This is what I have been doing these last few weeks….

Saying good bye to Thailand.

Traveling with 14 people in one van that fits around 7 people. Plus 14 packs, 14 carry-ons and 4 guitars. You could say it was a little bit cramped.

Traveling from Thailand to Cambodia….

Eating amazing food along the way.

Finally reaching Cambodia.

Met some new friends along the way..

Visiting Angkor Wat on our day off.

Meeting up with our squad.

Cambodia, well what can I really say but, rats, mice, mosquitoes, termites, bugs, bugs, and more bugs. Cambodian karaoke starts blaring at 6:00am, not a minute early or a minute late. Cambodia has some of the craziest mosquitoes I have ever encountered; repellant doesn't do my skin any justice. 39 mosquitoes bites to be exact. Power outages are common and usually appreciated because of the amount of termite bugs that are attracted to the light bulb. Termite bugs are a great snack too, the Cambodians like to deep fry them and from what I hear it tastes like French fries.

It is pretty hot here in Cambodia, and when I say it's pretty hot, well that is an understatement.

It is the most intense heat I have felt in a long time. Changing your shirt happens quite frequently because of the amount of sweat that seeps out of our pores. Baby wipes are not only great for babies, but they are also a great resource to clean the dirt or bugs off your feet, and sometimes a refreshing shower due to the lack of running water. Most of us dream about food on a daily basis- chipotle burritos- what we would put on our burritos, guacamole, chips and salsa, barbeque chicken, ribs or steak.

The kids are precious here and all so eager to learn English. Their smiles make my heart melt.

Our ministry this month is amazing; we get to work with elementary school kids. In the mornings we play soccer with them, then teach English class in the afternoon and do Bible studies in the evenings. But the kids make the uncomfortable living situations, the heat, the bugs all worth being here in Cambodia.

After all this traveling, cramped vans, bugs, heat, day dreaming of food, and ministry…I can honestly say….if you haven't lived like this before, you should.

Because who can really say this is home sweet home.

"Why are you doing this?" -Me

"Because I have to support my family." -Thai Bar girl

"Do you like what you do? It makes me sad that you are selling yourself." -Me

"I have to...for the money. Me sad too. My heart is sad, but I am very strong woman." -Thai Bar girl

 This was a conversation I had last night with a prostitute in the red light district in Phuket, Thailand. This woman was gentle on the eyes, yet captivating.  She drew men in with her smile and her flirtatious laugh, but if you looked close enough, her heart ached; she longed to leave the bars.

 Phuket is one of the major tourist areas in Thailand; it is also one of the biggest red light districts. There is about over 300-400 bars just on Bangla Road and over hundreds of prostitutes work at these bars. Bangla illuminates the skies with neon flashing signs that say, "Husband daycare" or "The Devil's playground". Bangla Road is where girls go all out to entertain-wearing skimpy tube tops, lace bras, and panties-which they say is clothing, while dancing sexually on poles.

 Guys my age, swarm the streets walking around with this facade that they could get any woman they wanted, which is true, but at a price. Married men walk as if their wedding rings they wore meant nothing; others try to allure women by their sweet pick up lines, empty promises, and groping hands. Girls at these bars aim to please customers, engaging in lighthearted games, but ultimately the objective is to entice customers to buy drinks. But even more than drinks, bars aim for men to take the girls away for the evening, to sell them as products, and make good profitable money.

Women desperately partake in meaningless conversation, and use flirtation as a device to gain the interest of men to fulfill desires and basically to survive. Many of the women sell themselves to provide for their families. The perversion intensifies as the night lingers on, and alcohol intoxicated men become more intrigued at the thought of a cheap Thai woman for the night to appease their loneliness.

 Something that the Lord has been rooting inside is what grace really looks like. He is showing me that these men and women are lost, just like I was, but that HE NEVER GIVES UP, THAT HE IS STILL FIGHTING FOR THEM. And He won't relent until He has them.

This is the Father's love for us.

That He would die just to set us free. It blows my mind. This month, the Lord is teaching me that these men and women aren't any different than we are. He still unconditional loves the men and women of Bangla Road despite the way they are living their lives.

