So, we just finished up Month #5. That is so hard to believe. Time is flying by. Due to the fact that we were in a closed country last month, I can't really share too much about what happened. But it was a wonderful month. It was a time of rest and peace.
We just finished up on Friday, two days later and after about 22 hours on a bus...we have finally made it back to Bangkok, Thailand. We will be leaving tonight at around midnight and flying to Ghana via a quick layover in Kenya. This next month my team and Team Jubilee will be working in Accra, Ghana. I am not sure what this next month is going to hold but I am super excited to be with team Jubilee and to be in AFRICA.
I also do not know what internet and communication will look like while in Africa. I will do my best to stay updated but it all depends on where we are staying and if we have access to internet or not.
Please keep us in your prayers as we travel.
Miss everyone back home! Love y'all. Thanks again for all your support.
My teammate Jordan and I finally got around to writing our tips of the month for Thailand.
1. Thai people do not speak Spanish no matter how hard you try!
When coming from Central America, it is hard for your brain to turn off Spanish, when seeing short, tan humans! I don't know how many times we spoke Spanish to Thai people, and they just stared at us.
2. Being white has its perks in foreign countries, but sometimes it doesn't!
We were told to come to this high school and teach English for two hours one morning, but when we arrived we were greeted with hundreds of teenagers and a banner that read, "English camp with American teacher!" There was also a television crew set up to air!
3. A "day off" may consist of a very passionate pastor from Bangkok not letting you out of his sight.
The day consisted of leaving for the beach at 9am (2 hours away), mandatory nap times, mandatory snack times with "coke zero--the drink your generation," convincing the pastor that we would like to sleep in a cheap room for the night not in a 12 person tent on our day off, and finally arriving to the beach at 6pm --LONG DAY!
4. Cliff jumping is no time to engage in peer pressure. Elizabeth might get stuck on top of a cliff for half an hour debating on jumping!
5. If a Governor takes you to "Thailand's best lake" in your Sunday best to swim, then you swim in your skirt!
6. Bring your own toilet paper.
If you decide to drip-dry, you get wet. If you decide to spray yourself with the hose provided, then you are even more wet!
7. Some teammates need more practice hours with the video game, "frogger," before they can cross the street alone! (COUGH COUGH LINDSAY).
8. Never ever assume it's a carrot!
The small black dots, or eyes, SHOULD tell you that they are small prawns in your food not small carrots with some pepper!
9. A shower hose can also be used as a high-powered squirt gun to shoot the huge iguanas that creep into the shower with you!
10. Don't fret if you forget to bring a pumice stone to rub all the dead/dry skin off your feet.
You can always go down the street and PAY to put your feet in a tank full of fish that will do the job!
Hi. So,we just finished up debrief in Hua Hin, Thailand. It was wonderful to have that time to just relax, process, catch up with squad members, and just get refreshed with some uplifting words and worship.
This month my team will be in V--tnam. We do not completely know what our assignment will be in this country. It is a closed country. It is not illegal to be a C - -isti - n but we still have to be very careful about blogging and emails. So, I may or may not be blogging this month it will just depend. Also, in emails it is important to not use certain "Chri-- tia-" words. Either leave out some of the letters or spell them backwards such as yarp. I am very excited about this month. Have a total peace about it. But just wanted to let everyone know about communication.
Posted in #4 Cambodia by Rebekah Neal on 1/30/2010
This is a blog written by my teammate Jory. This is an amazing experience that he had and I wanted to share it with everyone back home. I still get goosebumps when he talks about this encounter.
So I want to be a world changer!!! I
live in a understanding that all things are possible but I want to
see them manifest in front of my eyes. There is something inside all
of us that reaches out for more, that wants to experience God in a
life changing way. We want to have encounters like Jacob and receive
a new name, or like Moses on the mountain and hear His voice, or even
Paul and have our religion and life completely turned upside down.
This past week I had one of these encounters.....I met my angel!! I
was praying with our squad leaders and I simply started thanking God
for His protection on our team. For whatever reason I felt like
something was going to happen. So I sat there waiting....moments
later I heard his voice. He said, "My name is Shane" to tell you
the truth I laughed. I laughed hard, I could not put my head around
that name. I was expecting some long crazy name that I couldn't say
or something so profound.............. but Shane? I didn't know what
to do......I began to think that I was making this all up in my head
and that it wasn't real. Then again he said, "I'm Shane" then he
walked over to me, bent over and placed his right hand on my left
shoulder. I could only see his hand, arm, and face. He was a metallic
gray and silver color with a crown on his head. As I looked at him he
then placed something in my chest, then pulled out this black human
heart. I asked him what did he put inside of me. He said, "A
Scroll." I then asked what was on the scroll, he said " Your
Future" I then asked what was pulled out of my chest and Shane said
it was Guilt. Amazed and completely astonished, I knew God was
telling me something important about my future and my past. Sometimes
we feel that we have to find our futures and make things happen in
our lives. God has placed everything inside of us and all we need to
learn to do is release it into the world. God has given us talents,
God has given us inventions, and knowledge, and prophetic words,
discerning hearts, and the ability to receive more. We have it! Guys
we really do!!! And we shouldn't feel guilty about anything. We
should never allow our circumstances to become bigger than the cross.
