You often hear stories of things happening to other people and deep down you think to yourself “that wont happen to me”. Well, this time, it happened to me. I had heard stories of other world racers being having their belongings taken or even held up at gun point, but it caught me of guard when it actually happened. The morning of the 5^th of July, I woke up to the horrific realization that we had been robbed as we slept. My macbook, my iPod and even my backup external hard drive had been jacked along with several others belongings by what seemed to be Tanzanian ninjas. My laptop was against the wall on the far side, on the mattress that I had on the floor. My iPod and hard drive, also right next to me on my bed. I've gone over this many times and there is no doubt in my mind that my thief would have actually had to step onto my bed to be able to reach my laptop from any direction. As you can imagine, the idea of this is beyond creepy. Another guy sleeping in the room we suspect may have even had his earphones taken out of his ears as our friendly, neighborhood thieves took the laptop that the earphones were connected to. Sounds like the work of a ninja, does it not?

 By the grace of God I do feel that I have truly been able to forgive the ninjas over the last few weeks. Even though I know these were just temporary things in a temporary world, it is still a struggle to have them taken away. I felt so incredibly violated and would have never imagined how easy it is to fall into anger, distrust and unforgiveness. I pray that they will somehow come to know the God that has been loving them through it all and desires true relationship with them.

 The Good news? God is still in complete control and He is still good. Even when life seems chaotic or things happen that we can't explain, Jesus always wins.

First of all I would like to thank everyone that has supported me financially and/or prayerfully over the last several months, I would not be where I am today if all of you had not stood by me. This has not been an easy journey but your prayers have been greatly needed and appreciated. With that said, I am still in great need of support in order to continue on this race that I am confident I have been called to. Currently, of the $13,800 needed for all 11 months, God has blessed me with $9,469, leaving me with $4,331 to be fully funded. While Adventures in Missions does have a ton of grace when it comes to support, there is a point where AIM can no longer cover if support is not coming in. I do need to have at least $2000 as soon as possible to avoid returning home early. Over the last 6 months I have seen God do some amazing things and I remain confident that we serve a powerful God that has the ability to bring in what I need to continue on this journey. While his power and ability transcends the boundaries of this world, He chooses to use us to carry out His will and purpose in an imperfect and conflicted world. I would like to humbly ask you to prayerfully consider supporting me on the World Race however you feel led. No amount is too small either monthly or a one time gift.

If you do feel led to give, AIM has presented several options for giving. By clicking on the “support me” link to the left of this blog, you can give online using credit card or bank draft (bank draft recommended) or you can print the necessary information to mail your donation.

Again, thank you all so much for your prayers, support and encouragement while I've been away. The World Race is an incredible challenge and I have been stretched in ways I would never have expected. But, it is worth every passing day, week and month to see God move in the lives of the broken and the lost. Please pray that God will continue to use our squad to bring glory to His name in everything we do.

This month is what we call “manistry” month for our world race. The men break off and do their own thing for a month, being vulnerable with each other, building deeper relationships and strengthening the bonds between the men on the squad. Manistry for “M” squad is in full swing here at a YWAM post in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Operated by an amazing couple called Arun (husband) and Bang (wife), the church has been here for about 8 years, being a light in a community that has not had much exposure to Christianity before they came to town.

We've basically been working on the grounds doing anything and everything we can to help them further the capabilities of the ministry site. This has included moving rock, mixing cement, helping to cut and plant a new tapioca field, cutting banana trees to feed animals and even herding cows and goats to and from their pastures. There are several momma cows that come after you if you get to close to the babies, so herding can be, um, interesting. Several of us have had close calls with a horned momma cow that we've called “El Diablo”. 

I've been sleeping in my tent all month in a raised, open building surrounded by majestic mountains that sometimes remind me of the Rockies back home. Its very hot but I don't seem to notice it anymore, constant sweating has become a normal part of life.

Everyday we have taken time to tell our “stories”. We tell each other about our lives, how we got to where we are now and what our challenges and struggles have been leading up to and on the World Race. This has been an amazing time of coming together and speaking into each other's lives and has made room for growth and healing. When someone is that vulnerable with you, you feel an immediate connection with them.

I am not sure what else to say, this has been a month of growth, sacrifice, rewarding hard work, and learning from each other.

Please feel free to leave comments with questions, a lot when down this month so it's definitely not all here.

When we first pulled up to the Rizal Provincial Jail in Rizal, Philippines, it all looked very intimidating. We stopped at the gate, where several guards held modified M16 rifles or shotguns. The guards starred at us suspiciously and proceeded to tell Rollie, one of our ministry contacts, that something was wrong with the permissions he had received only 3 days before. We would have to jump through more hoops to gain access to the jail. A few days later, after a lot of prayer and a few visits to the governor's office, we returned to the jail. This time, we were greeted by the guards with smiles, their weapons mostly out of sight and we went right in without even having to stop. This was night and day from our first attempt to begin our prison ministry. We were casually searched, our arms stamped showing that we are "visitors" and led back the chapel area of the prison.

