WEBVTT 00:07.019 --> 00:11.484 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the Sermon podcast from Church at the Well and Telsin Merlin. 00:11.884 --> 00:18.771 [SPEAKER_00]: To learn more about Church at the well, visit our website, thewellballtimore.com. 00:19.412 --> 00:24.797 [SPEAKER_00]: And now, here's today's Sermon from our pastor, Dan Carreway. 00:30.196 --> 00:30.736 [SPEAKER_01]: Hi. 00:32.198 --> 00:32.858 [SPEAKER_01]: All right, can you hear me? 00:32.978 --> 00:33.218 [SPEAKER_01]: Awesome. 00:34.279 --> 00:35.340 [SPEAKER_01]: Very excited to be here. 00:36.041 --> 00:44.688 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Elise Cluiter, and last time I was in the area, I was about two years ago, and it was at Dana Nonna's house. 00:44.968 --> 00:48.170 [SPEAKER_01]: So I met some of you, probably not most of you. 00:48.711 --> 00:57.237 [SPEAKER_01]: So I figured I were kind of backtrack so that you get kind of a sense of both who I am, and then what I have been doing and what I'm doing now. 00:58.618 --> 01:03.021 [SPEAKER_01]: So, backtrack way far, just so you get a sense. 01:03.121 --> 01:07.104 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so these are my parents, this is my family, and that's me. 01:07.124 --> 01:10.005 [SPEAKER_01]: I was actually born in France. 01:10.946 --> 01:12.887 [SPEAKER_01]: My parents were missionaries with encompassed. 01:14.188 --> 01:18.391 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I was born in France, grew up in France, was raised there, did all my studies there. 01:19.291 --> 01:24.874 [SPEAKER_01]: So I speak English because he spoke English at home, but other than that, everything else for me was in French. 01:27.456 --> 01:34.460 [SPEAKER_01]: grew up kind of, you know, hearing about the word in my own home, my parents had a student ministry, so that's how they were church planters. 01:34.520 --> 01:39.343 [SPEAKER_01]: So they started on campus and then the church started in our home very much like yours. 01:40.363 --> 01:44.526 [SPEAKER_01]: And then it grew and so and then it became a full-on church just like yours. 01:46.007 --> 01:48.068 [SPEAKER_01]: So I lived in, so I was born in Tunisian. 01:49.010 --> 01:50.492 [SPEAKER_01]: which is right here with this burgundy. 01:51.493 --> 01:54.756 [SPEAKER_01]: So I actually about, so burgundy is known, the additional is known for mustard. 01:54.957 --> 01:57.920 [SPEAKER_01]: I did not bring mustard, but I did bring, it's also known for snails. 01:58.100 --> 02:00.182 [SPEAKER_01]: I did not bring snails, but I brought chocolate snails. 02:00.363 --> 02:02.104 [SPEAKER_01]: So they're in the back at the end if you want. 02:03.146 --> 02:04.587 [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, so that's what we're known for. 02:04.747 --> 02:06.149 [SPEAKER_01]: So that's where it was born. 02:06.189 --> 02:06.650 [SPEAKER_01]: I grew up. 02:07.370 --> 02:09.072 [SPEAKER_01]: I did my, I did my, 02:11.078 --> 02:11.438 [SPEAKER_01]: Undergrad? 02:11.738 --> 02:12.298 [SPEAKER_01]: Is that undergrad? 02:12.358 --> 02:12.519 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. 02:12.999 --> 02:15.260 [SPEAKER_01]: In like literature, linguistics, liberal arts. 02:16.380 --> 02:20.461 [SPEAKER_01]: And then I moved to the South of France to do an MBA in international travel. 02:20.521 --> 02:27.344 [SPEAKER_01]: So I got to learn a lot about just almost, you know, the world and different ways that the world functions. 02:27.424 --> 02:29.705 [SPEAKER_01]: And I was supposed to be a travel agent. 02:30.285 --> 02:32.546 [SPEAKER_01]: didn't quite turn out that way, but it works. 02:32.706 --> 02:37.049 [SPEAKER_01]: And then I started working in Paris in digital marketing and communication. 02:37.089 --> 02:40.231 [SPEAKER_01]: So I lived in Paris for about eight years, just working. 02:40.331 --> 02:43.953 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I went into corporate at first. 02:44.673 --> 02:51.417 [SPEAKER_01]: I worked for about three years in a major company in corporate, individual marketing, and then switched to nonprofit at some point, because I felt like 02:52.638 --> 02:56.441 [SPEAKER_01]: I love the job that I love my role, but it needed to have more meaning. 02:57.061 --> 03:12.492 [SPEAKER_01]: Rather than just, I mean, I have nothing against economy or whatever, but just, if I was going to spend forty or fifty hours working during the week and spending all that energy and creativity, I wanted it to have a purpose that was further than just making money, reinvesting and making more money. 03:12.632 --> 03:16.795 [SPEAKER_01]: And so, I switched to non-profit, so I worked for Compassion International for about six years. 03:18.256 --> 03:38.830 [SPEAKER_01]: And then I in twenty twenty changed a lot around the world and changed a lot for me because that's when I started really questioning I thought my time was kind of up with compassion and so I was trying to think of what's next and God just led me to missions and like it seems cookie cutter I was born into a missionary family I was gonna be like 03:39.290 --> 03:41.571 [SPEAKER_01]: It was never on my radar by any means. 03:41.931 --> 03:43.172 [SPEAKER_01]: I thought that was my parents thing. 03:43.252 --> 03:44.432 [SPEAKER_01]: I was going to do something else. 03:44.772 --> 03:47.914 [SPEAKER_01]: I was going to have like an office job and support other people doing the work. 03:49.034 --> 03:50.135 [SPEAKER_01]: God had other plans. 03:50.215 --> 03:51.516 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I just kind of followed suit. 03:51.656 --> 03:51.996 [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah. 03:52.436 --> 04:00.680 [SPEAKER_01]: But the interesting thing, too, is that all throughout my time in digital and next-home problems and in Paris, I was always involved in a church plan somehow. 04:01.600 --> 04:05.842 [SPEAKER_01]: I was either just attending, which is already huge for church planning, I guess, and what I'm talking about. 04:06.802 --> 04:16.327 [SPEAKER_01]: But I was also then I kind of helped out with communications and things like that because that's what I knew how to do and to God use that all throughout then now my ministry. 04:17.287 --> 04:21.209 [SPEAKER_01]: So I started working full-time within Compass as of 04:23.385 --> 04:24.906 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, spring, twenty, twenty, three. 04:26.147 --> 04:38.374 [SPEAKER_01]: And so my ministry was basically assessing, so working in France at a local ministry, working in France, and then there's an international ministry as well, working with other missionaries on the field. 04:38.875 --> 04:50.402 [SPEAKER_01]: And so my first year was really just crafting my role trying to figure this out, seeing how I could serve, assessing the needs on the field as well, both in France and international, seeing how it could help 04:50.962 --> 04:54.164 [SPEAKER_01]: Creating connections, Europe is all about relationships. 04:54.445 --> 04:55.806 [SPEAKER_01]: We're still a Latin country. 04:56.466 --> 04:57.707 [SPEAKER_01]: It's all about relationship. 04:57.787 --> 04:59.308 [SPEAKER_01]: It's all about getting to know people. 05:00.249 --> 05:06.333 [SPEAKER_01]: You don't get invited to somebody's house until they're kind of sure that you're okay as a person. 05:07.855 --> 05:08.835 [SPEAKER_01]: And that takes a while. 05:09.536 --> 05:12.038 [SPEAKER_01]: But once you're in, you're in, like you're part of the family. 05:12.518 --> 05:13.599 [SPEAKER_01]: And but it takes time. 05:14.019 --> 05:15.340 [SPEAKER_01]: And so everything in Europe takes time. 05:16.261 --> 05:17.302 [SPEAKER_01]: So I figured, well, okay. 05:17.962 --> 05:20.924 [SPEAKER_01]: We'll start from scratch and then go from there. 05:21.945 --> 05:28.849 [SPEAKER_01]: And then basically it was just using my giftings, but you know what I had learned from corporate and just working in that world. 05:29.190 --> 05:34.633 [SPEAKER_01]: But also just, you know, the giftings that God has given me and see how he could use that where I was. 05:35.034 --> 05:37.756 [SPEAKER_01]: So, twenty-three, three, started out. 05:37.896 --> 05:39.857 [SPEAKER_01]: I actually went back to decision. 05:41.658 --> 05:43.159 [SPEAKER_01]: after being gone for about ten years. 05:44.180 --> 06:00.290 [SPEAKER_01]: So based in France, attending the local church in Dijon, which is the church that my parents planted, there's now a full-on church, French eldership, with about eighty-some people, which is a relatively, like, good-sized church in France. 06:00.530 --> 06:02.291 [SPEAKER_01]: We don't have mega churches in Europe. 06:02.711 --> 06:06.414 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, anyway, but so everything's like local size, right? 06:07.094 --> 06:14.400 [SPEAKER_01]: So basically good-sized church, French elder chef, and I was just there to serve and see what I could do to help. 06:15.300 --> 06:16.862 [SPEAKER_01]: And then again, fostering relationships. 06:17.142 --> 06:25.428 [SPEAKER_01]: I hadn't lived in digital for about ten years, so it was reconnecting with people I used to know, and then seeing like creating new relationships and see what I could do. 06:26.814 --> 06:33.302 [SPEAKER_01]: So, and the reason why I wanted to be based in France as well, I could have been based anywhere else. 06:33.642 --> 06:36.766 [SPEAKER_01]: But I wanted to be based in France because I have friends in France. 06:37.106 --> 06:39.088 [SPEAKER_01]: I've lived in France for, you know, thirty years. 06:39.269 --> 06:40.710 [SPEAKER_01]: So, this is where I know people. 06:42.172 --> 06:44.933 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to say, ninety five percent of my friends are non-believers. 