Posted in General Posts by Shannon Mayall on 8/4/2011
322 days
20 flights
14 bus rides
7 train rides
12 countries
Countless prayers
Countless miracles
Countless lives transformed
And now I am home, back in Canada and my life has been transformed. I will never be the same.
The countless prayers, e-mails, words of encouragment and wisdom, bible verses and support that each of you has offered has made you a part of the miracles, the lives that were transformed and the sharing of the love of the Gospel of Christ around the world.
Thank you for allowing me to be used by God to spread the gospel, to sow seeds, to show love, to be a messenger and to be the hands and feet of Christ.
We will see the smiling faces of all those who's lives were changed by an encounter with our mighty God in heaven one day, how exciting!
The work of the Lord is not finished, this is just the beginning. Keep praying for the nations, your country, your city, your family. Miracles do happen today and He wants them to happen in your life.
If you have been reading my blogs for the past 11 months and you really want to know more about this God, about the reason why I gave up my life and my comforts for 11 months. If you do not have a personal relationship with God and you want one please e-mail me, I want to share about what an incrediable God he is. How much he loves you, how he wants to forgive you, heal you, transform you and fill you with joy, and peace - making you whole. I want to see each of your smiling faces in heaven one day along with those from around the world who have accept Jesus Christ as the Lord of their life.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Romans 3:23,24
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" Romans 6:23
"That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." Romans 10:9,10
sjmayall@gmail.com
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Posted in General Posts by Shannon Mayall on 7/20/2011
I am very privilaged and honored to rock a purple pleather jacket aka "the purple J" I am in fact the only girl in whats known as the "purple gang" - I honestly have no idea how or why the "purple gang" got started ( I do know that it was never a real "gang"). I just know that two of my bestest guy friends, Nathan and Mosa had these purple jackets and I loved it, so I was invited to join "the gang." It consisted of about 5-6 guys all having the same purple pleather jacket. ( Nathan or Mosa if you're reading this feel free to add)
But the colour purple came to mean alot more to us and so now the jacket for me is much more then "I like the way it looks." In the city of Red Deer where I have lived for the past 4 years and have the most amazing community, we started a street ministry. After going to the LA Dream Center and ministering to the street people there we wanted to do something in our own city. So my friends Maddie, Nathan, Mosa and myself started going downtown every Wednesday night after helping with youth, staying out to midnight most nights. We walk around handing out water, hot chocolate, granola bars, juice, socks, mitts - whatever we happened to have to give. We offer prayer to everyone we come in contact with and build relationships. This ministry has been going on for alomost 2 years now and we have seen God do incrediable things.
( L to R ) Maddie, Nathan, Mosa
This was not the only ministry we started, we also go into 2 neighbourhoods a week to clean up garbage, and we set up a table of free coffee and hot chocolate outside city hall every 2nd Thursday morning.
We began to pray asking God for names for the different ministries. For our Wednesday night ministry we kept getting the colour purple. After a night of treasure hunting we ended up in front of a mural with a lady in a purple dress praying for someone, and then praying over a boxing club that was painted purple, both are in the downtown area. We kept seeing purple garbage and then three of us had these purple jackets which we always wear on Wednesday nights. So it was set, we needed to have the colour purple in the name. After looking up some of the meanings of the colour purple -Spiritual, Royalty (nobility, luxury, wealth, sophistication), delicate and precious (flowers), more modernly used as the colour to represent being homosexual, Bridge between warm and cold (combination of Red and Blue), passion and sensitivity etc... we decided on the name "Love Purple." We felt the colour purple could in some way represent ALL of Gods children. Thats what we were out to do - Love Gods children no matter who, what or where.
Ron, our main man on the streets
God has blessed us beyond our expectations in this ministry. We have countless opportunities to pray for people, love people and speak life and truth into them. Prostitutes, drug dealers, Pimps, strippers, drunks, homeless, mentally ill, bar goers, stoners, rich, and poor. Most of these people we now have the most amazing relationship with and alot of them get picked up on Sundays and taken to church.