Once inside, we still had no idea what to expect from the prisoners themselves. Would these people be open to the gospel? Would they speak English? What about security, would we be safe if something were to happen? What we found was that in this particular jail, about 80% of the inmates actually professed to be Christians! However, as it is in the US, that can mean many different things, but it was start. They even had their own worship team, somewhat. guitar player, a vocal leader and a drummer that used an interesting drum that he sat on and played beneath him. First we worshiped together, in English, a few songs that were fairly new but mostly songs that I had to delve back into my childhood to recall. After worship, we all had the opportunity to share our stories, briefly, before Rollie put them into groups for each of us to lead Bible studies with. This would be, for the most part, the format that our 2 hour a day, 3 day a week visits at RPJ consisted of.

The original study groups that we were with ended up sticking for the entire time there, allowing us to really get to know the men (or women, that the ladies on our team were with) on a deeper level. Several shared their heart-wrenching stories of how they had ended up in the prison. Due to the overwhelming poverty in the Philippines many turn to stealing and dealing drugs to feed themselves and their families, this is the most common offense. However, there were also those convicted of more serious crimes, such as murder and rape. Regardless of their crimes, my heart broke for these men, many of whom their families had turned their backs on. A prayer request for virtually all of the men was that their families would be reconciled and that they would come to visit them.

I always looked forward to our time at the jail.  I had become good friends with a particular inmate called Brian. Brian speaks English fairly well and would often interpret for me, especially when I wanted to be sure that the men understood an important point I was trying to emphasize. Many could understand English but could not speak it very well, so Brian was a huge help to me. This is a terrible picture, but you can see all my guy that were in my Bible study.  

One conversation that broke me into pieces was with a man by the name of Alex. He told me at one point during a Bible study that even though he had accepted Christ as his savior, he still wasn't sure if he was going to heaven. I asked him why he thought that, because if he had made Jesus the Lord of his life, that he can be sure of his salvation and that he would, one day, go to heaven. He looked at me with tears in his eyes and said with very broken English "but... I have done so many very bad things". I don't know if God can forgive these things". When I heard that, my own eyes welled up and for the rest of my time there that day I sat with Alex and slowly explained our God's amazing grace, mercy and forgiveness. That no matter what we have done, all we have to do is ask Him to forgive us and that those things are cast into the sea of forgetfulness and remembered no longer. We eventually prayed together and before I left for the day, he hugged me almost uncomfortably tightly and simply said, "thank you, I understand now".

If I could have given up everything else I have seen and experienced in the Philippines just to have that one afternoon with Alex, it would have been worth it. To see his face when the light came on and the grip of guilt and condemnation was lifted off of him to be replaced with forgiveness and love, it's indescribable. 

In a place where freedom is ever elusive, there are those at RPJ, like Alex, that have found peace, forgiveness and freedom in Christ that can not be hidden, stolen or locked away. As corny as it sounds, they have found redemption... behind bars.

I haven't blogged yet this month, I'm a slacker, I know. I think I've started this blog about 5 times but I feel like I'm still processing what my life has looked like this month. But, here's an overview with more to come.

I arrived in the Philippines with my entire squad on March first, after over a day of traveling. We had left Gold Coast, Australia, flew for 8 hours to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and had something like a 15-hour layover there before catching our final flight to Manila, Philippines.

This month our entire squad has been together at Kids International Ministries in Rizal, outside of Manila. KIM has an orphanage here as well as being very active in the extremely poor communities in surrounding areas. Director Jeff Long, his family and staff have been incredible hosts and have given us many opportunities to minister in diverse ways. We've been blessed to take on ministries such as feeding children in the streets, Bible studies with young gang members, prison ministries, mentoring and tutoring kids in the orphanage, vacation Bible school, building homes and so much more. Every team has a primary ministry focus but have their hands in others as well.

This has all kept us pretty busy but now and then we've had the chance to go out and

see more of the surrounding areas. Problem was, how do we get there?

Enter: The trikey. A trikey is a motorcycle of sorts with a large side cart bolted onto it. We usually only have 7 of us in this little guy but I've seen up to 10 with people hanging off the sides and riding on the back, which is a lot of fun I might add. The trikey costs 8 pesos (about 17 cents) and will take us down the road to the nearest major intersection a few miles from where we live.