06:46.234 --> 06:48.855 [SPEAKER_01]: France is still considered an unreach country. 06:50.016 --> 06:55.118 [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of people claim to be Catholic somehow, but that doesn't actually mean a lot. 06:55.198 --> 06:59.560 [SPEAKER_01]: It just means that the grandma went to church at some point, but they don't believe in God. 06:59.580 --> 07:01.561 [SPEAKER_01]: Like our neighbors when I was growing up used to say, 07:02.181 --> 07:04.083 [SPEAKER_01]: Oh yeah, we're Catholic. 07:04.403 --> 07:06.205 [SPEAKER_01]: We're Christians, but we don't believe in God. 07:06.585 --> 07:09.768 [SPEAKER_01]: In their mindset, it's really a cultural thing. 07:10.369 --> 07:16.094 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not a deep belief, and then getting to know Christ and having a personal faith is yet another ballgame. 07:16.455 --> 07:19.337 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's only considered like two percent of the population. 07:20.458 --> 07:25.520 [SPEAKER_01]: So there's ninety eight percent of people who still need to hear about Christ and make that decision for themselves. 07:26.020 --> 07:35.283 [SPEAKER_01]: And so that's why I wanted to be based in France because I know the language, I know the culture, I know people there and so I just wanted to continue the work there but full time. 07:36.205 --> 07:37.325 [SPEAKER_01]: So these are some of my friends. 07:38.606 --> 07:46.549 [SPEAKER_01]: I'll just present them real quick, because I think that they're a good representation of French people and their relationship to faith in God. 07:47.869 --> 07:51.991 [SPEAKER_01]: So we first have Alexia, Nicola and Simo. 07:52.191 --> 07:54.992 [SPEAKER_01]: I've known them since junior high in high school. 07:55.332 --> 07:57.253 [SPEAKER_01]: So we've known each other for more than twenty years. 07:58.774 --> 08:02.997 [SPEAKER_01]: And they were not, so she's curious, she was curious about God. 08:03.817 --> 08:08.861 [SPEAKER_01]: For the past like, yeah, seventeen years, she's been asking questions about faith about God, about how I see the world. 08:09.301 --> 08:11.643 [SPEAKER_01]: I've been trying to answer as well as I can. 08:12.483 --> 08:13.844 [SPEAKER_01]: He's not interested at all. 08:15.105 --> 08:17.066 [SPEAKER_01]: And at some point, they kind of decided like, okay. 08:17.907 --> 08:20.307 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, at first they didn't like that side about me. 08:21.608 --> 08:25.088 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, she said, yeah, it doesn't make sense to them. 08:25.248 --> 08:27.589 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, France is all about reason about logic. 08:28.269 --> 08:32.670 [SPEAKER_01]: And so believing in God is equivalent to like believing in fairies. 08:33.010 --> 08:35.310 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, that's kind of the mindset behind it. 08:35.630 --> 08:37.410 [SPEAKER_01]: So they didn't understand why I believe in God. 08:37.730 --> 08:39.451 [SPEAKER_01]: But they, you know, she would ask me questions. 08:40.251 --> 08:43.491 [SPEAKER_01]: And at some point, you know, they kind of, they heard me speak at my baptism. 08:43.992 --> 08:46.232 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's when she really understood she was like, oh, 08:46.952 --> 08:50.574 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, I don't understand it, but I get what it means to you. 08:50.794 --> 08:58.658 [SPEAKER_01]: And she said, I don't believe in God because I still think it's weird, but I understand that this is why you are the way you are. 08:59.319 --> 09:06.863 [SPEAKER_01]: And so even if I don't believe in God, I understand it's important to you, so I will accept that in you in a sense, but it's not for us. 09:08.664 --> 09:15.668 [SPEAKER_01]: Fast forward, quite a few years later, they got married, they had a son, and they asked me to be Godmother to their son. 09:17.290 --> 09:21.595 [SPEAKER_01]: the god part of that god mother doesn't make any sense to them. 09:22.836 --> 09:26.020 [SPEAKER_01]: But the reason was close family friends. 09:27.262 --> 09:33.469 [SPEAKER_01]: I have a double culture because I'm American and French and so they thought that was really cool for their kid that I could speak English to him. 09:34.590 --> 09:36.512 [SPEAKER_01]: And then the third reason was that they said 09:38.419 --> 09:43.086 [SPEAKER_01]: When he will start asking questions, you will have answers to his questions that we won't have. 09:43.788 --> 09:48.315 [SPEAKER_01]: And so they gave me basically permission to talk about God to their son. 09:48.836 --> 09:50.318 [SPEAKER_01]: And so even if it's not for them. 09:52.086 --> 09:54.867 [SPEAKER_01]: They're open, you know, they're open to it for their son. 09:54.987 --> 10:00.209 [SPEAKER_01]: And so that to me was mind-blowing, like I was in tears when they said, because this has been seventeen years in the coming, right? 10:01.189 --> 10:03.270 [SPEAKER_01]: So anyway, so I get to spend more time with them. 10:03.650 --> 10:05.330 [SPEAKER_01]: They live in the Paris area. 10:06.251 --> 10:08.872 [SPEAKER_01]: So that's just one family and it's representative of a lot. 10:10.352 --> 10:13.113 [SPEAKER_01]: The second family is Emily, Gium, and Orso. 10:13.953 --> 10:15.014 [SPEAKER_01]: We've been for ten years. 10:15.074 --> 10:17.414 [SPEAKER_01]: I met her when I was working corporate. 10:17.735 --> 10:18.495 [SPEAKER_01]: We clicked right away. 10:19.977 --> 10:21.723 [SPEAKER_01]: She, I would say she is a believer. 10:21.903 --> 10:24.290 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if she has a relationship with Jesus per se. 10:27.065 --> 10:30.267 [SPEAKER_01]: He's against religion in a broad way. 10:30.447 --> 10:34.789 [SPEAKER_01]: And so he doesn't understand necessarily the difference between religion and faith, but he's against it. 10:34.989 --> 10:40.372 [SPEAKER_01]: But yet again, they had a son ask me to be Godmother because you have good values. 10:41.052 --> 10:43.273 [SPEAKER_01]: Doesn't matter if the Christian or not, but you have good values. 10:43.313 --> 10:47.355 [SPEAKER_01]: We want you to have an influence on our son's life because we trust you. 10:47.595 --> 10:50.417 [SPEAKER_01]: And so that to me was mind-blowing as well. 10:50.537 --> 10:56.520 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I've had a chance to, yeah, to speak into his life and touch the family in that sense. 10:58.227 --> 11:01.088 [SPEAKER_01]: Third friend is Marjorie, and we were in high school together. 11:02.088 --> 11:03.488 [SPEAKER_01]: We've been friend for about twenty years. 11:04.528 --> 11:15.771 [SPEAKER_01]: She's interested in spirituality, but it can go from energy and cost most to, you know, maybe like the God that you're talking about, but not to sure. 11:16.151 --> 11:21.652 [SPEAKER_01]: And she's definitely not interested in having a personal God or a master in her life. 11:22.932 --> 11:30.576 [SPEAKER_01]: But at the same time in the past twenty years, her belief system has broken down as she's gone through different things. 11:31.257 --> 11:35.139 [SPEAKER_01]: And we reconnected when I came back to digital and we got to share a lot. 11:35.299 --> 11:44.004 [SPEAKER_01]: And she was just kind of curious about my life and how my faith has actually like stayed the same throughout everything that I've gone through. 11:44.404 --> 11:45.745 [SPEAKER_01]: And so that to her was 11:46.805 --> 11:48.485 [SPEAKER_01]: I think she's, she's curious about it now. 11:48.846 --> 11:50.406 [SPEAKER_01]: I gave her a book, she hasn't read it yet. 11:50.626 --> 11:53.847 [SPEAKER_01]: We'll see how it goes, but so that's just another one to keep in mind. 11:53.987 --> 11:58.568 [SPEAKER_01]: And then Audrey, same thing, friend for ten years, she was in corporate when I was there. 11:59.108 --> 12:03.028 [SPEAKER_01]: And she kind of surprised me when we were walking to work together. 12:03.048 --> 12:05.769 [SPEAKER_01]: And she's, oh, what did you do this weekend? 12:05.789 --> 12:07.309 [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, OK, well, try this, we'll see. 12:07.709 --> 12:09.050 [SPEAKER_01]: And nobody goes to church in France. 12:09.150 --> 12:10.210 [SPEAKER_01]: It's just not a thing you do. 12:10.590 --> 12:14.731 [SPEAKER_01]: So I said, well, I was actually hanging out with like, you know, people from my church will say, oh, cool. 12:15.471 --> 12:19.914 [SPEAKER_01]: And then, you know, keep talking, she's like, oh, yeah, well, I read the Psalms when I'm not doing well. 12:20.314 --> 12:21.494 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, I'm sorry, what? 12:22.255 --> 12:26.337 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, first of all, you own a Bible, which is not, you know, not most people. 12:26.717 --> 12:30.779 [SPEAKER_01]: And then you read the Psalms when you're not doing like, okay, so we initiated a conversation. 12:31.400 --> 12:35.342 [SPEAKER_01]: She actually went through, like, a discovery Bible course with me in, in, twenty-twenty. 12:36.582 --> 12:44.026 [SPEAKER_01]: And so she believes in a God or something, but she also believes in karma and energy and things like that. 12:44.166 --> 12:46.927 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I think she's still trying to figure out what that means for her life. 12:47.348 --> 12:54.331 [SPEAKER_01]: So these are just a few examples of how people consider God and faith in religion and friends. 12:54.991 --> 12:56.212 [SPEAKER_01]: They're also very close friends. 12:56.332 --> 12:57.773 [SPEAKER_01]: And so these are also prayer requests. 