I've made the decision to come home from the World Race. My flight to Orlando got in yesterday and I've been sleeping ever since.
This decision wasn't an easy one, but I feel it was the correct response to what God was asking me to do. It's a very long story of seeking & listening & tears shed, but I can share the bare bones with you here. Never ever ever ever ever did I think I would be coming home 4 months shy of the end but… About three months ago I had a dream about leaving the race. I dismissed it, but it kept coming back to me. Less than a week later, I had a second dream where I left the race after month seven (this number seemed irrelevant at the time). I took this as God asking me to commit to praying about it. At first, I did this kicking and screaming.I would seek God in prayer about it all the while trying not to hear what He was saying and I lived the next couple of months just hoping it would go away. Slowly, He began to reveal more and more of His desire for me and slowly, my heart changed toward the prospect. Everything has been confirmed toward this decision since the first dream until the very end up to the purchase of my plane ticket home & the prophetic prayers my squad spoke over me the night before I departed. I'm excited about what's to come, though I have absolutely no idea what the future is going to look like, I'm okay with it. I truly believe that to have called me home from the race, God has something incredible in store. And even if He doesn't, my greatest desire is to be obedient no matter the cost. A verse that has brought me incredible peace through everything is Job 23:10 which reads, “But He knows the way that I take and when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.”
To everyone who has supported me whether in prayer, monetary donations, or just an encouraging message here and there, I am forever grateful to you. The money you've provided in my support account has brought me to exactly this point on the race and no further, that's not to say that I would have gone home due to lack of funds because the rest of the money had been pledged to me. I pray that God blesses you for your obedience to Him.
Even though I am home now, my amazing team full of friends is still obviously on the field. Please join me in prayer for them as they continue the duration of the race. Their names are: Leslie Redman, Chelsea Hoffman, Tim Guindon & Matthew Poole.
I'm looking forward to sharing stories with you, whether by phone or in person, to hear about everything God's been doing in your lives while I've been gone & to share some of my own.
To contact me, my email address is still: tarakdavis@yahoo.com & my new phone number is 407-443-3292.
Over the next week, or so, I'll be updating my blog from the last couple of months. I had blogs written on my computer for the next time we made it to internet but my computer was stolen, along with my camera, this month while in Tanzania so I have to start from scratch.
Thank you for your support in my journey to the race, on the race, and now home. I love you & may God continue to shine His face upon you.
After 172 days of ministry in six different countries, we
(R-squad) have seen God do some incredible things. From restoring the
lives of gangsters in The Philippines to redeeming women in the sex
trade of Thailand and healing crippled widows in Kenya, He has made the
impossible possible. The journey is only half over and yet we've already
seen that the Kingdom of Heaven is more than an abstract idea or a
fantasy to hope for-it's a reality to live in. In the next five months,
we plan to take this kingdom to Tanzania, Nepal, India, Ukraine and
Romania. We will continue to be the hands and feet of Christ, working
for the least of these, loving the world as God loves it-but we need
your help.
As a squad (31 members), we owe about $30,000 by March 15. Knowing
that God has been faithful to get us this far, we have full confidence
that He will continue to provide. But for the sake of glorifying His
name and staying united as a squad, we want to take care of this burden
together and meet the deadline once and for all. Whether you're a broke
college student or fortune 500 big shot, we want to invite you to take
part in what God is doing in and around us, no matter the amount. Let's
show the world that money isn't an issue when it comes to bringing
Christ to the nations.
We have two options available for giving. You can follow the
Paypal link below and give any amount to our squad. This account is NOT
tax deductible. Tax deductible donations can be made into the AIM
accounts of individual racers linked below. The Paypal account is a
general fund for the squad, co-managed by our squad leaders, Michael
Perez and Joni Viets. Any extras funds will be used for ministry
opportunities that arise on the field. We're excited to see the miracle
God is about to do.
Hope is the amazing, incredible, quotable woman who opened
her home to us and treated us like family during our month spent in Rwanda.
She, her husband Bonaventure, their son Iranze, Pastor Etienne, and Iris, all
practice community living here. But what is so noteworthy about their house is
at any given time you can find a member of Pastor Etienne's church, or Bones'
church, or a friend from work, or a wedding party, or a soldier from across the
street, or a distant family member, or a student from a school nearby, or one
of the prostitutes from down the street, chilling on the couch. A lot of times
they are sitting with Hope, Bones, Pastor, or us, but more often than not, they're
just hanging out alone. Maybe they're watching the worship videos that run 24
hours on the television, or enjoying a cup of tea prepared by Iris, or waiting
for someone to come home whenever.