One of the hardest things for me to leave behind when I came on the World Race was my amazing community and the street people that I have come to love so much. So the "purple J" has come around the world with me. I wanted to "love purple" around the world, while my incrediable friends Maddie, Nathan and Mosa continue to "Love Purple" in Red Deer, Alberta. The jacket reminds me of the incrediable testimonies that have come out of the "Love Purple" ministry just by us being obediant to Gods word and "loving the least of these..."
Currently, "love purple" in Red Deer, Alberta have to take 2 cars every Sunday to pick up all the people that want to come to church from down town, they have helped people get appartments out of the downtown area and are holding a bible study in the downtown Macdonalds every Wednesday night after they are done walking the streets.
None of this is because of what we have done but because of what God has done through us. God fills us up so we can overflow into others. He commands us to Love and when we obey, crazy things happen and lives are changed. So we go and we "Love Purple"
  Philippiens Cambodia
Malaysia Thailand
Rwanda Kenya
Tanzania Nepal
India Romania
Ukraine Lacey and i (she has been with me all 11 months
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Posted in General Posts by Shannon Mayall on 7/15/2011
Two things I have never done a whole lot of
1)eaten sunflower seeds or SPITS as we call them in Canada. I am pretty sure the only time I have eaten sunflower seeds is maybe a couple of times while sitting around a campfire.
2)played softball. I think I probably played in grade 11 Phys. Ed and I doubt I was any good.
Needless to say this is what we have spent doing over the last 2 weeks. For the softball camps we partnered with a church in the area and went out into a field and begain teaching the 50-100 kids that showed up how to throw, catch, bat and run the bases. Then we would take time out in the night to share about Jesus, share testimonies and give them bibles and braclets.
Whenever you weren't out on the field playing you were eating sunflower seeds. As soon as you neared the side lines somone was offering you some and you couldn't refuse. Shamefully we were becoming as addicted as they were.
At the end of the week we had an American vs Ukraine game (our contact and his sons were on our team thankfully) No thanks to me, who after 2 weeks of practice still turned to jelly as soon as the ball came flying at me under pressure, we won the game!
It is an incrediable ministry tool as most Ukranians have only ever seen the sport on T.V. if at all. So no one can show off and they have to listen to undersand how to play. It was a great way to have conversations as you are throwing the ball back and forth and everyone was eager to practice their english as well as teach us Russian.
So all in all it was a great 2 weeks where we really got to show Gods love in a very different but fun way. I pray that the seeds that were sown fell on fertile ground.
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Posted in General Posts by Shannon Mayall on 7/11/2011
This past Sunday we were in a small church with no more then 15 members. They sang along with the lone keybord and the worn song books. My team mates and I all shared something and sang a song. The pastor preached a message on Grace. We sang some more and the service was over. It was the second church service we had gone to that day, it was very hot and I was wearing jeans, needless to say I was ready to be home in shorts and a tee-shirt next to a fan.
On our way out of the church we were stopped by a lady from the congregation. Our contact began to inturpret what she was saying. She said +/- 5yrs ago she had attended a womens confrence and there had been this American lady. At this point I'm about to shut off because I feel so gross and I am so sure she is going to ask if we know this lady and really why would I know her? I don't live in America. But for whatever reason I continue to listen. She says this American lady had asked everyone to write their prayer requests down on paper and that she was going to pray for them. At the time the Ukrainian ladie's son-in-law was a drug addict and just doing lots of bad things so she wrote this down as her prayer request. And now all these years later he is a Godly man actively serving in the church and taking good care of his family. So she smiled and looked at each of us and said so see your prayers for all those people all over the world help even if you never get to see them answered God hears them, so thank you.