 I believe that the Lord wants these women to come out of sex slavery and turn away from their sin. He wants these women saved more than I do, His heart breaks more than my heart breaks.

The grass is always greener on the other side.

It is the idea that people are not entirely satisfied with what they have. The sad part is that it usually takes losing or nearly losing what they have in order for them to realize how much it means to them.

This is an idea I've realized, I unknowingly adopted. It gives an unsatisfying desire to fulfill a mirror of illusions.  I gained this perception that someone else's life is better and downplaying everything positive about my own life. I realized that I am not completely satisfied with what the Lord has for me and the life He has blessed me with.

A year ago, I had a conversation with my friend Eddie; he asked me, “Where do you see yourself next year around this time?” I responded confidently, “I will be done with nursing school and live by a lake.” He laughed and said, “Oh Krystle, God has so much more for you than a lake or boat or whatever.” When I heard that I honestly didn't believe him. I wanted this life filled with success, a life that the world deemed as acceptable, the American dream- graduated, married, the 2.5 kids and the white picket fence. But that's just not reality.

I always looked at someone else's life and desired to be where they were, whether it was my sisters graduating or my friends getting married. But ultimately, God created me so uniquely! He designed my life to have a purpose, to be specifically where I am suppose to be, at this exact moment and that is here in Phuket, Thailand.

The grass is NOT always greener on the other side. The grass is only as green as you want to make it on either side. You can have the most exciting life. Jesus is just so sneaky sometimes; He gives us the freedom to plan our lives, but creates this intricate plan for us and gives us something better than our plans.

In these past few days the Lord has brought me to remember of who I was when I left California and who I am today. He has given me snapshots of my life and memories of this past year;

experiences that makes life worth living for.

I know I am going to miss walking down the streets in Phuket, Thailand in 100 degree humidity just to get Thai tea for 50 cents, or a live chicken under my seat on a non-air condition 30 hour bus ride traveling to Rwanda, or living in a one room with 10 other girls, or walking 45 minutes just to eat. I will miss the blaring horns and sirens that fill the streets of Nepal that woke me up every morning.

I will miss the power going out and living off of candles for days, or eating something and realizing it was cow liver. I will miss the cold bucket showers, and fighting over laundry soap, or who is going to hang their clothes first on the line.

I don't ever want to forget the grueling travel days especially to Romania for 79 hours with 3 hours of sleep, or traveling on an overnight train with obnoxious immigration security waking us up at 3am asking to show them our passports every 20 minutes. I am going to miss waking up at 5am to walk the cow, or little kids in Africa yelling, “Mzungo” (which means white person), or African men offering 40 cows for my hand in marriage in Uganda, or splurging out on American food at airports.

God is teaching me that I have the most exciting life and this is the exact place where He wants me to be. He is teaching me that life is what I make it to be, that a life with Him is so exciting and completely worth it.

I might never have the most “glamorous life”, but it is a life I would never want to trade.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Provided for                                                   Loved by the Father

        Kingdom

Accepted

Precious

    Inexpressible

Inspirational    Pursued                     Remembered

     Beloved                     Appreciated

       Sons and Daughters

Humbled

  Loved

This is what we did with all the money that was donated to Life and Hope AIDS orphanage.

Last Friday our team, Modern family went out to the streets of Kampala. Amidst the commotion of honking horns, street venders calling attention to their items on display, blaring music, and the roaring of the bota botas, there was a quieter noise that filled the streets- a sound that was all but drowned out by the rest of the chaos. It was the noise of the men, women, and children trying to survive on the streets.

We walked down roads overflowing with the homeless. People were sitting on brown boxes begging for money. Children, ranging from a few months old to teenagers, were roaming the streets in search of food or any other means to survive. Some of them wore clothes that were soiled, ripped and faded, shirts and pants that were too big or too small. They literally had nothing, nothing but the clothes on their backs- some without even that.

Two children in particular stood out to me. Their names were Michael and Moses. Our translator, Ronnie had met them before and had been looking for them for several weeks. When we came into the city that day, he finally found them again. Ronnie was so excited to reconnect with the two boys. He said it was his dream to take these boys out of the streets because they were different from the rest. They didn't steal or beg. They even refused money when he offered it to them. All they wanted was to be rescued from the streets. Ronnie had been hoping to find someone financially able to adopt the boys but so far, he'd had no luck. Before we left Moses said to Ronnie, “I don't want your money, all I want is to be educated, please take me with you.”