We talked with Hope about this on numerous occasions and her
response was always, "What else is a house for?" She comes home from work in
the evening visibly exhausted, yet she still manages to entertain, counsel, or
pray with the guest(s) on her sofa and provide them with a warm meal before the
doors finally shut for the evening.
Hope once opened her home to a man in his thirties who had
been living in a bush. He had bugs flying around his feet because they were
rotting, and he was severely malnutritioned. She provided him with warm
showers, a place to rest his head, and regular meals. I know all of this, because I got to meet him. He now resides at the
church, and receives education from a nearby Bible school.
I think it's a beautiful picture of community and of using
the blessings God has given us to bless other people. These beautiful people
have allowed God's command in Acts 20:35, "In all thingsI have
shown you thatby working hard in this way we musthelp
the weak andremember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself
said, 'It is more blessedto give than to receive,'" to penetrate
their hearts and influence the way they do life.
Amazingly, miraculously, with monthly & one-time gifts,
I made the $10,000 deadline December 15th for support! Thank you to
everyone for giving so generously in all the ways you know how. I appreciate
your prayers and encouragement in everything. I am absolutely honored &
humbled by your graciousness. God is doing amazing things through you & I
pray that He continues to pour out His blessings on you. Honestly! It's crazy.
With that being said, I obviously still have $4,300 left to
raise in support by March 15th. My team is doing a 24 hour fundraising frenzy on February 20th. The hope & prayer is to have me fully funded by the end of the 24 hrs. If you feel like God is leading you to give, whether it be
monthly, for the next 5 months, or one-time, you can click "Support Me!" on the sidebar to the left and
you will be instructed on how to donate by credit/debit and/or check.
Also, I am even more so in need of personal spending money, as my bank account currently totals a whopping $1.27. This money
goes toward things like shampoo, deodorant & all the essentials, new
t-shirts when all of mine have been stretched out by handwashing & grabby children, taking a
class of 30 students out for ice cream with my fellow teacher Chelsea, shoes for a child without, 5 bags of popcorn for 5 street children, toothbrushes for 40 orphans, the
occasional coke, snacks for when I can't imagine eating another plate of rice
as long as I live, batteries for my headlamp, body spray to feel like a human
being, internet when it's not made free... and other odds and ends. If you'd like
to contribute to this fund, you can send a check made out to Tara Davis to my
mom (and maybe a little encouraging note for her tucked in there), so that she
can deposit it into my bank account. You can call her for the address:
Peggy Davis
4074639773
Thank you. I don't know how many times I can say it until I
feel like you really know how thankful I actually am. I really, truly, honestly
would not be here if it weren't for you.
I had an incredible opportunity to go on a safari while in
Nairobi for de-brief, thanks to my madre, who sponsored me. We rode a mini-van
through Lake Nakuru. Hanging out the windows & sun-roof, we spotted zebras,
white rhinos, a black rhino, giraffes, baboons, water buffalo, flamingoes &
lots of huge birds. Unfortunately, it was too hot for the lions to be out...
better luck next time. On our way to Lake Nakuru, we made a pit-stop at the
Great Rift Valley view point, which was beautiful.
Shabach is no longer Shabach. At de-brief in Nairobi, we
learned of a new teammate, Matthew Poole. Matthew is one of my best friends on
the squad and on behalf of the rest of Shabach, we are honored to have him. He
is a man truly concerned with the glory of God. I am excited to spend the next
5 months with him, learning and growing together. As of yet, we haven't decided
on a team name. It's taking some time, and a few trips to the internet cafe, but
I assure you, when God speaks, we will listen.
While in Thailand, we were able to visit some of God's
greatest works in the form of the beaches of Phuket. See for yourself, it's
quite beautiful.
