Posted in Rwanda by Wes Webb on 2/9/2012
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You take a shower maybe twice a week
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Being okay with sitting in your sweat puddle
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Attending church for a 6 hours a day
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Laying hands on any/everyone regardless of where you are
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Never having a warm shower
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Not knowing what a real toilet is
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Taking a 17 passenger bus with a minimum of 35 people
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Wearing the same clothes for 5 days straight
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Knowing that there is no other way to wash clothes other than by hand
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Eating with your hands
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Paying $0.33 for a coke
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Eating the same thing everyday for a month
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Wading water to get to church
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Declaring things at the top of your lungs
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Dancing and yelling in church
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Accepting that everyone will be at least an hour late for everything
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Sleeping on a mat every night
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Pitching a tent in the living room to sleep
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Getting your meat freshly slaughtered and cleaned in front of you
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Eating 2 dozen eggs a week
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Rejoicing at even dial up internet
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Taking a motorcycle as a cab
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Have no problem with living with rats, bats, mosquitoes, moths, frogs, birds, and other mysterious insects.
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Drinking only bottled water
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Preparing to speak means opening your bible
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A nice church is one with a roof, walls, and a dirt floor
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Living on $4 a day
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Seeking the Lord’s guidance in EVERY decision
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Forgetting how to speak English
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Riding motorcycles into the mountains- no roads
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Seeing beautiful waterfalls
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Flying around Everest
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Riding an elephant
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Going on a safari seeing all kinds of exotic animals
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Buying a club from a warrior
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Loving on all people no matter race, religion, class
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Answering questions about why I believe
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Making a muslim think about his faith
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Calling French fries chips
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Going to Zanzibar
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Traveling to 10 countries in just 5 months
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Rocking a Mohawk
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Growing a sick beard with no care in the world
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Being called muzungu-or white person and being fine with it
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Seeing Demons manifest
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Healing people
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Casting out demons
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Having people persecute/laugh at the gospel of Christ
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A short trip is one of 10 hours or less
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Traveling for 3 plus days with no sleep
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Having the “squatty” and shower in the same stall
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Playing charades to communicate
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Living with 4 other people 24/7/365
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Receiving Constructive feedback….everyday
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Getting ripped off but being okay with it because its so cheap you think you ripped them off
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When missing a whole season of football and hunting is not the end of my life
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Snapping the heads off of pigeons
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Cleaning those same pigeons and eating them
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Eating pork fat, grease, and potatoes
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Eating Rice every day
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A milkshake is flavored milk
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Eating Goat, sheep, cow balls, crocodile, ostrich
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Goodbye means hello
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You don’t know what a mirror is, you look at yourself only when you pass a window in town
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You lift weights-water bottles filled with sand
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Hiding your toilet paper so no one steals it
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You head bobble to say yes or no…It’s an Indian thing
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You take a shower and continue to rub dirt off yourself
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Posted in Tanzania by Wes Webb on 1/25/2012
Coming into this season of my life I thought it would all be just go with the flow. I thought it would be a season in which I just sit back and follow a leader. I knew it would be a season of deep growth, but what has happened so far is mind boggling to me. After month 3 God decided to throw me on a wild roller coaster called being a team leader. God had completely changed my life in 3 months and he had way bigger plans than I ever thought of having. I accepted this position knowing God was going to move in big ways and teach me infinitely more than he did in the first 3 months of my race.
Since being a leader I have been broken in so many ways. I have been trying to figure out ways to foster growth, unity, love, honor, etc in my team. I have been just trying to find my path or my way of leadership that God has for me. I was doing an okay job at all this, but I wasn’t really satisfied in what I was doing. So I prayed and when you pray you get results. What came to me as a result of this prayer were an argument and a breakdown!
One great thing about being on the World Race is that we live in a culture of honor. It’s a culture that puts everyone else above us. It’s a culture of high grace and of much love. Sure I have been surrounded with great people before the race, but never with 40 some odd people who truly love me no matter what I do. These are people who will never leave me where I am at by myself and people who love me unconditionally. We also have something called feedback. Everyday we get the opportunity to speak life into one another. Feedback is all about perception and it is used to help us grow as Christians. We get to build people up with positive things, but we also get to call one another up into things we could do better.
