Bringing Kingdom - Angie Blattner

Epilogue: Life After the World Race for Angie

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

It has been a very long time since I've sent out a post updating all you lovely readers about my life. I've decided a report is long overdue and that I need to catch you all up on the goings on in the life of Angie Blattner. As most of you know, I got home from the World Race (and India, to be more precise) on August 31st at around 10 pm. The reunion at Denver International Airport was amazing and my family, God family, church family and best friend all were waiting for me at the passenger pick up! So I got home, and had two weeks of American luxury. I had high speed internet, hot showers, my own car, the ability to communicate with ANYONE because I know the English language and Starbucks DRIVE-THRU...what!?!? WHAT!?! Life was good...but after 14 days of this I went to Tanzania with some of my church family at First Pres. to do two weeks of mission work in the area of Arusha.

two cuties and I at Shalom orphanage in Tanzania

we distributed clothing and school supplies to a Masai kindergarten class and these were the mom's of the kids we were able to bless!

at a school outside of Arusha singing and playing with the students

This was a phenomenal opportunity I was blessed to have been apart of because I was able to see all the fruits of my church's work over the last 10 years. I stood in buildings First Pres. in Greeley funded. I sat in desks my Vacation Bible Schools raised money for. I loved on children and teachers that have known and loved my home church for years and it was such a special time. After Tanzania I was praying about what to do next in my life. Initially coming off the field, I felt like if I wasn't living permanently overseas in a hut somewhere that I was failing the Lord and not serving Him, but after realizing that's not God's plan for everyone, I prayed and came to a peace about applying to seminary school. I had planned on getting my Masters in Divinity and becoming a pastor before the World Race but I had been battling the issue, going back and forth on whether or not to stay in the United States for most of the 11 months and I realized that God has called me to the US for the next large chapter in my life. So I applied to Denver Seminary and began doing research on scholarships for their program.

I was told that the scholarship I would need to attend the school was only applicable to students beginning seminary in the fall semesters and that I would need to wait until Fall 2012 if I wanted to get any financial aid. OK, God...what am I supposed to do for six-eight months?!? So, I prayed and thought about leading a "Passport Trip" that Adventures In Missions does for college students. Maybe I'd go to India or Africa for four months. Well, I didn't have a peace about that at all and just thought of doing it because "it sounded like a good idea at the time..." That's never a good enough reason to do anything. Ever. For any reason. :) So I was sitting in the Addis Ababa, Ethiopia airport on my way home from Africa with my parents and I typed into Google "colorado human trafficking ministries". And a ministry in Lakewood, Colorado popped up called "Streets Hope" and I fell in love with their mission.

"Streets Hope" is a safe, transition housing program that helps women who have previously been in the sex industry. The women live at a home together with a housing director and they get rehabilitated and transformed through the healing and redemption of Jesus Christ. This was PERFECT FOR ME. I had such a heart for prostitution ministry, human trafficking and anything that had to do with discipleship the entire year I was on the mission field and I could not have come up with a more perfect ministry than "Streets Hope" for this next season in my life. Well, I e-mailed the current housing director, told her my life story and gave her my blog, and she e-mailed me back with an offer to interview for the position of assistant housing director! After some interviews at the house in Lakewood I was given the job and agreed to start working and living their full time with the women at the beginning of January 2012! You can check out their website here at: www.streetshope.org...

In November I took two trips. The first trip was two Peru with my former WR team mate, Alana Lusted, squad mate, Emily Toles, and Alana's family/church family. This mission trip was absolutely incredible and I still cannot get over how much the Lord used us in only SIX DAYS on the field. We saw a boy who was deaf and mute all his life get completely healed and his first word ever speaking was, "JESUS". We watched the Lord heal a man who had been crippled and wasn't able to walk on his own. After prayer and the Holy Spirit doing His miraculous thing, the man who had previously needed the help of his wife and his cane was walking with the strength of a healthy young man. Praise Yaweh!! It was an extremely beautiful time getting to be with Emily and Alana who I missed so much and together with the group from Crosspoint Ministries, we got to serve in orphanages, women's shelters, revivals and crusades, medical clinics, schools and on the street. Needless to say, when I got back from Peru I was blown away by God's love and power but EXHAUSTED.

the little boy who was healed of being deaf & mute...first word ever: "JESUS"!!!

Emily, Alana and I...reunited and it feels so good!!

at Shalom girls orphanage in Lima, Peru with all the girls and the mission team

After Peru I almost immediately got on a plane to Missouri with my family to see my extended family on my mom's side. My grandmother who will be 94 in February is still doing so well for her age but every time I see her I remember to cherish each moment I have with her because we never know how long we will be here on Earth. It was great to see my grandmother, my two aunts, uncle Lenny, cousin Craig, cousin Lena, cousin Anna, the Guests, the Hoovers, and all other 50 relatives I got to visit with over Thanksgiving. Now that the Holidays are here things have just gotten even more hectic and crazy! I just found out yesterday that the current housing director at "Streets Hope" has decided to pursue other ministries and that she will be leaving the day before I start. This makes me the interim Housing Director until the Executive Director and board at "Streets Hope" can find a replacement. This means I will be living with and "directing" the ladies on my own and could really, really use some prayers for wisdom, patience, and discernment.

I know the Lord has put me in this position for a divine purpose and after much prayer being poured over the situation, I have peace with it. Please keep the previous housing director, Bernie and her husband, Chris in your prayers. I love them both very much and I pray God continues to do amazing things in them and through them! With all the changes going on with my new job, I will be moving most of my things down to Lakewood in the next week and do a crash course training with Bernie before she leaves. After training, my family and I are going to Jordan and Egypt (specifically the Sinai peninsula) for Christmas this year on a religious pilgrimage so I will take a short break from ministry, spend time with the family, and then on January 1st hit the ground running with work at this amazing organization!!

Obviously, I need your prayers now more than ever it seems. Last year I had a team with me, and I no longer have that support and "family atmosphere"...pray that I find a good church community to support me in the Lakewood/Denver area. I need prayers of spiritual, physical and emotional protection as I go into this "war zone" and fight for these women who are coming out of brutal and horrific situations. I need prayers for the Holy Spirit to speak to me and work through me, directing and guiding me in every aspect of this position. Please also pray for the entire staff at "Streets Hope", the women that are coming out of the sex industry and going through the program, and that we will all come together as a united front against the attacks of the Enemy and with full force to bring the Kingdom of God to Denver, Colorado! Pray for my mom, dad and sister as they deal with the effects of this new job and move and pray that they stay strong and safe in the Lord's arms. It's been so good to be home with them these last months and I will truly miss seeing the three of them every single day. :)

I am so excited to form relationships with each and every one of the women down in Denver. There are currently eight women at the house but the Executive Director informed me yesterday that they are expanding the house to hold ten women! WHOOHOO! I am confident that this is exactly where I'm supposed to be and that even though I feel completely unprepared and a little crazed the moment, God has got this and He always, ALWAYS comes through for me when I am in need. I will continue keeping a blog as a way to keep you supporters updated on how to pray and how God's moving in my life and in Denver. I love you all so much and it is because of YOU, LOVED ONES that I got through the World Race (and the four months after the World Race) as strongly and successfully as I did! Your prayers are powerful and effective, and that's why I NEED YOU. I need you to fight with me on this and I need you to stand in the gap and intercede as I'm on the front lines for the Lord....let's watch God unfold His miraculous plans for the women at "Streets Hope" in the year 2012!!!

VIDEO: Cambodia Market Crisis 2011

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

BLAST FROM THE PAST: This is a video Alana made with Haile in Cambodia during their day to do shopping for our team at the market. It's amazing and since the Youth Group gets to see it at First Pres. I want the WORLD to see it. Or...atleast the people that read this blog. :) Enjoy!

VIDEO: How We Changed the World This Year

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

FINALLY, after almost two weeks of working on this video, with a lot of help from my sister, Sarah and team mate, Alana...I have uploaded it onto the internet (PRAISE THE GOOD LORD). This video is for YOU, my dear supporters. I want you to see all the things you helped accomplish this year. While this video is only the tip of the iceberg of what was done for the Kingdom of God in the last 11 months, it is still incredible to take a peek at what we did TOGETHER for Jesus!! Thank you, thank you, THAAANK YOOOOU, supporters. I could not have done this mission from Christ without your partnership, prayers and support. I am so grateful for you all and so blessed to have such extraordinary people in my life. LOVE TO YOU ALL!!!

***Some of the photos and videos from this deserves credit to: Mac Mitchell, my amazing team leader from this year. LOVE YOU, MAC!

VIDEO: Meeting My Child For The First Time

Thu, 1 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

So, I know this is 6 months late...but with the internet we had in Africa and India, there was no possibility of uploading any videos. I've decided...better late than never!! This is the video my team mate, Alana Lusted, put together of my time spent visiting my Compassion International Sponsor Child, Diborah in northern Kenya! Enjoy and please, please pray and consider sponsoring a child in need.

Stories Of Slumdogs: What The Movie Didn't Show You

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This has been my final ministry week of the World Race. I type that with a great sigh, knowing how bittersweet that statement is. As usual, we spent our time working at the Christian school with Hindu and Muslim students, the daycare with adorable toddlers, Faith Children's home, and teaching some of the YWAM Discipleship Training School students that live with us at the base. Something I was very excited about at the end of this week was the opportunity I had to work with Team Calvary, who is working in the slum of Bangalore this month. I was hoping and praying for the chance to work with this specific team, especially since I am very close with many of Calvary's team members and I've never served with them before, but finally at the end of the month, my prayers were answered! Nikki, Tracy (from Team W.O.W.) and I piled in an autorickshaw with all the clothes, tents, shoes and bags we were going to donate to the slum in our laps and headed off to the other side of Bangalore to meet Calvary for slum ministry. We have done ministry in the slums before in previous months but I have such a heart for the children in India living in those areas that I really wanted to be able to pour into them here in Bangalore.

Walking into the slum I was immediately reminded of the Academy Award Winning film, "Slumdog Millionare," and how the area I was in looked just like the Mumbai slum in the movie where the three main characters grew up. There were ten to twenty children hanging on me and following all of us the entire time walking up to the tutoring center and we passed countless heartwrenching images of poverty and despair. Once we got to the center, I looked up at a five story cement building filled with classroom upon classroom and heard the sounds of the 250 children laughing inside, waiting for us to come and teach them English, Math and Science. I got to work with one of my best friends on the squad, Emily Toles, that evening, helping her teach her 4-7 year old students reading, writing and spelling in English. I was so impressed with Emily's students and their proper grammar and spelling, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading them children Bible stories including the stories of Noah and Moses. We finished the evening of teaching with Sunday school songs and prayer. I have never seen children so concentrated on singing song with motions and folding their hands properly with prayer in my entire 11 months and it was absolutely precious to watch. When we left the slum a huge group of children surrounded the car, climbing on it and trying to get in the vehicle with us. We were trapped their for a while when finally our driver had to get out and chase the kids away so we could drive out of the slum without ten children hanging onto the sides of the car.

Once we made it back to Calvary's contacts house, we were greeted with an enormous spread of traditional Indian food (which I've gotta say was a treat considering we'd been eating plain white rice and yellow curry for every meal at the YWAM base). Calvary's contacts are a paramedical couple who have their Masters in Divinity and have previously worked in Mumbai and have moved to Bangalore for their slum ministry. The wife, Latha, and I chatted during dinner and I was able to hear their testimony of how they've gotten to this part in their lives. Latha told me she and her husband grew up in very comfortable homes, married and went to seminary school, worked at a church together in Mumbai, moved to Bangalore to be on YWAM staff and then decided one day that they wanted to leave their positions at YWAM to pursue their own ministry devoted to the slum. Latha and her husband, Suresha, were walking through the slum one particular day and God completely broke their hearts broke for these children.

These slum kids are living in one-room shacks, receiving no education, no love, no food and were living in the same room that their mothers were prostituting themselves in and where their fathers were drinking or doing drugs. She realized that these children were rebellous, violent and had no discipline because of their hard lives with no parental support or adult figures to lead me and that a way for them to get discipline, love, confidence and hope for a future would be to support them in school. Latha and Suresha spent time getting sponsors from Indians in the higher caste to donate money so these slum children could go to school and after a lot of work fundraising, they were able to go to the schools in the area and see if the children could enroll. Many of the head masters and administration of the schools said they would absolutely not take untouchable children from that particular slum and that if they did take them it would be spoiling the other children's education who had worked so hard in their classes.

Only two schools allowed the children to enroll, agreeing to integrate the children of high caste and income families with the poverty-stricken slum kids. The aspect of their ministry that Team Calvary has been apart of is the after-school tutoring portion. They have rented out a building in the slum with teachers in every classroom who tutor them and give them any additional help they need, with a dinner meal at the end of the night for them. A lot of these children will go days without eating and Latha and Suresha have told the children that they can no longer steal or beg for food, and that the Lord was going to provide them food with the tutoring program. The children have stopped stealing, fighting and begging and are now able to have a big meal once a day through their ministry. Another amazing aspect of their ministry is the contract they had all the children's parents sign, saying that the children would be raised in a Christian discipline environment and that they were going to be teaching the children about Jesus Christ and how to follow the Lord in their tutoring sessions and that the parents had to be supportive of it if they were going to have their child sponsored. Every single family in the slum involved in their ministry has agreed to this and all of the children are learning about what Jesus Christ did for them on the cross and how important it is to have a relationship with Him.

It's amazing to see such transformation in their lives, especially comparing the children in Emily's classroom to the children out on the streets going from autorickshaw to autorickshaw begging for money and food. I asked Latha if she did any type of work with the prostitute mothers and she said she does a sewing ministry with them in the slums where she teaches the women a trade and a financial living that doesn't include them having to sleep with men. After many months and sometimes years, the women have finally given up a life of prostitution and even a life of Hinduism and are now shop keepers, seamstresses and cleaners who follow Jesus Christ as their Savior. Another problem Latha was facing with these women was the incredibly high abortion rate that was going on in the slum. These women were doing very dangerous, at home abortions, killing the babies and sometimes themselves, and Latha told them how precious their children were to the Lord and how God has a purpose for each and every child's life. Many women would kill their daughters by burying their new born babies in the ground or by putting their babies in pressure cookers and throwing the remains out to the dogs. It makes me sick. Physically sick. And it makes me furious that these things are happening in this part of the world. But this is the real truth of what it's like growing up as a "slumdog" in India.

Latha knew there was a way to end the madness these women were doing. One day during sewing class, she told the women where her home was and said she would keep a craddle on her doorstep. If any of the women wanted to give their babies up for adoption all they had to do was donate the child in the night, and they wouldn't have to feel shame or guilt. A few weeks after Latha first made her speech to the women a beautiful 3-day-old baby showed up on her and Suresha's doorstep. The child had Hepatitis B and both of her feet were cleft but after praying for healing with the Hepatitis B, it is now completely gone and after 9 surgeries on the babies feet she is almost completely healed. They named the child Grace and now she is a radiant 1 and a half year old little girl who lovingly calls Latha and Suresh, "Mommy and Poppa". I was so inspired by Latha's testimony that I just had to share it with you all. Clearly the Lord is at work BIG TIME in the slums in Bangalore thanks to Latha, Suresha and their willingness to serve in one of the darkest places in India. These are the kinds of people that have inspired and encouraged me this year...and it is my sincere prayer that one day, I will live a life just like them, serving my Lord in ways that may be hard in earthly terms, but are so very rewarding in the spiritual realm. I'm sad we were only able to spend one evening with Team Calvary, Latha and Suresha, but so grateful to have received the blessing of meeting them and serving alongside their incredible ministry. If you would like to visit Suresha and Latha's ministry website and blog, please visit: http://karunyaministries.wordpress.com/

The slum at night time...this is the view from the top of the tutoring building.

Emily with one of her adorable students, Michael.

The kids in Emily's class and I stop for a photo during spelling time.

The faces of children with hope and a bright future.

The Worst Thing You Could Hear From A Missionary

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This month has been very different than how I originally anticipated it being. Our "official" contact has never actually made "contact" with us (no pun intended) which has been hard to get organized for ministry outreaches and such. We're staying at the YWAM base which is great but I had heard so much about how YWAM keeps everyone so busy and there's always so much to do. Well, we came in peak monsoon season, with Indian Independence Day and one of the biggest YWAM staffer's weddings at the middle of the month so, needless to say, we came at a time where they had their hands full here in Bangalore. Thankfully, Christina (team W.O.W.s leader) and Mac (my leader) found a YWAM staffer who has his own ministry that needed our help. This guy's name is Dave and he and his Chilean wife have been living here in Bangalore here for a while now helping at an orphanage, a few schools, a day care, a woman's disabled home and some medical missions in the rural villages outside the city. Their ministry name is Mercy Ministries and both Dave and his wife have been so accomadating to our two teams this month. While our month has been a little slower than the rest, we've enjoyed ministry when we are given the opportunity to do it and are grateful to God for the time of rest, fellowship and mentally/emotionally preparing ourselves for re-entry into life at home. This month has definitely been a "God thing" from start to finish. I couldn't have asked for a more phenomenal team of women to work with, a better selection of ministry and a more beautiful country to serve in.

While working with Mercy Ministries, we've been able to help in every aspect of their ministry (with the exception of village medical missions because we would need more training to do it). On certain days of the week our teams will go to a Christian school where many Hindu and Muslim parents send their children knowing it's a Christian school but also understanding that it's one of the best schools in the city and their children would be receiveing the best education possible there. Because of this gift, we are able to present the message of the Gospel to literally hundreds of children starting at pre-school and going up to high school. There have been many children coming to Christ because of Dave's ministry there and it's been such a blessing getting to see transformations in the students in the small amount of time we've served there. Other days that we don't go to the school we go to Faith Children's Home where there are 25 youth anywhere from the ages of 1 to 19 years. All the children at Faith are from the north eastern part of India and they are the most incredible group of children and teenagers I've ever met. The children sing and dance and remind me of the Indian version of the Vontrap Family from the movie, "The Sound of Music". All of the children at the home are Christians and all of them love the Lord so much it simply radiates out of their smiles when they run and greet us at the door everytime we visit. On Fridays we get to go to a day care for children who are 2 to 5 years old and they are PRECIOUS. The toddlers at the daycare are all Hindu so we perform Bible stories for them and explain how much the God of the Bible loves and adores them. I have to say, watching their little heads bob back and forth (instead of do an American nod up and down) one of my favorite things to witness and I always provoke a question I know they will bob their head to just so I can see it.

This Saturday in Bangalore was the first day we've actually been busy morning 'til evening. We started with the entire YWAM community (about 70 of us) cleaning the entire mission compound and the area surrounding it. Everyone was seperated into groups and Paul, Rebecca and I got put in the most questionable group...landscaping and trash clean up outside. According to our cleaning day leader, "landscaping" means that we wack weeds with wooden beams until the break off of their roots and put them in a giant pile to burn them and "trash clean up" included picking up and disposing of dirty diapers, condoms and remains of only-God-knows-what. It was a hilarious to say the least and we ended our morning of cleaning with a giant bonfire of rubbish, a thousand rashes and bites from the plants and insects we'd been around and a piping hot cup of Chai tea. After the cleaning time (and a thorough cleaning via bucket shower) we jumped into the YWAM van and went to do college ministry where we do a small group with about 15 students from the Bangalore College. One of the students is from the Congo which I think is the coolest thing ever so our last time doing college minstry was filled with me asking him a thousand questions on the conflict in the Congo. This brings me to the end of our day, when we went to the woman's disabled center to do a service for them. We were driving to the center in the Mercy Ministries car (which is an Indian Ambulance) and I volunteered to preach the message. Did I know what I'd be preaching to them about? No clue. But at this point in the Race I knew God would give me something goooooood...so I went with it.

