100 days on the race!

We just recently passed the 100 day mark of being on the race! Between training camp in Gainesville Georgia, Domestic Ministry in North Carolina, Ministry in Medallin Colombia, and currently being in Da Nang Vietnam, the Lord has been present in so many ways.

Training camp

Some of the best moments at training camp were revival nights. We had three of these throughout training camp, all of them slightly different. The first one, September 3rd, we had a teaching and lots of worship. The second one, September 10th, was full of the Holy Spirit. We had so many baptisms that night, first timers and re-declarations. There was baptism after baptism for a few hours, with live worship playing the entire time. I made the decision to get re-baptized during this revival night, as a re-declaration to live out my life for Christ. The 3rd revival night, September 18th, was all worship. People were worshipping for hours. From 7 pm to 1 am I was in that room, and I loved every second of it. I didn’t question it at the time, but after that day I remembered how much I never liked worship. If I told that version of myself that he would soon spend 6 hours praising the Lord, he would of never believed me.

Black Mountain

Right after training camp we got the opportunity to serve in Black Mountain, doing Hurricane relief from Hurricane Helene. It was crazy to see how much damage there still was after a year. You don’t usually think about that unless you’re there. Our guys team split in half for this week, and my half of guys got to work on two different houses. The first house we worked on was very impactful, and it included installing kitchen cabinetry and trim work. We got the news after helping at that house for two days that we finished her off. We had completed a year long journey of work and repair on this lady’s house. It was such a blessing to be such a small part in such a big project. It was amazing to see how perfect Gods timing was.

Medallin Colombia

Serving in Medallin was a time to remember and be grateful for. I am so thankful for the ministry we got to do. Working with Ciudad Refugio was such a blessing. They are an origination that primarily does homeless ministry, so we got to help with a lot of that. Almost every night at 6pm, the foundation opens up their lobby for the homeles to sleep in. They are provided a dry place to sleep, and food and water for the night. This is one of the ministry opportunity’s that we had, helping get the gentlemen settled in by searching bags and patting down. Every Wednesday night, the foundation takes a big box truck to a part of town called Aguapanalla (or The Broncs). The Broncs is a part of town that is full of drugs and alcohol, so many lost homeless reside here. The foundation goes here to hand out food to the people and to evangelize. Experiencing this was very eye opening. God loves everyone! Even these people who are lost in so much drugs and alcohol. I am no better than these people in Gods eyes. Our current circumstance does not determine our worth in Gods eyes. I always knew that Gods love was unconditional, but I was never able to fully grasp what unconditional love for us ment. Jesus died for these people who have never heard of him, who put every worldly desire before him, people who know of God but reject him, people who turn away from God, so many people who do so many things before God. This was a big take away from Columbia for me.

Vietnam

I have been in Da Nang Vietnam for about three weeks, and I love it. It is so different from Colombia, we are one block away from the beach, and there are tourists everywhere. Ministry here is all about relationship building, whereas Columbia was more helping out the foundation. Don’t get me wrong, we built relationships in Colombia, but It was not nearly as easy. I am doing ministry with just the guys. Our whole squad is all over Vietnam. Our guys team is staying in a hotel a block from the beach. We are working with two different churches here, Vision church which is the local church, and Da Nang International Fellowship, which is the International church, hence the name. Our team is split up, five guys working with each church, while Nick our squad leader alternates weekly. Me, Toby, Cas, Eric, and Thomas are working with DIF, and Blake, Ethan, Josh, Issac, and Josiah are working with Vision. Our schedules are fairly different so I can only really talk about mine. We have done two English classes a week, Monday night at our hosts house, and Saturday night at John’s house. These classes are filled with Vietnamese people, and the goal is to just have conversation with each other. Every Friday night we get to attend Young Adults through the church. Because it is an international church, we have gotten to meet and build relationships with people form all over the world. Young Adults is usually at someone’s house. We help out at the church every Sunday, with Host team, lighting, sound, lyrics, and kids. There are so many opportunities to serve at the church. Through out the week my team is usually at our hosts house a few mornings. We have been able to help out a local cafe here called Happy Hearts. They only hire the Deaf and Disabled. We have gotten to bake lots of cookies for them as well as English club. Ministry here has felt so random but amazing. Ministry here is relationship building and we have gotten to build lots of relationships.

Thank you guys for reading. I am now %62 fundraised, so if you’re reading please pray about partnering with me. Lots of boxes have been given a home in the adopt a box, but there is still so many boxes who need adopting. Spread the word!