So with this being said you understand just a little of how we live our lives. We can’t escape one another. We live together 24/7 for 11 months. Last week I got feedback on how I woke one member of my team up. You heard me right. To me this feedback sent me over the edge. Since becoming a team leader I knew I would be watched harder than anyone else and I new I would receive more feedback than anyone else. Over the past month I have received lots of little feedback like this and I didn’t know what to do with it. The enemy used it against me to tell me I was just a big target and people wanted something to complain. Satan told me all they wanted to do was moan and groan because they didn’t like me. He also told me that if I couldn’t do something as small as waking someone up right how could I ever do anything else right. He basically conned me into thinking that I would never be good and that I wasn’t made to be a leader. So with this feedback I got offended and we all had a little argument. It wasn’t the prettiest thing you have ever seen. Midway the feedback one of the people on my team asked me why I was offended and why didn’t I just accept it. After all feedback is about perception and we can let it roll off if it doesn’t fit. Even though the person who gave me the feedback explained why the reason I woke her up wrong was because it startled her and in her past she had a bad time with things like that I didn’t want to hear it. So I walked off to cool down.
I went to the church to get alone and I started to pray. As I said earlier when we pray we get results and boy did God give me a handful. The words they spoke to me started to play in my mind. Why was I offended? Why didn’t I just take the feedback? Why couldn’t I just honor this person in calling me up to better things? Then God gave me a revelation! It was a revelation that is related to my whole life before the race. I have been pretty good at serving and loving others all my life, but never before have I experienced the love and grace of humans like this before. In my life before this trip when I served and loved I felt like a lot of it was always thrown back in my face. I thought that people didn’t want my love and it made me believe that it was all due to me. I believed that everything I did had to be perfect or it wasn’t good enough. Even when I did things darn near perfect people still rejected it and it caused me to withdraw. I was serving and loving from a place of having to prove myself. I was doing all of this out of fear of failure. I thought that if I ever failed people would immediately reject me and not love me. I guess I had never really grasped the concept of unconditional love. I also had always let small things roll off my shoulders. I would rather you bring me something big to deal with than something little. In fact it would be easier for me to deal with something big than something this small.
I knew that God had unconditional love for me, but was it really possible for people to have that same love? So I came to the realization that despite how people receive my love and service I have to do it anyways. Jesus loved and served better than anyone else in history and people still hated and rejected him. My circumstances cannot determine how I love or serve. No matter how many people curse, reject, or persecute me I am loved unconditionally. No matter how many times or how bad I fail God still believes in me because he made me. He put me in this position and he will be faithful in doing what he wants. No matter how many lies the enemy throws at me I have to realize I am serving for an eternal purpose. I am not serving for me, but for Christ! Galatians 1:10 says, “Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.”
So I am in a new season. I have found more of my identity in Christ. I know that I am going to fail, but I also know that failure does not make God love me less. I know that he is right there to pick me up, brush my shoulders off, and tell me to get back in there because HE believes in me. It is amazing to know that he loves me more than I could ever imagine and that he is pleased with me. All he asks me to do is seek him, serve him, love him, and love others with my WHOLE heart.
Also my team spoke sweet life into me after we met for the second time. They let me know that they were there no matter what. They let me know that they loved me unconditionally. They wanted me to be the best version of myself that I could be and they were just calling me up into that. That was something I had lacked before.
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Posted in Tanzania by Wes Webb on 1/10/2012
As month 4 in India came and went so did 2011. Our last night in Ongole India was New Years Eve and boy did they show us a good time. We were served a buffet of Indian cuisine, served the Lord’s supper, got our own firework extravaganza, and had worship with 4 teams on A squad. I hated to leave, but I knew God has crazy things planned for Africa.