I began praying for the Holy Spirit to fill me with wisdom and discernment on what to preach on and all of a sudden I was hit with such powerful feelings of love for these women. I have never met these women. I haven't seen a picture or even know how many of them there were going to be. All I knew was that we were going to encourage women who are mentally and physically handicapped and we would be to their center in 10 minutes. God kept hitting me with words to say to them and scriptures to read. I began flipping around in my Bible and fighting back tears when I realized, I had gotten exactly what I prayed for and more. God was showing me His radical, intense and amazing love for these women and I was feeling it deep down in my soul. I was so overcome with love for these women I had never laid eyes on I couldn't wait to give the message. Once we got to the center, my smile was ear to ear beaming at the precious women waiting for us on the ground. There were a four women who are deaf, four who are mute, four who are mentally retarded and five who have lost their legs and have to drag their bodies from place to place with their arms. I was completely choked up with Holy Spirit love in me that I could only smile, hold their hands and rub their backs. Alana began playing the guitar and I closed my eyes the entire time during worship, praising our Father in heaven who has created these women perfectly and beautifully and loves them more than they could ever understand.

I realized the reason I was filled with tears was not only because of God's love for them, but because they don't even know that God loves them. They have a Creator and a Savior that desperately wants a relationship with them and they don't even know it. That's when tears started falling down my cheeks and I realized I had to get it together to deliver this God-given message to them. After worship I looked out at the masterpieces of Christ sitting in front of me and I told them about the God of the Bible. These women were all Hindu and had been taught that it was bad karma in a past life that had caused them to come back in this life as a handicapped person. I rebuked that lie and the lie that they are worthless, as many of their families and communities have told them. I shared stories like Esther, Rahab and Moses...and explained that God has used orphans, prostitutes and disabled people to serve Him and do incredible things for His Kingdom if we only trust Him. I ended with the fact that if they didn't get anything out of my message except the truth that God is crazy about them and wants nothing but a relationship with them, then our visit had all been worth it. I hugged them, still holding back sobs and we got in the Ambulance and headed home.

I hadn't been this emotional in a while and to be honest, I was beginning to worry if I was on "missionary auto pilot" and just going through the motions of things. This was just what I needed from the Lord and it's incredible that just when you wonder where that passion for following Christ has gone, He reignites your flame!! Praise the Lord for those moments. It can be so hard doing missions day in and day out, and not getting in a spiritual rut. It's happened to me on the Race before but this month has been the hardest just because it's month 11 and I've been doing the same thing for a year and I have found one of the hardest battles to fight is not getting jaded or accustomed to the injustices and wars out in our world...and to not just turn into a missionary robot without feelings and emotions. I know this is the worst thing you could hear from a missionary you're supporting...that her heart's not in it 100 percent of the time and she's emotionally detached, but it's the truth and it sucks when it happens. There are times in all of our lives when we begin routines and these routines are fine until Satan uses them to cause apathy and distance in our hearts. We have to remember that whatever we're doing, we're doing for the glory of God (1 Peter 4) and that we can never loose that fire inside our hearts. That's what keeps us going and that's what keeps us on this race we're all running for Him. I think I had forgotten that at some point this month, and I am praising the Lord Almighty for dowsing me in His love for His daughters this week. It definitely woke me up from this horrible slumber I had been having for a while. If you're reading this and you've lost the fire inside of you, pray for God to reignite that flame. I guarantee it He'll blow you away with His love and His passion for you and for His Kingdom.

I love you, all. Thank you all for your comments, especially the comments you left me on my last blog "Six Flags of Emotion". They were incredible and I needed each and every one of them, and the information from Wren Lawrence about how I can get involved in missions right at home in Greeley was divine timing. Wren, you comment was an answered prayer!! Thank you all so much...I can't wait to see what God has in store for me in Greeley when I get home in two weeks. :)

This is "the sea" of children at the school we get to minister in...this is about 200 students. There is another group of 200 students upstairs that we get to preach to as well! God is so good!

Praying at the end of our time with the toddlers at the day care we serve at. They're just so darn cute!

The women at the center and four of us women from Team Frontline. What an extraordinary day from Jesus!

I'm A Six Flags Of Emotion

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This morning I woke up, walked down the road with Haile and Angela to get some chai tea, came back to the mission base and had a worship service with the rest of the YWAM missionaries. After the service we were invited to go upstairs for a Bridal Shower for one of the YWAM staffers from Chile who was getting married to a local Bangalore man who also works at YWAM. We played games at the shower, ate yummy food and there were even gerber daisy flowers there, which I haven't seen in 11 months! After the shower the bride, Lissette, informed us that we were all officially invited to her half Chilean, half Indian wedding this Monday night. I was ecstatic, because I haven't been to a wedding yet this year and I'd been praying to see a wedding in one of the countries on the World Race. I ended my morning but doing all my laundry in our tiny bathroom via buckets and tubs, slightly smelly Indian tap water, and a tiny bag of "Tide Plus" all written in Hindi. I got to my new white and tourquise punjabi top that had some mud on it from the other day at ministry (it's monsoon season here and it rains a lot which means anything white is a bad idea) and as I was vigorously attempting to scrub the mud out of it I thought to myself, "I only have three more weeks of this life...then it's back to normal." Normal.

I hate that word: normal. I mean, do I miss my washer and dryer? YES! Of course I do...especially after I'm exhausted from the work out of handwashing all my clothes in a bucket on a floor. Do I miss having my own space and my own time? DEFINITELY...living in a room with eleven other women, never being able to find anything because everyone's things are mixed in together in a black hole of death can be frustrating. Do I miss laying in a bed and not wondering if I'm going to get bitten by bed bugs? Well, duh. But at the same time, I don't want this year to end. I can't come to terms with the fact that in 20 days, the Race will be over. I'll be home. I won't live with my team and see them every day. There will be no more nightly team meetings, giving feedback and encouragement. There will be no more crazy ministry contacts who we can't actually understand most of the time but love more than life. In three weeks, I won't walk down the street and have people blatantly stare at me and run up to me (OK adults don't usually run at me, but kids definitely do). I won't get to see 60 of my favorite people at the end and beginning of every month. It's going to end. Forever. And that's a concept that's hard for me to accept.

If any of you have seen "Tangled," the Disney princess movie about Rapunzel that came out this last year, you will remember the part of the movie when Rapunzel leaves her tower for the first time ever and she goes back and forth from being absolutely thrilled and completely devastated. Finally after screaming with joy and then sobbing uncontrollably and then yelling with fear, the leading man tells her, "I'm sensing some inner termoil. I feel like you're at war with yourself." I have never related with anything more in my life. I start thinking about seeing my family and friends and I want to cry thinking how great it's going to be hugging and kissing them. Then I think about how the incredible adventure of traveling the world is going to be over and I am devastated. Then I realize that I've made some of the most amazing friendships this year with my team and my squad and we will be separated all over the States and I want to cry. Then I get frustrated because I don't know my exact plans for the future. Then I get angry because another mosquito bit me during my string of high emotions. Do you see what I'm talking about? CRAZY MOOD SWINGS...all thanks to the Race ending and my old life starting up again.

Here's another movie analogy for you...I also feel like the character, Lucy at the end of the "Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader" when Aslan informs Lucy and Edmund that they will no longer be coming back to Narnia and Lucy asks "Aslan will we ever meet with you in our world?" and when he tells them they will and she asks how, Aslan replies, "Because there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there." I knew Jesus before (obviously) and I had a relationship with the Trinity before the World Race, but there was still so much I had to learn on this adventure this year. Before Training Camp in July of 2010, I hadn't been taught how to let the Spirit lead me, live boldly and courageously as a woman of honor, speak life over myself and others instead of death, prophesy in the Spirit and pursue the Lord's calling on my life. I was still semi-legalistic and I continued putting God in a "box" when I would tell everyone I otherwise. Now that the adventure is almost over I realize that I feel like Lucy from Narnia...sad that the adventure's over but trusting God (Aslan) that I will take the lessons I've learned and apply them further and deeper in my own world. I refuse to go back to "normal" and I refuse to allow myself to think in the mind set that I have to go back to "normal" in 20 days.

I have grown so much, learned so much, come so far and I can't go back to who I was and I hope everyone realizes that I will not be the same Angie. I mean...I will, but just a stronger, more Spirit-led version of the old Angie. :) Just because the Race is ending doesn't mean the adventure is. When I did "Semester at Sea" in the Summer of 2009 we heard a quote that I love. "This isn't the adventure of a lifetime. This is just the beginning of a lifetime of many adventures." The way they applied that quote during my study abroad experience in the Mediterranean is the same way I'm applying it to my World Race epic. I realized after the laundry was all hung up on the ropes of our balcony, with our view of a Hindu temple, three cows and some trash in the background...that this isn't the end of my adventure, but just the beginning. Yes, I am so sad to see my time of the Race come to an end. The closer August 31st comes the more my team mate, Paul Bell, calls me "a Six Flags of emotions"...I'm up one minute and down the next, thinking about the huge, emotional change coming our ways. I'm already thinking logistically how it's going to be possible for me to say my "good byes" to all my friends at Final Debrief in New Delhi in two weeks, and making sure that our team has one last night together at a nice restaurant one of those nights at Debrief. I'm worried that I won't be able to visit everyone all the time and they won't be able to come visit me. These are the things that are keeping me up at night. That being said though, I know that God has a LIFETIME of adventures coming my way and that the bonds I've made with my World Race family this year can never be severed or forgotten.

I've seen the Kingdom of God throughout the Nations, I've been privileged enough to BRING the Kingdom of God to the Nations and now I can never go back to anything else but that. In one way or another, that is my passion and my commitment for my life. Romans 10:15 says, "And how can they preach if they are not sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the Good News." I am commited to Bringing Kingdom wherever I go, simple as that. So I'm sad that I will no longer be in "Narnia" with "Aslan" as I like to call it, but I know that I just need to take the growth I've had here with Jesus and apply it FURTHER to my "real" life in the future. I want to end by saying that I love you all. This Race has been just as much YOUR Race as it has been mine. Whether you're in my biological family reading this (or my God parents), in my FPC church family...you're a spiritual mentor, a friend, or a friend of a friend...I want to thank you for prayers and love this year. By reading this blog you bring me so much encouragement and joy, which I don't think you realize. I get so excited reading all the comments you all have and reading the e-mails I get of thoughts, musings, scriptures, joy and insight. YOU have made all this possible this year and I want to thank YOU for allowing God to use you during this time. Thank you specifically for praying against malaria and for my mosquito bites...which I wrote about in my last blog of our travel day adventures, they are thankfully going away! Praise the Lord! Please, please, please keep praying for a STRONG FINISH to the end and smooth transition home, however. I know it will be hard for me, but I know by the grace and power of God I will get through it...stronger and brighter than ever. :)

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To India...

Fri, 5 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Good morning from Bangalore, India on MONTH 11 OF MY WORLD RACE!!! I am sitting here at the YWAM base, on my thin mattress pad, in a room I am sharing with the women on my team and the all-women's team we're working with this month, Team W.O.W. At this point, sharing normal-size bedroom with eleven other humans doesn't phase me at all...I'm used to living on top of others by now. I can't believe I'm in my last month of the Race. We have exactly 20 days here at the WYAM base and then our two teams head back to New Delhi for Final Debrief with the entire squad. Before I continue on with what's currently happening for us this month, let me catch you up on the four days of travel we had from Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania to Bangalore, India. The entire squad met at the airport on August 31st and, as always, we were too early to check in to our flight.

Thankfully there was an AC restaurant right outside the airport (PRAISE YOU JESUS) and we were able to catch up with what every one had been up to in the past weeks we'd been apart. A while later we checked in and boarded our short flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where we had a four hour layover before flying to New Delhi. In case you were wondering, Ethiopia has a lovely airport and it was an easy place to kill the time. The flight to New Delhi was longer (about 7 hours) but I sat next to my flying buddies, Sarah Anderson and Angela Bringham, and we took some melatonin and were out for the entire plane ride. I remember the three of us sat together on the plane to Kenya and the flight attendants were so concerned about us sleeping for the entire flight they asked some of our squad mates if we were physically OK or needed medical attention. What can I say? We're just good travelers. :) Once we were awakened during the bumpy landing, the 61 of us were all esctatic to finally be in India!

We had prayed so hard to get to this country and it was such a special moment realizing that we had actually made it into the country! Well, this is where it gets interesting. So, we got through customs and Christina, the team W.O.W. leader approaches me saying that our two teams hadn't gotten any word from our contacts about our train tickets to Bangalore. For a little while we were thinking we'd have to take a bus ride to the south and none of us were happy about that. Another beloved team also going to Bangalore decided to take the train with us, so they were waiting to figure out the plan so they could book their tickets with ours. Finally, after a few hours setting up a literal camp site next to "Costa Coffee" in the airport, we got word that our contacts had booked us train tickets for 9PM the next evening. We had 36 hours to kill until needing to be at the train station and all of us were so tired of airports and traveling...what were we going to do??

A few of us checked at the hotel and hostel kiosk at the airport information center and found a place for 15 USD a night, including breakfast and dinner. So we set off to the "Krishna Hostel" (typical name for an Indian hostel) stuffing ourselves into six tiny taxis with all our backpacks and duffels, dodging autorickshaws, cars and huge cargo trucks. You take serious health risks whenever you get in a vehicle in India, and I always thank Jesus when we come out alive...Indians are some of the most aggressive and crazy drivers I've ever seen. Our driver got very lost and none of us in the car knew where the hostel was (obviously) so we had to stop and ask about ten different people where the place was. We pulled into this very sketchy construction site with an apartment-looking building behind it and I thought, "Oh dear, this is where the driver's taking us to kill us." Well, fortunately that didn't happen, and we came to find out that the rundown apartment with absolutely no sign outside of it was, in all actuality, "Krishna Hostel".

We checked in and there were no beds left in the women's room so Addie and I were stuck sleeping with the guys and a strange dude who was backpacking through India by himself. Typical travel day situation I've decided. A group of us wanted to go to McDonalds because, let's face it, there were none in Africa and we were dying for some AC and fries. We took a few autorickshaws for 50 ruppees (which is a little over a US dollar) to the Citywalk and found out people were evacuating because there was a bomb threat on the entire building. At this point I was both laughing and upset, because all I wanted was to sit in a cold restaurant enjoying some American food and we couldn't get inside because the Indian equivelant of the SWAT team was inside the building searching for bombs. Great. So there we were, standing outside in the hot Delhi heat, dripping wet with sweat, giggling at the situation.

After a little while the authorities informed us we could go into a certain area of the mall because that section had been cleared as secure. If you're thinking this is an old rusty mall, think again. This was one of the biggest malls I've ever seen, including the malls I've been to in America and Europe. Everything inside it was top-of-the-line and Western. I was very impressed and I thought of the Cherry Creek Mall in Denver, Colorado, only three times as big and on steroids. We had a great afternoon at the mall and made it back to the hostel in one piece after our autorickshaw driver had us driving around Delhi, listening to Justin Beiber's "Baby" song over and over followed by the oh-so-infamous "Apple Bottom Jeans" rap that was popular in the States a few years ago. The songs foreigners find enjoyable has never ceased to amaze me.

Jake, one of my squad mates, informed me that our room was the only one in the hostel that didn't have working AC and that our room temperature was that of the Sun. I sincerely thought about sharing a tiny bed with my squad mate, Emily Toles, who had offered it to me after hearing about our unfortunate bedroom situation. I decided to stick it out in the room I was put in and not abandon Addie in the guy's smelly/hot room so I prayed that God would fix the Air Conditioner ASAP. Come midnight, there was a loud commotion and we heard Jake yell from the top of his bunk bed. Turns out, all the ice in the AC machine on the wall next to Jake's bed had fallen out of the machine and onto Jake's mattress.

It was sad for him but hopeful for the rest of us because maybe since the ice fell out of the AC coolant thing, the temperature would go down. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep after waiting and waiting for the temperature to drop but the next morning I woke up feeling rested and less sweaty. We went back to Citywalk mall that day just because it was freezing cold in there and we didn't want anything stressful before the two-day train ride down south. After a full day of relaxing and eating yummy American food (including Cinnabon...WHAT!?!?) we made the journey to the train station. I'm pretty sure my back pack has gotten even heavier than when I first packed it in October. How that has happened, I don't know...but carrying that sucker through a crowded train station up and down staircases was not much fun.

The train pulled up and none of us were expecting much simply because we had heard horror stories of third class cabins having live animals and no AC in them. Once we got near the train doors, however, we were absolutely thrilled to find that the third class cabin we reserved had AIR CONDITIONING!!!! YAYAYAYAYY!!! God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good...that's one of my favorite Asian church sayings. :) I lugged my bags to the 5x10 foot boxes that I shared with five other people. You see, during the day time, the six people in the tiny cabin sit on the benches across from each other and at night, there are four more beds on top of the bench that fold down so all six of us have our own places to sleep. We had a nice Indian university student in a cabin with five of us from Team Frontline and he was so patient and gracious with us and our loud conversations and our many, many bags. I liked the train much more than the airplane becuase we had the ability to lay down flat during the night time and sleep and we could walk around from tiny cabin to tiny cabin and chat with the other World Race teams. Turns out, Indian train rides are pretty fun!!

After two days of making videos on my camera, watching episodes of the sitcom "Big Bang Theory" on Emily's laptop and sleeping A LOT out of sheer boredom, we made it to Bangalore! Now we're here, in this beautiful city with some very fun people from all over India. Tomorrow some of our new friends here at WYAM are going to take us women shopping for traditional Indian clothes (punjabee suits and sarees). We have been asked to buy a few outfits that won't make us stand out as much as we already do and I'm excited to wear them simply becuase they are so gorgeous and fun! We still don't know exactly what we'll be doing these next few weeks, but I'll fill you all in when I have a better idea. I love you, all! Thanks for all the travel day prayers. Please pray against me getting malaria and for good health, because I am COVERED in mosquito bites. :( Over and out from the land of Gandhi and curry!

Emily and Alana watched a movie on the airport floor and Ashley was trying to sleep but being awakened by the Indian couple sitting behind her at "Costa Coffee"...the World Race makes you feel like a homeless person sometimes. :)

The five of us from Team Frontline (without Paul and Alana) and our new friend on the bottom right bunk who's a university student from Bangalore! This was the amount of space the six of us had for two days. It was a great time of bonding and team intimacy!

Haile and I enjoying our delicious train dinner in our fold down beds. This was hour 30...we were still energetic at this point.

Dar Es Salaam Through A Photo Lens

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Here are some photos of our month in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. About half are photos my team leader and photo extraordinare, Mac Mitchell, took and the other half are photos from my camera. I hope you have a visual of what we've been doing this month. Enjoy:

Team Frontline enjoying some home-made Rice Crisy treats out of the pan. Thank you, Nikki!!

