I’m on the World Race. Again.

Hey guys!

This is Esther, tuning in from Siem Reap, Cambodia (where I’ll be for the next 2 months)!!! We made it here after 5 travel days, hitting Phoenix, San Francisco, Taiwan, and Phnom Pehn on the way. My team, Bethesda, had their first day of overseas ministry last week and it hit me, while sitting on the toilet at a quaint church in the middle of a Cambodian village, that I am on the World Race. Again.

It’s real.

The giggles of children running up behind me.

The normalcy of going to the ATM to take out cash.

The bright culture reminding me how much I value being in a new culture that I have little to no understanding about.

The reminder to throw the toilet paper in the trash and not the toilet.

The Father evidently loving His children everywhere I go and through every person I encounter.

All random and beautiful things that come so naturally with being overseas.

I missed it.

Being here as a leader and not a racer is different. I’m no longer just doing life, going to ministry, and living in community, but in addition, I’m also learning how to steward the hearts and experiences of 6 women who are doing this for the very first time. It’s a wild ride, let me tell ya! They are fun and buck wild and intentional and loving. They make leading worth it. That being said, it’s not always sunflowers and confetti cannons. It’s hard. The enemy tries to wiggle his way in pretty often and speak in lies that he’s already used a million times before. And sometimes those lies seep through and I believe him. However, the Lord has intentionally placed a beautiful community of leaders and racers around me that encourage me daily, praise God for that! The enemy doesn’t get to win this one (or anyone for that matter).

That’s a quick rundown of how life squad leading/being overseas has been! If I haven’t been in communication as much, it’s because some of my girls are fasting from their phones and I am joining them the best I can (with still needing to be on squad leader duty). So I love you and I am thankful for you!

Please be praying for peace and tranquility over my squad, being that Cambodia carries a good bit of heaviness and spiritual warfare. Praise God we serve a Father who covers all of that with His goodness! Thanks for reading, talk to you soon!

-Esther