Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Graduation and Grace


I cannot believe that today is already December 13; tomorrow we graduate from DTS. I feel like it has been such an incredible whirlwind. The past week has been great. Our team has spent a lot of time together, just getting to hang out as a ‘family’. We’ve watched Christmas movies, made cookies and coco, had a fake fire, made lots of good food, listened to Christmas music, but most importantly just enjoyed the extreme love and sense of belonging that surrounds our team now. I have come to adore every single team member as if they were my own family, and I could seriously not be more thankful for them.  I will be so very sad through this week as our family slowly goes their separate ways.
                As this time comes to a close, I have been spending a lot of time looking back and reflecting over the past several months. I feel like I have changed and grown in so so many ways. Looking back at some of my first posts, it seems so far away and almost like another person. I have learned so much about who God is, who I am in Christ, and what He has planned for my life. I have learned how to rely on His strength alone to get me through, and that it’s not about me being a ‘good Christian’. I’ve learned just how incredible and strong God is and how He always has a perfect plan in everything, even when we don’t see it. I’ve learned to be desperate for Him and passionate about sharing Him. I could go on and on for pages as to what I have learned. I have seen so many incredible things and I have also learned so much about who I am as a person and individual.
                Earlier this week I realized something though as I looked back over all my previous posts, all the things I had learned and grown in. I was expecting myself to just be ‘good to go’ now. I mean, taking the time to think about it, it doesn’t make sense at all. But in my head, I had unconsciously felt like, “ok, I’ve dealt with all of this stuff now, I’m not going to have to deal with it again.” I also was giving myself absolutely no room to make mistakes in my walk as a Christ follower ever again. But the truth is, that’s sooo not reality! It doesn’t matter that I’ve been in this amazing school for the past 5 months. That doesn’t make me perfect. I am still very very much human. I am still going to mess up many times. I am sure I will hurt people, hurt God and hurt myself before my life is over. But that’s the great thing isn’t it? I mean, it means I so often get to be reminded of God’s incredible grace. I know I’m going to mess up, and while I HATE the idea of it, I also don’t need to dwell on my mistakes. I need to realize they are going to happen, be willing to acknowledge when I have made a mistake, be ready to apologize and ask for God’s forgiveness and turn from my wrong actions and realign my life with His will, but most importantly, keep my focus on Him and bringing Him glory with my life the whole time. Jesus Christ is so amazing.
                I pray that as you prepare for this Christmas you remember Christ and not only His birth, but also His life and the reason of His birth. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas filled with lots of love!! Look forward to seeing some of you in 6 months!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

On The Road Again...


Hello long lost friends! Sorry it has been forever since I have updated this blog. I hope all is well in your part of the world!! As I write this it is almost 8pm at night and I have spent the day on a bus heading back towards Thailand via Cambodia. We are about 1 hour outside of Siem Reap where we will spend the night. I have spent the past month in Vietnam. I walked into this not knowing exactly what I was getting into. Actually, I had NO idea, at all.
Vietnam is a very communist nation. Which meant everything we did there was illegal. No one could know why we were really there, what we were doing, or anything like that. It would put not only our team at risk, but the teams we were working with there. Communication of events was highly limited. Anything that might have  God mentioned was only done behind closed doors where we knew all the people there, or when we had one on one time with people we had taken the time to build relationships with and thought we could trust. Communist flags where everywhere seemingly reminding us of the restraint we had to use in all conversations and relationships. All internet conversations, emails, chats and even skype was monitored. We could mention nothing; especially not names, times and places. We’ve been asked to still keep much of it to ourselves or only face to face conversations to help protect the missionaries who are there long term.
We worked with a place that allowed us to build relationships with people through teaching English conversation and by doing events with this place. We would take the group of students(most people we hung out with were college age) and go to different local orphanages, special needs homes, and elderly homes. These experiences stretched the whole team to a new level and showed us so so much. One event we all had a blast at was playing ultimate Frisbee with them. We all had a blast. One time, my team decided we were the “Chickens” and we ran around doing the chicken dance(they had fun learning it) and we ended up doing really good. It was so much fun!
We lived in the heart of Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City on the 3rd floor of a guest house. Everything in Vietnam is straight up and very narrow. I think I have walked more stairs this past month than I have in my life! There were mopeds EVERYWHERE! It was truly insane. Crossing the road was like the old video game, Frogger. By the end we were pretty great at crossing, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to having a moped speed by me, only inches away.  There was also an abundance of sunglasses. (yes, you can laugh) But seriously, there were so so many people walking around trying to sell sunglasses! It was kind of funny. It was really different for me to live in a city like that. Building were packed like sardines and you just have to walk downstairs and down the street just a little bit to get to whatever it was you wanted. There was an abundance of incredible fresh fruit sellers and sugar cane juice. It was so tasty! But the city noises at night and the constant commotion made me miss the sound of crickets and frogs with the occasional mooing of a cow of home and the stars! Coming into Cambodia I am seeing stars again for the first time in a month!
The people in Vietnam are so open and friendly to foreigners. I went running every morning at this park 1k from our house and it was rare that a morning went by that I didn’t have some sort of conversation with people there. I even played badminton with an old guy one day. I was terrible. They also just loved to pick us up on their mopeds and show us the city and take us to their favorite fruit smoothie or noodle place. One of them is going to a beauty school and she cut my hair along with all the rest of the girls on our team. Many crazy and fun memories from our time there. Goodbyes where hard.
We are getting really close to Siem Reap now. Tomorrow we will spend all day traveling to get back up to Chiang Mai Thailand. We will have 10 days of finishing up our DTS and then we graduate. I can’t believe how fast it has all gone by. It seems like just yesterday I awkwardly arrived in Thailand wondering what I had gotten into. I am starting to try to mentally prepare for Christmas as it will be my first one away from home, and also prepare for the coming 6 months that I will spend in Chiang Mai. I still have what seems like so much to do to make that all go smooth. One of the biggest being raising support. The more I pray about it, I feel like I’m supposed to try and raise $400 a month to continue living in Thailand and be able to spend more time on what matters at the farm. I also have to move into my new house and figure out my schedule for the next 6 months and make it through Christmas!!! (I have to admit, I have been listening to a crazy amount of Christmas music and just can’t wait for it to come) I pray that your Christmas season is focused on Christ and His wonderful incredible all sustaining love.

As always, feel free to email me @ cowgirl4christ17@yahoo.com or find me on skype or facebook at Caity Midyett. Also, if you are interested in possibly helping support me over the next 6 months, just shoot me an email! Thank you all so much!