to an hour. It was AWESOME!!! Last night Kayla and I went out to dinner which was really good :) Later that night a group of us met with Manuel (who has done lots of studying on this subject) to talk about what the bible says about the Holy Spirit. I love that I have a team that loves to learn :) Manuel encouraged us to make a booklet with different subjects that interest us; and every verse we read that goes under that category we write it down. So for intense: You have the topic Holy Spirit and then every verse I read that talks about the Holy Spirit I would write under that topic.

Getting across was a mission again. I way overpacked and it was miserable getting through the departure line in Cambodia and the arrival line in Thailand! But God is SO good and even though I hit a bad point of nausea because if heat and not enough water. I briefly met a really chatty French guy who had been to Darjeeling before. Pretty cool to ask him questions. As we entered Thailand I kind of felt like I was back home (home away from home). I can't believe how much I missed seeing 7/11 haha(there are 7/11s on nearly every corner in Thailand). We ended up scoring our own bus for the drive to Bangkok! Two seats per person. It's pouring rain was I look out the window at the green Thailand landscape :)

So now:
Farewell Cambodia. Thank you Lord for the adventures and challenges you placed in my path as I explored this country. Getting to sing your praises from the mountain tops, getting caught in a huge rainstorm, being the first foreigners to a village, having a water fight with a bunch of kids, and seeing a glimpse of your heart for this beautiful country. I am so thankful I get to be on this awesome adventure with You :)

As for what the next week looks like:
I will be in Thailand until the 30th. On April 23-27 is Camp Zoe! I will give more details on that later.

Prayer requests:
-prep with Camp Zoe will go well
-That we will shake the cold that still seems to linger (I have had a runny nose and such for over a week now)

Let it rain-adventure of a lifetime :)

Happy New Year!
In the year of 2014 I have celebrated 3 New Years...our new year, Chinese New Year, and now Khmer new year!

On Wednesday we headed to the outskirts of Battambang (30 min drive or so) to a orphanage that a pastor and his wife runs. I couldn't believe how hospitable these kids and pastor were. The kids even let us use their mattresses since we were sleeping on the pastors living room floor. We were definitely living in outreach conditions...no A/C, squatty potty, bucket showers. All that wouldn't of been half bad but....I was sick. Yep, I managed to get a cold (along with one of my other teammates) the day we headed to the orphanage. Burning throat, stuffy nose, icky stomach, and body temp changing is not a good combo when it's nearly 100 degrees outside and the only way to cool yourself off is to sit in front of a fan, which drys you out even more. Needless to say I was feeling close to miserable. The room we slept in didn't have very good air flow but I tried my best to sleep.

I was hoping to wake up Thursday morning ready for the full day of kids activities we had planned but I woke up feeling worse. I tried joining in for a little but I just couldn't keep up. I tried to get myself cool but nothing I did worked. We had been talking about how important it was to have a grateful heart and I was trying my best to keep a positive attitude; but by the afternoon I just broke. I felt like I couldn't do it anymore . At that time God brought over a few girls to pray over me and Val gave me a daytime cold med. At that same time it became overcast and a breeze started blowing. Within a half hour I felt alive again. I was even able to participate in the evening activities! The worship time was amazing, I love seeing the kids give their all when they sing to Jesus. We had a time when we prayed for the kids and then the kids prayed for us. I got to pray with a very sweet girl who had lived at the orphanage growing up but now she is going to university. After worship I shared my testimony and we played games. Because I was sick the whole day I never connected with any of the kids which was a bummer but I know God is doing a lot through those kids and will continue to. We got to witness one of their big prayers get answered. The pastor told me that the kids had been praying for bikes and before we came they had just had someone give them money for the bikes. The pastor bought the bikes while we were there and we had the awesome privilege of watching the kids receive them :) They were able to buy 15 bikes! As for what the team did with the kids: we had teachings, songs, dances, sports, crafts, games, face-painting throughout the day. That night Sarah and I decided to move into the church because it was much cooler. We were going to just take mattresses and make sure we were sprayed down with mozzie (mosquito) repellent. But when we came into the room Grandpa (idk what his name is but he is a super awesome and kind old man) wasn't going for our idea. He made sure we had a mosquito net and a fan.