We flew out of Chennai early in the morning on Wednesday the 4th. We had a layover in Bahrain, during which I ate Chillis. We then flew on to Nairobi, Kenya. We stayed for 5 days in Kenya for de-brief before departing for Tanzania. Debrief is just a time to relax and process what all has gone on over the last 4 months. It was somewhat restful and overall good. My team also changed again (long story)ha-ha! Team SOAR is now down to 5 members.
Here is where I finally get submerged into African culture. 2 of our teams left out early in the morning of the 8 to head to Tanzania. Our bus was supposed to pick us up in Nairobi at 630 am heading to Dar es Salaam. We waited and waited and waited. Finally we got picked up at around 11 am by a temporary bus. This bus would only take us a few hours away and we were told our other bus would be there to pick us up. We arrive late in the evening to Moshi Tanzania. We were told to get off and wait for our bus. After l heard one African man telling the bus driver to just tell us the truth I knew it was not good. So we wait and wait and wait. About midnight our bus arrives to take us to Dar es Salaam. Let me mention that we were supposed to be in Dar es Salaam at 7pm that day to meet a contact. We were then going to get a hotel room overnight and catch a bus the next morning to Morogoro. After boarding our second bus we drive all night and all the next morning. We arrive in Dar es Salaam right before noon, praise God! After arriving we scurry to find sim cards and/or Internet to get in touch with our contacts. 3 of 4 phones were dead, but thankfully one was charged. If you did not know we missed our hotel and our bus.
We eventually get in contact with our guy in Kenya to call the guy in Dar es Salaam to come help us. We all wanted to just take a shower and pass out. After he arrives and talks with us we decide to just get on one more bus for 4 hours. This would take us to Morogoro, our place of ministry this month. So at about 5pm the day after leaving Nairobi we arrive in Morogoro. We were filthy, exhausted, and smelling like something dead.
So here I sit in Morogoro. My contact has left for a week and my team and me are just chilling. This is our week to get to know the city, perfect! We are also waiting on 2 of our other members to join us here. Angel lost her passport so she and Layne had to stay behind in Nairobi to get things squared away. For now it is just me, Emily, and root root (Ruth). We are twiddling our thumbs and waiting for something to do, but at least we get to rest.
PS: Africa is BEAUTIFUL, I do not care what you heard.
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Posted in India by Wes Webb on 12/21/2011
Christmas time: my favorite time of the year. Of course it’s all because of Jesus, but there are other good parts as well. Presents, family, food, my birthday, shopping shopping and more shopping, lights, decorations, cold weather, the list goes on and on, but these are just a few things that make Christmas time a little sweeter. This year however I have given up all these things. I won’t have all these things. I miss my family and friends like nobody’s business, but I have been given supernatural peace.
I get to live in India where it is well above 80 degrees. I do not get to shop or have a big feast. I don’t get to see lights or receive gifts. I get to do something even better believe it or not. I just get to love on over 110 special needs orphans! It is the best present ever! These kids are amazing.
So I know you all are spent out. You have all your shopping done and you won’t be able to breathe until after the first of the year because of all the money you spent. You are tired of running around and you have 100+ things to do before the big day; however, I just ask you to dig a little deeper. You can have the same opportunity I do simply by donating whatever spare change you have left to these orphans, many of whom have never celebrated Christmas or been given gifts. The needs of this place are great. I know times are tough, but in India a little goes a long way. Seriously, my friends, what better Christmas could you ever experience than one in which you get to instantly impact the lives of 111 special needs orphans in India? That's love, my friends. And that's what Christmas is truly about...
We have set up a pay-pal account and your donations will go towards financing Christmas for these precious children!!
