Afterthoughts: One Month Later

July 21, 2012- It's officially been one month since I returned home from a trip that forever changed my life. 

As tired as I was after missing my international flight out of Beijing, I was so beyond happy to be off the airplane and on Texas soil again. My family greeted me in DFW with an unexpected "Welcome Home" surprise :)

Over the past few weeks, I've had the chance to sit and reflect on all of the incredible lessons God taught me while in Asia. Today, I'd love to share some of those lessons with all of you with hope that you too may be encouraged by my experiences abroad:

Hiking out into the countryside on Sunday morning with
my new friends in China JUST to have a safe place to
worship Jesus. 

1. Never take anything for granted- While this lesson seems to be quite a simple concept, I never fully grasped its true meaning until I was living life in a way that's completely opposite from what I'm used to. The ability to own my own Bible, Sunday morning church services, a nation that doesn't persecute me for my religion, cars, spacious homes, clean water at your fingertips, a fantastic university to study at—NONE of these things are guaranteed on the other side of the world—and that was beyond heartbreaking to see firsthand. Never again will I be able to sit in church on Sunday morning and not think back to how thankful I am to do so.



Speaking to  a classroom full of university students in
China- a job I never imagined I'd be prepared for!

2. You'll never FEEL truly "prepared," but you ARE!- The Lord was obviously testing my faith with this one all the way from the moment I agreed to be a part of this trip until the moment I arrived back home. Time and time again, we were asked to step up and accomplish things I NEVER thought I could handle. Take the call to teach English to university-level students in Beijing, for example. Never before had I been trained to teach a foreign language, yet my pre-existing knowledge and abilities were more than enough to get the job done. Each new challenge we faced throughout our journey was an opportunity to let go of our fear of inadequacy and to let God take control.



The sweet members of Hanwoori Church in Korea who
opened up their church to us during our time in Seoul.

3. Always seek to serve others- This lesson was one I learned through the actions of the Korean and Chinese friends I encountered throughout my trip. It seemed as though in every new place we traveled to, there was a precious friend who would literally do anything to make sure we were comfortable and at home. As I soon learned, this "caring for your friends" concept is the true spirit of Asian culture—something each of us could really learn from. Whether it was the sweet mother working overtime in her kitchen to make us delicious home-cooked meals in Korea, the kind Korean church who opened up their facilities to allow us to live rent-free for a week, the Chinese university students who took us out to eat and paid for our meals, or the family friends in China who helped us move from city to city with ease—each instance is a testament to how Asia is full of people who are living up to Jesus' command to "Lay down one's life for one's friends."

I could go on for hours about all of the lessons I've learned and am STILL learning. These three are just a snapshot of what God has stirred in my heart since returning home. Nonetheless, I must say that I am beyond thankful for every friend I made, every city we visited, every food I ate, every tough day, every wonderful day, and everything in-between during my five week journey—each was a part of this wonderfully fantastic story I'll cherish and share with others for the rest of my life.


**For security reasons, many incredible stories were intentionally left out of my blog posts. If you're interested in hearing and seeing a more detailed account of what God did while we were in China and Korea, email me at kyndal.coleman@gmail.com