The time of our lives

 

 

  

Hey there!

This week has been full to the brim but I am so excited to share with you all what’s been happening.

5 friends and I are currently located in the Southern part of Kazakhstan partnering with a local church and organization to do our best to be the helping hands and feet of Jesus to these people.

We are staying at an incredible place, a big house that was turned into a home for orphans in Kazakhstan who at one point aged out(around 16 I think) of the local orphanages. We have bunk beds this time that have mattresses & this is AMAZING! A good change up for the back & muscles I must say.

Currently there aren’t many people living in the house long term besides the family hosting us, but I have met several of the people who once lived here & heard nothing but wonderful things about it. Let me share a bit with you:

In this home for orphaned teenagers, from what I have been told by some of those teenagers, they experienced an incredibly loving family, community with other teenagers similar in age, a wonderful back yard full of apple trees, plum trees, and pear trees, a place to learn, grow, & thrive. They were exposed to the love of Christ through the relationships built through this family, by watching how this family lived, having a motherly and fatherly figure, being in a safe and healthy environment, as well as participating in bible studies, church, and lots of fellowship throughout their time. It’s been a true gift learning from some of these new friend’s experiences. & they have told me that it helped them significantly, in fact changed many of their lives!

The family who lives in this household and runs the program for teenage orphans, are originally from Russia but moved here as they felt led by the Lord way over a decade ago. This has been real inspiring. The joy, the freedom, the dedication they walk in, is simply amazing. I am grateful to have met not only new friends, but family in Christ through them. 

What has our time in this part of Kazakhstan entailed?

Cooking, cooking, cooking! We have been intentional about hosting mini events for the locals & staff with the church and organization we are partnering with, in effort to love on them, show them our gratitude for who they are, encourage them, & simply spill the Joy of the Lord all over the place.

English, English, English! Every day of the week from 5-7 pm we have been hosting English teaching classes-per request from the staff. It’s been great! 

Clean up, fix up, pretty up! We are planning to do several projects at the home we are currently staying at, to help clean up some of the outside area, & fix up a bit inside the house. We just wanna bless this family whatever way we are able!

Photo shoots! A dear teammate & friend of mine Anna, is planning to do a family photo shoot as an opportunity to love on one of the church families who has two beautiful young children. I am stoked to help her out with this. We just wanna celebrate them & do this as a way to thank them for all the hard work they put in everyday.

Babysitting! In effort to give several families from the church a time of rest & refreshment, we have planned a few babysitting days 🙂 Tomorrow morning actually, we will have 10 children from the orphanage come over to hang out with us for the day. I am so excited for this! & think it will be chaotic & awesome all at the same time.

Fellowship with the Locals! We have had a blast getting to know our new friends & fellow believers. God has seemed to lay it on our heart to find creative ways on how to do our best to serve these wonderful people. From hikes, to Church, to game nights, to a really long bike ride with the youth we are teaching English to, to camp nights, to eating meals together, to late night pillow talk to you name it, it’s been real memorable. But while we do our best to serve these friends, they just serve us right back above & beyond! From picnic lunches, to dinners, to tours of the city, to Church welcomes, it’s been such a delight & gift to us. I love that about community. Man, the love of Jesus exudes out of these people!

For me personally…

I have taken on some of the cooking here & there, & my gosh to have a kitchen available has been so refreshing! The budget is slim but we have managed to host a pasta night, mashed potato bar night, lot’s of morning breakfasts with the team, & salad night! : )

I have been helping out with English classes here & there when not cooking. This has been fun & wild at the same time. These youth are energetic, just wow!

I have also been working quite a bit on Logistics for the upcoming Debrief time for my team. This is quite fun! I enjoy the research & dreaming up on how to help make this a pleasant experience for my fellow brother & sister racers.

I have also been involved with the fellowship stuff as listed above. This has been a total blast diving deep & building new friendships with the locals.

In my free time outside of team stuff & ministry stuff, I have been working on one of my latest dreams…writing a book! This ever evolving book is going to be an interactive journal with probing questions & thoughts to help people discover or re-discover ones passions, dreams, interests, & what makes them, unique! God has led me back to a place of dreaming big again & I want to do my best to help share what I have learned to others in hopes that, they can be inspired to dream BIG too! I am stoked for this & find crazy joy while investing time into this project.

Outside of what is written in this blog, I have so many thoughts, memories, and moments I desire to share with you. It’s hard to choose sometimes which ones to post about but for now this will do. More posts to come in the weeks ahead on this.

Soon, I will send you my latest vlog on a recent adventure day my friends & new local friends had. Initially it was meant to be our “rest” day, but turned out to be a bit more adventurous than expected. All in all, it was a day to remember, & one I will never forget. Through the video, I think you will see why. Stay Tuned 🙂

Hoping you are doing so well. I pray that the Lord may bless you today & pour his favor upon you. He loves all of us so much, it’s wild.

Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet & a light for my path”

Psalm 40:8 “I take JOY in doing your will, my Father. For your instructions are written on my heart”

With great love,
Kailey

P.S. I had an opportunity to dress up like a traditional Kazakh’s person, AND hold a Golden Eagle on my arm. This was on my lifelong bucket list! It was an amazing experience & those Eagles are heavier than they look, oh my.