Changing From Popcorn To Pho

Hello friends and family from an additional 5,000 miles away from my U.S. home as I made the multiple bus rides and 3 flights to arrive in my first Asian country, Vietnam. I am currently 8,243 miles away from Choctaw, Oklahoma. As shocking as the continent change was, the change from Africa to Asia wasn’t the only major change I was about to go through. Oh no. In addition to a completely new culture, new foods, new smells, new pace of life, different looking people, different eating utensils, and different means of transportation (motorbikes galore), we also had team changes. Team Overflow is over. When we left Africa, I was mentally ready for team changes.

Night of team changes. Our new squad leaders got announced as our alumni squad leaders will be leaving us at the end of December. Everyone else sat in a circle with our backs to the middle of the circle. We were given a piece of paper with our new teams on them, given five minutes to pray and then released to meet with our new teams. I read the names on my piece of paper and was excited for my new teammates. But at the exact same time an overwhelming realization that Overflow was over hit me harder than expected. No more inside jokes, no more early morning workouts with Tiff, and no more of the many things we had spent the last four months making beautiful and special. It was over. I couldn’t hold my emotions in anymore. I reached over and hugged Tiff who was sitting beside me and just let myself cry. I got together with my new team with tears in my eyes. Perfect. They already think I hate our new team. Amy, one of our alumni squad leaders, came over to me before I was about to leave and I lost it again. The grief, and feeling of being overwhelmed was still there. 

My new team met briefly at an ice cream shop. I didn’t say much. We found out from our team leader, Austin, that we are ATL (Ask The Lord) this month in Vietnam. So instead of having a specific ministry and ministry hosts like I did each month in Africa, we as a team decide where the Lord wants us to go and what our ministry will be for the month. So now I don’t just have a new team, but a co-ed team and ATL. Bring on all the changes. Literally! 

Two nights later I called my mom and as she was showing me all the Christmas decorations around the house, I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I was a mess. I was going through all of these changes and on top of all of that, I was homesick, and missing all the Christmas things back home was the icing and sprinkles on my breakdown. At this point I don’t even recognize myself cause I’ve cried at least once every day for the past four days. I usually am really good at stuffing my emotions in the trunk and only ever letting them out to certain individuals or to myself when no one else is around.

I’ve spent the following two mornings by myself getting up to run, coming back to the hostel to shower and then walking to a coffee shop to have some space to process and hash out some things with the Lord. Who is this? Khurry doesn’t do these things by herself. Vietnam has already changed me. The second morning I was at the coffee shop, I got to know the barista, Sunny. When I was leaving I noticed she was studying English on the DuoLingo app. I told her I had free time to talk if she wanted to have a conversation. We spent the next hour and a half talking about all kinds of things. I was able to mention my faith a few times and ask her what she believed. She was so grateful for me taking the time to talk with her and that is ATL. Allowing the Lord to use you in unexpected moments to share His love with them. 

The next morning, Haley and I, as well as an intern from the hostel, volunteered to teach English at an English school. I may or may not have rode on my first motorbike and loved it! The first two 30-minute classes went really well and were a lot of fun. We had a 30-minute break before another two hours of teaching. During that break at the coffee shop I was able to get to know the intern a little better. It wasn’t a lot of time and we didn’t talk about anything necessarily spiritual but I pray he saw a difference in me in the way I talked and conducted myself. ATL. That afternoon I bought two dozen flowers and went to all the coffee shops, restaurants, thrift stores and juice stands I’ve been to the past week and just simply told the women they were beautiful and Jesus loves them. ATL.  So simple and I’ll never know the impact it made on them. But that’s ok because I know that was something the Lord had laid on my heart to do and I was obedient to do it. It only took about 45 minutes of my day and it brought me such joy to see the women’s faces light up as I gave them each a flower and relayed a simple message that they may or may not have even understood. 

Before leaving at 3:30am for our 38 hour bus ride all the way up north to Ha Noi, I took 5 minutes to write a thank you note to the intern we taught English with, pointing out of some of the qualities I saw in him and thanking him for helping us with transport and making us feel safe around him even though he was no more than a stranger to us. ATL. I hope he receives encouragement from the letter and I pray the Lord has/will use our short time of connection to plant a seed in his soul to search for the only One who can satisfy his every desire.

For the many, many changes Vietnam has thus far brought into my life, this new season has already been sweet and I’m thrilled to watch how the rest of my time in Asia unfolds. 

New team update. My new team name is Sea Salt for South East Asia, Strong Ambassadors of Light and Truth. We all felt the Lord calling us to the northern part of Vietnam where it is much more communist and unreached. We began our travels north on Monday morning at 3:30. We took a 2 hour bus ride to Ho Chi Minh and got on a sleeper bus at 7am to arrive to Ha Noi by 9:15pm on Tuesday. My diet lost two days consisted of 4 bananas, a protein shake, instant noodles, 2 bowls of Pho (pronounced Fu), a tray of rice, chicken and some white stuff (I don’t know what it was but it tasted good). I’ve drank minimal water as the stops are few and the bathroom on the bus is an adventure to say the least.The 38 hours of travel really wasn’t too bad. I got a good amount of sleep and got to catch up on some reading and listen to Christmas music! Much has happened here in Ha Noi since arriving but I’ll save it for the next blog. Tomorrow night we are taking a 7 hour bus ride up to Sapa for a 2 day trek through the mountains. There is a very high chance the land we will be crossing over and the people we will be meeting has never been prayed over or come into contact with a true believer of Christ. Please join me in praying for my team and I to effectively and boldly proclaim Christ in those lands and for the Spirit of God to start moving among the people there. While it is illegal to evangelize, we know that we still have the power of prayer on our side that is able to move mountains without a spoken word from our mouth. That is the power of our God! 

Pray for protection and health for my team as we make the trek and for safety as we travel by bus to Ha Long Bay on the evening of the 23rd of December. It’s looks like Christmas is going to be spent at the beach this year! This will be a first for me. Thank you to all my prayer warriors back home who are with me everyday of this beautiful journey God has me on. 

My new team: Ally and her husband Austin, Haley, Ailie, Me and Jeff.

Ready to take on Asia!