I was blown away and so ashamed at my selfishness. Here was a lady who was just wanting to encourage us and I was so caught up in my own discomfort that in my mind there was no possibility that she had anything more important to say. Boy was I wrong, and so so so glade God wispered in my ear to "listen" because not only was I extremly encouraged I also had to take time to repent and reflect on my own heart. I was reminded of just how human I am and that we need God in every little situation.
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Posted in General Posts by Shannon Mayall on 7/9/2011
24 June 2011
7:00am - roll over as my third alarm goes off, groan, and climb down the 5 steps to the floor from my bunk bed, Joni is already up. Strange.
7:03am - half dressed and half asleep, my door bursts open and there stands Theresa, I had completly forgotten their team was arriving this mornig, she shreiks and gives me a big hug.
7:10am - I greet the rest of their team and my own team who were all waken by team zion.
7:20am - start running my laps around the house, so over what people think of me and my weird exercise routine, I refuse to go out the gate.
7:50am - quit running 10min early because I suddenly realized how much i need to do before we leave on the train to Ukraine at 7pm.
9:00am - Devotions done, hair washed, starting to pack and chatting to Shar and Nathan on Facebook
9:45am - hair dried, dressed, trying to decided weather to go on a last min shopping trip with my team mates, still chatting on facebook.
10:30am - in a taxi with my team mates going shopping, while trying to not tell myself how irrisponsible this is - I still haven't really packed!
12:45pm - in a taxi on our way home, I never even bought anything, oh well good team boinding.
1pm - other teams have arrived at our house, we greet everyone and I begin to pack for real.
2pm - lunch time
2:45pm - continue packing
3:30pm - attempt to take a nap because I'm exhausted, fail! the Romanian boys that help out at the house are comming up the stairs yelling for our attention, I can't ignor them its our last day with them, they have yet another chocolate bar for each of us.
4pm - Logistics meeting with squad leaders, trying to plan final de-brief, we have nothing. We spend time in prayer knowing that the best thing we can do is trust God with it.
5pm - the taxis are here to take us to the train statiion, I'm still in the meeting. I get one of the boys to help carry my outrageously heavy bag down the 3 flights of stairs, say goodbye to the other teams, give hugs to all our Romanian friends and take some last min photos.
5:40pm - we arrive at the train station and here we are 4 girls with alot of luggage, including a huge groccery bag of food each from our contact, travelling on our own for the first time and already we have drunks trying to offer to help. I begin praying.
6pm - we make our way with numerus trips to our train lane after inquiring from a number of people if we have the right spot because nothing is in english. We say a prayer for safe travels.
6:15pm - Leyna realizes she has forgotten her phone charger and the phone is dead. Her and Emily take off to find a place to buy a new one and possible charge the phone. Lace and I are left with the bags and while sitting there realize that we both forgot to grab our laundry and are now down to half the amount of underwear we had.
6:37pm - our train arrives, Leyna, Emily and Lacey take some of the bags and go to find our car, it takes them forever.
6:50pm - Emily and Leyna return, out of breath, we are like the furtherest wagon away and we still have 3 big bags and 5 min before the train leaves
7pm - we make it, no thanks to any of the train workers who just sternly told us to hurry as we struggled by. We are all out of breath and sweating buckets, we feel as though we are back in India!
7:20pm - the train is moving and with much difficulty we have managed to organize our bags and are now despreatly trying to open our window, only to find out ours is the only one on the whole wagon that doesn't open. We make our way to another one to cool off and try stop sweating.
8:30pm - we meet our neighbours, they are a youth group from Ireland heading to Moldova on a mission trip, their leader is actually Canadian but lives in Ireland with his family, what a lovely surprise.
10pm - Eaten a supper of yogurt, cheese, fruit, and crackers from our oversized food bags. Somewhat cooled off and we decide to put on a movie. I fell asleep before it even started.
25 June 2011
3:30am - The Irish/Canadian youth pastor is standing at our door with a man in uniform translating that they are asking for our passports. We all groggly search for them and give them to him, he checks them and hands them back.