Walking with the kids at South Beach on the way to the church to preach. Aren't they cute? Photo and editing by: Mac Mitchell

The ferry ride to South Beach...sooo many people! It was like the book of Exodus. Photo and editing by: Mac Mitchell

One of the cutest little boys I played with during door-to-door ministry.

Riding on the back of a dala-dala on the way home from ministry. Photo and editing by: Mac Mitchell.

Alana and I ministering to some motorcycle mechanics. One of them had a Biola University t-shirt on and one looked like Usher...crazy.

The Frontline girls attacking our brother, Paul with silly string that Haile found at the store. The guys never saw us coming..."Operation Thunder Cats GO" is what we called it!!

What Seminary Could Never Teach Me

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

We have only a few days until we leave for New Delhi, India and I am so excited to go back to that colorful, crazy country. Our entire squad will fly out of Dar Es Salaam, have a lay over in Ethiopia and then head on to New Delhi. Our team is working with the all women's team next month in the city of Bangalore, India and our contact is putting the 14 of us on a 45 hour train ride from the north where Delhi is to the southern part of the country where our ministry site is. I know we will have a lot of amazing stories from being on an Indian train with no AC and no room for two days! Please pray for our team as we are in transit to Bangalore and pray for our ministry at YWAM (Youth With A Mission) next month...it's gonna be good.

As excited as I am for India, I am sad to leave East Africa. We have had some life changing moments and some incredible experiences on this continent and I know that God has amazing things in store for me and Africa in the future. One of the best parts of my time in Africa (other than deliverance services, prophesy nights, door-to-door and hut-to-hut visits, and our contacts) has been the opportunity to preach all the time. In all honesty, I have completely lost count of the total number of times I've preached this year, especially in Africa for the last three months. I've preached to audiences of anything between one person to 300-400 hundred people...in schools, in churches, in markets, in house churches, in bars, in jails, in orphanges, in witchdoctors huts and everywhere in between. My expectations of preaching before the Race and what has actually happened are like night and day.

I thought, having my bachelors in Communication Studies, all my sermons would be very organized and prepared before I gave them. I believed that I would follow the formula my college professors gave me to write and execute a perfect message to people around the world and that the experiences of preaching on the Race would prepare me for seminary in Colorado. I remember the first time I gave a sermon on the Race. We were in the Philippines and I had to preach back-to-back services for a congregation of about 200 Filippinos, Australians and Taiwanese people. I spent so much time preparing that sermon the night before, making sure I had a solid introduction, three main points and an inspirational conclusion. I put so many stories and Bible verses into that outline and the next day I remember timing myself before church to see how long the message would be. "35 minutes exactly," I thought. "Perfect time...just perfect."

While that sermon was good and a lot of people came up to me after, thanking me for the message, it was still very rehearsed and wasn't very Holy Spirit led. I preached three times later that month at the women's prison and those sermons were a lot less organized and researched and I learned what it meant to let the Spirit of God flow through you. When I preached to the prostitutes in Thailand, there was a lot more pandamonium than before in the Philippines. I would be interrupted by drunk men, bar owners, and questions from the women about God and how He could love them so much and let them live this life of sadness. It was a time where I completely had to rely on the Lord and what He was speaking to me, because it was not a cut-and-dry message where I was talking at people, but talking with people.

In Malaysia we all preached a lot and some of my sermons were longer, with Post-It notes filling my Bible of all the verses I wanted to speak on where other sermons were right on the spot and had to be spontaneously and divinely inspired. Every single day that month we would preach multiple times a day and we were always on the move. It was the perfect practice for an aspiring preacher. Cambodia gave us preaching opportunities but not as many as the previous Asian month and they were always in the church we worked with, with everyone sitting "Khmer style" on the wooden floor of the house on stilts we were in. Kenya was the month I preached to the most people and it was always high school students (which in Africa is ages 12-27 years of age). Uganda was my favorite month of the Race, and my favorite month that God was stretching me in my gift of preaching.

I had to learn how to "open air preach" out in markets and fields and scream over the hustle and bustle of people moving through the crowds. Open air preaching was something I was terrified to do at first, and is now one of my favorite types of ministry. I remember after preaching at the top of my lungs about conviction, redemption, deliverance, and forgiveness and how people in the crowd engaging in witch craft were on their way to hell (very southern Baptist preach-y...but effective) and realizing I had been screaming for an hour and could no longer talk without coughing. That was the same month that we would have four hour church services were all of us would preach for a half hour and just go around in a circle giving various messages God had put on our hearts. I remember the first (of a few) demonic manifestations and deliverances our team had seen in Africa and right after the woman was delivered by, as Pastor Joseph put it "THE FIRE OF GOD" he turned to me and asked me to give the message I had prepared on fasting, intercessory prayer, and the book of Esther. That was one of the most comical experiences I've ever had and made every one of my team mates laugh at the situation with me, especially after in the privacy of our house.

This month in Tanzania, I have preached to more Muslims than Christians, I feel like and it has been amazing seeing the power of the Holy Spirit transform their hearts and lives. We have seen many Muslims come to Christ through our ministry this month, and I give all the glory to God. I don't know that India holds but I do know that now I'm no longer anxious about preaching, and worrying I'll screw up or not be prepared enough. I know that giving a message from God is not about how organized a sermon is or how many theological points are in it, but it's about what God is leading me to say and encourage the people on. I know that I can work for hours and hours on a sermon but have it be what Angie Blattner wants to talk about and not what the people need to hear, and that it's important to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, even if it means completely changing your message subject twenty seconds before you stand at the pulpit.

There have been many times on the Race that I've felt like preaching on a certain subject and I wasn't sure why until people had come up to me afterwards and said they'd been struggling with that exact same thing and that they had been praying that God would speak to them about that certain subject and I was an answered prayer. Every single experience of preaching in Asia and Africa has been such a phenomenal blessing and I've seen God take a scared, controled, over-prepared college graduate and transform her into a confident, Spirit-led, bold preacher for the Kingdom of God. I've learned things this year that I could have never learned in a seminary school and I am so thankful that God planned to teach me what it means to be a preacher and a woman in ministry in eleven countries and eleven cultures and not only in a classroom and through theology textbooks.

I had originally planned to go straight to seminary after the World Race and get my Masters in Divinity and become a pastor somewhere in Colorado, but this year has completely changed the desires of my heart and I don't see seminary anywhere in my near future. I have been completely "wrecked" this year and want nothing more than to continue bringing the Kingdom of God to every tribe, tongue and nation. Isn't it funny on the days we realized our plans are simply OUR plans and that God's plans for our lives are so much better? I'm sure when I was thinking about Denver Seminary in 2012, God was in heaven saying "If only you knew my child...just wait and see what I do to your heart this year and how I wreck you for the nations and my children." I don't know what my exact plans are for after the Race, and I know that's OK.

God will lead me on my path in His timing and in His divine way and I'm confident of that. I know that I could, in fact, eventually go to seminary and become a pastor in the United States, and if that was God's plan for me I would be thrilled...but I'm sick of "Angie Blattner's" plans and expectations and am standing firm on following God's plans for me, however scary those plans may be at first. I will fill you all in on the direction the Lord is leading me, love ones. But for now, just know that the only thing I know for certain is that I have never been more alive and on fire for Christ than I have been this year, and I can't go back to sleep, living for myself. Because it's not about me, it's about the Kingdom, and bringing Kingdom to everyone that comes in my path.

As Romans 10:14-15, "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Please be praying, friends and family, for the desires of my heart to line up with the desires of God's heart, and that whatever my future holds, it will be all the glory and honor to God Almighty and Christ Jesus the Savior. The old Angie Blattner would be completely freaked out that we're almost in our last month of the Race and I still don't know exactly what I'm going to do next, but the new Angie Blattner has realized she's no longer in the drivers seat, and is waiting on the Lord this time. I love you, all!!! My next update will be in India, MONTH 11!!! Keep bringing Kingdom, loved ones, in each and every thing you do... :)

Preaching to a group of children and some adults on South Beach on the island right off the coast of Tanzania.

Preaching to a Muslim family in Dar Es Salaam.

Awkward Cultural Misunderstandings on Sex

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This week we have been ministering in a lot of high schools. It's been great to spend time with the youth in Tanzania and I really feel like I'm back at FPC Youth Ministry when I'm counseling the girls or speaking at an assembly. The first part of the week the men and women from our team split up so we could visit more schools and cover more "turf" for the Kingdom. Paul and Mac went back to South Beach (the island hours away) and visited two schools. Angela, Alana and I went to an all-girls boarding school very near our house. We never really know what we will be doing when we go out and preach/teach/counsel, and this day was the same as any other day...we would be doing God knows what for God knows how long. After the men dropped us off in our Land Cruiser car (Pastor Chediel gave our team our very own SUV to do ministry this month, which is amazing) we went to meet the Pastor of the all-girls school.

He informed the three of us that we would be leading a three-hour church service for the 300 students at the school, and that he had convinced the Head Master of the school to allow us to take the entire day with the girls, so they cancelled classes just for us to come. We had nothing prepared. NOTHING. These days on the Race are honestly my favorite because it's the days when our team really comes together and we allow the Holy Spirit to lead our ministry more than the times we prepare a lot. Alana, Angela and I worked so well together that day. Alana played the guitar and sang and Angela and I were her "back-up singers" which was fun. The girls sang us various songs in Swahili which I think is one of the most beautiful things my ears have ever heard...African praise music and worship time is my favorite. Angela started out the message and preaching portion of the service with her testimony and some encouragement about the beauty of being a woman. Then Alana went to give her testimony and a brief message before it was my time to talk. Everything was going smoothly when at the end of Alana's message she asked the 300 girls if any of them had boyfriends, or if they had every had a boyfriend. The room filled with awkward laughter and everyone, especially the Pastor of the school looked very embarassed and confused.

I asked Pastor David what was wrong with Alana's question and he replied, "Here in Africa, when you talk about a boyfriend or girlfriend, it is very taboo. A boyfriend or girlfriend is someone you are having a lot of sex with." I laughed so hard and poor Alana was still standing up, looking very confused at why chaos broke out when she, a Christian missionary, said the word "boyfriend". I immediately remembered preaching to an all-boys boarding school in Kenya and asking them if any of them had "girlfriends" and thinking it was very odd when Pastor Ezekiel looked at me confused before he translated it, and feeling very confused when all the boys giggled and got embarassed. After the explaining to the girls that we didn't mean the African version of "boyfriends and girlfriends" and that we were all waiting to have sex until we get married, whenever that will be, I preached to the girls on Revelation 3 (being lukewarm) and I gave my testimony.

After the service (which, by the grace of God was exactly three hours long) we met with the girls and they had lots of questions about dating in America. Apparently in Africa, they don't really "date" and if you do "date" like we do in the States, you are very wealthy. I said that when we go on a date we will go to a movie or dinner and they said only the upper class Africans can afford to do that. When it's time to marry, every tribe has a different tradition. The families are always involved and have a lot of say in the marriage, and they court instead of date. Courting implies meeting type situations with the entire family on both sides discussing dowry for the bride. Things like animals, land and money are negotiated for the bride price, and then if everything goes according to plan, you get married right away. While we like to take time getting to know a person before commiting to marrying them in the US, they decide much quicker about the marriage and get to know the person after the wedding and during their first year together as husband and wife.

We told Pastor that some of us have been in relationships for a year to two and a half years with people back home and we broke up without ever getting married or even engaged, and he was so shocked to find this out. Everyone was very surprised that you can date someone exclusively for a long period of time (one year to many years), without ever having sex. We informed the Pastor and the girls that in the "Christian Born Again community" in the US, it is very possible to stay pure and celebate while still be commited to someone and being love. They asked us if the parents are the ones that make the arrangements to date and we told them that a lot of people want their parents approval and blessing when dating someone but that it was usually up to the man or woman themselves to decide if the person they were in a relationship with was a person with good character. It was such an interesting conversation to have with the Pastor and the girls, and everyone left more open minded about intercultural relationships.

Now I know that when we go to a school, a church or anywhere else, whether it's in Africa, Central or South America or Asia, when we are preaching and giving our testimony, we need to make sure our definitions of words are the same as the cultures definition of a word. I'm glad that the girls understand that we were not endorsing having a lot of sex before marriage and I'm glad that we got to learn about the Tanzanian culture of romance and marriage. One of my favorite things about this year has been the ridiculous communication difficulties we have had with contacts, congregations and friends. There is always some sort of issue in the way we're trying to talk but 9 times out of 10 it's always hilarious and makes for a great story.

An Island, A Narcissist, & An Audience of One

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

I can't believe we're already coming into our third week in Tanzania...and I really, REALLY can't believe that in just six short weeks, my Race will be over. It's July 18th and I will be home August 31st...WHAT?!?! Where has this year gone!?!!?! At first, Tanzania was not all I had hoped it would be. For the first week of ministry we discovered that our contact unfortunately didn't have much for us to do. Other than leading an evening church service the entire week, we tried to fill our time with constructive things to do. I kept asking God, "Why are we here? What is our purpose for being in Tanzania? What is your plan?" and after all my wrestling and praying, we found a Pastor who was desperately seeking help and encouragement for his church. The catch? This Pastor's church was not in Dar Es Salaam, near where we were staying. It was, as we Americans say during Christmas time, "Over the river, and through the woods..." only instead of a river we had to go over a canal of water and instead of woods we had to go through the metropolus of Dar in rush hour traffic.

We set out to help Pastor Lawrence our first afternoon, unaware of the journey that would be in our future and we got a bajage (which most other countries call "a tuk-tuk"). In the United States, if they were even legal, a bajage would only be meant for one driver in the front and two passengers in the back...IF THAT. Here in Tanzania, a bajage consists of a driver and as many people you can pack into the bajage without crashing or tipping it. In this case, we had five people, plus the driver. So we set out for the first dala-dala (bus) station about 5 kilometers away. Piling our group out of the tiny bajage and into an already packed dala-dala looked like something out of a cartoon and when we first saw the amount of people on the dala-dala we laughed because we honestly thought there was no way we were going to be able to fit. This is Africa, and they make everything fit...regardless of comfort or safety regulations.

We headed off, standing shoved in the middle of a very smelly African body odor filled dala-dala. Once we got to our next dala-dala station we had to switch dala-dala, this time heading towards the city center. Once we got to the city center we had already been traveling for two full hours, since the traffic in Dar is so horrible. We had to board yet another dala-dala to get to the port and from there we got on a ferry boat that took exactly two minutes to get us to the island of South Beach that was only seperated from the mainland by a canal. We walked for some time once we got onto the island and met up with Pastor Lawrence and then, you guessed it, boarded another dala-dala for Pastor's church. After getting off our sixth mode of transportation for the day, we were ready to do some ministry and I was more than ready to preach on the importance of putting the Lord first in your life, above anything else (Matthew 22:37-40). I had a nice, long sermon prepared with notes and scriptures and pages marked in my Bible and everything and I couldn't wait to deliver it to the congregation. So we got to the church, where Pastor had told us we would do a service, and no one was there but a group of children.

My team and I figured this was OK because in our minds as experienced month 10 World Racers, this meant that we would be doing Children's Ministry first and then the Main Service for everyone else. Well, the time with the children came and went and still, no adults. So there we were, with twenty children, one church elder named "Momma Mary" (no joke, that was seriously her name) and Pastor Lawrence and all eyes were on me to preach. I was flabbergasted. I mean, I had been learning for the past 10 months on how you have to be flexible and good at improv as a missionary and here I was with a 45-minute sermon prepared on a topic much too mature for children. I wanted to include examples like Abraham obeying the Lord and being prepared to sacrifice his young son, Issac on the alter and some real-life-today examples of martyers all around the world suffering for the sake of putting God first. What was I going to do?!?! I was feeling like this entire day had turned into a disaster.

This is when my team mate, Nikki came up to me and said that she felt the Holy Spirit telling her to remind me that I was preaching to an audience of one, and that was the Lord. All I had to do was preach to Him and nothing else mattered, because it was all about giving Him the glory and the honred. Nikki also made me remember that God has purpose and reason for all things, and that my message was still meant for someone specific in the room, whether it be the church elder, the Pastor, the team or one of the children. So I prayed and asked God to speak through me, because at this point I was still so nervous I couldn't do anything on my own. I began the sermon and children started getting restless and running around the sanctuary, but I continued praying that God would give me the patience and discipline to continue on without getting flustered or distracted. By the grace of God I was able to maintain composure the entire time, something I seriously doubted happening.

Then, about 10 minutes into my sermon, a young man came into the back door of the sanctuary and sat near the back. He looked to be around my age and I thought to myself, "Lord, is this the man you have the message for? Is it him in the back?" and I continued preaching, believing in my heart that even though the majority of my audience was either picking their nose or crying or running up and down the aisles, I was still there for a divine reason. I concluded the sermon, just under an hour, and completely surprised that these parent-less children had stayed to hear it through. I was getting ready to leave, still feeling confused, when the young man in the back approached me. He said his name was Nurielle and that he was a neighbor of church elder, Momma Mary, and that he had heard we were coming and wanted to hear what we had to say. I asked him if he was Born Again and he said he wasn't but felt very touched by the message of the Gospel and was so filled with love during the service and after it was over.

I realized at this moment, that our three and a half hour journey to this island and all the preparation I had done for that sermon was for this man standing in front of me, so he could hear the Gospel presented for the first time. I asked him if he had anymore questions and he said that he would pray that evening for more love and truth to come and that he would return the next day. I prayed over him, walked out to meet the rest of my group, and realized that the entire day had been all about me. It hadn't been about preaching the Good News of the Gospel, it had been about how hard the travel to get there was and how hard I had worked on the sermon and how nobody showed up to hear me preach. It was about ME, ME, ME which is ironically the exact OPPOSITE of what my sermon was about. The amazing and miraculous thing was, however, that even though I was being prideful and embarassed no one had come to the service, God still chose to use me, my narcissism and all and that He was able to speak through me to reach this young man, who He so dearly wanted a relationship with. I was so humbled and convicted that I asked the Lord for forgiveness and rejoiced at the fact that even at our weakest and lowest points, God can and will still use us for His glory and His Kingdom.

The next day when we went back to the island to preach again and do ministry, that same young man came to know Jesus even better and made the decision to get Saved and become Born Again into the Family of God. I was so happy for Him and decided that the next time I was confused or uncertain about something in my life or in my ministry, I would trust that God was in control and that he was working all things together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). I want every preacher out there, whether that is your profession or one of your spiritual gifts, to know that no matter how big or small your congregation is, the most important thing to remember that you are truly preaching to an audience of one, and that everything you're doing, you're doing to glorify the Lord.

The ferry boat we take to the island to minister.

Giving my sermon on Matthew 22:37-40.

With Nurielle the day he got Saved at church.

Bible vs. Koran: Muslim Ministry

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

I've decided that while I've thoroughly enjoyed all the different types of ministry opportunities our team has been able to do this year (which has seriously been everything under the sun)...one of my absolute favorite things to do, especially in Africa, is door-to-door evangelism. I think I am one of the few people on my team that can't wait to go out into the neighborhoods and meet new people every time we find out we'll be doing door-to-door that day. Yesterday we didn't have plans to go to Pastor Lawrence's church on the island and do ministry there so we went around our neighborhood to talk to people and pray with them. We brought some church members from Pastor Chediel's congregation to help us with translation and legitimacy and the first house we hit was as the home of a young Muslim woman.