Go to www.paypal.com
click "send payment"
to: brianna.danese@gmail.com
(Bri is a girl on my squad)
* Please include a note stating that this is for the orphans
100% of all donations will go towards the children
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Posted in India by Wes Webb on 12/21/2011
I just want to open this blog with saying that God is totally ridiculous. The amount of love he has shown me these past 4 months has been incredible. The depth he has taken me to with so many people has been awesome. Basically all the blessings I have received are so astonishing. Coming into team changes in after month 3 was a bit crazy. I knew all along God was preparing my heart for something better and something deeper, but I didn’t know what. So Nepal ends and we have a mini-debrief. We all knew things were coming to an end and we had to say goodbye to our old teams. Then God blows me away again, I was asked to be a team leader. I knew that God had big plans for me on this race, but never in a thousand years would I have guessed I would have been leading a team. The place God has brought me in just 4 months is light years away from where I was when I left home. I can’t even try to describe how good it has been though. God has continuously revealed so many things to me and I know that he is going to do big things.
So now I am the leader of a team with all new incredible people. We are all from different walks of life, but we all have been brought together for a purpose. The things we are already going through are good. I know God has great things in store for us. These people are amazing.
Coming into this month I wanted one thing: to love more like God loves. So here we are in India. Our first month together so far has been so good. We are partnered with a big ministry in India known as ICM (Indian Christian Ministries). While here we are working at a special needs orphanage that currently has over 110 kids. The needs range from simple Tb to CP, downs syndrome, and anything else you can think of. I have never really been big on playing with or teaching kids of any kind. So that’s why God sent me here. He knew what I needed and he knew just how to provide. Who better to love than these kids who have never had anyone love them? The reason they are here to start with is because they are seen as curses and their families left them for dead. HEARTBREAKER!
Oh how he has shown me love and increased my love so far this month. I know that my joy and my strength come from him and that’s just what I draw upon everyday, because without him I would be overwhelmed. It is hard seeing these kids in this place knowing that they have been left behind and all they want is someone to love. I don’t even want to think what will happen when I leave this place; however I know that God has a place for these kids. I know that he is watching over them. I know that he will provide for them. It seems these kids have done more for me this month than I could ever do for them. They truly have my heart
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Posted in Nepal by Wes Webb on 12/1/2011
Picture opening doors for people who don’t look you in the eye. Picture yourself walking by strangers and saying hello without any reply. Picture yourself waving and smiling to people as you pass without them even acknowledging you. Where are you? One thing is for sure you’re certainly not in the South! One little thing that I have missed since being gone is the simple hospitality that I am used to. Of course I know I abandoned all my comforts to serve the Lord and I am thoroughly enjoying it, but it is sad at times. Don’t get me wrong the people we have met so far are very hospitable once you talk to them and get to know them. They even go beyond what people in the South do sometimes; however, in the bigger picture most people look at me as if I am lost. Maybe they think I am after all I’m in the bush of Nepal. I am just glad that I was raised in a culture where we welcome all people like they are family (shout out to all who helped instill this in me!)
I do think that I have found the reason for their negativity or whatever expression is on their faces. I think it runs deeper than being an American. It runs deeper than having never met a white man. It runs far deeper than not speaking the same language. In fact it’s that they don’t have any hope. All the things they take comfort in are dead ends. The gods they worship are idols. Most don’t even know who Jesus is or they don’t know hardly anything about him. The extreme poverty and the things they face on a daily basis don’t make things any easier. The best way to say it is they are desperate for a savior. They are dying to know that there is a true God who cares. They need to know that there is hope. They need to know that there is a better life. They need to know that there was one who bore all their sins and defeated death. They need to know that there is no reason not to be joyous and happy every day. That’s why he sent WALDO here.
This first week of ministry has taught me so much. It has broken me down in even more ways than I can explain, so I won’t even try in this blog. Sunday we had the opportunity to go out to a local village via our first public bus in Nepal. To say the least it was the worst ride of my life. The roads are dirt/gravel with potholes EVERYWHERE! It was the most cramped I have ever been as well. The ceiling of the bus stands about 5’6”. Asians are not very tall people so it is not a problem for them; however, when the 6’ tall American comes to town his head gets bashed against every object in the bus. We finally make it to our destination and I am so relieved.