3:45am - The pastor comes back and says he's not sure if he got his translation right, but either we are going to be stopped for 3hrs or we need to show our passports 3 times. we thank him.
4am - Leyna tells Lacey that Michael had called and the Romanian boys had put a salamander in her purse, Lacey hears wrong, and says in shock - "there's a sound chip in my purse? They're recording everything I say? Why would anyone do that?" Leyna says "No, a salamander" Lacey calms down and says "oh" as she continues to eat her crackers (I don't even know what a salamander is but i'm to tired to ask)
8:30am - my alarm goes off, its time to get ready to get off the train, we struggle to get all the bags in a place where we can graab them and wait.
9:15am - we are in Moldova, and its freezeing, we thank the youth group from Ireland for their help carrying our bags off the train and dig for our fleece jackets in our pile of bags.
9:30am - Leyna and I leave Lacey and Emily with the bags as we go try to figure out our next train. We arrive at the information desk, where we are pretty much rudly informed that the lady only speaks Romanian, Russian and French and there is no one who speaks english so no she cannot help us. So we leave to get our pad of paper with what we thought our train schedual was. We find a girl that speaks english and Romanian, she agrees to help us.
10:45am - after a very painful proccess including withdrawing Moldovian Lei to pay for tickets that we had already paid for, and alot of eye rolling by the information lady we finally have it all figured out.
11am - the train arrives, Emily and I, tickets in hand and big bags on our shoulders go to find our wagon because we cannot read the ticket. We get sent back and forth, back and forth and finally someone decides on wagon 9, so Lacey and Leyna make their way over. Only to have 3 or more people (including the information lady) arguing over what we are actually suppossed to be doing, our english speaking friend has left and all we have is a girl who just keeps saying our tickets are bus tickets.
11:35am - the train is about to leave and we are still not on the train and they are still arguing, we decide just to get on the train, we pile onto wagon 9 with no help form the 10+ onlookers. Just in time! and as the train is pulling off we find out we should be in wagon 25!!! We sigh and the girls take all the small bags and start walking to number 25 as i stay with the big bags.
12pm - Emily and Leyna return to say they only made it to wagon number 16 and they think we should just take our stuff and pick an empty spot closer by then going all the way to 25, so thats what we do. Leyna stays with the stuff in wagon 11 and Emily and I walk to 16 to get Lacey and the small bags. To find Lacey, talking to some guy who's telling us to go with him to other Americans. I follow this guy all the way to wagon 25! We arrive and there are two younger guys one is American, he can speak Russian really well. We explain our situation for him to inturpret and that we would really rather just stay where we are because our bags are so big and there is an empty spot. They kindly inform us that we absoluty have to come all the way to wagon 25 as the train seperates and if we are not on the right wagon we will go to the wrong place. Only to later find out the not so nice lady at the information booth in Moldova had sold us tickets to POLAND! and it really probably didn't matter which cart we were in, regardless they insisted we had to move to wagon 25 The two english speaking guys kindly offer to help us with our bags, we readily accept their offer.
1pm - we are finally settled in our compartment - we are all so tired! We take time to pray and thank God that we have made it onto the train and for all the people that helped us. We spend the rest of our afternoon reading, sleeping, eating and just trying to relax. The train stops at the border crossing we get another stamp in our passports as we enter Ukraine.
9pm - we begin to get ready to get off the train, dreading what this transfer will look like, its pouring rain and its dark outside
9:55pm - the conductor on our wagon has been super nice and helpfull, and he points us in the right direction as we got off the train. We have managed to organize our stuff now that we can carry it all in one heavy trip.