12:58.713 --> 13:01.116 [SPEAKER_01]: every you want to refer for these people and we'll see that later on. 13:01.517 --> 13:13.991 [SPEAKER_01]: But so that's basically what I'm part of what I'm doing in France is just reconnecting with these people answering questions as we go along and in a sense make God tangible to them in practical ways as well. 13:15.201 --> 13:18.922 [SPEAKER_01]: And then the other part of my ministry is international ministry. 13:19.022 --> 13:24.624 [SPEAKER_01]: So we have encompassed the mission organization attached to this fellowship of churches. 13:24.684 --> 13:26.204 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we have people all around the world. 13:26.824 --> 13:30.365 [SPEAKER_01]: We have people in Latin America and Africa and Asia and Europe. 13:31.586 --> 13:33.306 [SPEAKER_01]: And they're doing amazing things. 13:33.586 --> 13:34.567 [SPEAKER_01]: And the thing is, 13:35.787 --> 13:36.327 [SPEAKER_01]: They need help. 13:37.248 --> 13:43.131 [SPEAKER_01]: They're doing awesome stuff, but they have been on the field for most of them for a good number of years. 13:43.712 --> 13:47.574 [SPEAKER_01]: And they need to be recharged and researched. 13:48.474 --> 13:50.756 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I figured that I could maybe help in some way. 13:52.937 --> 13:55.297 [SPEAKER_01]: Part of my job was to help the network leadership. 13:55.317 --> 13:57.178 [SPEAKER_01]: So we're in different networks. 13:58.398 --> 14:05.739 [SPEAKER_01]: The network, the team that I'm a part of, is basically fostering creativity to reach, unreach people. 14:06.920 --> 14:09.120 [SPEAKER_01]: So it's reaching people in creative ways. 14:09.640 --> 14:19.322 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I wanted to help the network leadership kind of think through what that would look like, how can we help our teammates and resource people and then just visit and get to know them. 14:20.062 --> 14:20.983 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, what are you doing? 14:21.063 --> 14:21.764 [SPEAKER_01]: What is your culture? 14:21.784 --> 14:22.825 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, what is the field like? 14:22.965 --> 14:23.746 [SPEAKER_01]: What do you need? 14:24.746 --> 14:30.411 [SPEAKER_01]: And so then just like learn and understand different cultures, different worldviews, you know, how does that work? 14:30.851 --> 14:34.915 [SPEAKER_01]: How do you present the gospel, you know, to someone who has no concept for it? 14:35.475 --> 14:36.756 [SPEAKER_01]: People don't know what the Bible is. 14:36.876 --> 14:38.478 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, it doesn't mean anything to them. 14:38.518 --> 14:40.259 [SPEAKER_01]: So how do you present it in a way that makes sense? 14:41.540 --> 14:45.103 [SPEAKER_01]: And then just assess, yeah, potential needs and take care of each other. 14:46.144 --> 14:47.685 [SPEAKER_01]: So that was the other part of my ministry. 14:48.186 --> 14:53.689 [SPEAKER_01]: And so from May to April, so basically my first year, these are the places I went. 14:54.910 --> 15:02.936 [SPEAKER_01]: So there is Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Africa, Europe, and then I came to the States. 15:03.616 --> 15:04.837 [SPEAKER_01]: That's when I got to see you guys. 15:06.158 --> 15:07.919 [SPEAKER_01]: And so that's about a country of months. 15:08.199 --> 15:14.684 [SPEAKER_01]: So it was a little intense, but I got to learn so many things, meet amazing people and just see what God was doing around the world. 15:16.055 --> 15:20.197 [SPEAKER_01]: So this is our leadership team that's Tahi, that Sam Schwartz. 15:21.238 --> 15:27.141 [SPEAKER_01]: He's in France, he's in Portugal, and we just got together and kind of laid everything on the table and say, OK, what are our needs? 15:27.841 --> 15:28.662 [SPEAKER_01]: What do people need? 15:28.722 --> 15:30.463 [SPEAKER_01]: How can we help do that? 15:31.383 --> 15:32.764 [SPEAKER_01]: And it can be very technical things. 15:32.844 --> 15:34.685 [SPEAKER_01]: It can be, you know, crying for each other. 15:34.705 --> 15:38.527 [SPEAKER_01]: I then got to go to Central African Republic. 15:39.608 --> 15:45.271 [SPEAKER_01]: Part of reaching people in creative ways is also helping local church develop what they're already doing. 15:45.751 --> 15:50.572 [SPEAKER_01]: So in Africa, Africa is actually the continent where we have the most careous churches in the world. 15:51.212 --> 15:53.293 [SPEAKER_01]: They are doing amazing jobs. 15:53.633 --> 15:56.453 [SPEAKER_01]: The evangelists and the transplants are insane there. 15:57.294 --> 16:01.975 [SPEAKER_01]: And so then the local churches are finding different ways to serve the community. 16:02.135 --> 16:08.516 [SPEAKER_01]: And so they had like medical centers and pharmacies and hospitals to help the local community because there are so many needs. 16:08.996 --> 16:17.023 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I got to go with a team of doctors just to train the local doctors and pharmacists in different medical needs. 16:17.724 --> 16:22.908 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we're the few white heads in the middle there. 16:24.249 --> 16:33.555 [SPEAKER_01]: And then I got to, so this is Jim, it's one of our doctors, he's a, he was specialized in, in gynecology, but also leadership. 16:33.995 --> 16:37.737 [SPEAKER_01]: And so he gave, kind of, some in our own leadership in the medical world. 16:38.117 --> 16:43.040 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I got to translate him because he spoke English, I spoke French, and this is French speaking Africa. 16:43.080 --> 16:48.884 [SPEAKER_01]: So I got to do that, and just, yeah, really see what other people are doing there. 16:49.520 --> 16:50.761 [SPEAKER_01]: and how about in any way I could. 16:51.821 --> 16:54.382 [SPEAKER_01]: So these are just examples of what my ministry can look like. 16:55.543 --> 16:58.384 [SPEAKER_01]: The last example I'll give is just Ireland. 16:58.504 --> 16:59.504 [SPEAKER_01]: So I went to Ireland. 17:00.385 --> 17:01.745 [SPEAKER_01]: There's a team within Compass. 17:01.906 --> 17:15.932 [SPEAKER_01]: That is in charge of training missionaries because once you hit the field, so usually people go to the field, have a ministry background, maybe have been a pastor or like an elder in a family in the US. 17:16.712 --> 17:19.494 [SPEAKER_01]: move somewhere in the world and try to start a true plan from there. 17:19.514 --> 17:24.597 [SPEAKER_01]: But then you hit the ground and you find out that you actually need a lot of different skills. 17:25.237 --> 17:28.319 [SPEAKER_01]: Knowing the Bible is a fundamental for sure. 17:28.399 --> 17:32.602 [SPEAKER_01]: But then you never thought that you would be a sound engineer and you never thought that you would be 17:33.022 --> 17:34.523 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I don't know an illustrator. 17:34.583 --> 17:40.366 [SPEAKER_01]: You never thought that you would be, you know, all these different things that people learn from scratch because there is a need for it. 17:41.706 --> 17:45.869 [SPEAKER_01]: And so these people are in charge of training our staff on the field. 17:46.069 --> 17:52.212 [SPEAKER_01]: And they wanted to really think through, okay, like, what are the different needs that people have? 17:52.732 --> 17:54.993 [SPEAKER_01]: and do have like a five-year plan for this. 17:55.154 --> 17:57.615 [SPEAKER_01]: And so they asked me to facilitate the workshop. 17:58.055 --> 18:05.359 [SPEAKER_01]: So we spent four days revising their vision and then working on a five-year plan and just more strategy skills in a sense. 18:05.540 --> 18:07.901 [SPEAKER_01]: And so that's also part of how I could help. 18:08.641 --> 18:11.523 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we used a lot of post-it notes. 18:11.903 --> 18:19.308 [SPEAKER_01]: But by the end, we did have a revised mission, a five-year plan and then just action plan for different projects that needed to happen. 18:20.288 --> 18:21.449 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I let those meetings. 18:22.717 --> 18:23.718 [SPEAKER_01]: So that was my first year. 18:24.438 --> 18:25.139 [SPEAKER_01]: So interesting. 18:25.159 --> 18:27.000 [SPEAKER_01]: I got to meet amazing people. 18:27.020 --> 18:29.381 [SPEAKER_01]: I got to see God at work up close. 18:30.362 --> 18:33.324 [SPEAKER_01]: Also hard because you can pray for our missionaries. 18:33.704 --> 18:34.465 [SPEAKER_01]: They are tired. 18:35.265 --> 18:38.448 [SPEAKER_01]: It is a lot of work and it is a lot of work that you don't expect. 18:39.408 --> 18:45.692 [SPEAKER_01]: We have people working with handicapped kids in the middle of the mountains who can't go anywhere. 18:46.773 --> 18:49.394 [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, so many different people working on amazing projects. 18:49.594 --> 18:56.196 [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, I was privileged to get to know them and help just in any way I could. 18:57.697 --> 18:58.657 [SPEAKER_01]: And then my second year. 18:58.977 --> 19:00.178 [SPEAKER_01]: So first year was a little intense. 19:00.198 --> 19:01.518 [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, OK, but that's the first year. 19:01.738 --> 19:03.159 [SPEAKER_01]: First year, you know, is always hard. 19:03.719 --> 19:05.660 [SPEAKER_01]: Second year was like, OK, this is going to be easier. 19:05.680 --> 19:07.040 [SPEAKER_01]: Now I've built the foundation. 19:07.180 --> 19:08.040 [SPEAKER_01]: I know what I'm doing. 19:08.340 --> 19:09.381 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, we can go from there. 19:10.782 --> 19:12.703 [SPEAKER_01]: This flavor, second year was not easier. 