From there, it's all about the jeepney. This gaudy creature is the primary method of transportation in the Philippines. It seats maybe 20+ at a time and generally costs about

7 pesos to get to the nearest mall, called SM TayTay. Jeepneys are also known for having murals of anything from Britney Spears to Jesus and everything in between painted on the sides. So, as you can see, transportation in the Philippines is um, interesting, to say the least.

It is like living in two different worlds when you leave the general comfort of the KIM compound and go outside the gate. It is a very poor community, small shacks with tin roofs lining the dirt roads that also serve as waste runoff at times. Many parents teach their adorable kids to go out and ask for money when they see a white person or someone that looks like they have money.

The people here are very friendly overall, even in the prisons, which has been my team's primary ministry this month. Men and women who have been convicted of dealing drugs, stealing and even murder, greet you with a smile when you arrive and are anxious to study God's word... amazing. This has been my first experience being the racial minority but I doubt that it feels like this in the US. Sometimes you feel a little bit like a rock star when you take a casual walk down the street. Kids come out of nowhere to talk and play with you and others just stare at the group of Americans walking down the street.  I've even found myself doing the same thing. I'll be walking in the mall and will see a few white people and I'll take a second look and wonder who they are and what they're doing here. Maybe sometimes I feel like I am Filipino, even though I've only lived here a month and speak (maybe) two words in tagalog. 

So there's a little bit of an overview of what we've been doing and what life is like here in the Philippines. More to come soon with details on our super amazing prison ministry and recent events on M squad. From here on out I promise I'll try to stay more on top of things.

Since arriving in Byron Bay about 3 weeks ago, we've been involved in several different kinds of ministry ranging from feeding the homeless to local volunteer work to street and beach witnessing. The first two I mentioned are easy. You show up, you do what is needed, love on people and share your faith when the window is there. It's all about blessing people. The latter, on the other hand is a little bit different in Byron Bay. While people are generally polite and accepting, as soon as you begin to talk about your faith, their guard seems to come up instantly. Many will either listen and change the subject as quickly as possible or proceed to tell us everything that is wrong with our "religion". I had one aussie guy straight up tell me that Christianity is bull **** and would rather believe in dreamtime (the local aboriginal tradition) than to believe in a guy that may or may not have existed 2,000 years ago. Another man, an aborigine, told us that Christianity had ruined Australia and forced the natives off of their land and from their way of life. Initially, I was quick to blame much of this on the enemy's influence over the people we've talked to, but God began to show me that this wasn't the only component at work here.

Much of this, I believe, is our fault. By "our" I mean the body of Christ as a whole. In various conversations that I've had, I have found that Christianity has been misrepresented for so long in Byron (and around the world, actually) that many just don't really know who Jesus really is and the message we are trying to communicate. According to many people I've talked to, Christians are intolerant, unloving, hypocritical, forceful and generally, uneducated about what they believe. This creates the idea that Christians are "brainwashed" to believe what they believe without any real foundation to support it. Even worse, now they're out to brainwash everyone else!

Through the devil's influence on God's own people, this bad seed that has been planted here over generations has created an environment that is vastly closed to the gospel. The intolerance of those have come before us have paved the way for a culture of extreme tolerance. A culture that says "you believe what you want and I'll believe what I want and we'll both eventually get to the same place". It is difficult to communicate the love of Christ which can be misconstrued as tolerance for different beliefs and then balance that by saying that we have all sinned and are in need of His forgiveness and grace. 

My team and I have been going in to Acts quite a bit this month, looking at how God was able to use the early apostles to begin a movement of Christianity wherever they went. Seeing what God did through them at that time, we would find ourselves asking what we're doing wrong. Why isn't God using me in that way? Why aren't miracles happening wherever we go and why aren't our numbers growing daily? Those are loaded questions, but I believe that part of it is that the hearts of the people here are hardened toward God due to our collective irresponsibility.

So what are we doing now? The basics of what Christ taught us - loving people. To show people who He really is we have to reflect His character before we do anything else. That's been our main goal since we arrived in Byron, to love people and let them see Jesus in us. Many groups and churches have already been changing the culture; we've only been a small part. Youth With A Mission has been a great partner of ours while we've been here and they have done an amazing job consistently reaching out in the community as well as local churches such as Eastgate Church where we've been staying.

God is moving here, just not as He did in Acts as we would like. He has used us to speak life, love and encouragement to many people that we've come to know here. We've had the opportunity to pour into locals, the homeless, backpackers and those on holiday and it has been a joy and a privilege to interact with them on a daily basis. Many people have told us that people know we're here. Our presence has been felt in the community and I haven't personally heard of any negative comments about us being here.

As I write this, my squad has been here for nearly 3 weeks and will be here another week before we move on to the Philippines. Please pray that our last week here will be fruitful, that God will grant us favor with those we will be in contact with and that He will be glorified in all that we say and do.