On our way into the village we stop by and talk with a group of people outside a store. They ask us the famous question. Why are we here and what are we doing? We respond with our names and where we are from. Then we give them a quick synopsis of Christianity. After this they talk with the pastor a minute and we then hand them tracks. After a few minutes we head off deeper into the village. After a short walk we run into a small group of people gathered around talking. If you didn’t know the 6 of us draw so much attention! No matter where we are or what we are doing people always stare us down! The pastor stops and begins to talk with them. After a few minutes we get the same question and give them the answers. He then asks us to hand them tracks. What happened next hit me deep. As I extended my hand to offer one lady a track she refused. She didn’t want anything to do with it. Before coming on this trip I remember having a conversation with Uncle D during a round of golf. He told me that not everyone I would come in contact with wanted to hear the good news. I knew this, but now it was really happening. Jesus tells us not to cast our pearl in front of swine. I had to kindly withdraw my hand and go about my business for the one who does want to hear. After a few minutes in conversation with the pastor a couple of guys ask us to come with them for 10 minutes (time is very relative here in Nepal). So we gladly head over. He takes us to a little hut with a table and they ask us to sit down and talk. We dig deeper into who Jesus is and why we were here. They are very interested and they start smiling. As we are seated many people start to gather around us. One boy walks up with a cross on his chest and my team leader asks him does he know what it means. The boy says that he doesn’t really know what it means, that he received it while attending a service in Malaysia. So Christian explains to him what it means. After this we were asked to sing a song. This was also the only day we did not bring one of the 3 guitars we have. So we do what we know to do and sing Amazing Grace.
We think that we are about to leave so we ask them if we can pray for them. One man who has joined to gathering tells us he has something wrong with his arms and another says he has a skin problem so we pray for both of them. There are also about 15 kids that have gathered now and one of the men say that a little girl standing by needs prayer. We ask what is wrong and they tell us that she has pain in her leg because one leg is shorter than the other. The pastor sits her on the table and examines her, sure enough this info was correct. So we begin to pray over the girl. We each have our hands on her, but my teammate Kacie puts her hand on the knee of the short leg. As we pray Kacie feels the kneecap move over, something happen in her leg, and her kneecap move back into place. NUTS! After we get done the girl gets up and tests it out. Unsurprisingly she says she feels better. How good is God? This was the first time I have ever seen an on the spot healing. As the next few hours go by more and more people keep coming forth wanting us to pray over them. I guess that it doesn’t help that Nepal ranked 140 out of 140 countries for healthcare, but who needs medicine when we have God? I think overall there were about 20 people we prayed for.
The reason my title reads like it does was inspired by this day. As we prayed for person after person I noticed that none of them had faith in the true God of the universe. None believed in Christ because they all bore the red dot of Hinduism on their forehead. The reason they bore the dot was because they had spent time with their god(s) that day; however, they are idols and thus were not coming through for them. They all looked like they just wanted to give up. There is no doubt in my mind they saw the light of Jesus in us and knew we had hope for them. They each wanted more than what they had or had experienced. They each wanted a fresh burst of life. I hope that they received that. I will never know how many were healed or how many accepted Christ, but I have full faith and knowledge that Christ did great things!
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Posted in Nepal by Wes Webb on 12/1/2011
Since we began our ministry here in Sarlahi we have had some ridiculous experiences and encounters with God’s amazing love. We started our ministry on Thursday by going to a local village. To get there we walked about 4 miles each way. When we arrived some residents who were Christians greeted us. After spending a few minutes in conversation with our contact we were invited to one couple’s home. We all gathered around and they cleared off a spot for us in the hut right outside their home. We spent the next few hours worshipping together. We sang to them, they sang to us, and Marissa shared a word. Afterwards we were given tea, cookies, and sugar cane.
ONE THING IS FOR SURE. I live in an environment that honors others and with people who prefer one another and honor one another; however, since being in Nepal these people have honored and blessed us so much. Even though they have almost nothing they give us so much. They give us the best treats they have, the biggest portions of amazing food, they make us go first always, and they give us the best seats available. People on the bus today even gave up their seat for me to sit. It has been so humbling to see how hospitable these people are. It makes me feel like I’m at home in the South somewhat!
