Blog change

So...overseas internet is a little difficult to come by sometimes, so I've decided to only make updates to my world race blog for right now. I will resume this one afterwards. Its just become too difficult to upload pictures twice. So for the next nine months...please stick to this blog:

http://triciawegman.theworldrace.org/

Thanks!!!!

Philippines Summary

This past month has gone by so fast. I can't believe that we are leaving for Malaysia tonight. I thought that I would just do a list of my favorite things in random order about the Philippines to end the month:
1. Bathing and washing clothes in a creek all month.
2. Sunsets on the beach.
3. Blue starfish found while we were snorkeling.
4. Ladies' day and washing the feet of women in the village.

5. Singing Celine Dion and Shakira on karaoke (they love their karaoke here).
6. Worshipping and teaching about a spirit of worship among the villagers.
7. Meeting the mayor of the island and telling him he was a cool guy (I am so awkward).
8. Getting to know the beautiful people on my team better. I am so blessed by them.
9. Becoming more spiritually sensitive and becoming dependant on God.
10. Playing basketball with the locals and hearing them yell Treesha!
11. Random dance parties on the beach with the locals.
12. Fried pork rolls.
13. Chasing rats out of the kitchen.
14. Deforesting the rainforest.
15. Declaring God's victory over an oppressed area.
16. Mastering the art of making squid for dinner.
17. Watching Nikki eat a worm to raise support.
18. Loving on the women here.
19. Speaking in a southern accent and talking about good ol' 'Merica. (This happens on a daily basis).
20. Bringing refreshment and encouragement to a small village in the Philippines that I didn't know even existed until a month ago.
This month has been amazing and I can't wait to see what God will do as we go into Malaysia. I will try harder to do more blogs as we have internet and keep you more updated. Thanks for reading!

Warfare

Just a quick update from the last blog. The night after I had the weird dream and the high fever I went to sleep feeling really great. I woke up at the same time again though freezing and feeling so oppressed and heavy. After praying and worshipping to get rid of whatever was going on in the room, I was able to get up, get my fleece and go back to bed. I spiked another high fever and started feeling creeped out. I just started praying and proclaiming the victory in Jesus Christ. I finally fell asleep and woke up fairly sick again. Fast forward to last night. I was feeling substantially better last night, but I was preparing myself to be sick again. Before going to bed, we started worshiping and ended up singing at the top of our lungs for an hour. We were inviting the Spirit of God to be in that place and wow did He come. I went to bed last night and slept so amazingly well. No oppressive feelings, no fever, nothing. I feel great today and church went amazing. We felt burdened for the church's worship. We taught the kids some sign language to the song "The Stand." They got up front and were just worshipping with their hands raised. It was great. Then, the rest of the church got up and was learning the motions and putting their hands up. I was brought to tears standing up there. Watching restoration and freedom is a beautiful thing. Even if we have done all of this to just excite one person to worship with excitement....or just one kid to become a true worshipper, this whole month was worth it :). And to think that Satan was trying to discourage me from seeing that by using a nightmare and a fever. I am so thankful that the One who is in me is greater than he who is in this world. How great to know that freedom is there and available...we just have to reach for it; how freeing to know that victory is already won for us...we just have to live in it!
I'll stand with arms high and heart abandoned, in awe of the One who gave it all

I'll stand, my heart Lord to you surrendered. All I have is yours!

Treeeshaa!