19:13.844 --> 19:16.587 [SPEAKER_01]: Second year was actually a lot harder for different reasons. 19:16.807 --> 19:24.714 [SPEAKER_01]: And so, I just really had to learn a lot of new things, but navigated them first in storms and I'll talk about that. 19:25.615 --> 19:29.598 [SPEAKER_01]: Just seeing God at work up close, but in my personal life and in my local church. 19:30.679 --> 19:34.622 [SPEAKER_01]: And then spreading the gospel in new ways that I had not anticipated all. 19:36.139 --> 19:41.140 [SPEAKER_01]: So in April, twenty twenty four, I was headed to Turkey. 19:41.260 --> 19:42.481 [SPEAKER_01]: It was going to be my last trip. 19:42.821 --> 19:48.662 [SPEAKER_01]: It was going to see the last teammates that I hadn't seen yet and just again see how I could help. 19:49.122 --> 19:50.743 [SPEAKER_01]: And instead I landed in the ER. 19:51.263 --> 19:52.923 [SPEAKER_01]: So I was in the hospital for about a week. 19:52.943 --> 19:54.344 [SPEAKER_01]: There were trying to figure out what was wrong. 19:54.444 --> 19:55.244 [SPEAKER_01]: I wasn't feeling well. 19:55.264 --> 19:56.444 [SPEAKER_01]: There were a lot of different symptoms. 19:57.685 --> 20:02.686 [SPEAKER_01]: And then so about two or three weeks later, I was diagnosed with cancer. 20:03.923 --> 20:06.184 [SPEAKER_01]: So pretty rare and severe form of cancer. 20:07.344 --> 20:09.164 [SPEAKER_01]: It's ovarian peritoneal cancer. 20:09.304 --> 20:10.165 [SPEAKER_01]: I had already spread. 20:10.805 --> 20:12.625 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I got hit with that. 20:12.685 --> 20:13.426 [SPEAKER_01]: I was thirty-three. 20:14.706 --> 20:15.546 [SPEAKER_01]: Did not expect it. 20:15.986 --> 20:16.946 [SPEAKER_01]: By any means. 20:17.507 --> 20:18.687 [SPEAKER_01]: It was a nobody's radar. 20:19.407 --> 20:21.068 [SPEAKER_01]: It just hit within two weeks. 20:21.728 --> 20:23.448 [SPEAKER_01]: I had no symptoms before that. 20:24.488 --> 20:27.689 [SPEAKER_01]: And then at some point my body could stop handling it. 20:27.869 --> 20:29.290 [SPEAKER_01]: And so that's what I ended up in the ER. 20:31.389 --> 20:33.833 [SPEAKER_01]: you never expect it, like you never expect something like that. 20:35.156 --> 20:41.286 [SPEAKER_01]: And so then followed after the diagnosis, everything kicks in really quickly. 20:43.883 --> 20:46.924 [SPEAKER_01]: from then May to November, I was in treatment. 20:48.084 --> 20:58.748 [SPEAKER_01]: I had very aggressive chemo, and the point was basically to do chemo until the cancer could reduce enough to then have it surgically removed, so that was the goal. 20:59.688 --> 21:04.990 [SPEAKER_01]: And as the months went on, every time I had a doctor's appointment, it was always kind of like, 21:05.985 --> 21:09.006 [SPEAKER_01]: not good news, not great news, pretty bad news. 21:10.426 --> 21:14.328 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I had to go through all of that. 21:14.428 --> 21:15.888 [SPEAKER_01]: And basically, they had to push back. 21:15.968 --> 21:20.550 [SPEAKER_01]: I had additional chemo every time it was like, well, it's not working as much as it should. 21:21.050 --> 21:22.790 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not reducing as much as it should. 21:23.871 --> 21:26.551 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we just continue as long as we can. 21:27.892 --> 21:31.013 [SPEAKER_01]: But needed to say, those six months were pretty brutal. 21:32.714 --> 21:34.335 [SPEAKER_01]: I did not imagine having going through that. 21:34.435 --> 21:35.456 [SPEAKER_01]: It was not part of my plan. 21:36.357 --> 21:37.798 [SPEAKER_01]: It was not part of my ministry plan. 21:38.579 --> 21:42.663 [SPEAKER_01]: And so a lot of me was just questioning, like, God, what are you doing? 21:42.843 --> 21:43.864 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, what the heck? 21:44.625 --> 21:45.786 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm here. 21:45.986 --> 21:46.587 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm serving you. 21:46.687 --> 21:47.267 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm full-time. 21:47.347 --> 21:47.788 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm willing. 21:47.968 --> 21:49.329 [SPEAKER_01]: Why are you stopping me? 21:50.090 --> 21:52.292 [SPEAKER_01]: I felt like I had been stopped dead in my tracks. 21:54.879 --> 21:58.062 [SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, he knows what he's doing and he knew what he was doing then. 21:58.082 --> 22:03.168 [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, it was not going to lie and it's a hard thing to go through. 22:03.188 --> 22:09.875 [SPEAKER_01]: And then in December, we reached the limit of the amount of chemil that I could do. 22:09.895 --> 22:14.620 [SPEAKER_01]: And basically on the last rounds, they said, well, actually, 22:16.088 --> 22:17.050 [SPEAKER_01]: It's still not operable. 22:17.630 --> 22:18.993 [SPEAKER_01]: So what do we do now? 22:19.613 --> 22:23.760 [SPEAKER_01]: And so then they said, well, we can't surgically remove it. 22:24.381 --> 22:25.502 [SPEAKER_01]: So you're going to have to live with it. 22:27.101 --> 22:30.983 [SPEAKER_01]: which to me, living with cancer, like it doesn't compute, right? 22:31.003 --> 22:32.583 [SPEAKER_01]: Those two words don't go together. 22:34.144 --> 22:35.205 [SPEAKER_01]: It means a lot of things. 22:35.745 --> 22:44.109 [SPEAKER_01]: They said, so the doctors, high quality doctors, we have like a good cancer center in digital, and I've been treated really well. 22:44.789 --> 22:48.371 [SPEAKER_01]: But they said we can manage it, but we can't cure it. 22:50.231 --> 22:50.872 [SPEAKER_01]: Same thing like. 22:52.039 --> 22:53.219 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not on anybody's radar. 22:53.520 --> 22:55.400 [SPEAKER_01]: How do you get hit with that when you're thirty-three? 22:55.921 --> 23:00.382 [SPEAKER_01]: This type of cancer usually presents itself in women who are like sixty-five plus. 23:00.982 --> 23:03.063 [SPEAKER_01]: So, again, like, what the heck? 23:04.244 --> 23:14.468 [SPEAKER_01]: And at the same time, you know, there are a lot of things that just kept me going because God clearly put things in place for me to go through this. 23:16.902 --> 23:19.743 [SPEAKER_01]: So as of December, then we needed a new plan. 23:19.763 --> 23:28.406 [SPEAKER_01]: And so basically, as of January, then they put me on maintenance treatment. 23:29.406 --> 23:31.227 [SPEAKER_01]: So they reduced the cancer as much as possible. 23:32.547 --> 23:37.089 [SPEAKER_01]: And then now it's basically since January, I'm on maintenance treatment to keep it under wraps. 23:37.389 --> 23:41.470 [SPEAKER_01]: So it kind of acts like a bubble to prevent the cancer from developing more. 23:43.370 --> 23:44.791 [SPEAKER_01]: But that's going to be a lifelong treatment. 23:45.131 --> 23:46.252 [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't know what that looks like. 23:46.773 --> 23:48.434 [SPEAKER_01]: So scary thought. 23:49.695 --> 23:51.797 [SPEAKER_01]: But at the same time, and you can see me now. 23:52.117 --> 23:55.760 [SPEAKER_01]: It's literally a miracle that I'm in the shape that I am right now. 23:56.320 --> 23:58.782 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't have any pain, which is wilds. 23:59.002 --> 24:05.207 [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm doing well enough to be able to travel and come to the States and do on these things. 24:06.608 --> 24:09.671 [SPEAKER_01]: So I figured, OK, well, we're living with this. 24:09.991 --> 24:12.573 [SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't mean, but I'm not stopped, right? 24:12.673 --> 24:13.975 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, God has a plan. 24:14.135 --> 24:14.915 [SPEAKER_01]: He's using this. 24:15.496 --> 24:18.038 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I came back. 24:18.178 --> 24:21.801 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I'm now working part-time just because I still have medical appointments. 24:22.202 --> 24:23.643 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going back to France tomorrow. 24:24.003 --> 24:26.325 [SPEAKER_01]: And on Tuesday, I have an infusion at the hospital. 24:26.846 --> 24:29.488 [SPEAKER_01]: And this is what my life is like now. 24:31.330 --> 24:31.730 [SPEAKER_01]: But so 24:32.791 --> 24:36.654 [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm working part-time, but just to give you a little preview of what this storm looked like. 24:36.694 --> 24:39.775 [SPEAKER_01]: That's what I looked like probably when you saw me in October. 24:41.356 --> 24:43.078 [SPEAKER_01]: Got my port put in. 24:43.898 --> 24:49.441 [SPEAKER_01]: And then I, they recommended to cut my hair before I started chemo so that I would be less of a shock when I lost my hair. 24:50.742 --> 24:51.303 [SPEAKER_01]: Last one here. 24:52.423 --> 24:53.284 [SPEAKER_01]: Hard thing to go through. 24:55.185 --> 24:58.487 [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, God used it in amazing ways. 25:00.841 --> 25:08.594 [SPEAKER_01]: I felt like he had stopped me dead in my tracks, but actually what he was doing was opening doors that I had not been able to open by myself. 25:10.417 --> 25:13.642 [SPEAKER_01]: So it's a very humbling moment when you realize that because 25:16.124 --> 25:20.106 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because just like so many people actually got to hear the gospel through this. 25:20.326 --> 25:29.912 [SPEAKER_01]: And so, yeah, the four families that I talked about previously, and these are just some of the friends that I got to tell about my faith and Christ through this whole storm. 25:31.913 --> 25:35.715 [SPEAKER_01]: Just a few examples, but these are some of my very close friends. 