The next day we were able to visit a local school about a mile and a half away. I was feeling a bit in a rut before we got there; however, that would quickly change. It was a government owned school, but somehow we got the go ahead to visit. When we arrived over a hundred students, the teachers, the principal, and some of the local church leaders greeted us. We were asked to grab a seat in the middle of the school grounds so we do. As we proceed through the yard the crowd erupts in applause! Each of us looked at one another and none of us knew why this was happening. The truth is they were just happy that we came and wanted to stop by and share with them. We open in song and then get asked the question of the month. Apparently we have found a place that even National Geographic hasn’t picked up yet. Everyone we see asks us where we are from and why we are here. No foreigners come here. No one has come here to help or even to spread the word of God UNTIL NOW. So we share where we are from and why we are here. We got to share Jesus at a public school in a primarily Hindu nation. Something isn’t right. I got to share Jesus in a government owned school in a Hindu nation when I can’t even so much as pray in a public school in America? Interesting…Next we are asked to teach them a song. My team leader proposes we teach them a chant that our squad loves. So we teach them “Hail Hail Lion of Judah”. They don’t know what they were saying, but they were praising our God! I pray they come to know our savior personally.
The students then entertained us with a few dances of their own. We closed out the meeting and we asked inside to talk with the leaders, principal, and teachers. They treated us to a delicious meal as we sat around talking. We soon learned that we were the first Americans to ever visit the school! This was probably our ticket into the school, but Jesus works in crazy ways. The only teacher who spoke English translated for us. She was a tiny Nepali woman with a very sweet heart. We gathered that she was a Taoist, but we plan to help her change that before we leave. They all asked us a question that I don’t think I have been asked in many years. They all wanted to know if we would just be their friends! How touching. We all of course voiced our happiness to be their friend. The principal and all the teachers wanted our Email addresses to keep in touch. It is crazy to think that we were the first Americans to visit the school and the only foreign friends they have. As I said the bad day I was having was completely changed. The Lord lathered his love all over me through these people and I hope that I did the same for them.
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Posted in Nepal by Wes Webb on 12/1/2011
After leaving Moldova on Tuesday we drove one hour to Chisinau the Capital city. At 530 pm on that evening we caught a train bound for Bucharest, the capital city of Romania. We arrived in Bucharest at about 730 the next morning. We all hung out until about 11:45. During our time there we grabbed a bite to eat and scavenged what little wifi was there. We then headed out to the airport to check in and catch our flight at 5. It was an interesting time at the airport as we all found out that our bags and daypacks were probably overweight. We all scurried to throw stuff away and lighten up our packs in any way.
I made it through without a hustle until I made it to security. Just a few days prior I had put my mini survival kit in my daypack to make sure I was never without it. The reason I made this move was because I found myself in the woods of Moldova without any means to make a fire and just a raw piece of meat and bread. This kit consisted of wool, a knife, matches, string, and other miscellaneous items. As I approached security I pulled off my belt, took all things out of my pockets, and took out all my electronics. As I proceeded the security man frisked me pretty hard. I got cleared and waited for my bags at the other end; however, it would get rejected and scanned about 5 times. The guy then pulls me aside and checks my bag thoroughly, pulling all suspicious items out. He eventually realizes I have matches and a knife! He tells me that these items are not permitted and I may want to consider getting rid of them ON THE NEXT FLIGHT! That’s right this guard saw a white middle-class American bound for the Middle East and he just lets me on board with my matches and knife. Good thing I am a Christian and would never attempt anything ridiculous, but how many other people has he let slide through?