It was a much better sleep although unfortunately everyone was awaken by a rooster at 4:30am. Oh but that's not all. At 5am Khmer music (basically the sound of a creepy carousel playing over a dying boom box at the volume of a rock concert-front row) starting blasting. We found out that it was a funeral...across the street. Not a wonderful thing to wake up to. Our day had to start by 6:30. After worship our wonderful leaders bought us our first cold drinks (cokes) since being there. Then at 9am we were off to a village. Our transportation? A tiny Nissan truck that literally looks like it was in it's last leg. How many people did we have to fit in the truck? 23. How did we achieve this? 6 inside and 15 in the bed of the pick up, and 2 on the roof. #lifeofamissionary. The village was about an hour and a half away. Awesome thing about this trip? We were the FIRST FOREIGNERS to ever come to the village. That's right first white people to ever be seen! The pastor said he had never taken a team to that village because the roads are dangerous (lots of flooding and you are traveling on dirt roads for an hour). When we got to the village they served us lunch and then the kids arrived. We had coloring pages for them, taught them some songs, performed a drama, and Andi shared her testimony. These kids looked almost scared of us at first...like they didn't know what to think of us. After the program we had a hair washing and a nail painting station...along with games. I got to paint nails :) It was so cool to serve these kids in that way. Unfortunately, that part if the day was a little rushed because a storm was coming and we wanted to leave before it hit. But once we had finished with the last child the rain started to fall...in buckets. We decided to head back anyway! It was crazy! We jumped into the back of the truck and took off in this heavy rainstorm. The rain drops were the size of little bouncy balls and when I said it was coming in buckets I am not exaggerating. We were soaked after only 2 minutes of being in the rain. The trip back took a hour and a half...raining hard for a full hour of that trip and just a sprinkle for the last half hour. It seriously was a miracle that we made it back. The mud was so deep that we should of gotten stuck and we almost did multiple times. During the drive we almost ran out if gas but thankfully we made it to another village to quickly refuel. Once we were out of the major storm our driver pulled to the side of the road so he could pee. Seriously?! Overall our team kept cheerful throughout the drive back, even though we were cold and wet. We sang songs at the top if our lungs as we drove through the storm. Of course we avoided songs like "let it rain, open the floodgates of heaven" haha. We were already living those lyrics-literally. That had to be one of the most awesome adventures I have ever had!

That night back at the orphanage we watched "Prince of Egypt" with the kids (or "Queen of Egypt" as Sat, our translator, calls it haha). We were exhausted so it was a good ending to the day :) We left early Saturday morning (after being woken up by the rooster and a wedding blasting music at 5am again) to head back to our hotel near the Battambang base. Last night we went to dinner with our translator, Sat, and the Titus team that we will be working with this coming week. The Titus program is the outreach phase of the SBS (School of Biblical Studies). The team is from Taiwan but they are all Americans. Really cool group :)
Today is Sunday so we served at the same church we went to last week. It's funny, I am known to be from Bangkok now. I am: Brittany from the Bangkok DTS. Not just: Brittany from America.

This week is going to be packed! Our days start at 7:30am and go until 8pm. Mon-Wed we will be getting some teachings from the Titus team in the morning and in the afternoon we will be helping with deep cleaning Eden Cafe. It is also Khmer new year so there are lots of festivities going on (they celebrate it the whole week). We don't know what's going on Thursday yet and then we head back to Bangkok on Friday! Can't believe our time in Cambodia is almost over!

I have been in Asia for over 3 months now!

Prayer request:
-a good majority of our team is getting sick with the cold please be praying for recovery and good health!
-continue to be praying for perfect health for the rest of our outreach phase!
-team unity
-that we all keep grateful hearts throughout any circumstance!