That night I couldn't sleep. I just thought about the amount of children roaming the streets at night looking for a place to sleep or something to eat. I had always known that there were people out there in need of help, but I couldn't picture their faces until now. It haunted me- I couldn't erase the images of the two boys from my mind.

A few days ago I saw Ronnie at church and he told me he had exciting news about the two boys. I thought that maybe he had found a spot in an orphanage for them- I wasn't prepared for what I heard next. Ronnie said, “Krystle, there is a reason why the Lord brought you here, even if it was supposed to be for one thing only. In all these 11 months, you had to come to confirm what I heard the Lord say to do.” I asked him what he meant, and then he said, “Krystle, I am going to take Michael and Moses out of the streets and I want you to come to help me pick them up. I am going adopt them.”

I lost it. I was crying and laughing all at the same time. I was so excited; I couldn't even explain the feeling. It felt like it was something out of a movie.

Tomorrow the Lord is going to rescue Michael and Moses from the streets and my team gets to be there for it all.

Moses is the one in the middle

40 children were pulled from the streets of Kampala because of a man named Christopher, who was a former street orphan. His parents died from war when he was still young. He grew up on the streets begging for food, stealing money just to survive, and using brown boxes for shelter. At the age of 10, he changed his life and decided to give himself to the Lord. A man helped him off the streets and educated him. Since then, Christopher told himself that he would use his life to help orphans and raise them to be men and women of God, who loved and served the Lord. His vision is still active today; he runs an orphanage in Kampala called Life and Hope AIDS orphanage. He houses and takes care of 40 children whose parents either died from AIDS or war. Our team, Modern Family, visited the orphanage a few days ago.

“My name is Bryan and when I grow up I want to be a pilot” He looked up and smiled at me with the most adorable eyes I've ever seen. I smiled back and told him I loved his dream. He laughed and as he walked away to join the other children, I looked down and noticed he was wearing two worn out right green sandals on each foot. I don't think it fazed him that he was wearing two right foot sandals, but it did something powerful to me.

It broke my heart to find that all 40 children live cramped in two small rooms and have been living on one meal a day if they are lucky. Their clothes are faded with rips, stains and holes and many, like Brian, run around with 2 right foot sandals. This orphanage needs help, they need help to pay for rent so that the kids can stay out of the streets, and they need beans, bread, and rice to feed the children, they need clean filtered water, school fees, clothes, and new sandals.

In each ministry I have been to throughout the past 7 months, I have had opportunities to help out the community I am in. I have already received amazing responses by family, friends, and people I have never met before asking to partner with me to give aide to specific ministry projects I've encountered that have financial needs. For example, in Tanzania, there was a child named Crystal that was in need of a surgery (see my blog “What You Did”). This month, a man named Richard came to me with a flesh eating wound on his foot and through donations I was able to buy him medication and bandages.

As soon as I started using my personal money to financially bless people, the Lord began to put it on people's hearts to help me. I have received several donations from family and friends in varying amounts. As I continue to put my heart into these special projects, the Lord continues to bring people to partner with me.

If the Lord speaks to you, and you would like to partner with me, I have started to collect donations into a fund I've named “Hands and Feet”. I gave it this name because that is exactly what the Lord asks of us- to be the hands and feet of Jesus, to share the Gospel, to go to the nations and feed the poor, clothe the naked, and comfort those who mourn.  The purpose of this fund is to provide financial assistance for those who have specific needs. This month I will be using this fund to aid Life and Hope AIDS orphanage. If you would like to donate or help in any way, please email me at Krystalis3@gmail.com for more information.

I want to thank all my family and friends who have already donated to help the children. “Blessed is he who considers the poor; The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.” Psalm 41;1.

Below is a video I made about the orphanage. I hope this video touches your heart the way the children have touched mine.

Africa.....

is nothing I've ever experienced before in my life. There is a welcoming sense of home and it is so reassuring and comforting. For the past two and a half months, I have been living in Africa, specifically Tanzania, Rwanda, and now Uganda.