After catching our flight out from Bucharest we land in quatar sometime during the night on Wednesday. We have a few hours there and then we catch our flight heading to New Delhi, India. After a few hours we arrive with no problems. We have about a 4 hour layover there before we head to Kathmandu. During this time we had to recheck our luggage and get things squared away with passports and whatnot, which seemed to take an act of congress. We board our plane to Kathmandu sometime during the morning on Thursday and head out. We land for the 3rd time in a day with no problems and hurry off to get our visas and luggage. After several hours we break with prayer and everyone heads to their spots. Five teams, one of which was mine, head to a local house right outside the city for a few days until we can get to our ministries. We arrive late that night and are welcomed by X squad. Luckily I get to meet Val who is an X squadder from the big city of Swainsboro. How crazy is it that the first time we meet is in Kathmandu, Nepal! We chill out for about 5 days until we head to our ministry site on Tuesday. We head out at 6 am on Tuesday morning. We take a very rocky and crazy drive in a 4-wheel drive van to our destination in Sarlahi, Nepal. It took about 7 hours and was one of the wildest rides I have ever taken. We drove over many mountains on one-lane roads, honking the horn every time we neared a curve to warn other vehicles that we were coming. The scenery was so breath taking though. Easily some of the most beautiful sites I have ever had the chance to see. At about 2 pm we arrive at our pad in a small village in Sarlahi. This place is in the back woods! We are in the Bush of Nepal, not too far from the Indian border. Meeks, Ga can’t hold a flame to how far out in the boonies this place is. Things are going great though and we are here in our spacious hut.
A video will be posted shortly on how sweet our crib is!
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Posted in Moldova by Wes Webb on 10/31/2011
When it comes to ministry this month I would not hesitate to say that I have been pushed to a whole new level. A level that has promoted a lot of growth, but has also caused me to fight off a lot of attacks. My ministry area this month has been manual labor on the farm. This work has entailed many hard tasks that often wanted to leave me with a sour attitude and asking a lot of questions, but I have been able to fight through it with the Lord’s help. The first day we were here we had to pick all the pumpkins on the farm and gather up all the vines. We also had to pick all the tomatoes and peppers and destroy the bushes. After this we started helping one of the men in the church add on to his house. We laid block and also helped with the roof.
The next couple of days we had to start digging up stumps. That’s right I said dig, with a shovel. We are talking about pretty good sized stumps which were situated on a steep hill. Digging all around them and exposing the roots then axing them and pulling them up. I have also had the opportunity to round up the farm animals and feed them. After a few days we were able to get up most of the stumps.
Next we were given the task of tilling up the land. Up until this point I was really pumped to be doing manual labor. I mean I was born and raised in South Ga. I grew up in the country and learned how to farm, do construction, and many other great things at an early age. The tilling I have been accustomed to is with A) A tiller you push or B) harrowing up the land by way of tractor. This task however took tilling to a whole new level for me, tilling with a shovel! You bet your bottom dollar that I looked at this man like he was nuts! He wanted us to dig our shovels in the dirt and the turn over the soil, repeating this until we finished this whole big plot of land. This job put me to the test, but I realized many things through this. 1) Most of the world doesn’t even have the means to even think of a hand tiller or tractor. 2) God is my strength and he just wanted to see if I was really ready to serve as he has called me. 3) Satan wanted me to have a bad attitude. Even if I did what I was told, but had a nasty attitude what kind of service is that? I realized what I was here for and what I had to do so I gladly performed the service.
There was another day that was equally as trying. Coming off of about a 3 day bacteria stint, I learned we had to start building a new chicken coupe because the one they had was too big and the chickens could not stay warm so they started dying. Building didn’t sound like a big deal, but the blocks we had to build with were each about 30-40 lbs and 200 yards away. Great! So first we had to gather all the blocks. I remind you I was drained and had no energy from the previous 3-4 days. This easily could be one of the hardest and most tiring days yet, but it was so good. I didn’t let satan get me or my attitude and I served.