Islam is the main religion of Tanzania, with Christianity coming in second, but since ministry started out slow this month, we hadn't been able to minister to any Muslim men or women yet. I asked the woman, who was about my age, if she regularly attended a mosque and read the Koran, and she said she didn't really ever do anything with her religion. My translator, Issac, called her "a lukewarm Muslim" and I proceeded to ask her about her family. She still lived with her parents, because she was 24 and had not yet gotten married. Her father was a Christian but her mother was a Muslim, so she decided that she would follow her mother and accept her religion as her own. This is when I began to pray. "God, what am I going to say to this woman?" I immediately remembered that my translator, Issac, used to be a devout Muslim before he came to Jesus 12 years ago, and that he would be the perfect person for the Lord to use! I told Issac I wanted him to share his testimony with her, and he was very hesitant at first but then nodded his head and got out a large notebook.

I wondered what could possibly be in this notebook that he would need during this specific time, and then I saw it. Issac had countless Bible verses AND scriptures from the Koran just for evangelizing to Muslims. I was blown away, so I began to pray for Issac and that the Lord would speak through him to this young woman. Issac translated what he was saying to her so I could understand what was going on in the conversation. He told her he had been a Muslim all his life and that he and his wife both went to the mosque twice a week and were passionate about studying the Koran. Issac's sister-in-law came to visit them in 1998 and started talking to them about Jesus Christ and His power and His love.

Issac became very sick within a week of his sister-in-law's visit and had to go to the hospital for severe stomache problems. He had a lot of acid built up in his stomache and they needed to treat him with a lot of medication. After taking his dosages of pills, he was getting even worse and the doctors weren't sure what to do, so this is when Issac's sister-in-law suggested the power of prayer in Jesus' name. Issac, his wife, and her sister all prayed to the Lord for healing and for the first time in his life, it was with genuine faith and hope that their prayers would be answered. After a praying for a day and waiting for the miracle from Jesus, Issac found he no longer had stomache pains. They all went to the doctor so they could get test results done and GLORY BE TO GOD, Issac was completely healed!! He started attending the church we've partnered with near by our house, shortly after the miracle. With discipleship from Pastor, he soon became Born Again and got Saved along with his wife.

Now twelve years later, Issac is a church elder and a crazy amazing apologetics scholar, always studying the Koran and finding evidence for the case for Christ. He was able to show the young woman we were minstering to dozens of scriptures from the Koran that talk about how Jesus is the way to heaven and that you have to know Jesus to have eternal salvation. I had no idea those scriptures were in there and I was so blown away by Issac's knowledge and research work on defending the Gospel. Issac read all these scriptures to the young woman, named Amani (which means "Peace" in Swahili) and she was blown away by his insight and testimony. At the end of the visit she asked if I could pray for her for Jesus to reveal more truth to her, so I did and before we left she thanked Issac over and over for sharing with her. Issac and I came back to visit her the next day and she started to cry, saying she had been praying to Jesus and reading her dad's Bible all day and that she'd never felt so much joy and so much love in her life. She asked for Issac and I to pray with her and she decided to get Saved that day.

I was so excited and humbled that God had allowed me to see such a beautiful moment in this young woman's life. The day you become Born Again is one you'll never forget and getting to pray over her and with her was one of my favorite memories from this month. I told Issac what a unique gift he had from the Lord and he didn't understand what I meant. I had to explain to him that his story and testimony was perfect for evangelizing to the Muslim community in Dar Es Salaam. God had taken him out of the Islamic faith and now had so much credibility to share with his fellow Tanzanians and I was so surprised he didn't realize it. I told him he needed to come do door-to-door with us everytime we went out and he agreed. I also asked him if I could copy down all the scriptures in the Koran that had to do with Jesus Christ being the Savior of all people, and he said he would let me borrow his notebook this week. I was so blown away by how the Lord was using my African brother, Issac and even though I knew God could use me to minister to the Islamic community in Tanzania, the legitimacy Issac was carrying with him from his past to his wisdom was incomparable to mine.

I am praying that Issac will truly embrace the gift that God has given him and go out into the community, continuing to transform lives for Jesus Christ. I know each and every one of us has a story, a testimony and a special gift from God that we need to share with the world. God is excited to use us and loves when we use the obstacles and trials we've faced in the past, to bring other people with those same struggles into His loving and mighty arms!!! Praise Jesus for Issac, his testimony and his amazingly fantastic apologetics skills. Praise Jesus for your stories, your testimonies and your phenomenal spiritual gifts from the Lord. I know that God made us all unique and diverse for this very reason, to combat the Enemy with His love all over the world in our own special ways. Please be praying for our new sister in Christ, Amani and her new relationship with Jesus. Please pray for Issac, and that he will walk in confidence and authority as a follower of Christ and as an evangelist for the Kingdom. Please pray that more "Amani's" will have their eyes and ears opened to the Gospel. I love you, all!!! See you at the end of August. :)

Amani and I at her home in Dar Es Salaam, the day she got Saved!

Issac preaching from his notebook to more Muslim women in the community!

3 Countries in 32 Hours--African Travel Days on the WR

Sat, 9 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Have you ever wondered what it's like to travel from country to country in Africa on a severely low budget? Have you ever wondered what it's like on travel day(s) of the World Race? Well, here's a little story about our 32 hour travel day that turned into a three-day epic adventure from Uganda to Tanzania. The original plan travel day plan was to have half of the S squad take a 12 noon bus to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, have the second half take the 5 pm bus, we'd all meet up in our Month 10 country and eveything would be peachy keen. Well, this is Africa, folks...and things just don't work the way we want them to sometimes. My squad mate, Emily and I came back from town at 3 pm to find a few of our squad leaders sitting on our huge backpacks and duffels looking frustrated.

Come to find out, the 12 noon bus never came and now it was 3 pm and not a single member of S squad had made any progress in getting to Tanzania. After a while, the 12 noon group finally left at 4 pm and shortly after that, our 5 pm bus showed up at 6:30 pm...not bad, considering we were all betting that we wouldn't leave Jinja until about 9. We gathered our things and got on the bus and everything was fine and dandy until we reached the border of Kenya and had to get off the bus and apply for a "transit visa". The first group of S squaders were able to get through no problem, without having to pay any Shillings for the visa. They communicated this to us via text so we showed up to the border expecting the same kind of treatment.

We got to the border at about 9 pm and the border patrol tried to munipulate us into paying a 20 USD fee for passing through their country. Unfortunately, sometimes when you're American, people will try and take advantage of you, economically speaking. This isn't always the case, but there are corrupt people everywhere waiting for the next victim to take advantage of. Thankfully, we have some fierce people on our squad and they refused to pay the cash so after a lot of arguing at the counter, he let us go free of charge. This is when things got a tad bit sketchy...

Instead of getting back onto the bus and driving through the border, you have to physically walk across a football sized dirt area between Uganda and Kenya. This wouldn't be as questionable in the day time, but since it was very dark (Africa doesn't have a lot of electricity, if you didn't already know that) we had to fend off beggars in the dark and make it to "the Kenya side" to get on the bus. I thank God every day for the amazing men on S squad and what wonderful brothers they are to us women. We were very protected and taken care of during that time and anytime one of us ladies would started getting hassled by a guy, the men would step in and stop it. Chivalry is not dead, friends, and it's a beautiful thing. We made it to the other side of the border but we did not find our bus. Well, after an hour of waiting and waiting, it finally pulled up to the 30 of us, squatting in the mud, exhausted from the hussle and bussle of our first border crossings.

We got back on the bus and my bus buddy, Cody and I watched a few episodes of "Boy Meets World" on my computer, and absolutely squished because Danielle (our squad mate sitting in front of Cody) had a broken chair so she was leaned all the way back in his seat, making his legs in an even more uncomfortable position for both of us. Awkwardly positioned and sitcomed out, we all tried to get some shut eye before having to switch buses the next morning in Nairobi. The unfortunate thing about the bus we were on was that the windows were very old and wouldn't stay shut so none of us could sleep because of how freezing cold the outside temperature was making the inside of the bus. Shivering and shaking we drove into Nairobi, Kenya at 7 am the next morning, still very tired and cold from the night before. This is when we had to get off the bus we were on and onto another bus, that was bound for Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

Everyone had their 50 pound backpack/duffel to haul a block away to where the next bus was and we all looked rough and felt even rougher at this point. We made it onto the next bus and were greeted with a bus attendant holding brown sack breakfasts complete with a hard boiled egg, a samosa (deep fried meat filled African pastry) and some chapati (flat bread that's delicious). I was near the back, this time sitting with Emily as my bus buddy, and with my team mate, Nikki Medders, behind us. The ridiculous thing about where Nikki was sitting was the pure fact that she had a crate of live chickens under her seat and they were moving around making it even more impossible to get comfortable in the back of the bus. I couldn't stop laughing, because I had never traveled with live poultry before, especially for 16+ hours, so I knew this would be interesting.

We noticed the man sitting in front of Emily seemed to be very out of place. He was German with a shaved head, covered in tattoos (one of which was a picture of a naked woman on his forearm) and smoking like a chimney. We knew this could only lead to trouble but we were too tired to care. As soon as the bus took off we took some sleep meds and dozed off for a little while until we were awakened by the bus attendant asking us all in the back to move to the front of the bus so we would be "correctly porportioned" for the bus to get weighed at the weigh station we were at. Since Emily and I had both taken sleeping pills we were extremely drugged out and disoriented when we were taken to the very front of the bus to sit on boxes next to the driver. Angela Grit, another team mate of mine was asked to sit near the middle of the bus and noticed some soup-like substance on the floor next to her new seat. She came to find out from her new seat mates that this was vomit that no one had cleaned up but was just left to fester and stink up the place. Awesome.

So now we were all completely out of it, smelling vomit that had been sitting out for only God knows how long, being weighed at just the right portions so the bus driver wouldn't get a fine for having too much weight at the back of the bus. We were done about a half hour later and were able to get back to our seats when the German man sitting in front of Emily decided to make small talk with us. I noticed he was still smoking and the bus attendant kept coming back and yelling at him to stop but this just made him open the window and smoke sticking his head out of the bus. He was telling us he had been exiled from the US and Europe and now has been living in Kenya for the last five years as a "business man"...whatever that means. We were all too afraid to ask anymore questions but from the smell of his breath I could tell that his 1 liter bottle of Sprite he was drinking did not, in fact, have any Sprite in it...but pure vodka.

After talking to the German man about how he was going to fix all of Africa's problems (it was a very long conversation) we made it to the border of Kenya and Tanzania. This process was much more pleasant than the border crossing the night before. We made it through the lines, getting our one-year multi-entry visas for a whopping 100 USD (one of the more expensive visas for the year) and were even able to exchange money from Kenyan Shillings to Tanzanian Shillings. Once we got back on the bus we started watching episodes of "Community" when all of a sudden the German man's seat reclines all the way back into Emily's lap and stays there. When we tried to get him to move up a little, he claimed his chair was "stuck" and there was nothing he could do about it. So there we were, smelling like cigarettes, vodka and sin, with 8 more hours on the bus to go.

We got off at a rest stop to eat dinner and were met with another bus full of muzungus...and wouldn't you know it, they were World Race muzungus we hadn't seen for almost 24 hours!! We found out their bus had completely broken down (which was how we had caught up to them) but we didn't have time to chat for long. The bus driver told us we had precisely 10 minutes to get our dinner to go, give a quick hug to our friends and get back on the bus, or he threatened to leave without us. The German man bought all of us gum, which was weird and random but we chewed it out of obligation and fear that if we didn't, he would do to us whatever he got exiled out of the US/Europe for. We finally made it to final destination of Dar Es Salaam at 12:30 am, were driven inside of a warehouse/bus terminal, and were locked in for "safety reasons". We found out we needed to be locked in because we were in the worst and most dangerous part of the city.

looked around the big warehouse we were in and realized a lot of men were living there. There was a giant cauldron boiling water over an open fire (which reminded me of the Disney classic movie, "Hocus Pocus") and a few old Lazy Boy recliners. I couldn't tell if the men were homeless or other bus drivers, but again...I was too tired to care that much. We were running low on squad food so I sucked on a grape juice box and decided to wait until morning to eat food. Our team's contact for the month came to pick the 30 of us up and by 2 am we reached our home for the next 28 days. Since it was too late for any of the other teams to go to their specific ministry locations, they all crashed at our tiny house.

Sharing a home with seven people is hard enough in a three-bedroom African house, but sharing it with 30 people is even more hectic. We quickly found out that the house did not have running water, so everyone decided they were not in the mood to take bucket showers. We shoved all the girls in the bedrooms with all our backpacks and the men ever-so-graciously slept out in the living room on the couches and on floor. The next morning I woke up on a tent tarp on top of a very dirty mattress on the floor next to Emily, Haile and Angela. I didn't remember where I was and then soon realized that everything that had happened the day(s) before was not a dream, but my life this year. I went into the kitchen for breakfast and found five of my squad mates sitting on the floor, eating what was left of our food rations. We had the very last bit of Nutella, some peanut butter and a bag full of bread crumbs (which was originally sliced bread but didn't survive all the traveling and getting squished and smooshed around for the 32 hours). I felt like this was an accurate interpretation of what a crack house would be like. We had no electricity or running water, we were eating on the ground because of no furniture, we were dining on the very last bit of food we had and everyone was extremely dirty and greasy from lack of showers.

Sitting on the mattress on the floor back in our bedroom, we decided re-evaluate our decision making paradigm and think about how we had gotten to this stage of our life. This is when Cody came in and informed us that three more teams from the other bus group were on our way to the house to stay the night with us. We said that various buses weren't going to leave for ministry locations until the next morning so now we had the 30 people in the house for another night plus another 20 people to house. Thankfully, our land lord, Dr. Hellen, offered her house that is next door to ours and said people could sleep on the floor for one night at her place. This was an answered prayer since we literally didn't have anywhere to put any more bodies at the house we were in.

That afternoon a group of us decided to go to the grocery store to get food for all 50 of us and my team mate, Alana Lusted, decided she needed to go to the hospital and get tested for malaria. She had been sick for a while now and we all agreed it was best to get some blood work done and figure out what was wrong. We dropped Alana and Nikki off at the hospital near by, got food for dinner and came back to the hospital to find Alana on her fourth IV drip, not diagnosed with malaria (PRAISE THE LORD) but just a parasite. She got some medication and we went on our way. Later that night, Alana told us that during her examination the power in the entire hospital went out so the doctor and all the nurses used the lights from their cell phones to finish her check up and IVs. Only in Africa. Only in Africa...

That night we all had fun playing cards, eating sandwiches and watching movies and I realize now that it's nights like those and travel days like the ones we've had that I will miss the most when the Race is over and done with. Yes, mu World Race family can be very insane and we get into the craziest adventures, but in all honesty, I wouldn't have it any other way. I love each and every one of them and travel days are some of my fondest memories because it's the time we get to spend all together as a squad, giggling and experiencing life in the third-world as the body of Christ that we are. I hope that this gave every one of you readers an accurate description of what a travel day on the World Race in Africa is like and that you enjoyed following along with our silly shinanigans. I can't believe it's already Month 10...I'm starting to get very nostalgic, and really don't want to leave these people I've been traveling the world with this year.

This is the beach in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. I feel like our crazy travel adventures getting here were definitely worth it for this amazing view!

God's Furious Love for the LRA

Tue, 5 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

As we're entering into our third month in Africa, I have to admit there are some things I'm growing a little tired of. I'm tired of being called "muzungu" everywhere I go, and I'm getting sick of the fact that everywhere we go...everyone expects us to be rich because we're "muzungus" (whites). It's also very discouraging when in every country, we meet amazing people who have no education, no job and no money. Our team thinks of ways to meet people's needs through sustainability and microeconomic plans so we aren't just giving "hand outs" but it's so hard to start anything like that up when you're only with a ministry for a month. There have been times in the last two months of Africa that I have felt overwhelmed with the great need that God's people here have and I am depressed and weary. I refuse to let the Enemy get a foothold, though, and I refuse to have all the problems of Africa get me down and keep me down. While I face discouragement, exhaustion and depression every day on this continent, I KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is at work here and is moving mountains and changing hearts. One miraculous story I have heard this month is a testimony our Ugandan contact, Pastor Joseph told me in regards to the ongoing conflict with a rebel group in this country and the Kingdom of God overtaking it all.

Since 1987, Joseph Kony has been destroying the country of Uganda, plundering villages, killing the men, raping the women, and forcing the children of Uganda to become soldiers in his war. Organizations like "Invisible Children" have been fighting this injustice by creating an awareness and allowing people all over the world to get involved financially and politically to end the suffering. To be honest, the first time I heard of the LRA and the child soldiers in Uganda was in 2006 when I saw a showing of the "Invisible Children" documentary at my school, Biola University. There has been a tremendous amount of peace recently in Uganda, PRAISE THE LORD, and more movements standing against the LRA have come to pass. In the last year, the leader Joseph Kony has fled the country and gone into hiding in Sudan because of his severe defeat of power in Uganda. Now that it's 2011, the conflict has severly decreased, and in May 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the Lord's Resistance Army Disarment and Northern Uganda Recovery Act legislation with aimed at stopping Joseph Kony and the LRA altogether. The bill was passed unanimously in the Senate on March of 2010.

All these facts I can read in the news, hear through NGOs, and read in memoirs of former child soldiers including, "Beasts of No Nation". If you would like to read more information about the history of LRA, Joseph Kony and the civil war in Uganda, or want to help in the fight to end the conflict, go to www.invisiblechildren.com. To be in Uganda, standing foot on this red soil, makes things very different for me, and experiencing riots and political conflict first hand changes my perspective about this country a lot. I see the corruption, the pain and the suffering right in front of my eyes. While I experience all the negative here, I also get to see and hear the stories of victory that Christ is claiming during this time of atrocities. When Joseph Kony had more authoratative power, he and his army had their base camp in the deep jungles of a mountain in the north. People living in the villages of the mountain jungle were constantly terrorized by the LRA. While Joseph Kony is a self proclaimed "spokesman" for God and primarily the Holy Spirit, Kony and his men were very much into mysticism, witchcraft and demonic power and that Kony would fast for 40 days, drinking only blood and partaking in all kinds of occult rituals from witchdoctors and such. I can only imagine the terrors that the people of Uganda have experienced by Joseph Kony and the LRA.

The villagers living on the mountain were getting sick and dying because of a certain water well that was near the LRA's base camp. The water had become contaminated and poisonous but there was no other well in the area so the villagers had no other option of getting water. That's when the believers of Uganda did something incredible...they prayed. Our team understands what it means to have a Ugandan pray for you. From seeing the way the members of Pastor's church "Ambassadors of Life" pray for us and for the nation, to the fact that Uganda has it's own official "African Prayer Mountain" where people are constantly praying and fasting and tenting their...they take prayer seriously. The believers of Uganda prayed for a miracle...and only a miracle God could bring. They prayed for healing of the water well, and that whatever curse or evil that was harming the people in the water would leave in Jesus' name. They prayed that the LRA would crumble and be defeated. They prayed and fasted for countless days over that mountain, crying out to God for the people of Uganda and that God would avenge the Lord's Resistance Army. People from every denomination, tribe and economic class were coming to this mountain and praying for deliverance, including the President of Uganda and his family. The best part of the story? God heard them...and answered every single one of their prayers. People soon stopped getting sick and dying from the water in the village and steadily the LRA's power and momentum was demolished and Kony was defeated and fled the country. Joseph Kony and a great deal of his highest officers had warrants out for their arrest by the ICC (International Criminal Court) and most of the men are in hiding currently.