25:37.336 --> 25:38.437 [SPEAKER_01]: Could I be in the next one? 25:39.287 --> 25:41.849 [SPEAKER_01]: We've been friends, I've been friends with Colombians in Skitter Garden. 25:42.029 --> 25:43.269 [SPEAKER_01]: We went to kindergarten together. 25:44.290 --> 25:46.091 [SPEAKER_01]: She was raised in a semi-capped family. 25:46.251 --> 25:47.012 [SPEAKER_01]: We'll put it that way. 25:50.033 --> 25:57.558 [SPEAKER_01]: I think it was when the doctors told me that I had to add more chemo because the chemo wasn't working as well as they thought. 25:58.858 --> 25:59.759 [SPEAKER_01]: She sent me a text. 26:00.800 --> 26:06.343 [SPEAKER_01]: And she said, Aries, I haven't prayed in eighteen years, but I prayed for you tonight. 26:08.960 --> 26:10.161 [SPEAKER_01]: which is wild, you know? 26:10.721 --> 26:14.984 [SPEAKER_01]: And her husband, Maxim, is a quantum physics researcher. 26:16.024 --> 26:17.846 [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, so science, right? 26:18.026 --> 26:18.466 [SPEAKER_01]: All the way. 26:18.886 --> 26:21.308 [SPEAKER_01]: He's literally trying to figure out how time works. 26:21.448 --> 26:22.809 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, this is what he's working on. 26:23.169 --> 26:24.870 [SPEAKER_01]: So God is not really on his radar. 26:25.931 --> 26:28.993 [SPEAKER_01]: He sent me a text and he said, Ali, I have never prayed in my life. 26:29.573 --> 26:32.655 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know how to pray, but I tried last night. 26:33.876 --> 26:34.236 [SPEAKER_01]: And so, 26:36.227 --> 26:44.571 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, so many of these people have started praying on my behalf to a God that they don't know or don't believe in, right? 26:45.492 --> 26:46.412 [SPEAKER_01]: Which is crazy. 26:47.773 --> 26:52.355 [SPEAKER_01]: These friends, this is what, this was my closest friend, group in junior high. 26:53.695 --> 26:55.536 [SPEAKER_01]: And after high school, we kind of lost touch. 26:55.916 --> 26:57.197 [SPEAKER_01]: Everybody kind of went their own way. 26:57.217 --> 26:59.938 [SPEAKER_01]: I had not heard from these ladies in seventeen years. 27:01.159 --> 27:03.520 [SPEAKER_01]: I had a post on social media about my cancer. 27:04.120 --> 27:09.502 [SPEAKER_01]: And so the one on the very left reached out, she texted me, she was like, Ali's, I'm so sorry. 27:09.863 --> 27:16.926 [SPEAKER_01]: We haven't talked in eighteen years, but just know whatever you need, I'm here for you, if you want to talk, if you want to come, if you want to, if you need me to come. 27:18.127 --> 27:21.608 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's meaning a lot because she has three little kids. 27:21.848 --> 27:23.049 [SPEAKER_01]: She lives like eight hours away. 27:23.449 --> 27:25.350 [SPEAKER_01]: She says, if you need me to come, I will come. 27:27.351 --> 27:36.834 [SPEAKER_01]: And then she was still in contact with the next lady, Alexandra, who was my very, very best friend in elementary school in junior high. 27:37.935 --> 27:40.256 [SPEAKER_01]: Two days later, I get into call from an unknown number. 27:40.276 --> 27:43.337 [SPEAKER_01]: At like APM, which never happens. 27:43.737 --> 27:44.797 [SPEAKER_01]: I pick up, it was her. 27:45.018 --> 27:45.618 [SPEAKER_01]: And she was like, 27:46.474 --> 27:47.955 [SPEAKER_01]: We haven't talked in eighteen years. 27:48.895 --> 27:49.996 [SPEAKER_01]: Tell me what's going on. 27:50.096 --> 27:55.478 [SPEAKER_01]: I heard from Ediex like, what's up, you know, and just walk me through it. 27:56.479 --> 27:57.640 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we got to reconnect. 27:57.820 --> 28:01.602 [SPEAKER_01]: And then the last lady is Cecil same thing, like she called me a few days later. 28:01.682 --> 28:04.643 [SPEAKER_01]: And so suddenly my friend group from junior high is back. 28:05.283 --> 28:08.785 [SPEAKER_01]: And they are willing, you know, to walk me through this. 28:08.805 --> 28:11.967 [SPEAKER_01]: They're willing to support me in so many ways, which is crazy. 28:13.025 --> 28:14.727 [SPEAKER_01]: But the awesome thing is that we got together. 28:16.268 --> 28:18.751 [SPEAKER_01]: And again, that's not a small feat when you have small kids. 28:18.891 --> 28:20.312 [SPEAKER_01]: Everybody's in a different part of our friends. 28:20.472 --> 28:21.954 [SPEAKER_01]: But we have, and we got together. 28:22.414 --> 28:23.475 [SPEAKER_01]: And through that weekend, 28:24.608 --> 28:30.549 [SPEAKER_01]: They just heard, you know, they asked me questions, asked about my story, asked me how I was going through it, and I just talked about my faith. 28:30.609 --> 28:32.830 [SPEAKER_01]: I was like the only thing getting me through this is God. 28:33.110 --> 28:34.270 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, it's my faith. 28:34.930 --> 28:36.151 [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is very present. 28:36.211 --> 28:41.612 [SPEAKER_01]: This is how, you know, and not in a pushy way, but just in a very authentic way, because it's true. 28:42.312 --> 28:46.173 [SPEAKER_01]: And like they said, like, it makes sense. 28:47.543 --> 28:50.205 [SPEAKER_01]: It makes sense and you already believed in God when you were fifteen. 28:51.145 --> 28:55.007 [SPEAKER_01]: I think they all went to church with me at some point because they were sleeping over. 28:55.728 --> 28:56.828 [SPEAKER_01]: I got a church on Sunday morning. 28:56.868 --> 28:57.529 [SPEAKER_01]: They came with me. 28:58.069 --> 29:04.773 [SPEAKER_01]: So she said like, you know, when we went to church when we were fifteen, like what they said that morning stuck with me, I've been thinking about that. 29:05.633 --> 29:07.634 [SPEAKER_01]: And this has been like seventeen years, you know. 29:07.774 --> 29:13.838 [SPEAKER_01]: So that's when you was just mind blowing and just, you know, seeing God at work in all these situations. 29:14.804 --> 29:22.346 [SPEAKER_01]: was crazy, and now that they have kids, same thing, they're asking me like, well, well, actually my daughter asked me this question about like, what happens if someone dies? 29:22.706 --> 29:23.686 [SPEAKER_01]: What happens afterwards? 29:24.126 --> 29:25.567 [SPEAKER_01]: I said, I don't have an answer to that. 29:25.667 --> 29:26.407 [SPEAKER_01]: What would you say? 29:26.967 --> 29:31.708 [SPEAKER_01]: And so again, I got to share, well, I think the Bible says this, and this is what happens to whatever. 29:31.828 --> 29:36.469 [SPEAKER_01]: And so it's just been a really interesting dynamic, and God has been opening doors. 29:36.909 --> 29:39.610 [SPEAKER_01]: I have so many more stories with all these people, so we can talk about that. 29:40.890 --> 29:43.232 [SPEAKER_01]: But just to say, like, God is using this. 29:43.312 --> 29:53.462 [SPEAKER_01]: And actually, I thought he had stopped me dead in my tracks in my ministry, but he actually just opened a whole new, I guess, part of the ministry that I didn't know I was supposed to have. 29:56.324 --> 30:00.028 [SPEAKER_01]: And so going back to these people, so again, you know, 30:01.274 --> 30:18.819 [SPEAKER_01]: God, faith not for them, maybe for their son, same thing, last summer they sent me a text, and they sent me this picture that is Simul, who is three years old, who walked into a church and lit a candle for me to pray for me. 30:21.204 --> 30:24.405 [SPEAKER_01]: That doesn't happen, but it means a lot. 30:24.586 --> 30:28.667 [SPEAKER_01]: And so it's not about the symbolism, but the symbolism is huge. 30:28.787 --> 30:32.069 [SPEAKER_01]: They actually walked into a church, which they have never done before. 30:32.569 --> 30:33.750 [SPEAKER_01]: And this is on my behalf. 30:33.930 --> 30:38.852 [SPEAKER_01]: And so it's just so touching to me, just to see God at work in people's hearts. 30:40.133 --> 30:42.374 [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not padding myself on the back here. 30:42.494 --> 30:44.375 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just saying, this is what he is doing. 30:44.835 --> 30:47.936 [SPEAKER_01]: And he's just placing me in the front row for me to see all these things. 30:48.076 --> 30:48.857 [SPEAKER_01]: And I am just like, 30:49.597 --> 31:01.140 [SPEAKER_01]: literally sitting next to him eating popcorn and watching this happen and it's amazing and so one of the things that was really hard for me was to not be able to travel anymore. 31:02.300 --> 31:05.781 [SPEAKER_01]: Basically from May to July I could hardly walk. 31:06.101 --> 31:11.963 [SPEAKER_01]: I couldn't walk for three minutes and so from going to you know visiting a country a month to like 31:13.176 --> 31:16.679 [SPEAKER_01]: basically the maximum I could do was like my bedroom to the kitchen. 31:17.039 --> 31:18.500 [SPEAKER_01]: That was really hard for me. 31:19.801 --> 31:23.023 [SPEAKER_01]: Because yeah, I love the international and that's when my heart is. 31:23.643 --> 31:26.085 [SPEAKER_01]: And so that was one of my big discussions with the Lord. 31:26.165 --> 31:29.628 [SPEAKER_01]: It was like, okay, why can't I travel anymore? 31:29.668 --> 31:30.148 [SPEAKER_01]: Why can't I? 31:30.488 --> 31:33.270 [SPEAKER_01]: There's so many people who still need to be reached like, what are you doing? 31:35.012 --> 31:36.693 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, he was just inversing things. 31:36.913 --> 31:40.836 [SPEAKER_01]: So the red dots are all the people that actually came to see me. 31:41.991 --> 31:45.914 [SPEAKER_01]: From I think I held I probably at least ten different countries. 