On Saturday I got asked to go to the forest to work. I accepted and sort of knew what I was getting into, but not fully until I got there. The scenario is this: Someone came in and cut down hundreds of trees of all sizes. Earlier in the week a couple of our guys went up and drug most of the trees into piles. So now it is Saturday and we go back. Octav (one of the church leaders) sends us off with a plan, 4 loaves of bread, a frozen chicken, and a frozen piece of pork. The 6 of us catch a ride in the back of a van full of walnuts and head to our destination. About 20 mins later we get dropped off approximately a mile and a half from where we need to be and have to walk the rest of the way. We finally get to where we need to be and 3 of us start dragging the rest of the trees into piles. The other 3 start taking them out of the piles, chop off all the branches, and pile them up to be taken home. I will say it was a hectic dragging trees through the woods while tripping on stumps that were left behind and busting my knee. So we do this for about an hour and a half and decide its time for lunch. What we failed to realize is that we have no means of making a fire and no pan to cook in because the guy who dropped us off failed to come back. So we just sat around and ate bread and drank water. After lunch we all took the job of pulling trees out of the piles and chopping them up. The thing is that not once did I even think about getting a bad attitude. The reason we were here is so that the orphans could have firewood for the winter. At 5 pm we decide to take the walk back to the gate to get picked up, but we actually walk an additional couple miles back to the main highway because our ride is late. If I have learned one thing so far in the race it is that only in my previous life was everyone punctual and everything basically went as planned. In this new life I have been given I can’t have any expectations. Almost nothing goes as planned and everyone is late, but that’s good because I don’t have to be stuck in a routine.
It is pointless to say that this month’s ministry has been so much different than last month’s. God is pushing me hard to see if I am willing to serve. He is seeing just how many ways I am willing to serve him and how far I am willing to go with him while keeping a God honoring attitude. The answer is ALL THE WAY! I didn’t come on this trip to be comfortable or be catered to. I am being taught to keep a positive attitude and to take all the curveballs God throws me. This year is all about trusting him and these first two months have been spot on for that.
I posted a blog about how my days have been going. There is hardly any free time. I have loved serving these people; however, satan wants to keep me so busy that I lose focus of my time with the Lord. Time with the Lord this month is something that we all have to fight for and make time for. Time with him is the most important thing. Without him we are nothing and we have to keep growing in him. He loves our service, but he desires our time with him more. God is doing great things with me and it’s a struggle every day, but its worth every second.
PS: Thanks to all my supporters! Whether you are providing monetary support or prayers I appreciate it very much! I am well on my way to being fully funded, but keep it coming!
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Posted in Moldova by Wes Webb on 10/31/2011
This month has tossed me 180 degrees from where I was last month in a lot of ways. Last month I had a bed to sleep in every night. I had the opportunity to take a shower when I wanted. I could use the bathroom in what I felt was a normal way (without using an outhouse). We woke up about 10 am and went to bed whenever we felt we were ready. The ministry we did was all spiritual and no manual labor. We also bought our own food and cook for ourselves.
This month however is polar opposite. I am currently residing in a farmhouse on a mattress with hundreds of flies swarming around me at almost all times. The only day I get a shower is when we visit the Sauna. I use an outhouse when I need to go and may I add that it is one of the most freeing things one can ever do. We wake up every morning at about 8:30 and have to be in bed by 10. The ministry here is strictly manual for the most part for us guys. We are cooked 3 meals a day by the lovely ladies here.
9:00- Breakfast time! We have had eggs, cereal, hotdogs, and something that is like oatmeal.
9:30- Worship! To kick the day off right we always have an hour of worship before we all head to our different job sites. We sing, pray, and give words to keep us going through the day.
10:30-1:30- We all head out to our job sites. Mine this month has been the farm. I have done so many different things, which will be talked about in a blog to come soon.
2:00- Lunch time! I’m not even going to try to explain what we have for lunch or dinner because to be honest I do not even know, but it has been great.
3:00-6:30- We all head back to finish up our jobs for the day. Men do manual labor and women work on their projects!
7:00- Dinner time!
8:00- Team time. This is when each team gathers in a different spot and has team time. We do feedback and just talk about different things as a team.
10:00- Light out!
Any Free Time: Most of the men can be found on the farm boiling eggs. It’s a good way to get away from the women because they can’t deal with the flies. We have a wood-burning stove in our farmhouse and we just boil water and drop some eggs in. I have probably eaten around 40 or so this month. Protein? I will be strong when I get back to the states. I also occasionally was clothes by hand in the two buckets we have.
Disclaimer: We have placed sticky fly traps around our house so our fly problem has been greatly decreased. 
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