This is when beautiful Pastor Joseph Nsanga comes into the story. A while back Pastor decided God was calling him for a season of his life to the northern part of Uganda to minister to the men, women and children affected by the horrific rebel group, known as "the LRA" (which is the Lord's Resistance Army) founded and lead by a man named, Joseph Kony. He was preaching to the people in the north of Uganda very affected by the LRA, at a crusade with hundreds of people and the anointing of God on Pastor Joseph was extremely prevelant. There was a man at the crusade that was very touched by Pastor's message and this man could tell that Pastor Joseph was different, and that he had something that he hadn't seen before. After the crusade, the man approached Pastor Joseph and said he wanted to give his life to Christ. He said that he felt God touch his heart while Pastor was preaching and that his message was meant directly for him. When Pastor asked the man about himself he came to find out that the man was once apart of the infamous LRA and was one of Joseph Kony's officers in the rebel group. Society would have completely given up on this man, throwing away any possibility of a redeeming qualities or morality in his heart.

In all honesty, before hearing this story, I have thought of LRA officials as complete monsters and to think that one of them would ever come to a Christian crusade and actually listen to what the preacher was saying would be ludacris in my mind. Our God works like that though, because when He does the impossible with the hopeless, we truly get to see His glory and majesty. While I was listening to Pastor Joseph tell me about this Ugandan version of a Saul to Paul conversion, I couldn't help but marvel at the miraculous nature of God and the fact that God never gives up on ANY of His children. It's easy for us to write people off as "good" or "evil" but the Lord isn't like that. His nature is love, and unconditional love, and He is constantly yearning to love on us and take us into the inheritance He has for us.

Pastor Joseph's phenomenal story of the power of God reminded me of all the Truths about God that I so desperately needed to believe in. The fact is, God is just as crazy in love with one of the top leaders of the Lords Resistance Army in Uganda as He is with any devoted believer. He loves us all with a radical, furious love and all we have to do is choose Him and our lives will be transformed. Pastor Joseph is still in contact with the man who came to Christ that day, and Pastor's working hard to disciple and encourage the man as much as possible. I am encouraged to never give up on people, especially leaders in a rebel group in Africa, and to remember that God has the ability to change anyone from a Saul to a Paul. It's in those moments, loved ones, that His light shines the brightest...and that is the God that we serve.

Bungee Jumping and White Water Rafting the NILE RIVER!!

Fri, 1 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

So, after our ministry time in Uganda was over, the entire squad went to Jinja, Uganda to experience "Adrift Adventures" which is an amazing company from New Zealand that gives rafting tours and bungee jumps over the Nile. It's a World Race tradition to do this and almost every squad that has an East African route has gone with Adrift and they come highly recommended from previous racers. I was so excited to go and we all had so much fun doing both things! Don't worry supporters, none of your amazing and generous donations went to me bungee jumping/rafting. That would be ridiculous. We did this, and all the other "touristy stuff" this year on our own dime not involving your donations in our personal spending money. I wanted to share photos of this amazing adventure with you all and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!! I seriously feel like Moses is smiling down from Heaven at us, as he spent some time floating down the Nile himself as an infant. :) However, I don't think little baby Moses rafted CLASS FIVE RAPIDS. I mean, maybe...but probably not. Well, without further ado. HERE YOU GO!!

I'm the one in the light pink helmet near the front of the boat!

Rafting Class V Rapids...we definitely prayed before we started.

Working hard to stay right side up...

When we flipped over!!

Our raft was all girls, and called ourselves TEAM CUPCAKE!! Our guide was Paul (in the back of the raft in the green helmet)

Again, flipping over in a Class V Rapid...this rapid was called "The Nile Special".

About to jump, with my teammate, Angela Grit!

AHHH!!!!

Realizing at this time that we were actually bungee jumping over the Nile...surreal.

We dunked into the water after this shot, but the trees and bushes were covering the photographer's view.

........................

I'm so excited for Tanzania, and can't believe we're coming into MONTH 10 of the Race. WOW, that's unbelievable. Thank you for your prayers, support and love and as always, I love you all and miss you so much!!!

10 "You Know You're In Uganda When" Moments...

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

1. Every night you come home from ministry and the electricity is out so you have to do everything by candle light and headlamp. Your landlord has originally told you that power only goes out once a week, but by night three...you know better, and enjoy a romantic candle-lit team feedback session along with team time playing Monopoly Deal and/or Continental Rum (WR favorite) with everyone wearing their headlamps.

2. There is trash everywhere...literally everywhere. And if you're a clean freak or OCD with dirt at all, you are forced to change so that you can survive. Your standards of hygeine drastically go down because the kids you love on have been playing in trash, you've been walking in trash with a lot of it sticking to you and you end up smelling like trash at the end of the day. As my wise team member, Paul Bell says, "You're not sure if it's mud or poop..."

photo by: Mac Mitchell

3. You can't tell the difference between a 5 year old girl and a 5 year old boy especially because both genders usually have very short hair or shaved heads. It gets very awkward when you're asking the parents about their child, not knowing if you should refer to them as a little girl or a little boy. The only sure-fire way to tell the gender of the kid is if they are wearing the standard Ugandan child outfit of a t-shirt and nothing else...then, and only then, is the mystery solved.

4. Little children either kneel at your feet out of admiration/respect or shriek and cry at your sight because, as our contact's church members say, "They fear your color." However the children feel about you, they will mostly likely yell, "MUZUNGU!!" which means, "THE WHITES!!" and stare at you like you're an alien.

5. There are times when you don't really understand what your contact or the contact's church members are saying and their version of the English language. For example, the phrase "The Lord is sleepy..." is translated to, "The road is slippery..." or the statement "Everywhere you go, you leave droppings..." is translated to, "Everywhere you go you leave an impact on the place and the people..."

6. If you think traffic is bad in Nairobi (which it most definitely is) then you will be pleased to discover that the traffic is even worse in Kampala. There are just as many, if not more boda boda's (Ugandan motorcycles) on the roads as their are taxi vans, trucks and cars and since they have the ability to weave in and out of traffic they cause an even greater "jam" as the locals call it, especially between the hours of 8 and 10:30 pm. If you're coming home at that time, it's best to put on your patience pants and suck it up.

7. You will immediately notice a shift in the spiritual climate when crossing over to Uganda from the other East African countries. This is both good and bad, because while God is fiercely moving and transforming lives here in Uganda, witchdoctors and demonic activity is prevailant here. If you doubt you'll ever have to deal with a demonic manifestation or deliverance service, think again if you're planning on serving the Lord in Uganda. That kind of thing is normal and frequent here, and just so you know...GOD ALWAYS DOMINATES AND PREVAILS AGAINST THE ATTACKS OF THE DEVIL. Boo-yeah, Satan.

8. You discover an amazing Ugandan meal: an omelete with tomatoes and vegetables rolled up in flat chapati, which is a dish the Ugandans call "roll eggs." That's right, they're called "roll eggs," not "egg rolls..." We had to ask our contact, Pastor Joseph for clarification on that a few times this month.

9. You know you need to get your "hair did" in the traditional African way, even though it will take a minimum of five hours for the "hair saloon" women to do and since you'll want a lot of artificial human hair incorporated in the braids and the weave, you'll have to pay 40,000 Ugandan Shillings. Remember though, that roughly estimates to be about 20 US dollars. If you have a hard head, aren't allergic to artifical human hair (like my team mate, Angela Grit) and don't become easily bored with just sitting on the ground and listening to women talk in Lugandan, it's totally worth getting done.

10. You use the phrase "T.I.A." which means "This Is Africa," very often, especially when you're constantly on "African time" and not "American time" like in certain other countries. Let me explain, "African time" means that sometimes your contact or local friends will say, "I'll be there at 9am," but they won't show up until 12 noon. However, if you tell them, "Can we make it American time?" then they will understand completely and comply by showing up at 9am when they told you they would.

Holy Moley, Horrific Hospital Stories

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Do you ever have those days when you are almost certain you know what you'll be doing that day? Well, I used to take great comfort in planning out my week, knowing what was going to go down, but since being on the World Race, those days are few and far between. I've changed my heart, though, especially being here in Africa, and know that what I think will happen during the day and what will actually happen during the day are two completely different things. This particular day, I went back into my old habits and was banking on the fact that I had made an appointment to get my hair done all day and that getting my hair done was exactly what I was going to do. Of course, this being Uganda...this didn't happen.

Angela and I showed up to the Pastor's house to get our weave on and I immediately knew something was wrong with Beatrice, Pastor's wife. She was laying down on the floor, holding her pregnant tummy, with the saddest face I've ever seen her make. One of the church members, Ronny, said he thought Beatrice might have malaria and that the malaria was causing her lots of pain in her stromache. I told Beatrice that we needed to take her to the hospital immediately and she insisted on staying home because a visit to the hospital would be too much money. I finally convinced her and Pastor Joseph we needed to go and so the three of us left Angela and all the hair saloon women at the house while we went to the Mulago Hospital about 30 minutes away. At first glance, the hospital didn't look too bad. I mean, I had seen my fair share of horrific hospitals in Guatemala and Cambodia, but this one looked fine. That was until we got inside the hospital...

You know how in the movie, "Hotel Rwanda" they convert the hotel into a make-shift refugee camp and there are people boiling water and cooking food over open flames and everyone's sleeping in the halls and on the ground? Well, that is exactly what the Mulago Hospital was like...only instead of a safe haven hotel in the middle of a genocide, I was at a medical facility with countless people who were living there, praying that one day they would be seen by a medical professional. I asked Pastor, "What are all these people doing on mats, camped out like this??" and he informed me that if you come to the hospital, very sick (dying, in labor, leg cut off, whatever...) but you don't have the name of a specific doctor and that doctor's cell phone number AND money upfront in cash, there is no way anyone will see you, much less give you a secondl, waiting and praying that one day they might be able to get the means financially to get the help they desperately need. I was so humbled by all this, and couldn't help but think about the hospital back home and the Clinic where my parents both worked for so many years, and the office that my mom is still working at, doing Dermatology. "We are so blessed in America," I thought..."So very blessed, and we don't even realize it."

We had to walk all around the hospital, trying to find the doctor Pastor Joseph had called earlier that day and since there were live bodies and dead corpses on guernies on all the elevators, we had to use the stairs which didn't help with poor Beatrice's pains. Once we got to the OBGYN wing of the hospital, Beatrice went in to get tested for malaria and HIV (for the first time in her entire life, by the way) and this made all of us a bit nervous. Pastor Joseph and I were waiting outside the lab room listening to a handful of women down the hall in labor, screaming out in pain. I figured these women were on beds, with doctors helping them, and then Pastor Joseph and I walked down the hall and I found that there were four or five women in the hall, giving birth by themselves with no one helping them and the rest of the women were inside the labor unit, actually being tended to by medical workers. I was shocked. There is no way this would ever happen in the States. Doctors and nurses weren't even looking at the women with blood all over them, screaming out for help in the hallway. I was completely broken and horrified by this. Pastor Joseph looked at me and said, "This is Uganda. This is our life and our struggle."

Then, Beatrice came out of the lab and said she tested negative for HIV (THANK GOD) and positive with a severe case of malaria. I wasn't appreciating how the doctor was treating Beatrice. He was rude and short with her and kept saying things like, "We need to have you do an ultrasound next week so we know that you're actually pregnant still and haven't lost the baby." I was shocked. WHY WOULD YOU EVER SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO A PREGNANT WOMAN!?!?!? Are you kidding me??? I immediately interrupted him and said, "You are pregnant and your baby is safe and protect by the Lord, Beatrice. We will have you do an ultrasound but don't worry, the baby is fine." My parents and family friends would never treat a patient like that. Ever. And they definitely wouldn't ever scare a patient for no reason.

Well, while I was still extremely upset with the doctor, the four of us went on our merry way to the pharmacy to get Beatrice some malaria medicine and pain medicine to help with her stomache cramps when a man came up to Pastor Joseph, livid, saying in Lugandan, "You come in here with a Muzungu (a white) and you're in and out of here in three hours. I've been here with my wife for three weeks and haven't been seen once." I looked over at him, with his wife and kids laying on mats on the ground, jugs of water all around them and food in containers. They were one family of a hundred families in that part of the hospital alone. No welfare programs, no free aid, no health care systems, no nice facilities...this was Uganda and this was completely out of my element.

Growing up in a family with two physicians as parents and dozens of family friends that are doctors and nurses, I was very well informed on the health care system in the US and more speicifically the state of Colorado. I knew that my parents saw a bunch of Medicaid every week and there are lots of free healthcare programs available for people. I remember hearing about doctor friends of ours doing free clinics for families who couldn't afford a doctor's visit. I remember going to the clinic to visit my parents at work or the hospital to visit some loved one who was in there and knowing everything around me was immaculately clean and polished. I thought of health care and I thought of safety, cleanliness and availability.

Now, don't get me wrong...I know American health care policies are in no way perfect. I know there are people who hate the current health care reform, who are paying too much money on medical bills and who are wanting change. I know people who are for more welfare programs and believe in universal health care. I know people who do believe in free hand outs and are very against universal health care, and want everyone to have health insurance. I know people who want doctors and nurse's rights to be protected, which I obviously agree with considering who my family is. :) What I'm saying is, even though none of us like what we currently have in America in regards to health care, we still need to be so grateful to God for the amazing blessing that it is. The more I travel the world doing missions the more I realize how good we've got it in the United States, and how unbelievably wonderful our lives are there.

A team mate of mine, Nikki Medders, used to be a house parent for pregnant teenagers who were foster kids and every one of those girls was on Medicaid and got hospital care and nice delivery rooms because of the country they live in...and I'm sure they didn't even realize how well off they had it. I've seen the ugly side of health care and the horrors of hospitals and I don't wish that treatment on anyone. As we were leaving the hospital I said a prayer for every single man, woman, child and family who was there, sitting, waiting and praying to God that they would receive help. What will become of them? Beatrice is so much better now, glory to God and Nikki and I took her to get her first ultrasound EVER (out of five children she's never had an ultrasound) yesterday and it was such a humbling and amazing experience, but what about the countless other women that are still there pregnant, in labor, or worse?

Please pray for the people in the Mulago Hospital. And please remember to thank God today for living in a country that gives us the freedoms we have, one of them being good health care for all people. To my parents who are amazing physicians, I love you and respect you even more, knowing what I know now. To Marla, Juanita and Kathy who are amazing nurses and second mothers to me, I admire what you do every single day and I love and respect you all so much. To all my health care friends and family members, thank you for caring for your patients and for working as hard as you do for all people.

Casting Out Demons In Jesus' Name...

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

It's week two of Uganda and so much has happened since I wrote my last blog. Even though there is poverty, crime, despair and trash everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE, I still can't help but feel joyful in this country. God is moving in such mighty ways here and I am so blessed to get to be apart of it all, even if it's just for a month. The pastor we're working with, Pastor Joseph is one of the most phenomenal people I have ever known. He is the definition of what it means to walk in the Spirit and be a disciple of Christ, taking up your cross each and every day. Pastor Joseph has no money and no Earthly possessions. He has a pregnant wife (that currently has a severe case of malaria) and four other children to take care of, as well as a congregation full of brothers and sisters in Christ that live in extreme poverty (some of the members sleep at the church on the dirt floor because they have no where else to go).

In Earthly standards, he should be miserable...but Pastor Joseph has more joy, more faith and more authority in the Spirit than any other person I've ever met. This man knows what it means to truly rely ENTIRELY on the Lord. He doesn't have a 401K or even a pay check, for that matter. He just has extreme trust in a God in heaven and he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that the same God that got him through the past forty years of his life will get him through the next forty years of his life. I always think of the verse in Matthew chapter 7 that says, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Pastor's road to salvation is a hard one and a narrow one, indeed. But his suffering and hardship is nothing compared to the wonderful eternity he gets to spend with God the Father Almighty.

One of the best things about Pastor Joseph is the fact that he's gentle and kind (and very funny, I might add) but he walks in the authority that Christ has given him. This was well executed the other day during a service our team did on intercessory prayer. We were all preaching on the power of prayer when all of a sudden we broke out into a time of worship. It was a good 20 minutes of singing and dancing and praising Jesus and it was all in the language of Lugandan. Pastor Joseph got very quiet all of a sudden and interrupted the worship session saying, "The Holy Spirit is speaking something to me and there is something we need to do for sister Lucy." Sister Lucy is a church member that lives in a tiny shack a few hundred feet from the church. She had done door-to-door ministry with us and helped with open air preaching the previous day...but I knew nothing more about her than those few things. Lucy immediately got up to her feet when Pastor called to her and lifted her hands to receive prayer.

Pastor began speaking things that the Holy Spirit was telling him, things that no one could have possibly known but God Himself. He said that Lucy needed deliverance from the witchcraft covenants that had been made over her and all the bewitching that people had done to her recently. As soon as Pastor started speaking those things out loud, Lucy let out a scream of pain and doubled over, holding her stomache. I immediately knew she was possessed and that we needed to cast the demon out immediately. I had never seen anything like this before and I had definitely never been apart of a full out deliverance before. I mean, I knew about the evils of witchcraft, demons and deliverance and I knew they were very real...but I had never experienced something like that first hand. Well, we all began praying over her, laying hands on her and Pastor started rebuking the demon loudly and with authority. That's when things got crazy...

Lucy, a tiny woman weighing about 100 pounds, bolted away from the eight of us praying over her, taking out a few of us with the force of a linebacker. A few of the church members having more experience with this rushed towards her pinning her down. She was screaming and writhing around with the strength of a football player. One of the members spoke to the demon inside of her binding it in Jesus' name and it immediately stopped and allowed us to bring her back into the church. Pastor began speaking authoritatively in Lugandan again. He was definitely in charge, hearing from the Spirit on exactly what to do and the rest of us were just there for prayer and support...spiritually and physicially. Pastor Joseph said in English that there was a black chicken that the witch cut open over a grave made for Lucy, and that the witch had cursed Lucy by making certain covenants over her life with the devil and his demons. The witch had used black magic and the power of the devil through sacrificing the black chicken to bring demons onto Lucy and they eventually wanted to destroy her. Every time Pastor would call one of these things out the demon inside Lucy would growl at him and contort her face life an animal. She was kicking and screaming in Lugandan so much that we eventually had to hold her hands and her legs completely off the ground to restrain her.