Jesus paid the price, He took our guilt and shame that we should
never deal with it again.
Posted in #4 Cambodia by Rebekah Neal on 1/30/2010
This is a blog from my teammate Jordan about the girls that we are working with this month!
You know that feeling you get when your at the climax of a
television
show, and the screen goes black as the words, "To Be Continued..."
pop
up? All of a sudden you are launched into a time of delay or
waiting. As
humans, patience is
not something we thrive in. Fortunately when it
comes to a television show, the
waiting periods only last a week; but
what about those real life moments of "To
Be Continued...?"
In Pattaya, Thailand I had an intense experience of exposure
to the reality of so many women. My heart was being prepared for what I thought was going to be the
climax of my year-to see women come out of that lifestyle and begin a
restoration process. That,
however, was not the case; instead I was given a "To Be Continued..." revelation.
It wasn't but a few weeks before my experience in Pattaya
picked back up, however, it continued in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I get to spend
most of my time here with seven INCREDIBLE young women, aging from 17 to 23
years old. These seven young women
all have a background of some form of bondage or slavery. Every day I am given
the opportunity to love and bond with them. Sometimes it will be in the form of
helping them with their English, other times it may simply be working along
side of them making purses.
The best part about my interaction with them is the joy that
is so evident in their heart. Each
one of them has given their life to Christ;
in fact, two of these women will be
baptized this week. The intensity
in their smiles and laughs exemplify the very
nature of our LOVING Father. There
is no way you would guess the past of these young women, but with Christ in
their heart you definitely know their future.
The transforming power of our Savior is incredible.
Day in and day out, constant discipleship is taking place in
their lives. They are the start of a new generation in Cambodia. Whatever they decide to do with their
lives, FREEDOM will be echoed in their testimonies. Like Rick Pino says, they are part of the generation "who
knows who they are, because they know who their God IS!"
Posted in #4 Cambodia by Rebekah Neal on 1/30/2010
Our team had the amazing opportunity to be a part of several
people's baptisms. The ministry
that we are working with baptized 13 believers.
Several people through the ministry gathered at a local pool
for worship, testimonies, and the baptisms. There was a wide range in age of the people being baptized
from the elderly to children. They
all had different backgrounds, histories, and testimonies of how the Lord has
worked in their life. But it was
beautiful to see that although we are all different we are all God's
children.
After the baptisms we all celebrated together. We ate, swam and played in the huge swimming pool. It was a wonderful and encouraging
morning
Posted in #4 Cambodia by Rebekah Neal on 1/30/2010
Operation Christmas Child is the ministry through
Samaritan's Purse where you pack Christmas presents in shoeboxes for children
around the world who may be in need. My church at home has been a part of this
for years. Every year we wrap up
tons of shoe boxes full of goodies and then mail them off to be sent around the
world. Well this year my team had
the amazing opportunity to be on the side of the world that was actually giving
out of the boxes.
Getting a box together for Operation Christmas Child is such
an easy and small thing to do but makes a huge different in a child's life. In the past I have always packed the
boxes and knew that some child around the world was going to receive it but
this brought a whole new sense of reality and truth to what you are actually
being a part of. It is such
a wonderful opportunity to share God's love, to bring hope and life into a
child around the world
The children's faces truly lit up when they got to open up
their boxes and see what was inside. A lot of these children don't have very much at all and were ecstatic to
get their gifts. It was a truly
precious and beautiful moment to get to witness. It was a real blessing to get to be a part of this. It was also an opportunity to talk about
God's love, get involved with the communities, and even talk about things such
as hygiene.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of this and I
want to continue to be a part of Operation Christmas Child in the future.
Posted in #4 Cambodia by Rebekah Neal on 1/30/2010
So, I realize it has been a while since I have blogged. But the silence of my writing has not
been because God is not at work. In fact, he is at work so much I have found it hard to put into words or
explain it all. He has been working in
my life in huge ways and I have been taking a lot of time processing through it
all, of course that is the time I have when we are not doing ministry. I don't have words for everything but I
will do my best to explain some of what has been on my heart and mind
lately.
One thing is that this year is a preparation year for me and
my future. I came into this trip
with the idea that I am going on a mission trip through which I am going to
help others. And I am. But this year is in large part- God
molding me into the woman of God that he created me to be. He is refining me, teaching me,
stretching me, challenging me, loving me. I feel like I am becoming my true self.
I am learning to be completely dependent on God – not on
myself, not on others but on GOD. I am learning to trust God completely with my heart, my desires, my
future, my present, and my past. There are a lot of unknowns on this trip. I never know what I might be doing the next day, where i
might be or who I might be with. For the planner/organizer that I am, it can drive me crazy at
times. But God is teaching me to
just trust and rest in Him. Because the truth is...it's not about what I am doing, it's about who I am
being. There is a time and place
for organization, details, and planning. But I'm learning regardless of the circumstances...how to trust God. He is going to take care of me. He knows what is best for me. He knows me better than anyone and
cares more than anyone. I am
learning to just seek after Him and not worry about all the other stuff.