I made a video of a little taste of what Africa looks and feels like. Sorry this is a little late, but this video was made from Tanzania, capturing moments I'll never forget. I hope you enjoy the video!

 This past summer, I felt the Lord ask me, “Krystle, do you trust Me?” and my immediate response was “Yes….” And He said, “Do you really trust me?” and then my answer started to get a little shaky. I told Him, “yeah I think I do Lord”. And then I heard the Lord say, “What if I told you I want you to give Me everything that is precious to you, and I want you to put nursing school on hold, move away from your family and friends, and follow Me.

I believe there are two different types of people that love the Lord. One type is someone who will completely trust him and be willing just take the next step, where as the other looks at the step and thinks that this just doesn't make any sense and hesitates to take the next step. I have been in this desolate season of my life, asking the Lord why He did what He did.

A few months ago, I sat in my room asking the Lord to show me what I am suppose to do and I asked Him to specifically show me, and when He gave me a clear answer, I cried. I cried because I couldn't understand why He was asking me something so hard. I couldn't understand why if He is good, why would He do something like this to me when He knows I worked so hard in school and I loved my family and friends. Even though I loved the Lord, I hesitated to do what He asked me.

Yesterday I received an email from my dear friend Brandi and she wrote these words “When I don't understand, I choose You.” When I read those words something just broke inside of me and I started crying because I'm STILL battling these words with the Lord for this season in my life. When I received this email it made me realize that I still have the same struggles that I did when I left. I feel like the Lord always tells me what the next step is and I look at it hesitantly because I know it's not a step I want to take. I become very apprehensive because there are so many times I just don't want to trust the Lord to be quite honest.

Trusting Jesus is hard, it becomes even harder when you don't know Him because you don't want to follow someone you don't know. But the more I spend time with Him daily, I learn His characteristics and realize who He is.

I am learning that it is better to know HIM then know WHY.

The Lord has been putting me through this season of my life where I feel like I don't understand, my friend wrote a prophetic word on my arm and it said the words, “mirror image” She said, “As gold is put through the fire, it actually refines the gold by burning off all the stuff that is needed to make the gold pure. Once the gold is finished being refined you can see a mirror image of yourself through the gold.” She said that is exactly what the Lord is doing during this season of my life, He is refining me and putting me through fire, but as the heat rises it is purifying, so that the end produce will be the mirror image of my Maker so I can look exactly like Him”

This has been my anthem for these past couple of months…. “All of my life, in every season you are still God, I have reason to sing, I have a reason to worship.”

Even when I don't understand, I choose You.

Below is the song I have been listening to on repeat these past couple of days and there is crazy insane power to this song. I hope that when you listen and meditate on the words, the Lord would overflow you with His presence.

I grew up with girls all my life. I have two sisters and now my older sister, Karen is having a baby girl.

So naturally the Lord knew that I would love and be comfortable with an all girls team. I was on a team with four other women called Beauty for Ashes.

It was blissful, yeah we had our petty disagreements at times, but it was never anything I couldn't handle. We had a sisterhood of girl bonding and fun ridiculous moments. It was like having a slumber party with some of your best friends and traveling around the world together.

However, being on an all girls team would never let me grow because being comfortable doesn't always mean that it is what the Lord wants for us all the time. I am the type of person where I don't always like change because that would mean I would be uncomfortable, but if there is no change there is no growth. Sometimes the Lord will test us through some hard situations in life, but if everything was easy then we would never know how to be truly grateful for all the things the Lord has blessed us with in our lives.

We just had team changes and we have a completely different dynamic group of people on this team. We have the craziest, funniest, and as my teammate Gary would like to say “outrageous” people on the team. I am on a team with an awesome married couple, Jack and Loren Messarra. My best friend, Kelsey Amann, who is the exact replica of myself, two of the best brothers a girl can ask for, Gary Lee and Jacob Murphy, and Angela Harvey, a woman in love with the Lord.

This team is not a team I would ever picture being put together. Maybe this happened because God put me in an uncomfortable situation and knew that they are everything I never knew I needed.

Introducing Team Modern Family