Finally with the power of Jesus Christ, Pastor Joseph demanded that the demon tell him his name and where it had come from. Lucy growl and screamed a few things in Lugandan back at the Pastor and he began belting out things so strongly I literally felt the power of God coming into her. He said in English, "I can see the snake coming out of her. Paul, go behind Lucy...Mac, put your hand over her stomache." Paul and Mac did what Pastor said and laid hands over her, praying that the fire of the Holy Spirit would fill Lucy. We all began to pray, rebuking the demon and to fill Lucy with the Holy Spirit. She let out one final scream and pastor screamed "Fire of God, fill this child!" over Lucy's stomache and she collapsed into Paul's arms. We laid her on a mat on the floor and let her take a moment. Later that night Lucy told Pastor that a man had asked for her hand in marriage and she declined so furious, the man took some of Lucy's clothes and hair to a witch doctor and had a covenant made with Lucy to curse her life and kill her. Lucy had dabbled in witchcraft and been backsliding in her walk with God recently too, which created a doorway for the demon to come into her and possess her. She thanked Pastor and each of us on the team for allowing God to use us in the deliverance and that we had saved her life. And that was that...that is the story of my first deliverance experience.

I learned so much that day. I learned that when you walk with the authority that Christ has given you as a believer, nothing is impossible and that because of the power of Jesus Christ, all demons have to submit to your authority. I learned that when you have a thick anointing of the Holy Spirit as Pastor Joseph does, God will speak to you in mighty (and even crazy) ways. I learned to always have faith and never fear the Enemy because we are victorious over Christ. PERIOD. END OF STORY. And the Devil has no power when he's coming against the Kingdom of God. I was so blown away by the battle of God and the Devil that day, I got Holy Spirit goosebumps and sat down, completely speechless. About 30 seconds after everything calmed down and went back to normal Pastor Joseph went back to his gentle Jesus self and said, "Angie, will you please bless us with another message about intercessory prayer?" WHAT??!?! I couldn't believe that after all that, everyone just wanted to go back to the service and pretend that nothing crazy happened at all.

But the fact is, this is Uganda, and things like this happen in Uganda much more often and are handled much more casually than what I've experienced back home. So I obeyed Pastor's request, and continued preaching on the book of Esther, thinking to myself "Did that just happen? Oh yes, yes it did. Keep going, Angie...you can act casual just like the church members are acting...just keep preaching. This is normal." At the end of the service Pastor laid hands on us and prophesied over each of us individually. He gave me the prophecy that God is going to use my gift of mercy and compassion in big ways, allowing me to minister to the "least of these"...disabled and hurting. He said he saw me back in Africa working for the Kingdom of God and that even though I didn't know it now, God was planting a big seed of prophecy in my heart and that I would begin walking in the gift of prophecy very soon. It was so cool, I just couldn't stand it.

God is using Pastor Joseph in our lives this month like crazy and we are so blessed by his wisdom and love for us seven. We have a week and a half left here in Uganda and I know that God will continue to move mountains and change lives. Thank you sincerely to everyone who's been praying and intercessing for my team and I. You have no idea what a difference you're making in the spiritual realms here, and I am eternally grateful. Please keep praying for us, praying for Pastor Joseph and for his wife, Beatrice and their four kids. Pray that God heals Beatrice of malaria soon and protects her and her unborn baby. Pray that God continues strengthening and growing me and my team in the Spirit and that we begin walking in more confidence of our authority in Christ Jesus. I miss and love you all, thank you for all the support and remember, if God is for us...who can be against us?? NO ONE CAN. NO ONE.

Pastor Joseph, his wife, Beatrice and I at church last Sunday

Yours truly, "open air preaching" with Ronny (before deliverance) photo by: Mac Mitchell

Photo of Lucy's deliverance (photo by: Mac Mitchell)

Final part of the deliverance...she was finally freed by the power of Christ Jesus.

(photo by: Mac Mitchell)

"He called his twelve discifples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness...these twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Go to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach the message: 'The Kingdom of heaven is near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give." -Matthew 10:1-8

Happy Daddy Day, Bobby Blatts!

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

So since Father's Day is just around the corner, I wanted to dedicate a special blog to the best father a girl could ask for, Bob Blattner...otherwise known as "Bobby Blatts"!! My dad has been such an amazing support, not only for the last 9 months abroad doing missions, but for the last 23 years of my life. Dr. Bob Blattner is a man of many talents. He's without a doubt the most intelligent man I know, a talented race car driver back when I was a kid, an ENT physician who took out many of my friend's tonsils growing up, a great cook who's food is always delicious, and an amazing trombone player...especially with a jazz ensemble or a church orchestra for Easter. Recently this year, my dad has joined the bell choir at our church, First Pres. in Greeley, which I think is the coolest thing ever and can't wait to go home and watch him perform. These are just a few things I love about my daddy. But the best thing about my Father is His faith in the Lord and his heart.

He is a kind, gentle and compassionate man that believes in the power of prayer and can attest to the phenomenal works of the Holy Spirit. I am blessed to have two believers as parents. I know, without a doubt, that His commitment to the Lord has shaped my walk with Jesus through all these years. Out of all the crazy adventures God has taken me in my life, from missions to South Africa in college to Semester at Sea study abroad to the World Race, Dr. Bob has never put his foot down, and never freaked out that something horrible would happen to me. Yes, of course he loves me very much and wants me to be safe like any good father, but he trusts that God is doing incredible things in my life and finds peace and joy in Jesus. That is a quality in my father that I absolutely admire and love.

No matter what news I bring him across the globe, he is always lending a supportive ear and encouraging words. I know I am always in his prayers and I appreciate his love, prayers, support and yes...even blog comments, more than I could ever begin to explain. My father taught me what it means to work hard, study hard, and play hard later. He taught me to have ambition, passion and faith and that those things will bring me to where I want to be. He's also one of the funniest people I've ever met, and has the greatest sense of humor. Just ask any of our good family friends and they'll tell you, when Bobby Blatts gets going, people have to struggle to keep from peeing their pants at his jokes. I definitely get some of my sense of humor from him, and I'm very glad.

Daddy Bob, thank you for all the years of coaching soccer and softball for me and my teams. Thank you for all your help with my homework...from grade school to college, you've always been able to answer my questions. Thank you for teaching me all about music. I am a fan of reggae and jazz music because of you. :) Thank you for all the advice you've given me over the years and good talks in the kitchen. Thank you for all the amazing trips and adventures you and Mom have taken me on...I'm so blessed by the experiences you've allowed me to have. Thank you for always giving me a diagnosis and good medicine whenever I'm sick. I never have to go to the doctor because of you and Momma Mary.

Thank you for coming to all my theater productions, sports games, choir and piano recitals and always smiling and wavingat me from the audience when I'd look out at you...that helped the nerves a lot. Thank you for all the good barbeque, pies and meals you've made me. I miss all your food, especially here in Uganda. Thank you for showing me what a man of God is all about, I pray my future husband hasmany similar qualities to you. Thank you for putting up with three women in the house growing up...you are a real man for enduring the three of us and always showing us girls grace when we didn't deserve it. Thank you for being such a constant support system this year. I couldn't have done any of this without you. I love you so much, Daddy. I hope your Father's Day is incredible and please know that I would give anything to be there with you and the family. May God continue to bless you and keep you safe until I return.

LOVE YOU!!!!

Your Daughter,

Angie :)

Dad and I, Christmas Eve in the Carribean on a cruise, December 2009

Sarah and Daddy Bob in Vatican City outside of St. Peters, Summer 2010.

I Saw the Witchdoctor, I Told Him What To Do...

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This month we're in Uganda. I have to admit, Kenya's going to be a hard country to beat in my "top countries of the Race" list. Our first taste of Uganda began five days ago when four teams from the squad boarded an African bus to a 14 hour journey from Nairobi to Kampala. Haile, Cody and I decided to sit in the very back of the bus. No problem? False...big problem. Due to the overwhelmingly excessive amount of pot holes and speed bumps along the way, we got the brunt end of all the bumps since there was no support under us. There were a few times we flew so high off our seats I felt like I was on a trampoline back home. By the grace of God and the magic of the drug, melatonin, however, we were all able to sleep somewhat on the way to Uganda.

Once we arrived I immediately noticed a drastic change between the country we were just in and the country we were entering into. Uganda was much more impoverished, dirtier, and had a darker spiritual climate than Kenya did. The people here look a lot different here too. Ugandans have wider noses and darker skin than Kenyans. It feels so different even though we're still in East Africa. This month we are working with Pastor Joseph and Ambassadors for Life church in a rural area outside the capital of Kampala. The church consists of only three walls and half a ceiling and the size of the entire church is about as big as a three or four car garage. About a hundred people go to the Sunday service at the church and since an entire wall is missing, the congregation just spills out into a little jungle/forest area.

This is the most "stereotypical" African environment I've ever been in, and definitely the dirtest country we've been to so far (not including India, because India is just like Uganda in terms of trash). The children here are always found eating trash since they have no real food to eat and many children without parents have to parent their younger siblings. It all breaks my heart and in all honesty, I've found the situation with the Ugandan children to be the hardest thing to handle for me emotionally. It truly rips my heart right out, seeing these children covered in trash with no shoes everywhere we go. My prayer is that we can love these children and bring them Jesus as much as the Spirit allows and that I will have a peace about it, knowing that God is control and on His throne and is sovereign in all things.

Pastor Joseph exemplifies everything it means to give up a "worldly life" and follow Christ. He barely makes rent in his tiny house, and sometimes can't even pay for his children to go to school but he has faith that God will provide for him and his family because he is so passionate about the calling to be a pastor the Lord has put on his heart. I want to be like Pastor Joseph when I grow up. This man has more joy, love, and trust than anyone I've ever met and he is truly a role model for me and the rest of the team. There is an additional or Associate Pastor at the church that spends every day with us. His name is Ronny and he's 24. Ronny is already one of my favorite people and we all love and appreciate him dearly. Ronny has had an extremely hard life but his dedication to the Lord has never faltered, and is always steadfast and true. If you ever need a lesson about how to live for Jesus, just come to Ambassadors for Life church in Uganda. They are teaching us all so much just by living life with them and ministering alongside them.

Ministry this month will consist of a lot of door-to-door evangelism, prayer at the church and we have a church service or event every single night of the week. Friday nights are an overnight prayer service from 10pm to 4am, and many churches in the area meet during this time of night. God has already moved so much this month and it's only be the first week! One of the first days of ministry Ronny and I went to do door-to-door and we ended up outside a witchdoctor's hut. By the presence of the Holy Spirit and the power of God, I felt no fear and had no anxiety. I started preaching to people waiting to see the witchdoctor and Ronny translated for me.

One woman told me that her husband was cursed and killed by a witchdoctor in her village so now she was here at another witchdoctor to put a death curse on the witchdoctor that killed her husband. Confusing, right? I told her about Jesus, His love and the joy, peace and love that He brings to all who make Him the foundation of their life, and after a long talk, many Bible verses and some tears, she decided to give her life to Christ! After we prayed for her, three other woman waiting outside the witchdoctor asked for me to share my message of Jesus with them. In no time Christ had redeemed and save four women from darkness! I was so blown away by the power of the Holy Spirit that day and I was so happy to hear that all of the women were excited to come to church tomorrow.

There is a lot of witchcraft in the area we're working in so we are constantly in the Word and in prayer fighting off attacks from the Enemy. This is one of the first months that we've all felt an immediate attack on us, just getting off the bus in Kampala. Three of our team members have been physically sick, one has been battling the spirit of frustration and anger and a few of us (myself included) have been battling the spirit of anxiety, depression and doubt. We are victorious in Christ and we are fighting on God's winning team so the Devil has no power over us, but we need to be spiritual strong and smart this month, even more than previous months.

Please, please, PLEASE keep me and my team mates in your prayers for the next three weeks. We are in a dark place, friends...but in the darkest places, Christ's light shines the brightest. Pray for safety here in Kampala, as this is the third month in a row of political riots in the area. We are safe however, we have contacts that are being smart about the situation and part of our budget this month is going to soldiers constantly guarding the place we are staying so NO FEAR, family and friends. Please also pray for our contact, Pastor Joseph and Pastor Ronny and for provision financially for their families and their church. Pray for us and the spiritual battle we are facing here every day and pray for endurance, passion and perserverance for me and my team to finish this Race out strong. LOVE YOU ALL!!!

the area we're in this month

Pastor Ronny (left) and Pastor Joseph (right) at the church...this photo was taken by a September squader named Ashley who was with our contacts in March!

Meeting My Child For The Very First Time: Part 2

Fri, 3 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Friday, May 27th was one of the most memorable days of my life, and definitely the most memorable day of the World Race so far. I got to do something that most people only dream about...meet the child I've been sponsoring through Compassion International in her rural village in Kenya. I couldn't believe this day had finally come and as soon as my alarm went off that morning, Alana and I were out the door ready to get to Sirata! We met Jimmy, our driver for the trip and the man in charge of Compassion Sponsor Visits and we were off for the north (AKA: Samburu tribe country). Jimmy informed me that we would be driving for about 7 to 8 hours on rugged terrain before we reached the project Diborah was at. Alana and I had heard horror stories from past World Racers about the dreaded African roads but I don't think we were prepared for we experienced on that day.

After a nice three-hour drive to a local town we went and bought groceries for Diborah and her family and ate lunch...that's when everything got really crazy. We turned off into "Samburu Land" where the famous Samburu tribe lives. The Samburu tribe are a beautiful people group in Kenya and the people who live in the Samburu area live the way their families did generations and generations ago. We past tribal warriors with spears on the side of the dirt path ready to hunt and catch their dinner as well as all different kinds of animal herds that were blocking the rocky path. There were women with beautiful, bright and ornate beaded necklaces and babies on their backs and little boys herding animals without shoes on.

It was like stepping back into time, or stepping into National Geographic. After sponsoring Diborah for four years I knew she lived in a remote village in northern Kenya but I had no idea that she was from a traditional Samburu family that lived in a tiny mud hut in Samuburu district. It was one of the most amazing cultural experiences I've ever had. We passed herds of camels, donkeys, zebras, giraffe, antelope, cows, sheep and goats on the way to see Diborah and the majority of the people we waved to out of the car had never seen a white person before so they flipped out. One woman saw Alana and went into a craze, turning around in a circle and bending over. It was very comical and completely disorienting.

Jimmy informed me that there had never been a sponsor to come to Diborah's project or even to the Samburu area we were visiting, so the majority of the people had never seen "muzungu's" before. After a long, looooong 9 hour journey up mountains, through valleys, and around animals and tribal warriors, we made it to Diborah's project. We approached the project center when fifty sponsor children flooded out of the building and down the stairs to greet us. Like I said, this was the craziest moment of their lives...to see a real life white person and a real life sponsor. A little girl opened my car door and jumped into my lap, just staring and smiling at me as I held her. I was so overwhelmed and thought, "Is this my Diborah?? I have only received a few pictures of her after all these years and she looks so different in real life!" We got out of the car and I met Sarah, the woman in charge of this particular Compassion project, and she informed me that the little girl who would not let go of me was, in fact, Diborah!!

I was so happy I was holding back tears and we had an amazing time of giggling and hugging outside with the other kids. We went inside to the project building and we were informed that the village had slaughtered a goat in our honor and had it served for us to eat for dinner. Happily, Alana and I accepted the meal and were thoroughly impressed with how amazing goat actually tasted! Sarah gave me a huge folder, which was Diborah's sponsor file. This had everything you could imagine in it. I went through every report card Diborah had ever received, every medical report or check-up she had ever had, every report of how Diborah was doing spiritually and emotionally and saw exactly what was purchased with every Christmas or Birthday money gift I had ever given.

Along with all the records and reports I looked through copies of all the letters Diborah and I had written each other over the years and I got to see copies of all the drawings she sent me and all the pictures I had sent her. It was truly amazing. The entire four years of my sponsoring Diborah was in a giant red folder and it was so special to go through everything, with Diborah on my lap, and see what an incredible difference child sponsorship makes. I got to see with my own eyes how Diborah had excelled in every way imaginable. She had grown tremendously in school, in her faith, in her health and in her well being as a child. For Christmas one year I donated an extra 35 dollars for Diborah's present and her family was able to buy a foam mattress for their little mud hut and no longer have to sleep on the floor. One birthday I donated 25 dollars to her and she was able to buy two sheep with that money. I was actually able to see every single gift I had ever given her later that evening, including all the goats and sheep their family had received from the gift money!

We finished the goat meat and made our way to Diborah's house. Her little mud hut with a thatched roof was down a rocky hill and the entire village followed us down the hill to watch everything go down. Before we got to Diborah's house we met Miriam, Diborah's grandmother and visited her little hut. Miriam hadn't known Jesus before and after Diborah had been sponsored, Miriam and the family has become Born Again in Jesus Christ! I was praising the Lord that her entire family had come to know Jesus as their Savior through Diborah's sponsorship program.

Miriam took us down to Diborah's hut and we met Peter, Diborah's father and Susan, Diborah's step-mother. Diborah's birth mother died in 2009 due to a fever after giving birth to Diborah's younger sister. We went into their little mud hut and sat on chairs and I couldn't help but think, "Is this really happening? Did God really allow me to do this??" I was in the mud hut of the little Samburu girl I had sponsored and was finally able to see the fruits of my sponsoring with my own eyes. God is so good and He gives His children such amazing gifts and this was one of the best present's the Lord has ever given me.

I looked at the mud walls and saw that they had scratched Bible verses all over them and began to cry. Christ was in this place. In this tiny little village of Sirata, the Holy Spirit was pouring out His love and His joy to us all. I gave Diborah all her birthday presents to open and she was very excited to receive the stuffed dog I gave her that made noises when you squeeze it as well as all the coloring books and crayons I gave her for more artistic drawings she always makes. My favorite gift was the Children's Bible I bought her in Swahili that had all kinds of pictures in it. Diborah is learning Swahili in school (the majority of the village only speaks Samburu) so she will soon be able to read the Bible stories. Peter and Susan then gave me a present. Susan, Diborah's step-mother gave me some beautiful traditional Samburu jewelry, including an ornate beaded headdress. I never thought I would be wearing a headdress, but with God all things are possible. :)

I shared a small message from the Bible and spoke Truth over the family and the villagers, we prayed and we took pictures. At the end of the visit I was crying so much it was hard for me to get a whole sentence together. I didn't want the day to end, and I had truly cherished every single moment with Diborah from the moment she jumped into my lap to the last hug she gave me before we drove away. Sponsoring Diborah has been the best decision I've ever made (other than following Jesus, of course) and I have never had the honor of being apart of something so powerful for the Kingdom of God before this sponsorship experience.

Through Compassion International, I had become the answer to Diborah and her family. I had become the answer to their prayers and petitions. I had spoken up for the voiceless and protected the defenseless and I give all the glory and honor to Christ Jesus for allowing me to be used in that way. By sponsoring Diborah I had been able to change the world, one child at a time. I was able to see a complete 180 in this child's life. She is the poorest of the poor, the lowest of the low in one of the most remote places on Earth and because of child sponsorship she has a future in this life, and an eternal life in the next.

I am not a super hero, I don't have a masters in human rights and social justice from an Ivy League school. I'm just a 23-year-old college grad from Cow Town, Colorado....but I let God use me to do extraordinary things in His Kingdom and that has made all the difference in my life and in Diborah's life. My prayer is that every single reader, supporter and loved one that is looking at this blog will consider child sponsorship. If you are financially able, please, please be the answer to a child in need. I promise you, speaking from first hand experience, your money is spent well and makes all the difference in the world. I pray that you choose to sponsor a child through Compassion International and start walking in extraordinary transformation in your life and in the life of a child.

