Leaving K-Town

I have seen people beaten for their faith. I have gone through anti-American protests. I have been hugged tightly by Muslim women when my brother died.

– “Emma”

I am writing this letter on my last day in K-Town and my last day with the Sweater People. People have asked me if it feels like two years have past. I tell them no, it feels like five. It has been a hard two years, but I am in love with the Sweater People. The past two years I have felt the shakes of earthquakes and of bombs. I have heard gunfire in my neighborhood to then read in paper that three people were killed in the very place where I buy bread. This has happened a few times in the last two years.

I have heard the agony cries of wife who had just lost her husband, I held her hand and cried with her even though I didn’t understand a word she was saying. I cried with the same woman two months later when she lost her twenty-year-old daughter for no apparent reason, but a broken heart. I have experienced racial and sexual discrimination. I have met women who are beaten by their husbands and who have been abandoned by the men they love. I have been without heat in record snowfall. I have gone over two weeks with out any electricity and water. I have boiled snow for water. I have gone weeks without a shower. I have gone without toilet paper. I have had marriage proposals. I have friends who were forced into marriage and friends who have found their true love but, due to cultural circumstances, their marriage will never happen. I have seen dirty children without shoes sharing a meal with dogs and a cow… all eating out of a trash dumpster. I have seen people beaten for their faith. I have gone through anti-American protests. I have been hugged tightly by Muslim women when my brother died. I have prayed in a Hindu temple, a Buddhist temple, and a Muslim mosque. It has not been a boring two years.

What was this all for? Why in the world would anyone choose to live in a place like this? What have we left behind? We have left in K-Town seven disciples who know God’s Word. We have left seven women who have written their first songs of thanksgiving. We have left the first understandable Word of God. We have given people a new perspective on what a follower of God looks like. Plus, I have been changed in every way. God has proven His power, His will, His strength and His presence again and again. This has been the best experience of my life. Thank you for praying me through this journey.