Nations to Nations

Outreach phase is officially here!!
Nations to Nations was a fantastic conference. Thursday night we had a cultural dance night and our group performed a modern dance. Lots of great dances were represented; there was a couple swing dancing, an awesome hip hop group, and the last act was a guy doing rhythmic juggling. Let's just say YWAM has a lot of talented people. Friday night we had a big dinner and then had a huge dance party. We learned how to dance to some Khmer songs, did the Cupid suffle, and some other western dance songs. It was a great night although I don't think I have ever sweated so much in just 2 hours of dancing (welcome to Cambodia haha).

Yesterday we had the day off. The night before I met a girl from America who is doing her DTS here in Cambodia. She was the one who did the swing dancing at the cultural show. Anyway she offered to teach me how to swing dance; so Sarah and I took a hour lesson from her in the afternoon. So much fun! She said what we learned in an hour usually takes a couple of beginners classes to learn. We also got lots of rain yesterday. It started to rain a little bit while we practiced and after we got back to our hotel it started to pour...and it poured for 5 hours without any breaks. That night it was decided to have a movie night since that's one of the best ways to spend a rainy evening :) We, of course, needed snacks so we ran over to the gas station; totally soaked but it was worth it :)

Since it rained last night it was an incredibly cool morning...I didn't even sweat (which is nearly a miracle for Cambodia). We went to a local church where I was in the skit that we performed and Sarah have her testimony. The girl who was translating for the pastor just got accepted to do a DTS in Colorado Springs. We thankfully have the rest of the day off :)

Monday and Tuesday we will be spent doing ministry prep in Battambang and then on Wednesday we head to a village nearby. We will be at the village until Saturday, helping at an orphanage. After that we will spend a week in Battambang helping with a cafe that the YWAM base runs.

Prayer requests:
-everyone stays hydrated! I have been battling with dehydration.
-health
-protection

Dancing and Are You Single?

I love Cambodia!
The last two dAys at the conference have been wonderful! So far we have heard from 3 different speakers. Edwin from South Africa taught how each of us have our signature on this world. Kevin who was born in Iran and raised in Sweden had an incredible testimony of how his Muslim mother found Jesus and through her consistent praying, her son (Kevin) found Jesus too! The other speaker was Matt (he has a really long traditional name because he is from the MicMah tribe of Canada). Matt is a spokesperson for indigenous tribes all over the world. He goes to the tribes and encourages them to worship God and Jesus through their culture. So many people have told them that to follow Jesus they have to leave their culture behind...but that's not true! God is the creator of culture and fully intends for Jesus to be in the culture, not outside of it. He showed a video of a bunch of tribes that gather every year to worship God together...so awesome! Tonight we had a time of worship. Edwin (who is South African) led us in a dance. He had the whole room doing dance  moves while singing "Hold on to Jesus" in 3 or more different languages! SO much fun! There was eventually a whole room conga type line going (mind you there is almost 200 people at this event). After that we sang How Great is Our God in about 20 different languages at least (there are 25 countries represented at this conference). It was great!!

So now for my funny moment:
This afternoon we had evangelism.
I was with 2 Cambodian girls and Santy.
One of the girls named Sopoem wanted to go to a house with a lady who wasn't able to leave her home due to being and elderly and sick. This lady is a Christian and a very sweet lady. After being at the house for a few minutes her son arrived. He spoke some English. After talking for a little bit he asked Santy and I if we were single. After a little while he asked me "Do you have plans to marry after your DTS?" I responded with a 'no, I am still pretty young, I am only 19" he said "oh you are young" Santy looked right at him and said "yes she is still very young" (Mama Santy always looking out for us!). After a little while the man continued to just ask me questions (not Santy). Questions like: what does your name mean? Then comments like: The way you sit is like Khmer, maybe we will see each other in 3 years, etc.
Oh but it didn't end there. Once we were getting ready to leave Santy asked if they would like prayer for anything. After getting some responses from the Grandma he said:
"Please pray that God will give me a good wife. Doesn't matter if she is foreigner or if she is Khmer. I just really want a good wife" [as Santy described the moment: "he says this whole looking straight at Brittany"]. After that we decided that we would all pray together out loud BUT the man requested that I close the prayer. Kinda awkward trying to pray about wife situation haha!