HIII! This week has been a crazy busy week...but so good! I titled this one with my name because that is about all I hear in the village we are in. As a ministry, we are having a basketball tournament here. My team is awesome and we've been doing really well. Girls don't play bball with boys here...so me playing has been really funny. Because of that, many of the villagers have learned my name and are saying "Treesha!" whenever we're walking around. It's been so fun to use bball as a ministry. Here is a picture of my awesome team. Yesterday they brought me a jersey to wear :)
We've also been working with people, starting relationships and deforesting the rainforest. lol the pastor here wants us to clear out some of the rainforest to use as a soccer field. It's been ridiculous. The red death ants here are crazy. It's looking good now, but I somewhat feel guilty about deforestation :). We've also had some amazing times at the beach, especially in worship. Our team is so burdened by our need to worship the Lord passionately and God has been confirming that to us amazingly. One last thing I would love for you to pray for is my team and our squad in general. Satan has been attacking many people with sickness in order to slow down our ministry. This is strong on my heart because it affected me last night. My team and I were experiencing an amazing revelation from God about worship and how we were going to stir things up here, especially with the women. We prayed we would have some direction in how to do that. I went to bed feeling fine and started having nightmares regarding the things here and all I could hear was discouragement from the devil. I woke up absolutely freezing and proceeded to develop a really high fever (my guess was around 102 degrees or higher). The oppression in the room was so great and I could just hear the enemy speaking lies into me that we weren't good enough, that we had no power, that we couldn't bring change to a people in bondage. I woke up Carmen and we just started praying. The oppression went away so that we were able to sleep. This morning I was still running a high fever (around 101). Our team just started bringing it to prayer and declaring victory over this oppression and sickness. Amazingly, my fever has dropped substantially. I'm not feeling 100%, but I'm mainly tired, and I'm not running a high fever. God is good. The more we declare our victory, the better I feel. God is just blowing me away with His power in the Spirit. It's been awesome. So please pray that we have the victory over spirits of oppression, doubt, fear, sickness, and discouragement. Tonight we are having a ladies night where we will wash feet, paint nails and give massages to the women of the village. We are also praying about another ministry with the women, so we would truly appreciate you holding us up in prayer. We are working hard to spread life here and we know the enemy has come to steal, kill, and destroy....but He who is within us is greater!!

Showering in a creek :)

"Ang Dios ay mabuti" means "God is good" in Tagalog, the primary language in the Philippines. As I sit next to my friend, Baby Jane (who is teaching me to speak Tagalog, here on the island of Mindoro, I am reminded again that God is good. It is so wonderful to see beautiful women around the world living life and serving Christ. We are sitting around the table cooking, sharing stories, and laughing. We have been told that relationships are what matters in ministry with the Filipinos and we are learning that every day. (Isn't that what all ministry is about?) What I love is that we are just living life with Pastor Al, Ate (sister) Marina, Ate Helen, Ate Judith, Lola (who I call abuela which means grandma in Spanish), and Jo Jo. They are a beautiful people with such a strong heart for the Lord and a pure love for serving His people. We are up in the rainforest on this island staying in the local pastor's house. This involves, my team (6), Cody's team (7), Pastor Al's family (3), and the assortment of others coming in and out of the house at all times. Which means 16 people plus 13 massive backpacks are squished all around this extremely humble house. Yet we are experiencing life with them. The running water is not working right now, so flushing the toilet with pails of water is amusing...especially after I was having the runs all day yesterday. Yuck J. Today we went and washed our clothes and showered in a nearby creek and seriously, it's the cleanest I've felt in the last week. We are also having the opportunity to talk with the women who work with making the bracelets to earn a living. Rather than selling themselves or their children into prostitution, they make bracelets. I'm so excited about all we are learning. More to come on that soon and more pictures :)
Best story I have so far is the following. Yesterday I was talking with Abuela and she asked me if I spoke Tagalog. I actually am doing well in learning some words because many words are the same in Spanish (Spain settled the Philippines). So often times I will guess a word and it will be right! Anyway, so yesterday when she asked if I spoke Tagalog, I answered "Mi poquito" thinking that "poquito" would mean "little" as it does in Spanish. I was wrong. In their language, poquito is the term used for sexual orientation. All of them started laughing immediately and I laughed unknowingly until one lady shouted in English, "Tricia you were just talking about your boyfriend, do you realize you just told everyone you are a lesbian?" Oops. J

Launch week!