10:15pm - We find ourselves in the same delimma as the last train station - no one speaks any english at all and there is a crowd at the info/ticket window. But thankfully the lady at the window is very sweet and really trying to help us. Then a lady with very limited english appears next to us. With alot of hand and body motions we finally straighten out what we need. Only to discover they need more money from us, there are no ATMs or exchange places in sight, we are stuck! The lady with the limited english kindly offers to exchange our USD from her own purse, wow what a blessing. We think we are all set until we see that it doesn't tell us what lane the train is going to be on, they kindly inform us we just have to listen, they will announce it over the PA 30min before it leaves, this is a huge problem as we know no Russian or Ukranian, so our kind limited english lady attempts to teach us #1-5 in both languages to try help us.
10:40pm - we have found some shelter from the rain right in front of the staff lounge as we pray we will be able to understand when they call for our train.
11:10pm - we think that we haven't heard them announce our train yet until a man in uniform indicates for us to follow him, he helps us carry our bags and takes us through an underground tunnel to a track that I am sure we wouldn't have found on our own. We wait for a couple min and the train arrives and our helpful train worker takes us right to the wagon we need to be on.
11:47pm -The train is leaving, and there is confusion as to where our beds are, finally they put us in 3 different compartments with strangers and all on top bunks that you can't do anything but lay down in. A really kind gentleman helps us all put our huge, heavy bags on the top shelves, and then he made our beds.
26 June 2011
12:30am - I curled up on my bed in a compartment fill of strangers with my arms tightly secured around my back pack and fell asleep.
8am - woke up, ate a breakfast of carrots, an apple and crackers (all that was left in my food bag) while hunched over akwardly in my top bunk.
12pm - my book is finished, I've watched a movie and I have a huge kink in my neck I crawl out of my bunk and go visit the girls and use the disgusting bathroom that dumps all the sewage onto the tracks.
3:30pm - we anxiously get ready to get off of the train and to have this journey over with.
4:10pm - Lacey has some random guy helping her with her bag and we are walking along the platform looking for our contact. I over hear someone say "Americans? English?" and turn to see the friendly face of the man who is our contact for the month.
7pm - we arrive at the house that will be home for the next month and are greeted warmly by the family and warm bowl of bourch and our travel days are finally over.
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Posted in General Posts by Shannon Mayall on 6/21/2011
ROMANIA
Park bench
Yard during the flea market at Casa Shalom
The shed full of cloths for sale at the flea market (we had to sort and fold them all)
Weeding the rose gardens at Casa Shalom
Painting the roof at Casa Shalom
Waiting for the bus into town
Rose garden at the park
The Arch of Triumph in down town Bucharest
Down town Bucharest
At church with Becky (director of Casa Shalom) L-R Me, Becky, Emily, Michael
Poppy field in the country side
Horse and buggy in the field on the way to visit a village
House of a family of 6 we visited and brought them food
Singing songs with the village children
Becky plays the accordion, its amazing
Little old Romanian women from the church - so precious.
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Posted in General Posts by Shannon Mayall on 6/12/2011
I am really afraid of dogs and I know why. When I was younger I vividly remember 2 times where a very mean dog got in between my mom and I, it was terrifying and apparently tramatizing. Another time I was playing at a friends house and as I crawled under the bed to hide I came face to face with their dog, who mind you wasn't very big, but was just as scard as I was in that moment. His reaction was to bite and his target was, unfortunatly, my nose. I am pretty sure he didn't leave any marks but again it was tramatizing. Since then I mostly avoid dogs whenever and where ever possible.
Romania, is suprising the country where the dogs have been the worst. It is impossible to go out for a run with out being chased by not just one dog but a pack of dogs; they are dirty and mangy and roam around all over Bucharest in packs. I was literally carrying handfulls of rocks and praying continually against them for fear of being chased or worse bitten. This did make our runs go by very quickly because my focus was definatly not on how tired i was. But I have none the less pretty much given up on running outside the gate of our house for fear of these ferocious dogs.