31:46.394 --> 31:59.283 [SPEAKER_01]: Our friends in Germany, friends in the Netherlands, friends in the UK, friends of the US, friends in a whole lot of different places who came to see me, which again didn't make sense to me, but they were like, 31:59.943 --> 32:20.299 [SPEAKER_01]: we love you and we're here to support you and because then they got to spend time with me like they saw they saw my church deliver groceries to me they saw my church support me in different ways they saw me in my faith I have several friends who went to chemo with me and just saw what that was I can at the same time seeing that you know 32:20.997 --> 32:22.881 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, why are you not depressed? 32:23.462 --> 32:24.444 [SPEAKER_01]: Why are you not angry? 32:25.025 --> 32:27.470 [SPEAKER_01]: And so that also got conversations started. 32:28.092 --> 32:29.855 [SPEAKER_01]: So the red dots were people who came to see me. 32:31.030 --> 32:37.674 [SPEAKER_01]: And yellow dots are people around the world that I don't necessarily know who told me that they were praying for me. 32:38.074 --> 32:44.038 [SPEAKER_01]: I got random e-mails from Argentina, from a care stretch in Argentina saying, at least, I'm a Eduardo. 32:44.418 --> 32:45.479 [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, okay. 32:45.739 --> 32:47.580 [SPEAKER_01]: He said, we are praying for you. 32:47.700 --> 32:48.420 [SPEAKER_01]: We heard your story. 32:48.500 --> 32:49.201 [SPEAKER_01]: We're praying for you. 32:49.321 --> 32:50.622 [SPEAKER_01]: Our care stretches are praying for you. 32:50.642 --> 32:50.982 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, 32:52.488 --> 32:53.328 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, thanks Eduardo. 32:53.808 --> 32:55.269 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know you, but that's amazing. 32:55.889 --> 33:04.411 [SPEAKER_01]: Every people at Africa and Cameroon and Chad, who have texted me, who have texted my parents, saying, my dad's name is Paul, who's brother Paul. 33:05.511 --> 33:06.832 [SPEAKER_01]: Our case churches are getting together. 33:06.892 --> 33:08.532 [SPEAKER_01]: We are getting on your knees for your daughter. 33:10.132 --> 33:11.033 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know these people. 33:13.513 --> 33:17.894 [SPEAKER_01]: But those kinds of things tell me that God is at work. 33:18.754 --> 33:20.715 [SPEAKER_01]: Even in situations that we don't understand. 33:22.334 --> 33:23.995 [SPEAKER_01]: There's a dot in South Korea. 33:25.335 --> 33:42.021 [SPEAKER_01]: He was actually, so this is a guy who's a missionary, not we think of this, but with another mission organization, but he was disabled by a missionary from in campus in Ireland, and then went to South Korea to serve, and in hopes to get to North Korea at some point. 33:43.882 --> 33:44.822 [SPEAKER_01]: And he was ready to quit. 33:46.203 --> 33:50.766 [SPEAKER_01]: And so our friend in Ireland just texted him different things and emails. 33:51.126 --> 33:54.388 [SPEAKER_01]: And then he put part of like my testimony had something in a newsletter. 33:54.568 --> 33:56.129 [SPEAKER_01]: He copied pasted, sent it to him. 33:57.169 --> 33:58.870 [SPEAKER_01]: And he said, that encouraged me. 33:59.831 --> 34:00.291 [SPEAKER_01]: I stayed. 34:01.342 --> 34:03.162 [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, what the heck? 34:03.623 --> 34:05.343 [SPEAKER_01]: That's not me. 34:05.803 --> 34:10.724 [SPEAKER_01]: But I use an analogy that I don't like to say that I'm fighting cancer. 34:11.344 --> 34:15.085 [SPEAKER_01]: I like to say that I'm navigating cancer because I can't fight against myself. 34:15.345 --> 34:17.406 [SPEAKER_01]: This is now a part of my ministry. 34:18.706 --> 34:20.746 [SPEAKER_01]: And I think it's a tool that God is using. 34:20.806 --> 34:27.168 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I'm just kind of on the boat in the storm navigating it as best I can, but I'm trusting the captain. 34:28.429 --> 34:32.132 [SPEAKER_01]: And that has been a lot, just a big part of my story. 34:32.272 --> 34:33.973 [SPEAKER_01]: And so he used that analogy. 34:34.374 --> 34:38.738 [SPEAKER_01]: And so now when this guy is discouraged, he signs, but I'm trusting the captain. 34:39.638 --> 34:42.661 [SPEAKER_01]: And like, I don't know this person, you know? 34:43.161 --> 34:49.187 [SPEAKER_01]: So anyway, again, multiple stories around that, but it's just wild to me to see how God is using that. 34:50.518 --> 34:52.239 [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm now in my third year of ministry. 34:54.459 --> 34:58.321 [SPEAKER_01]: And at this point, I don't even know exactly what that looks like. 34:59.261 --> 35:03.683 [SPEAKER_01]: I think the biggest part is just trusting that Lord, like obviously he has a plan. 35:03.903 --> 35:05.683 [SPEAKER_01]: He knows exactly where I'm supposed to be. 35:06.044 --> 35:08.364 [SPEAKER_01]: He knows exactly the people who need to hear about him. 35:09.505 --> 35:11.606 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I'm just there. 35:11.786 --> 35:12.506 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm trusting him. 35:12.926 --> 35:13.946 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm watching him work. 35:14.867 --> 35:17.828 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm seeing just opportunities that I never thought were possible. 35:19.264 --> 35:21.746 [SPEAKER_01]: The nurses at the hospital heard my testimony. 35:24.107 --> 35:28.090 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's not a normal thing because you're not allowed to talk about God in France at your workplace. 35:28.310 --> 35:33.554 [SPEAKER_01]: So anyway, there was a whole set of circumstances, but he put a Christian nurse in there. 35:34.054 --> 35:36.136 [SPEAKER_01]: And she got to kind of convey my story. 35:36.616 --> 35:40.619 [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, so I'm just watching him work and trying to be a faithful testimony. 35:41.917 --> 35:48.883 [SPEAKER_01]: I feel very much like, you know, I want it to be like, I thought, you know, I want to be apostles and I go out and I start, you know, all the stuff. 35:49.323 --> 35:54.167 [SPEAKER_01]: And I feel like I'm actually more like a leper, you know, in the story of, I'm the sick one. 35:54.187 --> 35:57.430 [SPEAKER_01]: And Jesus healed the leper. 35:57.490 --> 35:59.332 [SPEAKER_01]: There was one leper in particular that he healed. 35:59.972 --> 36:02.134 [SPEAKER_01]: And the leper was like, okay, awesome, can I come with you? 36:02.194 --> 36:03.475 [SPEAKER_01]: Can I, you know, and he said, no. 36:04.316 --> 36:05.337 [SPEAKER_01]: said, don't come with me. 36:05.877 --> 36:08.159 [SPEAKER_01]: But go back home and tell your story. 36:08.339 --> 36:10.621 [SPEAKER_01]: Those people need to hear what I have done in your life. 36:11.101 --> 36:13.483 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's why I feel like I'm at right now in that story. 36:14.123 --> 36:25.011 [SPEAKER_01]: Unfortunately, I'm not healed, not completely, sufficiently to be able to still work and share my story. 36:25.171 --> 36:33.897 [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, but I'm just trying to be a faithful testimony of what is God actually doing in my life and my personal life in the life of my friends, my family. 36:36.510 --> 36:50.557 [SPEAKER_01]: So, and then serving the church, I actually, my church named me a Deacon this year, and to me, that's very counterintuitive, because I'm like, well, I'm not, like, I'm not a testier than it's in a sense. 36:50.677 --> 36:52.258 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not, I don't have my energy back. 36:52.398 --> 36:53.879 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm very limited, energy wise. 36:54.940 --> 37:02.644 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm limited time wise, because I have to go to, you know, I have to go to the hospital once every three weeks, and I have all these medical appointments, and I have all these things. 37:04.505 --> 37:06.588 [SPEAKER_01]: But at the same time, I'm ready to serve. 37:06.828 --> 37:12.614 [SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, if the church can use me in any way, I'm very happy to serve in that sense. 37:12.975 --> 37:16.919 [SPEAKER_01]: And I think it also sends a message of like, it's when I'm weak, that God has strong. 37:17.400 --> 37:19.402 [SPEAKER_01]: And we don't need churches of strong people. 37:19.662 --> 37:19.922 [SPEAKER_01]: We need... 37:20.503 --> 37:36.352 [SPEAKER_01]: churches just of people and God uses weakness and he uses sickness and he uses limitations and I'm seeing it I'm now working with our young adults so it goes from like eighteen to twenty eight I think which is about fifteen people in our church 37:37.312 --> 37:40.873 [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm just working with them, we're going through different themes. 37:40.993 --> 37:48.415 [SPEAKER_01]: And what does God and Faithful look like in a practical life, in the decision-making, in relationship with friends, things like that? 37:49.176 --> 37:50.836 [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm seeing that because I'm limited. 37:51.216 --> 37:53.697 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm actually raising them up in a sense. 37:53.817 --> 37:55.698 [SPEAKER_01]: It's like I'm giving them opportunities to serve. 37:57.118 --> 37:59.199 [SPEAKER_01]: We all want to be the person who does, right? 37:59.339 --> 38:08.081 [SPEAKER_01]: And like, I'm a strategist, I'm a planner, I have a checklist, and I'm happy to do things, and God has kind of like, put me on a bench of being like, no, you know what it's fine? 38:08.141 --> 38:14.722 [SPEAKER_01]: You can sit, but help that person serve, open the door for that other person, train this person in doing things. 