One Year!

Can you believe it?! It has officially been one year since I traveled as far away from home as possible to live in the Middle East. I landed in this big city located in Iraqi Kurdistan exactly a year ago with weird idea's and expectations of how this year would go. Some of my expectations were met, but most of my experience has been different than I thought it would be.

The first week of being here was a hard transition. I came with a team from Salem who lead a prayer/work retreat for the workers here. The retreat went well, but I was a wreck. I had been so ready to leave Salem that I didn't fully grasp the fact that it was going to be a whole year until I would see my family and closest friends again. I couldn't sleep at night (and it was because of jet lag. Multiple things were flying around and the thought of enduring that sort of spiritual stuff all year long freaked me  out,) and I kept thinking how different the team was from me. I was worried that I wasn't going to be fed at all spiritually and that I wouldn't connect with the team. It felt like I was watching a National Geographic documentary on the Middle East and like this culture didn't actually exist. Everything I was taking in about the culture was something I was only reading from a book.

If you didn't already know, God is amazing. I spent that first week writing my own Psalms, singing lyrics like "In the chaos, in confusion I know You're Sovereign still. In the moment of my weakness You give me strength to do Your will. When you call, I won't delay" and trusting that God did not make me go through the last eight months to get here and break down. Knowing that He was with me and would equip me to do this work brought comfort, but there was no honeymoon phase for me. Just a lot of tears.


But God in His Sovereignty has given me the strength to live in a male-dominant culture. He has equipped me to teach English; a language I can speak but don't know why I say things the way I do besides that "It sounds good that way." He has made it possible for me to not only live with my roommate who is as similar to me as the color white is similar to black. Be He also taught me how to love her deeply. He has been teaching me that rest is healthy and important. He has revealed countless truths to me, and stretched me in knowledge of His Word. He has lead me into relationships with the local people here that is changing the way I view service and hospitality. He has given me a love for a group of people that a good portion of the US despises and thinks I am a nut case for ever doing life with.

I get goosebumps thinking about my calling to come here. Its been a full year. A FULL YEAR!! Where has the time gone?! This year has been hard, amazing, dramatic, beautiful, painful, unforgettable, life changing, dry, restful, life giving, and so much more. I am beyond thankful for this past year, and I'm looking forward to the next three months. Next year is blurry, confusing and extremely unknown. But I'm getting more excited for it because HE knows! His ways have been freaking hard but SO amazing thus far. Therefore, I'm trusting Him with the rest!

Thanks for journeying with me this past year! I ask that you continue with me through prayer especially. Three more months in the KStan, and there is still a lot of work to be done. I have multiple friends who have heard, but still not accepted His word as truth and made the switch from Death to Life. So PLEASE keep them in your prayers. These people mean so much to me, and more to our Father!