I’ve made it through my first week of the World Race J. It’s been a whirlwind week. We arrived on Monday morning with the other leaders and settled in. Highlights about the flight: Starbucks in Hong Kong, fish soup for breakfast on the plane, and somehow missing all of Sunday due to time changes. This week has been great. The rest of our teams arrived and we have been staying with some amazing missionaries that work with a small, poor squatter village here outside of Manila. It’s been amazing to hang out with the people, learn about how the trip works, and seeing God work. The Spirit has been moving amazingly here. Prophecy has never really been on my radar, but I did it this week and it rocked my life. I’ve learned it’s not about saying weird futuristic things, but speaking life and truth over people…and seeing those things being fulfilled. This mission is all about declaring truth and life over people and that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. If you had told me a week ago that I would be trying to raise a lady from the dead like I did yesterday, I would have laughed pretty hard. It didn’t seem all that funny yesterday though when I was touching the feet of a dead woman and praying over her and her three small children with 40 other racers. No I haven’t gone crazy, but this mission expects amazing things to happen and as a result, they have seen amazing results. Marisol didn’t wake up and walk yesterday, but we’re still praying for her and really learning about challenging our faith and the power of our God. Besides that, my team of women is amazing, the Philippines is beautiful (in fact, it reminds me so much of Costa Rica), and I can already see the amazing work God is doing in us. Did you know they have free karaoke in the malls here?? Celine Dion and I busted it out the other day! Tomorrow morning we will be leaving on a 6 hour trip and going to Puerto Galera on the island of Mindoro in the Philippines to begin our next three weeks of ministry. We will be working with a ministry called Threads of Hope that teaches women how to make bracelets and sell them in order to support their families. We will also be working with the church there and the community children. We are so excited because many of my girls actually sold these bracelets to help raise funds and awareness for the World Race. So that’s what’s going on. I should have internet where we are going, so we’ll keep you posted! Thanks for your prayers! Much love!

Reckless abandon...

As I come down to the last couple of days before my trip, I want to make sure I document how I'm feeling and what I'm thinking. Besides doing my "before leaving for overseas rituals" of eating all of my beloved American foods in ridiculous quantities, enjoying long, hot showers, getting joy out of flushing toilet paper, and trying to see every person I've ever known before I leave for a year, I'm doing pretty well. I expected to be an emotional roller-coaster with yet another transition coming and to be nervous with anticipation over a new chapter in life. While I have experienced some of that over the last few weeks, I have right one basic feeling about what is coming: Peace.
I know that is the Holy Spirit in me, confirming His path in my life. There is no other explanation. If I didn't have that peace from Christ, I would think that living in 11 different countries in 11 months with just a tent in a backpack was crazy...but right now, it makes the most sense in the world. "Reckless Abandon" because that is a phrase that Oswald Chambers preached throughout his ministry and it characterized full surrender to Christ. Being what appeared to be "reckless" in the eyes of others to be abandoned to God's perfect will. There is no fear in this because God's will is formed from His perfect love (1 John 4:18). Chambers writes,
"In our abandonment we give ourselves over to God just as Himself without any
calculation. The consequences of abandonment never enter into our outlook
because our life is taken up with Him."
That is how I want to live. Whether I'm living in a tent in Uganda or an apartment in Costa Rica, or a house in Ohio. God asks us each to fulfill a purpose in a different way. It just requires an attitude of willingness. So I'm just excited. Excited about new cutlures, new experiences, new foods, new ministry, and most of all new insights that will teach me about my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful for those of you that will be following me on my journey. I will be posting stories, pictures, and comments about life around the world and how God is working. I'm sure there will also be a great assortment of ridiculous situations I get myself into over the next year, and I will most definitely relay those to you all :). I will be praying that as I abandon myself to Christ, that you would be doing the same wherever you are- making a difference where God has you. Love to live and live to love :)