38:15.243 --> 38:18.783 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I think I'm still learning that, but I think that's where he has me right now. 38:23.103 --> 38:24.083 [SPEAKER_01]: This is my favorite emoji. 38:24.244 --> 38:27.505 [SPEAKER_01]: I use it all the time, but this is literally what I am right now is just like. 38:29.066 --> 38:34.108 [SPEAKER_01]: It's also, it's kind of like, I have no idea what God has next, but also just raising my hands of you being like, you know what? 38:34.568 --> 38:38.370 [SPEAKER_01]: Open hands, ready to serve, whatever, you know, God has plans. 38:39.853 --> 38:48.179 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I'm working with the local church with our young adults, as I said, their nurses got an opportunity to listen to my testimony. 38:49.140 --> 38:56.186 [SPEAKER_01]: I had a chance to share my story with a thousand young adults and teens at a conference in France. 38:56.946 --> 39:02.390 [SPEAKER_01]: And it ended up on YouTube, which I was not necessarily like, I didn't know that was going to be a part of it, but it worked out. 39:02.851 --> 39:05.733 [SPEAKER_01]: And then somebody else sent them being like, hey, like, 39:06.093 --> 39:08.296 [SPEAKER_01]: She goes to your hospital. 39:08.657 --> 39:12.002 [SPEAKER_01]: This is the person you're at treating and the nurses were in tears. 39:15.045 --> 39:18.168 [SPEAKER_01]: That video is actually still in YouTube and I ended up translating it in English. 39:18.368 --> 39:21.831 [SPEAKER_01]: So if you want to see it, you can, I think, just type in my name and you'll find it. 39:21.931 --> 39:27.675 [SPEAKER_01]: But I get to talk to God about God to other cancer patients. 39:28.516 --> 39:30.137 [SPEAKER_01]: I never thought that was going to be part of my ministry. 39:30.297 --> 39:31.478 [SPEAKER_01]: That was not part of my plan. 39:31.799 --> 39:40.726 [SPEAKER_01]: I wish it weren't necessarily part of my plan, but at the same time, these are people that God has directed me towards. 39:42.810 --> 39:46.976 [SPEAKER_01]: I got to share with other youth groups from my friends, churches, and things. 39:47.336 --> 39:48.798 [SPEAKER_01]: And then I get to share with you guys. 39:49.038 --> 39:50.400 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I think that's a big part of it. 39:53.354 --> 39:55.375 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I got to go to a horse free treat. 39:55.515 --> 40:01.479 [SPEAKER_01]: So they call it equine therapy, and it's a nonprofit who does this for cancer patients. 40:02.640 --> 40:08.383 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I got to go with a twelve other women who were all who all had cancer or had cancer. 40:08.703 --> 40:13.326 [SPEAKER_01]: We're just navigating that and horses just helping them in so many ways. 40:13.746 --> 40:22.012 [SPEAKER_01]: But anyway, and so I ended up sharing my story and also just saying like, I'm a Christian, I believe in God, and I believe that he has been helping me through this. 40:23.112 --> 40:26.114 [SPEAKER_01]: got into spiritual conversations with several women from this retreat. 40:26.794 --> 40:29.035 [SPEAKER_01]: And same thing like this was never on my radar. 40:29.415 --> 40:32.897 [SPEAKER_01]: But again, you know, then I find God kind of like, you know, chuckling. 40:33.878 --> 40:36.799 [SPEAKER_01]: You said you wanted to reach the unreached and creative ways. 40:36.999 --> 40:38.700 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, look, you coined therapy. 40:39.341 --> 40:40.421 [SPEAKER_01]: That's creative, you know. 40:41.462 --> 40:45.544 [SPEAKER_01]: So at this point, I'm just kind of following along with his program. 40:46.364 --> 40:51.047 [SPEAKER_01]: And so just to finish, I went to share just a few things of like what I've been learning through all of this. 40:52.470 --> 41:00.881 [SPEAKER_01]: Other than what I've already said, but a big one and these are passages that have stayed with me when I was in the hospital when I'm in treatment and things. 41:01.762 --> 41:07.169 [SPEAKER_01]: My identity is increased and I knew that, but I don't think I had fully experienced that. 41:07.329 --> 41:10.473 [SPEAKER_01]: But when you know your situation, we're like, 41:11.392 --> 41:13.634 [SPEAKER_01]: I feel like all your labels are kind of stripped from you. 41:14.155 --> 41:15.076 [SPEAKER_01]: You can't work anymore. 41:15.516 --> 41:17.699 [SPEAKER_01]: The first thing people ask about you is like, oh, so what do you do? 41:20.382 --> 41:24.146 [SPEAKER_01]: Last year, I couldn't say that because I wasn't working because I was in full treatment. 41:25.167 --> 41:31.354 [SPEAKER_01]: When your body image changes, I had so many stitches from different... 41:33.856 --> 41:36.238 [SPEAKER_01]: Just different small surgeries since he was going on and things. 41:36.458 --> 41:37.159 [SPEAKER_01]: I lost my hair. 41:37.799 --> 41:38.280 [SPEAKER_01]: Very hard. 41:38.900 --> 41:40.862 [SPEAKER_01]: Just, it strips away your image. 41:40.922 --> 41:41.982 [SPEAKER_01]: And so like, who are you? 41:42.383 --> 41:44.765 [SPEAKER_01]: If you are not the person that you recognize in the mirror. 41:45.245 --> 41:47.527 [SPEAKER_01]: If you're not a person that other people recognize. 41:48.227 --> 41:50.669 [SPEAKER_01]: Who are you if, you know, this goes away. 41:50.689 --> 41:51.290 [SPEAKER_01]: And this goes away. 41:51.310 --> 41:55.973 [SPEAKER_01]: And at some point, I really wonder, like, what's going to be left? 41:56.574 --> 41:57.414 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, the answer was Christ. 41:58.327 --> 41:59.687 [SPEAKER_01]: That's what I got some point in. 42:00.007 --> 42:00.788 [SPEAKER_01]: That's what's left. 42:00.888 --> 42:01.728 [SPEAKER_01]: It's Christ in me. 42:02.128 --> 42:03.968 [SPEAKER_01]: And so from there, it doesn't matter what you look like. 42:03.989 --> 42:04.929 [SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't matter what you do. 42:05.029 --> 42:07.309 [SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't matter where you are, where you're capable of doing. 42:07.349 --> 42:10.010 [SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't matter if you sleep twelve hours a day. 42:11.090 --> 42:14.231 [SPEAKER_01]: You are still representing Christ on this earth and he can use that. 42:19.214 --> 42:25.837 [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, so just this verse is huge for me because I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 42:26.237 --> 42:27.158 [SPEAKER_01]: Your works are wonderful. 42:27.498 --> 42:28.859 [SPEAKER_01]: You know that full well. 42:30.099 --> 42:33.901 [SPEAKER_01]: We lay that my cancer was likely caused by a genetic mutation. 42:34.961 --> 42:35.602 [SPEAKER_01]: God knows that. 42:36.022 --> 42:37.082 [SPEAKER_01]: He created me that way. 42:37.202 --> 42:39.463 [SPEAKER_01]: He left that genetic mutation in my system. 42:40.684 --> 42:42.605 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't understand it, but he is using it. 42:44.675 --> 42:46.737 [SPEAKER_01]: Second thing is just being rather than doing. 42:47.117 --> 42:48.198 [SPEAKER_01]: Again, I'm a planner. 42:48.338 --> 42:49.078 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm a strategist. 42:49.138 --> 42:52.601 [SPEAKER_01]: I used to plan my life out two plus years. 42:54.042 --> 42:55.102 [SPEAKER_01]: I am now going day by day. 42:56.904 --> 42:58.825 [SPEAKER_01]: And it's all about being rather than doing. 42:59.125 --> 43:00.867 [SPEAKER_01]: I have a friend who came to chemo with me. 43:01.447 --> 43:04.489 [SPEAKER_01]: Chemo for me was very, very hard emotionally. 43:04.729 --> 43:06.931 [SPEAKER_01]: It was very hard for me to just sit there. 43:06.951 --> 43:08.092 [SPEAKER_01]: Not a long protocol. 43:08.112 --> 43:09.032 [SPEAKER_01]: It was about eight hours. 43:09.413 --> 43:13.376 [SPEAKER_01]: So I just had to sit in the chair for eight hours while they were pouring treatment into me. 43:14.156 --> 43:18.311 [SPEAKER_01]: That's helpful, but also toxic, so I had mixed feelings about that. 43:19.479 --> 43:22.421 [SPEAKER_01]: And so when we got home, I just cried out of relief. 43:22.802 --> 43:25.924 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, okay, at least one done three to go. 43:27.746 --> 43:31.969 [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, I'm so sorry, because she came from Germany to see me. 43:32.169 --> 43:33.170 [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, I'm so sorry. 43:33.190 --> 43:34.271 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, I'm not entertaining. 43:34.351 --> 43:35.312 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not fun this week. 43:35.352 --> 43:36.673 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I can't deal this. 43:36.693 --> 43:38.594 [SPEAKER_01]: And you're just like, are you kidding me? 43:39.555 --> 43:40.075 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't care. 43:40.095 --> 43:44.799 [SPEAKER_01]: I came to see you, but also like she said, Elise, do you not know how inspiring you are? 43:44.819 --> 43:45.660 [SPEAKER_01]: It's like, 43:47.022 --> 43:49.783 [SPEAKER_01]: I can literally, the only thing it can do is sit on the couch. 43:50.023 --> 43:51.203 [SPEAKER_01]: How is that inspiring? 43:51.363 --> 43:59.665 [SPEAKER_01]: And she said, I just, I just watched you go to the hospital, actually walk into that room when you wanted to be anywhere else but there. 44:00.185 --> 44:05.786 [SPEAKER_01]: I saw you talk to the nurses and be nice to them when you had every reason to just be angry. 44:06.486 --> 44:10.387 [SPEAKER_01]: I saw you ask them about their lives and what they were going to be doing on vacation. 