Every Child Deserves A Little Paradise

Mon, 23 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This Saturday, our team went with our squad leaders and Pastor Ezekiel to do ministry in the Kibera slum. This month we have been primarily doing door-to-door evangelism and university campus ministry so we haven't really had time to go to Kibera and to be completely honest, it's not a safe place for "mazungus" (foreigners) to go without a local Kenyan. As I said in one of my previous blogs, Kibera is the largest slum in Africa and the second largest slum in the world. We can see the slum from our church and every time I look at it, I say a prayer for every person living there. Kibera is filled with violence, theft, sexual immorality, rape, extreme poverty, child abuse, and has a vast majority of uneducated and unemployed people. My heart breaks for the people of Kibera, their harsh living conditions and the struggles they face each and every day. We have to be extremely careful when ministering in Kibera, even with a Kenyan contact, because car jackings and robberies occur all the time there, even in broad day light. I know we are surrounded with legions of God's angels, however, so I refuse to let fear keep me from bringing Jesus to the people there.

In Kibera, we were able to spend the day at the Paradise Children's Center, an orphanage with 115 kids from the slum. This was the same children's orphanage our team had visited at the beginning of the month (that I had mentioned in a previous blog) and we were all dying to go back there and love on the kids some more. We got to the children's home and were met by the owner and founder, a beautiful Kenyan woman named Pamella. Pamella started Paradise Chidlren's Home in 2006 when her heart broke for the many children she saw in Kibera suffering tremendously with no help or love. Since 2006, Pamella has taken in 115 children, 45 of which are orphaned with no parents or relatives remaining and 80 of which have suffered extreme neglect and child abuse.

There are even some underage mothers at the orphanage that are as young as 8 and 9 and have been raped by men in the slum and have been thrown out in the streets with their child(ren) to fend for themselves. While Kibera is one of the darkest, roughest, scariest places in the world, the Lord has used Pamella to create a "paradise on Earth" type of safe haven for these children. They have a place where they don't have to worry about where they're going to get their next meal, if their father is going to come home drunk and beat them that night, or if their neighbor is going to rape them that night. They are safe, they are protected and they are thriving as children of the Lord. Since coming to Paradise Children's Center, these children are now able to go to school, receive all the medical care they need, go to church and Sunday school, and have a childhood.

One of the hardest parts of the entire day was sitting and talking with a young girl, Sharon who told me she was 10 and how she wanted to play duck-duck-goose with the other kids but she couldn't put down the baby she was holding. I kept trying to take the baby from her, so she could go play with the kids but the baby was terrified of my white skin and wouldn't let me hold her. After Sharon had finally been able to hand her to one of the older kids at the orphange, my team mate came up to me and told me that the baby Sharon had been holding all day was her son. Sharon had been raped at the age of 9 and was now caring for this little baby all by herself. I couldn't imagine what strength and patience the Lord must have been giving her to get through such a thing.

Sharon is a true inspiriation to me, along with all the young mothers at the Paradise Children's Center (some of whom have multiple children due to rape in their previous homes). They do not pity themselves, they do not hide their faces in shame or turn their backs on God. Instead, they smile, they dance, they sing to the Lord, for HE is their strength and their joy. It was a true gift from God getting to watch Sharon finally be able to play duck-duck-goose that day, and spend some time as "a kid" before she had to go back to being a mother and take on the responsibiliity of motherhood at the age of 10 years old.

Our day at Paradise Children's Center was filled with games for the children, cookies for snack, songs about Jesus and God the Father, and a message I gave about how God will take any sacrifce they can give Him and multiply it a hundred times for His glory. I told the children that a little boy on the Sea of Galilee gave Jesus a few fish and some loaves of bread because he had faith in Jesus, and Christ was able to multiply that bread for 5,000 people to be able to eat that day. The same can be said with any gifts and blessings we give to God. If we are obedient to Him, He will be faithful to reward us tenfold. We encouraged the children that they are powerful warriors for God's army and that they are precious children of the Most High God in His royal family. It was such a beautiful day at Kibera.

While some people are afraid to set foot in Kibera slum because of fear of car jacking, gun robberies, or violence, I am confident to say that since we were bringing Jesus to those children, we were fully protected and provided for that day. There is a quote that goes something like this, "The safest place in the world is walking in God's divine path for your life and the most dangerous place in the world is walking down your own path." I know that wherever I go, whether it be in Kenya, Uganda or in America even, I will be safe and provided for as long as I'm being obedient to God and His will for me. The children of Kibera are some of the most beautiful, joyful, passionate children I have ever met in my life and I know that Paradise Children's Center is one of God's favorite places on Earth to be. There is so much love, hope and praise to Him there and while the outside of the center might look grim, the inside is filled with a PARADISE of heaven on Earth that no one can take away from those kids. Praise God for that. Praise God for Pamella...and praise God for the children of Paradise.

At the church the kids of Paradise attend, right after I gave the message!

The kids loved playing with my "mazungu" hair!

Getting ready to sing Sunday school songs with the kids in a circle!

Sharon (10) and her one-year-old son at the church.

Meeting My Child For The Very First Time: PART 1

Thu, 19 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This being my birth month and all, I knew I was going to get some gifts. Other than cards, candy and a beautiful pair of earrings from my squad mate, Krystle, the best gift that I've been given this month is the opportunity to visit my Compassion International Sponsor child, Diborah Napana here in Kenya. I have been sponsoring Diborah for a little over four years and I have had the privilege of watching her grow into a beautiful young woman of God from her pictures and letters. I have been praying since the beginning of my relationship with her that somehow, someday we would be able to meet in person. At the end of May, God is allowing that prayer to come into fruition! Diborah's birthday is in May, just like mine! On the 13th she turned eight and on the 16th I turned 23. I cannot wait to have a birthday celebration in her home with her at the end of the month. I feel like it's safe to say that this is going to be one of the most memorable experiences of my life...I absolutely cannot wait to hug her, play with her, sing with her, meet her family, see her home and her school.

When my prayer was answered and I was able to pass out Operation Christmas Child presents in Costa Rica this past December I thought to myself, "God is a Father who loves to give His kids amazing gifts and opportunities." After our squad prayed into our Africa itinerary and everyone felt that God was leading us all to East Africa, I had a feeling in my heart that I would be able to meet Diborah since she lives in northern Kenya. One night in Cambodia last month I was praying about it and decided to apply for a visit. It took a lot of work (and quite a bit of money to be completely honest) but after all the faxes, paperwork and background checks, I am going to her home in Sirata Oiroti in northern Kenya to see where she lives.

Diborah's schooling and health have greatly improved since her sponsorship in 2007. She used to be below average in school and had constant health problems, but now she is living in perfect health and is above average in her schooling, PRAISE GOD!! For Diborah's 7th birthday last year I gave her an 25 extra dollars that her family used to buy a goat. Diborah is in charge of caring for her family's animals, gardening and farming her family's crops, and helping her mother with some household chores. Diborah is very blessed to have both of her parents still living and who are still married to each other. Her father is sometimes employed as a charcoal burner and on average people in their community make a total of 20 dollars a month to live off of. Diborah enjoys going to church and attending Sunday school. She is also a very talented artist and I she has drawn me many pictures over the past few years. Diborah also loves playing sports with her siblings and friends from church, school and the community.

I am beyond grateful and humbled to have been given the gift from God to visit Diborah on the 27th of May. I can't tell you, loved ones, how excited I am for this day to come. My team mate, Alana Lusted, is going to make the four hour journey with me up north to her project and we will stay overnight in the city of Isiola. Thankfully, we will have a Compassion representative and a translator with us the entire time, which will help me communicate with Diborah and her family. I will write about my visit with Diborah after we get back from Sirata Oiroti but I can already tell you it's going to absolutely incredible.

I want to encourage all of you readers to sponsor a child through Compassion International if you are financially able to. It is one of the most rewarding and life changing relationships I've made and I know if you begin sponsoring a child through Compassion you will share in the joy I am experiencing with caring for Diborah. When you sponsor a child you are not only providing them with the ability to have a brighter future, healthier body and greater education, but you are more importantly bringing the Kingdom of God to them and giving them the greatest Truth of all, that Jesus Christ loves them. Please cover this in prayer, family and friends, and go to: www.compassion.com to find a child in need.

Stay tuned for PART 2 of "Meeting My Child For The Very First Time"!

Baby Elephants, Giraffe Kisses, Crocodile Meat Filled BIRTHDAY!!

Thu, 19 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT

My birthday this year was very different, to say the least. First off, while I've traveled quite a bit before this year, I have never spent my birthday outside the United States. I was so excited when we found out our World Race itinerary because I immediately knew that my 23rd birthday would be somewhere in Africa. Our original route would have meant a South Africa birthday but after prayer and a lot of consideration, our squad landed in Kenya for the month of May! I was so blessed this year to have spent it at Deliverance Church Langata with my amazing team mates, Pastor Kioko and Pastor Collins. Here is a photo blog of the birthday activities we did on the 16th. It definitely was a day I will remember forever! ENJOY:

My birthday started with my team mates and I going to the Sheldrick's Baby Elephant Orphanage where there are 14 baby elephants that have been rescued... SO CUTE!

In the afternoon, Angela and I went to the Nairobi National Park Giraffe Center where you can feed, pet and kiss eight giraffes of different ages! There was one adult male giraffe, 6 adult female giraffes and one baby giraffe named HELLEN!!

I ended my birthday with an evening at a fantastic Brazilian restaurant, Fogo Gaucho, in the city where it's all the meat you can eat (including CROCODILE meat) and it's all served off of giant swords! So much fun!!

Thank you, everyone for the birthday LOVE this past week! I had such a special day with my six spouses: Angela, Paul, Nikki, Haile, Mac and Alana and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect AFRICAN day! Love you all!

-Angie Blattner

Doing This Makes Me Feel Nervous & Awkward

Mon, 9 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT

We've been in Africa for two weeks and I already feel like I could stay here forever. The Kenyan's hospitality, their culture, their love of Jesus, their worship sessions, and their adorable little black babies have all stolen my heart. I just love Kenya. We are having a ball with our contact, Pastor Ezekiel, evangelizing door-to-door and teaching Bible lessons at schools. It is amazing to already see the fruit of our ministry, considering we have only been doing ministry at Deliverance Church for one week. Our team had a night of sharing right when we got to Deliverance Langata and we all went around and shared what we would like to get out of this month. We all said different spiritual goals: more disciplined quiet time with the Lord was mine, more joy and passion for sharing God's love was another team mates, and my team mate, Paul said he would love to have Christ use Him to bring someone to salvation and help disciple a new believer in their walk with the Lord. We all prayed and had worship and I genuinely petitioned to the Lord, asking Him to give us our spiritual goals for the month (as long as they were under His divine will, of course).

Well, fast forward to our very first day of ministry, doing door-to-door evangelism. In regards to door-to-door evangelism, however, I have decided that no matter how many times you do door-to-door evangelism, it will always be a bit weird and awkward if you're coming from a "cold climate" state background. I have lived 22 years of my life in Colorado and I have been brought up to simply not do things like that. During door-to-door evangelism, we are walking up to people's houses, knocking on their doors UNINVITED and as STRANGERS, telling them we're missionaries and asking to come into their homes. I was raised to not talk to strangers, and with stories of scary things happening if you go into a strangers house not knowing who they are or what they're like. This is just my own experience telling me this. When I did door-to-door evangelism on a mission trip in South Africa in 2008 I was so uncomfortable at first. I had never done anything like it before and I was awkward and scared. Now I know that it's different in Africa, and widely accepted just about anywhere you go. If I did this in the majority of the "cold climate" states, I probably wouldn't be welcomed into a home as an uninvited stranger, and even if I was, there is a pretty good chance the person wouldn't completely change their religious views because of what I said (unless the Holy Spirit had an agenda different than my own, that is).

I'm not saying people don't do door-to-door evangelism in America. I have a team mate who lives in Georgia (a "hot climate" state) and her church does door-to-door all the time. People are just different in terms of openness and hospitality depending where you are in America. It varies state to state and even city to city. From my personal experience in my town doing door-to-door petitioning for non-religious campaigns, I was never welcomed into a home, and only a small percentage of people gave me a measley five minutes of their time to listen to what I said before they shut the door in my face. This is just my personal experience from a small section of the country. Depending on who's door you walk up to you may even be met with people who have twenty guns hidden in their house and guard dogs...this is the sad truth about the matter of what I have personally experienced in my tiny section of the US. Again, Americans are not all this way. They are VERY diverse, and do not take what I say in this blog as FACT, but merely my own personal opinion that is derived my my own personal experiences with this matter in my hometown.

So there we are, approaching an apartment complex in Nairobi, getting ready to ask everyone if they have or want a relationship with Jesus Christ, and I'm a little nervous thinking, "...we would get shot for doing this in America". Is this an exaggeration? Of course, but it's still what I was thinking. Door-to-door still makes me nervous and awkward at first. Mac, Haile and Nikki decided to go in a small group on one side of an apartment complex and Paul, Pastor Ezekiel and I go to the other side. We started on a floor where all the apartments were empty, everyone was at work. I was feeling a little frustrated, but I knew God had a plan for the day. Then, we made it to the second floor of the apartments and Pastor Ezekiel knocked on a door, and immediately an elderly woman answered the door holding a baby. She was so precious looking that I couldn't help but smile widely at her.

She didn't speak English so Paul and I just stood there smiling at her while Pastor Ezekiel talked to her in Swahili. All of a sudden, Pastor Ezekiel turned to us and said, "This woman wants to receive Jesus Christ as her Savior for the first time. Start praying for her while I pray the sinner's prayer with her." Paul and I beamed at each other...we were both so happy! The first day of ministry in Africa and God was already using us to bring people to Christ. We prayed over her while Pastor Ezekiel prayed with her and then we promised to come back later that day with a New Testament Bible for her in Swahili. I was so happy, I turned to Paul and said, "God gave you your spiritual goal less than 48 hours after you prayed for it!! HOLLA!!"

We returned later that day with Pastor Collins, the Youth Minister, to help translate for us, and a Swahili Bible. Paul and I were able to talk to her about what it truly means to make Christ the center and foundation for her life and what God's love for her is truly all about. She said she had such a peace and love in her heart as we were talking to her and we promised to continue coming back and discipling her as the month went on. We gave her tons of verses to start with and look up in her new Bible and she was just glowing with Christ's love inside of her. It was so special to see someone in their later years of life come to know Jesus as their Savior for the very first time. She said that she had never truly understood the whole concept of God's love for us and that no one ever took the time to tell her about it...until now. Paul and I told her that if God had sent us on the World Race ONLY to bring her, Maura, to Jesus, then our entire year of missions would have all be worth it.

Everyone always says that elderly people are extremely difficult to bring to Jesus and disciple. I am always told, "They are set in their ways, Angie...it's a waste of time to try and minister to them." This day proved that statement wrong. Christ is just WAITING for us to come running to Him, and it doesn't matter if you're 17 or 70, He is madly in love with each of us and is waiting for the day we decide to begin and relationship with Him. The worst thing we can do as missionaries (whether missionaries overseas or in our hometowns) is stereotype people during outreach and put God in a box on who He can and cannot speak to.

We are called to preach the Good News to EVERYONE. Whether they decide to listen and follow is up to them. I am so happy for Maura, my new sister in Christ, and that she has finally seen the light of Jesus and will be eternally praising the Father with me in Heaven. Praise GOD for Maura. I can't wait to continue discipling her as a new believer in Christ with Paul and Pastor Ezekiel/Pastor Collins. Our week could have ended right there and I would have been satisfied, but God is so good and his gifts and mercies are new every day, so the week got even BETTER!

We continued doing door-to-door and visiting schools in the nearby area, giving Bible lessons and preaching. Alana and I went into a public school classroom full of 50 kids between the ages of 12 to 17 and talked about what it means to be a disciple of Christ and how God can use you in big ways if you make Him your Rock and Redeemer. There were even a few Muslim girls in the classroom that listened attentively as Alana and I talked about Jesus and sang Christian songs with them. It was such a blessed time. Yesterday I had the opportunity to preach at an all boys boarding school. I was very excited to walk into the room and see 100 pairs of eyes smiling at me and the team. I preached to the boys on 1 Timothy chapter 4 that states,"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity." I used examples of how God has used young men in the Old Testament for His glory. Youths like Samuel, David and Jeremiah were discussed and I concluded that when you become truly obedient to Christ's calling on your life, and make Him the Master and Commander of all your plans, He will bless you and use you in mighty and powerful ways for His Kingdom and His honor.

I prayed and then said that if any one of these young men wanted to receive Christ as their Savior, they should come to the front so we could lay hands on them. About ten men came to the front of the stage. Eight of them had already made Jesus their Lord and Savior but wanted prayer to stay strong in their walk with the Lord and to resist temptation from the Devil. Two of the teenage boys decided for the first time to commit their lives to the Lord. Paul was able to pray for each of them and talk to them while I ministered to a few of the boys who were having problems with resisiting peer pressure at home. It was such an amazing Sunday and it was so wonderful to see how God can use US when we are obedient and willing to answer His call.

In our first week of ministry in Africa, God showed me that there are people, young and old, that are waiting to hear the Good News. It's up to me and my team to bring the Gospel to them. Hearts are being softened, the Holy Spirit is speaking revelations and truths into people's minds, and the Kingdom is coming to Nairobi, Kenya. I cannot wait to see what happens this month in ministry. I know God will continue to blow my mind with His love, His timing and His plans. Please continue to keep my team and I in your prayers. With ministry going so well, and people coming to Christ, the Enemy is trying to attack us with sickness and theft. Angela and Nikki both have typhoid fever, and Paul and I have both lost electronics. However, Satan will not win. The Enemy will be defeated and his plans will be diverted and destroyed, in Jesus' name. Like the song says, "Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other, our God is Healer, He's awesome in power, and if our God is for us, then who can ever stop us, and if our God is with us, then who can stand against us?" No one can stand against us when we are fighting with the mighty King. AMEN!! Peace and blessings to you, loved ones. Thank you for your prayers, blog comments, love and support!!

Paul and I with Maura, Natasha (5) and baby Jaden!!

An Ode To Momma Mary

Sat, 7 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Momma and I in Rome at the Trevi Fountain during our mother/daughter vacation together!

The hardest part of the Race has been missing loved ones back home. The worst part of missing someone is knowing you're not there for them during the hard times and during the celebrations. I've experienced all of this during the past year and today is no different being Mother's Day. I am extremely close with my mother, "Momma Mary" as I like to call her, and I believe this is the first Mother's Day in the last 22 years that I haven't been with her to help celebrate. I wanted to make a blog just for her to compensate for missing her special day. Mommy...you are the best mother, friend, spiritual mentor, pastor, confidante, physician, prayer warrior, protector, teacher, and guardian (other than Jesus of course) and God could not have given me a better person to bring me into this world and raise me up as the woman of God I am today.