I had the opportunity to go snorkeling while visiting the
beach, which was crazy. I saw some amazingly colored fish and undersea
wildlife. Snorkeling was such a cool outlet for me. I could swim out as far as
I wanted, pretend I was alone for the first time in months, and just marvel at
God. There was a point where I got caught up in the current and was being
pulled toward the rocks, so I swam faster and harder than I have in a long time
and finally got to a place where I felt safe from the rocks. I heard God asking
me to rest, let Him carry me, and look down. I saw a seaweed plant dancing
around below and as I started moving my arms, it followed me. Now I realize
this sounds ridiculous, but it followed my every move for the next 5 or 10
minutes and when I finally looked up, I was surrounded by all kinds of fish. I was reminded of Psalm 37:4 which says, "Delight yourself in the Lord
and he will give you the desires of your heart." I focused more on the first
half than the last, but as I re-read it now, the last half poses a new
question. What are the desires of my heart? Are they selfish desires concerning
what I want and what would make me more comfortable, or are they Godly desires
concerning His will for my life and concerning His glory? I'm reading a book
right now called Radical, by David Platt, where Platt concludes that the reason
we've been created is to, "Enjoy God's grace, and extend his glory." He writes,
"This is the final, ultimate, all-consuming, glorious, guaranteed,
overwhelmingly global purpose of God in Scripture. It is the great why of God.
God blesses his people with extravagant grace so they might extend his glory to
all peoples on earth."
I want to delight myself in God, not to receive answers to
my own fleshly desires, but to align my heart, and consequently my desires,
with his. To make Him known.
If I could recommend something to you, go to your nearest
bookstore (spend a good deal of time there, in my honor, please) and pick up a copy of
Radical. You just might love it.
This month all of R-Squad was together in Phuket, Thailand.
We partnered with an organization called SHE, which stands for Self Help and
Empowerment. SHE sends teams into the nightlife of Patong Beach, a popular
destination for sex tourism, where the hope is that we might be able to build
relationships with women and help them to realize that the money they are
making isn't worth sacrificing their happiness. There are over 2000 prostitutes on Bangla Road alone, which
is our primary focus, and each bar holds anywhere from 2 to 14/+ women.
R-squad split into teams of 3, 4, and 5 & we had teams
out on Bangla every night except Sunday. Each team was in either group 1 or 2.
When group 1 went out, group 2 would stay back and intercede, and vice versa.
I had the pleasure & honor of being on a team with
Chelsea Hoffman (fellow Shabach teammate), Heidi Tobe (of Agape Lifesong), and
Jeannie Moore (of Team United). We called ourselves team "BLT," which stands
not for bacon, lettuce & tomato, but Beacons of Light and Truth. We began
every evening with worship & prayer, then we would load into the truck,
driven nightly by God's very faithful servant, Clint Clark, and use the 20
minute drive to Bangla Road to pray some more.
Once we made it to Bangla we would separate into our teams
and head into the bars. I'm going to try to put some descriptive words together
to create the scene for you, so bear with me. Pulsing music, almost every bar
has its own speaker system playing, flashing lights, women dancing on poles and
standing outside of bars grabbing at you to come in, crowds of people... and not
just men, there are twenty-somethings on Christmas break, families with babies
and small children, father and son duos & plenty of women. Bangla Road is
lined with independent prostitutes, those not connected to any bar, ladyboys in
costume offering to let you take their picture for a small fee, and people
berating you with offers to come see a "ping-pong show" at one of the closed
bars. Our contacts, Mark and Sharon Biddell, describe Patong Beach as the "pit
of hell."
A question we asked often was, "Do you like your job?" Every
woman I asked this question (at least 20 or 30) answered with, "No, but I need
the money." This is our opportunity to introduce SHE and ask the girls back to
lunch with us at SHE headquarters to show them around. If they decide they
don't want to work as prostitutes anymore, SHE offers job opportunities and
career training in things like hospitality, cooking & baking, jewelry
making & childcare. Many women have young children who are taken care of by
their family members and the women send money back to their families for the
children. SHE offers childcare and housing so that the moms can be with their
children.
