One Summer Update

Dear Family and Friends,

First, I want to start with an apology for taking so long to update you about my summer and what God did during my time overseas. Second, I want to thank you so much for your spiritual and financial support throughout this journey. And finally, I am blessed to have you in my life and the encouragement that you have provided in my faith. This past summer has been one of the most difficult yet most rewarding summers that I have gone through. It was difficult leaving my family and friends here in the States, and even more difficult to leave Colombia and my birthfamily after a few days visit. Yet in the midst of it all, God provided comfort and peace through His word. I went overseas with many different emotions, and I did not know what to expect. During the beginning of my trip, I struggled with the idea that my birthfamily did not know the Lord, and I also missed them as well. Even though I needed to figure out all these emotions, it was important for me to put them aside so I could fully take my summer trip in.

Every international trip that I have taken in the past I have been the leader. I would be the one that knew the spoken language and culture. I was always the one that people leaned on, and I have always loved it. However, when I got to Central Asia, all that changed. I had to become teachable and dependent on others. I had to learn, adapt, and understand a new language, culture, and way of living. It was hard to depend on others, but I was able to learn a lot.

Here are some interesting things that I learned:

Where I visited, two languages were spoken. Neither of them I know. Therefore, the only way that I could communicate at the beginning of the trip was through a smile. Well, that was not effective either. When I smiled at women, they would not smile back, but when I smiled at men, they would take it as flirting. After a week there, I finally realized that I had been flirting with every man in the city. Yay me. I was very shocked when my mentor told me about this because the only way that I had been able to communicate was through a smile, and now that was taken away. Another thing that I learned was that you will always be out of your comfort zone in the mission field. When I was there, I told myself to get out of my comfort zone, but the thing was that I already was. I did not have the control to be in my comfort zone in a place where I did not know the culture or language. Here in the States, we have control of whether or not to get out of our comfort, yet we choose to be in our little bubble. It is something we never think about.

We always talk about the missionaries that are jailed or killed because of their faith, but we never talk about the missionaries that struggle every single day. Here in the States, we think that missionaries are telling every single person about Christ and that many are coming to Christ. That would be nice, but in reality, it takes so much more than sharing Christ. I was able to watch the missionaries during my time overseas and it opened my eyes to missions. They had to adjust to a new culture, language, and beliefs. They built relationships for years, made a living, and did daily things that take more work compared to doing them in the States. Some missionaries are in a place for years and see no one come to Christ. Not only do these missionaries go to a new country, but they leave the people and places that they love behind. During all these things, they carefully share Christ through their actions, words, deeds, and more.

After seeing what I saw overseas, I still want to follow where God is calling me. I know for sure God is calling me to international missions. After seeing how hard it will be, I still want to go. Yes, sometimes I think God is crazy, but He is by my side. All that I am doing is not about me, it is about the One who died for me and I get the opportunity to share His testimony.

God is doing amazing things through my life, and I cannot wait to see what is next. Thank you for your support and for taking the time to read this. If you want more specific stories, please let me know 😊

Please pray for the missionaries, the people, and the governments in Central Asia.

Blessings,

K