You taught me the greatest lesson in the world: that following Christ is the way, the truth and the life and you've shown me an example of what a disciple looks like by leading your life the way you have...always seeking Christ first and foremost, above anything else. You taught me how to love everyone (good or evil), the importance of a sense of humor and how to minister to all people in every situation. You gave me blessing after blessing growing up and I can honestly say that I will never be able to thank you enough for all the gifts (big and small) you've given me the last 23 years. You and daddy have traveled the world, and were generous enough to take your two daughters with you. For that, I am forever grateful. It is your passion for travel, for people and for Jesus, that you passed onto me and those very passions are why I'm on the World Race. Every day of my life I can't help but think that I'm the most blessed girl in the world for having you as my mother. One of my favorite things to hear from people is, "Angie you are turning into your mother." What wonderful words of affirmation those are! I want to be like Mary Blattner when I grow up. :)

Thank you for all the lessons...from Bible lessons, to art history lessons, to European lessons, to life lessons, to big lessons and small ones, too. Thank you for believing in me, even when I didn't believe in myself. Thank you for speaking LIFE over me, always saying I was and am a "child of God, child of the covenant, prayer warrior, beautiful daughter of the King." You blessed me with your words even when I was in your womb and I am walking in the confidence and inheritance of the Lord now because of your words. Thank you for teaching me the importance and power of prayer, especially at a young age, and that there is constantly a battle between good and evil and it is our job to fight the Enemy with Christ's power and authority.

Thank you for all the naps we took together after church and all the times we layed in your bed and watched CNN or the History Channel. Thank you for our Mother/Daughter trips to Italy. They are some of the best memories of my entire life and I will cherish those times with you forever. Thank you for living the example of what a God-fearing woman looks like, and showing me to put faith in God's plans for my life above all else. Thank you for being so hilarious, and giving me your amazing silliness and ability to make others smile and laugh. Thank you for all the trips to the Holy Land...those were all some of the best times of my life and they have all shaped my faith and my walk with God more than I could ever express to you. The Holy Land made the Bible come alive to me and I have you to thank for that. Thank you for coaching ever sport, teaching every Sunday school class, coming to every choir concert and musical production, and being my biggest fan at all of them. Thank you for always knowing exactly what to do when I'm sick...what a gift it's been to have not just one, but TWO physicians as parents growing up!

Thank you for just being you, Momma Mary. You are the best there is, and there's not a person alive that would disagree with me. I am always amazed by you, and I love you more than I can put into words/song/writing/interpretive dance. You are the most generous, hard working, caring, hysterical, loving person in this world. I can't wait to give you a hug and a kiss when I get home and I can't wait to tell you EVERYTHING God has done in me and through me this year. You are the best blog commentor, prayer warrior, mentor, counselor, supporter and encourager I have this year and I couldn't have gotten to Month 8 of the Race without all those things and your love. I LOVE YOU. I miss you. I can't wait to be reunited with you! Happy Mother's Day, Momma Mary. You are my bestest. XOXOXO...

there's nothing better than being with this woman!

Hakuna Matata, We Made It To KENYA!

Mon, 2 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Jambo, from Africa! I am writing to you, safe and sound from the beautiful country of Kenya. This month we are doing ministry in the capital city, Nairobi with Deliverance Church Langata. We are working with Pastor Ezekiel, who is an amazing man of God and has such a heart and passion for evangelism. I've been learning a little bit of Swahili and I found out that the movie, The Lion King, has prepared me more than I realized. "Hakuna Matata" is actually a phrase Kenyans use all the time and it really does mean "no worries" and I found out "rafiki" actually means "friend"!! Thank you, Disney, for preparing me for ministry in Kenya. So far in ministry this month we've spent time at a children's home in Kibera, the largest slum in all of Africa. There are just under 200 orphans at this children's home and the children have already stolen each of our hearts with their joy and their love.

Other than loving on the orphans at the children's home, yesterday we had our first African church service at Deliverance, which was four and a half hours long (FPC friends and family, could you imagine if one of our services ever went that long!?!?) and it was AMAZING!! There are about 600 members at Deliverance Church and it's church body is growing at a rapid rate, where the church leadership is expecting the size of the congregation to double in the coming year or so. Praise God for the work He is doing in Kenya!

I have never seen people so on fire for Jesus Christ. Believers here are serious about the Gospel, sharing God's love, and worshipping Him. During the four and a half hour service, the 600 of us danced and sang in English AND Swahili and there were times of holding hands, jumping and shouting to the Lord. It's so different than any other worship I've experienced on the Race and I love it so much. I am praying I will be able to preach the sermon during one of the Sundays we are here but as they say, "T.I.A....this is Africa."

We will find out what the rest of our month will look like soon but I am praying for a lot of ministry work in Kibera. I would love to do door-to-door evangelism in that slum day and night, if I could! God is truly blessing us this month, with a wonderful contact, a wonderful church, and an amazing new team! Yes, that's right, ladies and gentlemen, we had team changes again. This is the fourth team I've been on and let me tell you, God has definitely grown me so much in each of the teams I've had the privilege to serve on.

This particular team change was fairly minor, we only lost one team member, Phil Khamoua. While we lost Phil to another team and were sad to see him go, we gained Paul Bell back. Paul was on Team Lovebound with me during the months of Central America, and he is without a doubt my favorite human being. Paul is the brother I'd always prayed for but never received from the Lord...until this year. I am so grateful to God for putting him back on a team with me and back into my day-to-day life. I missed him terribly over the last four months but it is a true praise that I get to serve along side him in Africa and in India. I love you, Paul!!

Lots of changes, I know. New continent, new language, new team, new ministries...but that's not all the changes. Last but not least, since we are a new team, we decided to have a new team name, too! We are Team Frontline. We chose this name because we have decided that for the next four months we will not slow down, give up, or let up until the Kingdom of God is brought to every place we go. We can sleep and shower when we get home in four months. Until then, the seven of us are officially going to be on the FRONTLINE for Jesus Chirst and bringing the Kingdom of God to East Africa and India. Our verse for the team is one that Paul found in Can I get an AMEN!?!!?

We've decided this is Team Frontline's Theme Song...we are standing on these Truths from Romans chapter 13, which is our team's verse:

Laura Hackett:I Put On Christ (The Battle is Raging)

"For the battle is raging
The Devil is raging
And I dont want to be sleeping
While the battle is raging
I don't fight as one who beats the air
Give me eyes to see and ears to hear
I don't fight as one who beats the air
Give me eyes to see and ears to hear oh God
For the battle is raging
The Devil is raging
And I dont want to be sleeping
While the battle is raging
I don't fight as one who beats the air
Give me eyes to see and ears to hear
I don't fight as one who beats the air
Give me eyes to see and ears to hear oh God
I put on Christ
Make no provision for my flesh
Put on the whole armor of God
Leave no open door to darkness
And I take the scroll; eat the scroll
Open up my mouth and speak forth Your Word
I take the sword of the Spirit
Blessed be the Lord my rock
Who trains my hands for battle, trains my hands for war"

I am so excited for this month and what Team Frontline is going to do in and around Nairobi, Kenya. Please continue to pray for me, my team and for the nations. The seven of us are constantly battling the Enemy here in Africa and we need all the prayers we can get from you, loved ones. Please battle with us in prayer, we couldn't do ministry without it. Thank you for the love, the prayers, the blog comments (I cherish each and every comment you write me!!), the support and encouragement, friends and family. I love you all and will update you again soon! PRAISE HIS NAME AND HALLELUJAH!!

Ginger, Matt, Paul and I at "Carnivore" Restaurant in Nairobi. World famous for their exotic meat including: camel, crocodile and ostrich!

Paul with the babies at the orphanage in Kibera slum...can you guess which one he is?!?

10 Lessons I've Learned in Cambodia on Month 7

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

I've haven't done a blog like this since Nicaragua, so I thought I'd give you 10 things I've learned about Cambodia.

1. Going to the market to get your food is an adventurous one indeed. First off, if your taller than 5 foot 6, you will have to duck your head the entire time you're walking around buying your groceries. You also need to watch your head for metal hooks which may or may not be hanging from the ceiling...you wouldn't want to catch your head on one of those bad boys. Also, the smell of the market smells like rotting food, which does not make you want to buy the food your looking at, but you gotta do what you gotta do on the World Race. Your meat is always extremely questionable, but just buy it anyway...even if you buy meat that's next to a pig's head or foot. Someone might offer you a live chicken to buy, in their mind assuming that you know how to decapitate, pluck and boil a chicken. Obviously, all of us do...not. Finally, as Haile Hendricks says, "The flies are free." There will be flies on everything and as I realized, the flies that are on the meat hanging from the meat hooks will move to the animal feces on the ground, and then finally move to the fruit you're buying to eat. Disgusting in my eyes, but Jesus take the wheel on that one.

2. When it rains in Cambodia, it rains HARD. One of the reasons Cambodian houses are built on stilts is due to the fact that during the rainy season, it floods a lot. Frogs come out a lot more after it rains and all the Khmer like to go "frog hunting" when this happens. What do they do with the frogs, you ask? They throw them in a boiling pot of water, and then fry them. When you are offered fried frogs during a house visit, don't worry...they taste like chicken. One of my team mates, however, was allergic to fried frogs and her skin itched horribly so watch out and bring Benedryl when you eat fried frogs.

3. "Royal D" is a delicious and nutritious powder that you need to buy and put in your water during the day. It gets so hot in Cambodia so you will be sweating a lot and "Royal D" is filled with vitamins and electrolytes to replenish your body. It takes like "Tang" and let's face it...everybody loves "Tang"!! This powder is found at the pharmacy and the pharmacist will have absolutely no idea that they even carry the powder so you will have to go behind the counter and find it yourself. Typical procedure.

4. Just because you're sleeping under a giant mosquito net does not, I repeat DOES NOT mean that bugs are not going to get in anyway. Just about every night you will have tiny little bugs that will fall through the mosquito netting and onto your face and body. We found that when you try and squish these said bugs, there is a particularly awful smell that is emitted into the air. It's either killing the bugs and smelling gross or having them crawl all over you when you're trying to read before bed. Your choice. Another note on the bugs...there are huge beatles that will sit on top of your mosquito net just waiting for you to give them an "in" to come inside your bed. They will pinch you and it hurts very bad. Trust me, I have a bunch of marks on my leg due to those little suckers. Do not give these giant insects an "in"...make sure you're tucked in tight before you to go sleepy time.

5. Riding a bike is a fun way to transport yourself around Cambodia, but just make sure that your tires aren't flat before beginning a journey to a remote village outside of town. By having just one flat tire on the pot-hole filled dirt road, it will make it almost impossible to get to the village or back to your house. It's like that dream everyone has where you're running and running and not getting anywhere. Only instead of running, you're peddling and instead of a monster or something chasing you, there's a bunch of Khmer people making fun of you for not making any progress. It's fun.

6. The health care system is extremely questionable in Cambodia. A guide book said that if you get sick in Cambodia, make your way to Thailand or Singapore. We had the opportunity to visit a hospital and it looked like something out of a scary movie. Also, if you go to the doctor in Cambodia and tell them you think you're coming down with the flu, they will give you an IV and have you lie on a stretcher. If you go into the doctor and say you're sneezing from allergies, they will give you and IV and have you lie on a stretcher. That's their cure for everything. I'm not sure how clean the needles from the IV are though, so enter the doctor's office at your own risk. However, it's ridiculously cheap to go to the hospital. For 7.50 USD, you can stay at the hospital overnight with a bed and lots of medical attention.

7. People don't really care about being modest here. I have seen multiple women falling asleep from breastfeeding with their shirts up and their breasts out, in a hammack, on the side of the road. I've also seen my fair share of men taking a leak, ANYWHERE. If you are easily embarassed by nudity, you just need to get over it because the Khmer couldn't care less if you see their "Holy of Holies" as I like to call it.

8. When you're on a long bus ride from Phnom Penh back to Preah Vihear and you have to go to the bathroom, the bus driver will pull to the side of the road and you will be asked to stay right next to the bus and the dirt road to "relieve yourself" in front of God and everyone. You can't journey into the forest or into the fields nearby, because there are still plenty of land mines and you will risk the chance of getting blown up.

9. It gets up to 100 degrees during the middle of the day in the hot season (which we are in) and you will not want to do anything productive from noon to three because of this reason. Fortunately, no one else wants to do anything at this time, so this is the official Khmer "nap time" throughout Cambodia and you can just relax. Taking a bucket shower before laying down in front of a fan helps a lot simply because if you lay down dry, the fan will blow hot air at you similar to the feeling you get standing behind a Greyhound bus with the exhaust fumes blowing on you. It's not refreshing.

10. Pajama sets are a fashionable thing here in Cambodia. It is extremely common for women (and sometimes men) to wear cotton pants with a matching cotton botton-up shirt. The most popular designs are clouds with bears, kitties, bright colors and flowers. If you're not wearing a pajama set atleast once a week in Cambodia, you will officially be commiting a crime against fashion and if Cambodia had a "People" magazine, you would be in the section of "Worst Dressed Ever".

Bonus #11: You are not allowed to touch a Buddhist monk if you're a woman...even if they do ask to take their picture with you. You may stand kind of close to them, but NEVER TOUCH THEM, or they will freak out. Just trust me on this one.

Bonus #12: If you're in Cambodia, you have to visit Angkor Wat. It's one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World and it's incredible. Go and thank me later. :)

That Dirty Word No One Wants To Talk About

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

As our time in Cambodia rapidly draws to an end, I've had a lot of time for reflection. Ministry this month has been very different than other months. First off, we've had a lot of "down time" which meant something different every day. "Down time" would turn into unorganized, spontaneous ministry like playing sports at our contact, Joel's house with the Khmer youth or giving Sina, Lida and Perry (the girls that live with us) a Bible study lesson. Sometimes we would spend an entire afternoon in prayer or in the Word. Other times (let's be honest here) we'd goof off with each other, play cards or take a nap. It wasn't just the lack of structure that made this particular ministry month different than the others. We were ministering to a people group that suffered one of the most horrific genocides in the 1970s and every single family we built relationships with has been directly impacted by that genocide. For those of you who aren't history buffs, I'll fill you in.

From 1975 to 1979, approximately 2 million Khmer people lost their lives during the Pol Pot Communist Regime otherwise known as the "Khmer Rouge". Their leader, Pol Pot, came to power soon after the Vietnam War had ended, and many of Pol Pot's propoganda was saying that all capitalist, western ways of thinking were evil and that they needed to be erased. Many Khmer were livid about the destruction of their homes, villages, and country after the Vietnam War's destruction of Cambodia and so Pol Pot was able to raise up an army of followers due to that. Pol Pot attempted to form a Communist peasant farming society that resulted in the deaths of one third of Cambodia's population due to starvation, horrific living conditions, lack of medical care, over work in physical labor, executions and extreme mental and physical torture. I read the novel, First They Killed My Father, which is a memoir of one girl's personal struggle through the genocide.

observing the mass graves at the Killing Fields outside Phnom Penh

My team and I had the opportunity to go to Phnom Penh for the weekend and pay our respects to the infamous "Killing Fields" of the Khmer Rouge where 75,000 men, women and children were executed into mass graves that still remain to this day. We also visited the Tuol Sleng Prison, a former school that the regime converted into an interrogation center and prison where they questioned, tortured and executed 17,000 men, women and children. Many government officials who worked in the previous capitalist party were taken to Tuol Sleng and were violently mutilated and killed as well as any educated intellectuals of the country.

Pol Pot was terrified of anyone who may be of a threat to him and his new power so he made sure that anyone with any education, professional career, or intelligence of any kind had the fate of being buried in a mass grave. The day was a somber one for me and the rest of the group and I couldn't help but think, "How could something like this have happened? And so recently?" 1975 wasn't that long ago and while every Holocaust museum you go to says "Never Again" in big bold letters, I can't help but be livid at the fact that "never again" is anything but true. This genocide in Cambodia took the lives of a third of the Khmer population at the time...A THIRD. The most recent genocide has been the ethnic cleansing in the region of Darfur, Sudan from 2003 to 2010 where over 5 million people have been affected and 300,000 to 400,000 people have been killed. Over 2.5 million victims are currently living in refugee camps because of that genocide.

We don't like the word "genocide". It's a dirty word that no one wants to talk about.

It makes people uncomfortable. We would rather like to think that all of that is in the past...behind us and our history as a world. Sadly, these things continue to happen with little action being taken to stop it. There is a quote from the movie, Hotel Rwanda, where the manager of the hotel asks the US camera man if all the footage of the genocide will make the Americans get involved and help and he answers, "I think if people see this footage, they'll say Oh, my God, that's horrible. And then they'll go on eating their dinners." How many times does that happen to us a day at home? We see an injustice...big or small...and we think "Wow, that's awful." And then we continue to drive off to our appointments in our SUVs.

Trust me, I am right there with the rest of America in doing this and I feel very convicted I have not done enough. I've had my share of "out of sight out of mind" moments like the everyone else. Even as I'm on this World Race I hear the constant truth of the Holy Spirit assuring me that "there is so much more that needs to be done for the Kingdom of God, Angie" whispering in my ear. It's convienent when you're all the way across the world and don't have to see the face of genocide every day. That way, you don't have to think about it if you don't want to. Like I said, "out of sight, out of mind."

outside the Memorial built to house the thousands of skulls and bones of the victims of the Killing Fields

That's one of the ways my world has been rocked this year, I can't ignore it. I can't even try to ignore it for even one second. I know the extruciating details of the Khmer Rouge genocide because I have to look it in the face every day this month. The face of genocide looks me dead in the eyes and tells me, "I need help. Help me. Pray for me." I see this face on our next door neighbor when one day he decided to come over and tell us all about the Pol Pot Regime instead of take an English lesson. When we told him we had been to the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng, he said he went to Tuol Sleng many years ago and found pictures of his three family members who were tortured and murdered there. Can you imagine? What do you say to that? You can't turn off the TV or close the computer. This isn't just an update on your Blackberry from CNN.com. This is his reality. This is this man's life.

Haile walking the third floor of Tuol Sleng...the barbed wire was to keep prisoners from commiting suicide by jumping off the balcony.

One of my favorite ladies at church is Meng Da ("meng" means auntie in Khmer) and she owns a little shop in the market in town. When I asked Meng Da about her childhood she told me she had to move to Preah Vihear when she was twelve because her family was forced to leave Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge soldiers. When I asked about her parents her eyes teared up and she shook her head back and forth, saying "I can't talk about it. I'm sorry." My contact, Carolin later informed me that Meng Da lost both of her parents during the genocide. This is one of my favorite women in the entire world, with more love and generosity than you could imagine. Why did she have to suffer such a loss as this one? Where is the justice? Why didn't any of us do anything to help?

Tuol Sleng has thousands of photos of the victims tortured and murdered there

Genocide may be a dirty word for those of us in the States but it is something the people of Cambodia are still coping with, healing from, seeking answers from God about. It's not just something we can pretend didn't happen. I am learning that sometimes we need to get our world's turned upside down to come to the realization that genocide is simply unacceptable, and it is something I refuse to stand by and watch continue to happen on the news with an apathetic look on my face. I don't know what I'm going to do after the Race, and that's OK. I do know, however, that it will be continuing to fight the Kingdom battle against injustices like genocide, human trafficking and poverty.

I pray, as my supporters, friends, and family, that you will continue to fight this battle with me so that one day, when we are standing before the Final Judge and God asks us, "Where were you when millions of people were been slaughtered in the genocide?" "Where were you when countless women and children were sold into the sex trade?" It is my sincere prayer that we can say that we showed up on time, and we took action for Him and His children. That's when God, the Alpha and the Omega of history will say...

"Well done, good and faithful servant."