Soi Lion, Soi Tiger, Soi Eric, Soi Sea Dragon, Soi Easy, Soi
Gonzo & Soi Crocodile are the side streets off Bangla Road. Our team spent
most of our time on Soi Lion, Soi Tiger & Soi Eric. Of these streets we
frequented the following bars: Eric's Shooters Bar, Oscar Bar, Honky Tonk Bar,
Honey Bar, Blow Job Bar & Nitro Bar. Every bar we visited was chosen by
intense prayer & listening for God's direction. Each bar held one or two
girls we had the opportunity to befriend. Chelsea wrote a beautiful blog
describing some of these women, so I'm going to direct you over to it so you
can learn about the girls we got to know:
It was a cool experience to build relationships with the
girls we met and to be able to come back every other night & provide some
consistency. Sometimes it was just enough to come into a bar, order a coke, and
hang out with them for a while, reassuring them that we were just there for
friendship and were some of the few people who pass through not expecting
anything of them. There was a girl I became good friends with who, once we
arrived at her bar, introduced me as her friend at a table she was serving. One
of the girls who was sitting at the table, who was quite drunk, laughed and
leaned over to me and asked, "Really?" As if it was impossible that she might
have friends outside of her profession. My heart broke. Please keep these women
in your prayers, that they might recognize their worth and turn their backs on
Patong Beach.
Okay, I'm writing a
birthday blog because I'm fairly certain I won't have internet this month and
I don't want to be late, although that would be more like me than 28 days
early. So, from here on out, please pretend it is February 28 and the birthday of...
Precious Peeli Jackson Vaughan,
Today we celebrate
The 22nd year of your life
I wish I could see you
If just for tonight!
But I'd probably start crying
And I would hug you too tight
That you'd pop,
ON YOUR BIRTHDAY!
And then we'd be in a fight.
& What would I do?
Without my best friend peeli?
There is no one else like
you.
I'm not telling a lie.
For the truth is
you must have a heart like a
rabbit
It has to beat at twice the
speed
To hold all that love in it
And the wings on your back
Fly you high above the rest
But be careful not to smack
Into a tree
But let's not worry about you
smacking & popping
Because you're alive and well
Praise God! Hallelujah!
I will give thanks without
stopping.
Because I love you a whole
lot
Perhaps more than is normal
Even more than African tots
And get-togethers that are
informal
So happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Eli,
Happy birthday to you.
I will try my best not to
cry.
But for real, I speak the
truth, she's an angel with wings. I'm the only one lucky enough to see them,
though. Being on the race has only brought me to further realizations of what I
already knew. Somehow she still manages to be super supportive and in constant
communication (even when I'm not) when I've been across
the seas for 5 months. I am blessed to have her and I thank God for her all the
time. Happy birthday, p. I hope people celebrate you in all the huge ways you
deserve today & every other day of your life. I miss you so much & I
wish I could be there. I love you.
ALSO, SPECIAL JANUARY BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUTS TO RACHEL HELEN GITTENS & Laura Grace McGregor!! I love you guys, too. A lot.
Our last few days in Thailand are being spent in Bangkok at
Avana Hotel. A hotel with a pool. A hotel with a spa. A hotel with air
conditioning. A hotel with free breakfast. A hotel with a hair dryer. A hotel
with room service. A hotel with wifi (though not free). Honestly, we are being
spoiled... and we are absolutely loving it.
At the end of this de-brief our former squad leaders, Tim
Dixon & Di Dinnis, will be heading home to the good ole' US of A, and our
new squad leaders will be even more official. The past couple of months have
brought upon a little change in teams, as 4 people have now gone home and 2
have been raised up to squad leadership. Team X-Stream had only 3 members, and
of course, couldn't stay that way. Michael and Joni & Tim and Di did some
shifting and Shabach has lost Janell King to team Liberators (soon to be
re-named). This means Shabach is now a team of 4: Chelsea, Leslie, Tim &
myself. Janell is now team leader (ow ow!) of the Liberators and Carly, their
former team leader, is the newest, and fourth member, of X-Stream. Squad
leaders did an awesome job at keeping the team changes minimal and I trust
their decisions, I would even go so far as to say that I am excited for them.
Though Shabach is already starting to realize the hole that Janell leaving
creates. In the past months I think I learned the most about community from J.
Our friendship was definitely something we both had to work towards and fight
for, but I am constantly being reminded that it's worth it. When J gets crazy,
we all get crazy. From mattress fights down hallways in Siem Reap, to late
nights giggling in Kuala Lumpur. I am certainly going to miss her, but she is
beginning this new season with all of the support she could possibly have from
Shabach. Please be praying for all of these changes and for people's
receptiveness to them, and just for community in R-Squad as a whole. If you'd like to continue to follow along with J, you can find her blog here: http://www.janellking.theworldrace.org
new team shabach at launch in LA when we were still 2/3 of shabach