This almost crippling fear of dogs that I have got me thinking and reflecting. When we were in India, a largly hindu nation, we entered the house of a family that claimed to be christians. Yet they still had the faces and statues of all their other gods scattered throughout their yard and house. I suddenly realized, they were afraid. All they had ever known were these gods, and the rituals and beliefs that came with them; the punishments and curses that they were told and believed would be over their lives if the neglected their sacrificing. Their fear was crippling them and I understood in some small way what this fear felt like.But fear is not from God, fear is us allowing the devil to enter in and hold us back from experiencing more of God. When I voiced this to the family they confirmed the fears they had. We quoted the scripture
1 JOHN 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
and explained this perfect love. We then asked them to take down the other gods and throw them into the trash pile as a symbol of denying these other gods and turning to the one and only true God. I pray that after we left they continued to trust in Gods perfect love for them and deny all their other gods.
PSALM 27:1 The LORD is my light and my salvation- whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life- of whom shall I be afraid?
What are you afraid of? what fears are you not surrendering over to God even though he promises to cast them all out?
Fear is very real, just like my fear of dogs its real and I personally think is justified, nothing should ever get between a child and their momma. But there is no reason for it to cripple us, to stand between us and our pappa in Hevean and prevent us from experiencing more of God. God has given us a promise, and as far as i have seen in my own life and in the scriptures he never backs out of his promises. So when we can surrender our fears over to God, take that step of faith over our fears and say "God I trust you with this" God will honour that. He will show up in big ways and His perfect love will cast out your fears.
ISAIAH 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
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Posted in General Posts by Shannon Mayall on 6/4/2011
We took off on the plane from India to Romania with a lengthy lay over in Istanbul, Turkey, and this is where it started. The realization that we were no longer in a 3rd world country. Every person that walked by was well dress in what must be the latest fashion, some even sporting major brands like Louis Vuiton, Ed hardy, Prada etc.. Every second person was using some sort of high tech, state of the art electronic device, and all were walking with a hurried purpose. The prices of food and drinks were double if not triple of what we had just experienced the last 9 months and no one seemed to care. I was overwhelmed!
 vs 
We landed in Bucharest, Romania. Loaded up a van and started to head through the city to our ministry site. I was having a hard time proccessing everything that was happening. We were back driving on the right hand side of the road, everyone was obeying the traffic laws and I hadn't heard a single horn yet. There were open fields of lush green grass being precisly manicured by a lawn care service and playgrounds with parents lined up on benches as their children screamed and laughed. People out running, rollerblading, and walking their dogs on the newly paved walkways. There was no garbage lining the streets and clogging the gutters, cars drove by with only one person in them, and children in car seats. I was experiencing major culture shock and I honestly didn't know how to respond.
 vs 
I had expected that once I got home I would notice the things that I had taken for granted for most of my life and be thankful. Never did I think that I would react the way I did, and we are not even in America or Canada yet.
 vs  It made me realize just how different our lives have been for the last 9 months but also how quickly we can adjust to different ways of life. I had become quite used to always carrying my own toilet paper, using a squatty potty, taking bucket showers, holding in my scream as we barely avoid an accident for the 6th time that day, wearing very plain but practical clothing, getting internet only once a week, hand washing my own clothes and sleeping on my 1in' thick mattress. As we were arrived in Bucharest I found myself wanting to buy all new clothes of the latest fashion, getting annoyed when my internet, that I have access to everyday, drops the signal , and complaining that the tea water at breakfast wasn't quite hot enough.
I find myself struggling, trying to find a balance.
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Posted in General Posts by Shannon Mayall on 5/29/2011
Welcome to the World Race version of
e-harmony.com
So as many of you are aware, our time on the world race is coming to a close. Which also means that we will all be available again. Yup, you heard right, available. So here we are, single and ready to mingle. (there's a no dating policy while on the WR, but in 2 months we will be finishing) ...read on if you are interested in taking any of us out to dinner or are seriously considering dating us...I mean who wouldn't want to.