I am also learning a lot about surrendering on this
trip. I am surrendering my
expectations of this year, my rights, my comfort, my future plans, my dreams,
my heart, my life. At the end of
Costa Rica I feel like he brought me to a place of complete surrender to
him. I was at a point in large
part of total confusion. I didn't
know what I wanted, where I was going...but it didn't matter. God wants me. He doesn't want my five year plan that I think should
happen. He wants my heart. It was a hard point to come to but also
the best thing that could have ever happened. I still don't know all the answers but God is building me
back up. He is redefining me, my
dreams, and preparing me for the future that he has in store. I am taking it one day at time and
following where he leads. He is
molding me, my thoughts, my hearts, and my desires to be in line with His.
I am learning what true Christian community is all
about. Living with people, working
with them, eating with them....24/7. It can be very challenging at times. But it is also one of the most beautiful things I have ever
seen. I am living alongside people
who are seeking the same thing I am...GOD. We all have different personalities, gifts, talents,
dreams, pasts...but we all share a love for the Lord. We all desire to become more like Christ. We want to change, to grow, to be
refined by God into the men and women that he calls us to be. Community is about loving people even
when you don't feel like it. It's
about challenging each other, being honest with each other even when it hurts
sometimes, being committed to each other, believing the best in each
other. Living in community like
this has brought a new meaning of "the church" and what that looks like when
truly lived out. Living in
community is probably one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do
but also one of the most worthwhile. I have wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ who I am building
friendships with that will last a lifetime.
I am God's Beloved. Sometimes I get so caught up in things that I forgot the simple fact
that I am God's Beloved. He is in
love with me. He is pursuing
me. He wants time with me. He wants my heart. I have been learning to slow down and
let God just love on me. I
am becoming connected with God in a more intimate way than I have ever known
before.
I am experiencing the Holy Spirit in new and deeper ways
than I ever have before. I
wouldn't even know where to start to explain it all but the Holy Spirit is so
real and alive everyday on this journey. He is speaking to me in new ways, working through me in new ways, and
literally transforming my life everyday! I am learning what it really looks like to live a Spirit-filled
life! And it is AMAZING!
All this is just a very small glimpse into some of the
things that God is working on in me and through me. This trip is probably one of the hardest things I have ever
done...but without a doubt one of the best things I have ever done with my
life. I know there is so
much more in store for me, my teammates, and for everyone back home.
Please continue to keep me in your prayers. They are much appreciated! Love you all!
Posted in #4 Cambodia by Rebekah Neal on 1/30/2010
At the beginning of our month in Cambodia, our squad had a
Leadership transition. Our two
amazing squad leaders, Andi and Sean, who have been with us up to this point
have now passed the baton onto three members from our squad. They are Weston Belkot, Katie Hannon,
and Jory Billiot who has been my team leader. They are now the three who are responsible for our entire
squad of 45.
After Jory transitioned into his new position, Tim was
appointed our new Team Leader. I
have a complete peace that this was the right decision. Tim and Jory both needed new coats to
grow into. I am excited to see
what God has in store for us all through these new changes.
I am so proud of Jory. He has done an amazing job as our team leader. Jory is someone that is very passionate. He is intense and fierce. He has such a powerful and exciting
presence about him. He has made me
want to grow. He has pushed
me. He is amazing at bringing out
people's gifts and talents. He
calls greatness out of people. He
has a fiery heart for God and he truly loves people and desires to see them
come alive and to really grasp who they are in Christ. God has given him huge dreams and
he pushes others to dream big too. He is someone that I highly respect, trust, and believe in. It really has been a blessing and
an honor to be under Jory's leadership. God is going to use him to push our squad to new levels
spiritually, to challenge us and to lead us into new territory.
Tim is also an amazing brother and leader. It has been amazing to watch him step
up and lead this team. I'm excited
to see where he takes us. He is
very personable, loving, and honorable. I am seeing God transform Tim into a new man and it is amazing. Tim and Jory have completely different
dynamics and styles of leadership. It has been a transition time for our entire team but we are settling in
beautifully. God has a lot more in
store for Team Increase and Tim is the right man to lead us there.
Posted in #4 Cambodia by Rebekah Neal on 1/30/2010
Well, I got sick for the first time on this trip in
Cambodia. I woke up one morning
and my entire body was aching. I
was exhausted and just didn't have much energy. I began running a fever that day. My fever kept going up and down for about three
days. I was throwing up and had no
appetite to eat any food. So, I
finally went to the international health clinic in town. At first they thought I had the flu but
it turned out to be intestinal amoebas. So, that was not the most exciting news and to be honest I'm still not
exactly sure what it is. But
at least they knew what was causing the problem. So, I got medication to take for 23 days. I am still taking the medication and
doing much better. I have all my energy back and finally regained my
appetite. I haven't had any
problems with it since...just have to remember to take my medicine three times a
day. Thanks to everyone for all
your prayers!
