What a Roller Coaster ;)

The past two weeks have been a roller coaster if I am being completely honest. So the week of Thanksgiving was a busy week even though it’s technically called “break.” We have a break off from school and classes but during this break we went on an outreach retreat. This is where my Southeast Asia team left for a few days and just got to know each other as a team. I really enjoyed these few days away with my friends! I seriously love my outreach team. I really think we are something special. We have also been through a lot together as a team already through the lecture phase. While on our outreach retreat, we received some news from our head staff here at YWAM Madison about the nation we are going to in Southeast Asia. This nation’s government has been targeting foreigners coming in on tourist visas for an extended amount of time. After they leave the airport, the government will check up with them to make sure they are doing what they said they will be doing. The worst thing that would happen to our team, is that we would get deported. But us being there right now could have a negative impact on the long-term missionaries there. So they have asked that we not send teams to this nation right now. This was really hard news for my team and I to hear as we have really grown a heart for this nation. But we do believe that God put this nation on our hearts for a reason so we are not giving up on going there but we do understand why now is not the right time. What has blown me away in all this heartache is God’s Grace for my team! Nothing seemed to be working for us to get there. We were not being accepted by contacts in this nation nor did my team members have enough money in their accounts to buy plane tickets! All this was happening here, while all that was happening in Asia! We then received the news that it is not safe for us to go as we were trying to book plane tickets! We could have lost $1,300 but instead, God’s timing was perfect and he saved us from more heartache! I am still working through this loss but know God has bigger and better plans for me and this nation! If you have further questions, please feel free to message me personally!

Now I am happily to announce that my team and I will be going to Thailand!! This is crazy as God clearly spoke Thailand to me in the beginning of lecture phase but I never thought much of it. The night of outreach reveal where we found out our location options, I really struggled for many reasons between going to Thailand & Cambodia and the other nation in Asia. Those reasons were both good and bad but I decided to lay down the opportunity to go to two countries, one being one that God told be I would go to, to go to another country that He was also putting on my heart! I clearly heard God tell me that my final choice was the best option and that it was Him telling me to choose the other location in Asia…. Now that I am not going to that location but instead going to Thailand, I was struggling so much because God clearly told me to go to the location I choose. Did I hear God wrong?? No, I heard Him but I have grown so much through this time! I layed something I wanted down for God so He could show me how He can pick things back up for me! I believe with all my heart that God will pick up the other nation again and one day I will go there, but not now. I also want to say one last thing about God’s Grace in this time. Within the first 24 hours of making the decision to go to Thailand, we had our first contact accepted and in less than a week we had our plane tickets booked and visas sent in! How crazy and amazing is our God!

What a week. Once we got back, we spent two days reading the Bible. We read all the Gospels, Acts, Psalms (1-100), Proverbs, & Ephesians (which we have been studying in bible class.) I really enjoyed reading the Bible. I have had so many questions and so much revelation as well! It was also really cool where I asked myself a question in the beginning of the books, and by the end, I answered it for myself. That was awesome! So I had a really fun Thanksgiving with my YWAM family! We had a fabulous meal and then I went Black Friday shopping with my friends where I found skirts, a dress, and a shirt that will be perfect for Thailand! So exciting!

Now back at it with classes. This weeks teaching is about Roots and Belonging. The main revelation I have had this week with this teaching is about where my heart is. I have heart to serve God in everything I do. My worst fear is to disappoint God or do something He did not want me to do. I learned earlier in my lecture phase that ” I can never mess up God’s plan for my life if my heart is to serve.” I brought this back up this week. I was then asked by my teacher, “What have I done this week that I have partnered with God in?” She changed the word serving to partnering. Serving is doing some thing for God and partnering is doing something with God! I then had a conversation with my dad on the phone about my process. He said, “If I am partnered with God… I am serving in the highest capacity for God.” I am seriously so blessed to have my daddy to help bring this kind of revelation to my life as well! This weeks teacher has also talked about humility and what that truly looks like. Humility is willing to be known and appreciated for who you really are. So for example, if someone acknowledges something good about you or what you have done and you reply with, “oh it was all God,” you are not being humble because you are not accepting how God made you or who He mad you to be. He wants you to accept how He made you. There is a difference between accepting and appreciating what you have done and exhaulting yourself above others for what you are proud of. If you exhault yourself, you are not being humble. Now I’m not saying that if you give God the credit in good things you have done is wrong, because it is not. That is how I have lived my life. I give all the glory to God. But I have learned that we need to find a way to acknowledge God without dissing ourselves.

So much I have learned and been through the past few weeks! I thank God everyday for guiding me through the process in my mind and heart! He has been showing me so much Grace and comfort through this!

I hope everyone is doing well at home! So it’s almost Christmas time which means Christmas break! I will be home from December 22nd-27th. I would love to see so many of you while I am home so please contact me if you would like to get together!! I will then be leaving for Thailand December 31st and flying back to Wisconsin February 22nd. The last 10 days of my DTS will be debrief and public speaking to different churches and groups about my journey and experiences. I will then graduate March 2nd. I don’t know at this point what I will be doing after my DTS but I know God will reveal that to me. What I do know is that I will continue to be a missionary and pursue my life in that direction. I have so many directions I can go with my heart for missions so I just continue to ask God what He wants me to do. Continued prayers would be great as I finish off my lecture phase and prepare myself for Thailand!

Thank you so much for reading my blogs! Your support means more to me than you will know! Thank you! God Bless you all! Again, feel free to message me with any questions! Love you!

By His Grace,

Kendra Michael ❤