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 Name- LACE FACE (Lacey Malcomson)
Age-21, old enough to drink ...except that I don't. So don't worry about it.
Height- About as tall as a giraffe
Weight- A thrillion pounds
About Me- I believe in energy conservation, therefore I have not showered in a few days. When I do shower I use a bucket. I also go all natural and don't wear deodorant some days. And sometimes when I let my hair down its so knotty I look like a lioness. But don't be disgusted by that. I know how to put on a childrens program at the drop of a hat...and I can bring a song anywhere and anytime. Worship or Rap, your pick. I often spend my days in remote villages catching serious diseases. I like to live on the edge though so I don't mind. I know how to spend $1 to feed 8 people...and I can dance like no body's business. But usually it draws a crowd so technically it becomes everyone's business. I then sweat enough to bottle it and sell it, but maybe that's a bit too much info right away.
My style- I keep it real up in here. The more mismatched the better. My motto this year is never leave the house without ROY G BIV. It's like I'm a new colorful masterpiece everyday. Sometimes I spice up life with a pair of earrings or a sweat rag.
Weird quirks/hobbies- Hanging out in homes where they don't speak my language. (you get to use lots of hand gestures). I enjoy wearing bugspray to bed so the ants, and flies and mosquitoes don't eat me alive. I collect scars. Currently I have some new ones forming. 10 new bug bites from sleeping on a roof, gashes from building a church in a thorn field, and a blistering exhaust pipe burn from learning how to drive a motorcycle.
Occupation- Soul saver. I tell people how much Jesus loves them.
Looking for-. I don't have a type, I just love men. .... They must be very flexible since I never know what may happen next in life.I could be climbing mountains, swimming oceans, moving houses, saving lives...and I cant wait to do it all together. *sigh*
Contact : Send inquiries by mail on a donkey to-
1234 Rooftop Sleeping Mat Villas
Hottest, noisiest street in town, India
773H
Or comment below...
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 Name: REECES PIECES (Theresa Duffy)
Age-22 years of beauty
Height - Taller than the average Indian man, shorter than the average African
Weight- 70 Kilos
About Me- I like long walks on the poop covered roads, dinners by headlamp, and cramming as many people into one van as possible. Anything less than 50 people is unacceptable.
My style- Anything easy to hand wash.
Quirks and hobbies- When asked to bring a song, I bring it. Like Whitney Houston. The World race has taught me that the world is my stage. I also enjoy cooking over stones and fire. My specialty is Ramen and veggies. My perfect day includes, going for a run and having everyone stare and make comments, a bucket shower, wearing the same clothes I wore yesterday, and having 30 dirty children following me wherever I go.
Occupation- Whatever the magic 8 ball tells me.
Looking for- Non-english speaking Males. (Keeps it more interesting) Must know how to build a structure using bare hands and nothing but nature. Must own a MO chair.
Contact: Send mail via parrot to
6433 F it's Hot Here rd.
Wild Animals won't even live here, India
40987
Or comment below ...
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 Name- SHAMU BABY FACE(Shannon Mayall)
Age-23.... perfection!
Height- The ideal height....duh.
Weight- Just right.
About Me- I have amazing hair that looks like a fro most of the time because I don't wash it. I have blue eyes that can pierce any mans soul. I love saving souls day after day, its basically a hobby. I watch glee on a regular basis, and I can't wait until I save up enough to buy me a pair of shape up shoes. ( I find it soooo attractive when guys wear them too) I hate blue. Ok, I don't hate it, I just don't wear it. I am a geek. I also got a perfect score on my SAT....then I came on the world race and my IQ dropped 47 points. I think it's right around 70 now.... I have buns of steel. Don't be jealous now, I worked hard to get them like that. I love a man who works out. And last but not least, my hair has doubled as straw feed for animals on this trip. Crisp and crunchy.
My style-Anything that doesn't match. The more stripes the better. Life is too short to coordinate outfits. I also wear nasty nasty beaten up, worn down, flip flop type shoe things that I love to death and won't get rid of until they fall apart.