44:10.947 --> 44:14.488 [SPEAKER_01]: We laughed together during the hardest part of your life. 44:15.388 --> 44:17.269 [SPEAKER_01]: And so, and I was like, oh, shoot. 44:18.430 --> 44:29.276 [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't realize that, but as she was talking, I realized that she was literally like listing off, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and 44:31.545 --> 44:33.666 [SPEAKER_01]: And again, like, I was like, oh, wow. 44:33.866 --> 44:37.807 [SPEAKER_01]: She just saw the fruit of the spirit through a horrible appointment. 44:38.447 --> 44:39.448 [SPEAKER_01]: And again, this is not me. 44:39.488 --> 44:40.948 [SPEAKER_01]: This is just like this spirit in me. 44:41.068 --> 44:43.609 [SPEAKER_01]: And she needed to see that and she recognized it. 44:44.209 --> 44:46.470 [SPEAKER_01]: And at the same time, like, I needed to hear that. 44:46.630 --> 44:51.072 [SPEAKER_01]: And so it's just been beautiful moments of being like, actually, I don't need to be doing anything. 44:51.312 --> 44:54.373 [SPEAKER_01]: I just need to be and let this spirit be through me. 44:56.493 --> 45:00.435 [SPEAKER_01]: And just finally, God provides an amazing ways. 45:02.977 --> 45:16.381 [SPEAKER_01]: This first, yeah, has kept me going as well, because I think in situations like this, so sorry, the verses, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 45:16.861 --> 45:18.541 [SPEAKER_01]: Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow. 45:19.422 --> 45:20.882 [SPEAKER_01]: For tomorrow, we'll worry about itself. 45:21.462 --> 45:23.103 [SPEAKER_01]: Each day has enough trouble of its own. 45:24.963 --> 45:26.283 [SPEAKER_01]: I now take this quite literally. 45:27.304 --> 45:30.304 [SPEAKER_01]: Each day really doesn't have enough trouble. 45:30.525 --> 45:31.905 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. 45:33.240 --> 45:35.162 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if my treatment is going to keep working. 45:35.182 --> 45:45.610 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what's next, but I'm just going to really focus on today, see what God has in store for today, and know that he will provide for it. 45:45.710 --> 45:52.015 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't actually need to be trying to figure out my finances or trying to figure out all these things like he does provide. 45:52.616 --> 45:57.500 [SPEAKER_01]: For the first time in my life, I have an apartment with an office guest bedroom. 45:57.640 --> 46:01.003 [SPEAKER_01]: I lived in a studio apartment up until this year. 46:02.003 --> 46:10.429 [SPEAKER_01]: And it's the first time I had a guest room and I didn't realize that he was going to use that, but that's how my friends have been able to stay with me for like weeks at a time, which is wild. 46:11.250 --> 46:17.054 [SPEAKER_01]: He sent me back to digital, which I didn't necessarily want to go back to, but he sent me to digital, which is my church family. 46:17.434 --> 46:20.016 [SPEAKER_01]: And we've had, you know, my family, my parents live there as well. 46:20.356 --> 46:22.738 [SPEAKER_01]: My mom has been able to take me to my appointments. 46:22.878 --> 46:25.420 [SPEAKER_01]: I have not lived close to my parents for the past ten years. 46:25.920 --> 46:29.383 [SPEAKER_01]: And so he just like really put all these things into place to care for me. 46:30.223 --> 46:35.008 [SPEAKER_01]: and to provide in so many ways for me, for my family, and for my friends, that has been just amazing. 46:36.549 --> 46:41.413 [SPEAKER_01]: So, I think just all that to say, this has really been my go-to verse. 46:41.554 --> 46:48.059 [SPEAKER_01]: It was the very first verse I think that I read in the hospital, and it's just rejoicing the Lord always. 46:49.062 --> 46:49.722 [SPEAKER_01]: no exceptions. 46:50.383 --> 46:52.303 [SPEAKER_01]: I will say it again, rejoice. 46:52.924 --> 46:55.105 [SPEAKER_01]: Let your gentleness be evident to all. 46:55.705 --> 46:56.485 [SPEAKER_01]: The Lord is near. 46:56.665 --> 46:59.146 [SPEAKER_01]: Do not be anxious about anything. 46:59.907 --> 47:01.087 [SPEAKER_01]: Again, no exceptions. 47:01.667 --> 47:12.672 [SPEAKER_01]: But in every situation, by prayer and petition, with things giving, present your request to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all your understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Jesus Christ. 47:14.092 --> 47:15.313 [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of people have asked me like, 47:15.837 --> 47:16.598 [SPEAKER_01]: are you not angry? 47:16.918 --> 47:17.678 [SPEAKER_01]: Why are you not angry? 47:18.299 --> 47:19.680 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, you don't deserve this. 47:20.220 --> 47:22.441 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, I don't deserve anything. 47:22.902 --> 47:25.423 [SPEAKER_01]: We all, like, according to my faith, we all deserve death. 47:26.644 --> 47:28.285 [SPEAKER_01]: Anything more than that is grace. 47:28.866 --> 47:37.652 [SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, and like, I could be upset in a sense that, you know, I have asked for healing and God has not provided that, but that's not what He promises here. 47:37.712 --> 47:38.432 [SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't provide. 47:38.672 --> 47:40.394 [SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't promise systematic healing. 47:41.374 --> 47:42.275 [SPEAKER_01]: He provides peace. 47:44.750 --> 47:45.810 [SPEAKER_01]: I have felt that. 47:46.031 --> 47:46.931 [SPEAKER_01]: I have seen that. 47:47.051 --> 47:48.131 [SPEAKER_01]: My friends have seen that. 47:48.632 --> 47:49.932 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I do. 47:50.272 --> 47:52.113 [SPEAKER_01]: I still, you know, I pray with petition. 47:52.213 --> 47:53.614 [SPEAKER_01]: Like God, please heal me. 47:54.334 --> 48:00.917 [SPEAKER_01]: But I also pray with thanksgiving for all the things that he has provided for the amazing care that I have for all the people that he has sent my way. 48:02.437 --> 48:05.359 [SPEAKER_01]: And he does provide peace. 48:07.119 --> 48:10.021 [SPEAKER_01]: So these are some prayer requests. 48:12.544 --> 48:16.527 [SPEAKER_01]: just to finish for friends and family, family who are non-believers as well. 48:16.547 --> 48:22.311 [SPEAKER_01]: And they've been watching me go through this, just pray that they would also come to faith for other friends that they showed you and all the others. 48:23.012 --> 48:27.996 [SPEAKER_01]: For a miraculous healing, like I still prayer for that, and they still hope for that, and they do believe that God can make it happen. 48:28.616 --> 48:31.198 [SPEAKER_01]: But if he doesn't, it's for a reason. 48:32.179 --> 48:33.280 [SPEAKER_01]: Pray for my treatments to work. 48:34.440 --> 48:44.010 [SPEAKER_01]: Right before I left France about three weeks ago, my numbers have been going back up, which may be an indicator that my treatment is no longer working and that the cancer is redeveloping. 48:44.941 --> 48:45.922 [SPEAKER_01]: which is not good news. 48:46.362 --> 48:49.223 [SPEAKER_01]: So pray that they would continue to work. 48:52.886 --> 48:59.069 [SPEAKER_01]: But if it doesn't, and that I may have to go back to chemo, just also pray for patients for gentleness. 48:59.649 --> 49:06.333 [SPEAKER_01]: All of this is very brutal to me, but God does provide gentleness in so many ways, and for joy, and He can do that. 49:07.954 --> 49:09.075 [SPEAKER_01]: Pray for clear guidance. 49:10.603 --> 49:14.064 [SPEAKER_01]: on what God is doing and where he wants me, but also acceptance on my part. 49:14.245 --> 49:18.446 [SPEAKER_01]: It may not look like what I wanted to look like, but, you know, so you can pray for that. 49:19.627 --> 49:21.748 [SPEAKER_01]: And just also prayer things, giving for you guys. 49:23.648 --> 49:25.089 [SPEAKER_01]: You are a huge support. 49:25.289 --> 49:26.350 [SPEAKER_01]: It blows my mind. 49:26.530 --> 49:30.173 [SPEAKER_01]: That people that I've never met have been praying for me in community groups. 49:30.293 --> 49:35.856 [SPEAKER_01]: And just like that, this church would support me in a way that is wild to me. 49:35.877 --> 49:39.699 [SPEAKER_01]: So just thank you because you are also part of this story and you're a part of this ministry. 49:39.739 --> 49:46.464 [SPEAKER_01]: You're one of the reasons why I can be in France right now, sharing my faith and the gospel with the people that I love. 49:46.744 --> 49:48.465 [SPEAKER_01]: So thank you. 49:51.850 --> 49:52.371 [SPEAKER_01]: That's about it. 49:53.492 --> 50:03.202 [SPEAKER_01]: You can scan that if you want to sign up to my newsletter, if you haven't done it already, or if you don't get it, if not, just come and see me, or I also have prayer cards up in the back. 50:03.262 --> 50:06.685 [SPEAKER_01]: If you just want to take it prayer card, there's all the information on there. 50:07.926 --> 50:10.529 [SPEAKER_01]: You can stick it on the fridge if you want to pray for me every time you open it. 50:11.430 --> 50:12.071 [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah. 50:12.651 --> 50:13.192 [SPEAKER_01]: That's about it. 50:13.272 --> 50:14.093 [SPEAKER_01]: So thank you so much. 50:15.367 --> 50:21.251 [SPEAKER_00]: You just listen to a message from Dane Care Away, the pastor of Church at the Well and Telsen, Maryland. 50:21.591 --> 50:30.596 [SPEAKER_00]: To learn more about our church and to support what we're doing in the Greater Baltimore area, visit our website, thewellbaltimore.com. 50:31.137 --> 50:34.839 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for tuning in to the sermon podcast from Church at the Well. 50:35.419 --> 50:36.700 [SPEAKER_00]: May God bless you.