Crock Pot Style

Hey hey hey!

Between the travel days & yurt stays, we have been residing in a lovely Hostel located in Bishkek Kyrgyzstan. It’s been a place of community, new friends, good memories, & incredible conversations.

Quite a bit of great things can happen when staying at a hostel. It’s a place where travelers often come to learn, build new friendships, & enjoy a global community. This is a perfect place to do our best to love on people, get to know them, & engage in some wonderful conversations. We stayed at one hostel in particular for several nights & my goal was to bring joy, share food, build relationships, & have some great conversations with new friends.

One evening we decided to host a “crock pot” style dinner, inviting anyone & everyone to the dinner table for some good times. This turned out to be about 12 of us altogether, enjoying each others company, and playing a little ice breaker game. First we ate all kinds of foods ranging from eggs, potatoes, yogurt, fruit salads, breads, chips & salsa, and an assortment of vegetables too. For desert we had a hodge-podge of ice cream, whip cream, and cookies.

We topped of the night off with something I semi-made up called “the dinner game” (thanks for the classic idea from childhood mom!) where people wrote down “get to know you” questions on scrap pieces of paper & placed them in a jar. After the jar was filled up we then took turns around the table-drawing out the questions then answering as a fun way to get to know each other. This was hilarious & seemed to bring so much joy.

In that same evening, several people inquired about faith, in which this led to some real deep conversations about God as a father, Jesus, & the Holy Spirit. We talked about the differences in other religious beliefs, shared faith stories and I also had an opportunity to share my personal testimony of seeking out Jesus & becoming a follower as well as just talking about the real, honest, & raw questions, thoughts, & challenges that life brings when contemplating spirituality. It was an incredible time.

Also, a friend of mine & myself had become friends with another person at the hostel & one morning before they left to embark on their travel journey-we decided it would be fun to cook a breakfast meal together. What we thought would be a simple breakfast meal turned into something real beautiful & special. Conversations naturally led into faith conversations in which also led into having an opportunity to pray over this friend. We did our best to “pour” into that person as much as we could, full of identity & speaking encouragement into their life. We prayed that this person would encounter more of the love of God & discover more of who they are as a dearly loved child of the creator of this Universe. It was a beautiful time. There were tears, there was hugging, there was yummy food, quality conversation, challenging questions, & it was very evident to me that the Holy Spirit helped to facilitate that entire morning. This person did not expect to have such a morning, either my other friend & I, but we all talked about how thankful we were for it happening & left that kitchen filled with Joy.

Other days there were wonderful opportunities of conversations filled with sharing the good news of the gospel & testimony after testimony of the faithfulness of God. These are conversations that I find so much passion & joy in. I truly appreciate listening to the perspective of others, engaging in important topics such as these, all while being challenged to grow in my understanding of the Christian faith too. I really enjoy conversations like this, but most of all I having the opportunity to get to know a global neighbor & love on them the best I can through word & actions-fills me to the brim. These times are really precious. 

Wrapping up Kyrgyzstan & moving forward to the next country…

After only several hours of a travel day, we are now located in the country of Kazakhstan.

The following day my friends & I arrived, we embarked on yet another camping journey. This was with a local ministry-taking all kinds of Christian & non-Christian youth ages 14-18 years old on a camping excursion. In this short excursion, my friends & I were asked to share our life stories, why we were traveling & what we were doing one night at the campfire. In that time, I was tearing up thinking about the goodness of God to provide such a wonderful opportunity to share my life story & faith testimony with these kiddos. My others friends were able to do the same & it seemed that each youth was impacted in a positive way, from simply listening then asking any question they liked afterwards.

I in particular had several people approach me that night or the following day, inquiring more about my relationship with God, what it looks like for me on a daily basis, & what I do when I have big questions of doubts (which some of you may know that had been the biggest struggle in my faith journey growing up for a long time). To engage in conversations with these kiddo’s was a treat.

To think about the freedom God has brought in my life since those questions & doubts growing up to where I am at today-feels like a miracle. & for God to provide an opportunity for me to share my experiences with youth in effort to love on & encourage them, is even more of a delight. 

Outside of the wonderful campfire & great conversations-we also had an opportunity to go on a hike to a waterfall with the youth, ate some yummy camp food, & also got to hang out with some horses that decided to come by.

Though my back is sore from sleeping on the ground & I thought my toes might fall of at one point in the night form the freezing cold, it was so worth it & a memory that will last a lifetime.  I’m hoping to create a vlog video about it soon so I can share with you more of the experience.

After the two day camping trip, we are back in the City & excited to continue to build relationships with the youth we spent time with, help with English lessons, & partner with a local organization in the area that facilitates fun & healthy events for youth to participate in. We are super excited about spending time with these youth & the staff, doing our best to love on & encourage them. I don’t know all the details yet, but more to come soon, stay tuned. 

Thanks for checking in friend, you are awesome. 

With gratitude, 

Kailey

Psalm 91:14-15 Out of my distress I called on the Lord, the Lord answered me & set me free

John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world He gave his one & only son that whoever believes in Him shall never perish but have eternal life. God did not come to condemn the world but to save the world