Weird quirks/hobbies- Running up 10 flights of stairs for fun. Digging holes.. I love throwing little children around and making weird tomatoe salads. I love pronouncing words differently than everyone else does, like Zebra , vitamin and banana.
Occupation-I professionally powder peoples sweaty butts with talc. And I love every second of it. Something about a butt fascinates me...oh wait, maybe that should go up in the quirk section.
Looking for- Spectacularly sculpted midgets.(This has been prophesied over me.) Must spend his monthly check on really nice shoes, and be able to sing me to sleep. (I'm afraid of the dark)
Contact : I can't wait to hear from you by monkey at,
123 Get me out of here drive.
Going crazy, India
12345
Or comment below...
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 Name: EMMALICIOUS( Emily Fagerstrom)
Age-23 years young. And totally getting better with age.
Height - Taller than Michael Perez's sleeping mat
Weight- If you can lift me, I'm yours.
About Me- Hey there good looking. We havent met yet, but I can just sense it. You're a babe...and so am I. So guess what? We already have that in common. I am smooth if you can't tell. I enjoy trying to communicate with people who don't speak the same language as me. The challenge is exhilarating. My eyes are refreshing pools of blue hope just welcoming you in. I also enjoy watching men intensely eat curry , rice, and curd with their hands. Oh and sometimes I smell but I don't care at all, because as soon as I shower I smell again.
My style- Unlike my other team mates, I enjoy matching my shoes and my shirts. So I only wear pink, grey, black.(dont mind that I have blue on in my picture, I never wear blue)
Quirks and hobbies- I enjoy hanging out at foreign truck stop/hotels. When I'm feeling feisty I wear shorts that show my knees, and get plenty of lengthy staring. Secretly I want to destroy the gods of India. I often frolick with goats on my days off. Just imagine, we could frolick together.
Occupation- It changes every month.
Looking for- I have this thing for giants. Or anyone over 6'5. The skinnier the better. If you look like a bean, you're my type.
Contact: Please reply by giraffe to-
1111 Sweat dripping from my face lane
Fan me you idiot, India
98767
Or comment below...
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Posted in General Posts by Shannon Mayall on 5/22/2011
When you create a building, say a church building, you have to start with a foundation. The foundation requires you to dig down before you can build up, this ensures that the building will be strong and will endure the storms.
This month we had the chance to build the foundation of a church in a small village in South India. This didn't just involve the physical building but the spiritual building to. Just as the corner stone of a foundation to a building is crucial so is it in our walk with Christ.
The bible says in
Psalm 118:21-23
21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation. 22 The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 23 the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
and also in
Ephesians 2:19-21
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
Jesus is the corner stone of our salvation, the crucial part of the temple. We are the living temple of God.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person; for God's temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
A church is defined by the people not the building itself. So before we started to build the physical church building we went door to door in the community to tell people about this Jesus who is a crucial part of our lives - "the cornerstone" But it can't just be a surface transformation, it has to be a transformation of the heart - the digging down before you can build up.
The majority of the community we were ministering to were Hindu, so they worship over 6 million different Gods. When we told them about Jesus the first thing we mention is how much he loves them with an unconditional love. That He is alive and active in our lives today and that Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice for us when he died on the cross so we no longer need to make sacrifices.
When the community started to see the mircales that God was doing and they began to turn from their many false Gods and accept Jesus as the one and only true God; their foundation was started. Just as each brick in each layer of the building is important so is each person in the body of Christ. Therefore a church community is an important part of our growth as christians.
1 Corinthians 12:12
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.
So we began to build the church building, a place where the believers can gather and worship in one accord. Just as with building an actual curch building our walk with Christ takes time, committment and sometimes it hurts. In the end, the finished product will be strong, with each brick, each minute, each pain and each person adding to our character, making us stronger in Christ.
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