hallie! where have you been!!

guys! hey! it’s me hallie!

 

first of all – i want to apologize for the lack of blogs. i’m learning how to sort through everything on my plate, and blogging continues to get pushed to the side. i’m sorry! i value each and every one of you for reading this, caring about me and/or supporting me. it means a lot and i want to do a better job at keeping y’all in the loop in all ways. up to this point, i haven’t done that. honestly, i probably opened your text and listened to your voice memo and didn’t respond. i’m sorry. i love you. send me a mean text and i will respond asap. I’m still figuring it out!

 

so glad we got that out of the way…so, where have i been? great question.

 

on august 15, grace and mike duncan dropped me off in gainesville, georgia for leader training. thank you God for friends like them who send me off so beautifully into a season such as this and will pick me up at the end with the same grace…thanks grace!…and mike <3

 finally made it to graces home in Georgia :’)

leader training consisted of two weeks of teachings, preparation, intersession and waffle house runs. for me personally, these two weeks were ones in which i had to fully surrender my desire for structure & stability & grad school, & say yes to the people around me and the flow of life that the world race consists of. really beautiful things, but definitely a shift. thank you God for leader training, for allowing me to live with and learn from a group of leaders that i now call friends. really good friends. miss you guys – let’s do 11n11 together after we all get home? 

bernie on farm day! farm day! farm day! farm day!

 my leadership team! Esther, me, drew, zach, bern and meagan

 I….love this cat

 losing rummikub so badly I needed backup

sabbath!

leader training ended, racers came, and we entered into a month of training! Training consisted of sessions aimed to set racers up well for any and all things they may face on the field. we learned how to use international insurance & wrestle with theological questions…and everything in between. This period of preparation set us all up well, easing us into the transition of life on the field as was as giving us tangible tools to use while overseas. thank you, God! when we weren’t in sessions, we would spend our time worshipping, bonding as a team, playing games, drinking tea and checking to see if our tents flooded. As a squad leader, training was also a time for me to pour into my team (team manna…you will meet them later ;)) and learn how to love and lead with my leadership team. time in gainesville was sweet & hard & life-giving & revealing & kind & unexpected. i’m so thankful for this time, and find myself missing the sweet period of life when i lived in a tent in the woods of gainesville, georgia.

 

 me and my friend drew on our way to launch…

 k squad men! wow! so strong!

 me and squad mentor violet 

 Anna and Jackie packie! women of God if ive ever seen any

 Avery came to visit! surreal and so sweet. sissys for life

 walking through the cookout drive through lol

did I tell you guys that the fitness hike is now a hike up a mountain and you camp at the top…yeah no one told me that when I signed up either 

Gracie and I brushing our teeth in the woods lol

 launch is still scary as a squad leader

 tea time w Esther and mustache drew!

 view for my morning quiet times

 Yonah!

 gap k won squad wars! im going to take all credit for the win 

after a month of training, the girls of gap k and gap j picked up our tents and went to go serve with excel college in black mountain, north carolina for two weeks! excel college is an alternative college that highly values missional living as well as giving and receiving an education that is well rounded and biblical. in our time there, we helped out around the local community in a wide variety of ways, such as painting, spreading mulch, cleaning, helping members of the community move, watching their children, weeding their gardens….anything and everything we could do to help. Personally, I did a lot of power washing and conflict resolution. time there was sweet…my favorite part was watching my team grow closer together while serving the community of black mountain and each other. these girls are hard workers with a deep desire to serve well. thank you God that we were able to learn how to work as a team in the mountains of north carolina!

scraping wallpaper off of walls is now one of my new favorite ministries 

1103 looks so cute here

camping in the mountains of NC in October is COLD

 manna painting a fence…this was the day they decided they were going to make a homemade horse video over the span of the race. I was cast as the driver and also the love interest…stay tuned

 Anna in tent city

ice cream team time because im such a fun squad leader..right guys?!

team manna <3

I wore the same sweatshirt almost everyday for two weeks

manna with another fence they painted!

classic marls

after two weeks, we left north carolina and headed back home to gainesville for a time of rest and debrief before our 5 day travel day to cambodia! this time consisted of celebration, tears – both happy and sad, rest & preparation. thank you God for gainesville, georgia and the people that have made it home for a season!

hung out with heather! what a blessing

said goodbye to jethros

super excited to eat at Thai…obviously

I love them 

gap k then had their first travel day(s)! atlanta to san francisco to taiwan to phnom penh to siem reap! it is only by the grace of God that travel day hallie got through these days….with ease. thank you God!

said bye to L squad! miss you guys!

 

 drew, zach and I in San Fran…lol

LOL

“drew please take a picture of that store”

 

tea time!

once we got to Siem Reap, the squad settled into two houses about a block away from each other and started life in Cambodia. while we are here, my team and i will be doing a mixture of evangelism to tourists in Siem Reap, as well as ministry in the surrounding unreached villages. we do ministry at 4 different villages about an hour out of Siem Reap, teaching English and Bible stories, doing house visits and encouraging the small amount of believers in each village. its sweet! really sweet…and really really hot. 

 good morning!

 <3

took this picture in my favorite village to teach at…its my favorite solely because the kids sit under excavators while we teach and I think its so funny 

 smile!

 

me as Adam in an Adam and Eve play…duh!

 

documenting Marlys first time using a squatty…shes shocked

party tuktuk! 

 

wow! now we are all caught up on the big picture! little picture…. i’m currently writing this as i’m sitting on my sleeping pad on the floor of my room in a house that i share with esther’s team! i’m waiting for her to finish team time so we can sit on the porch and talk and giggle while everyone is asleep…our nightly rhythm as homeowners and house parents. i’m surprising her with a brownie from our favorite bakery!  

my room for context…also, jazzy says hi!

 

life right now is wild and i’m so excited to tell you about it over coffee or tea when we meet again in a few months…but as of right now….my update is that im doing well. life here is sweet & hard. my days are often a beautiful jumble of really good things and really hard things, which is okay. i walk with ease knowing the Lord going before me and behind me. thank you God!

these past few months have been crazy and unique and tiring and fun, but i can confidently say that regardless of what these days hold, the Lord continues to bring me to my knees daily in reverence. Thank you God for entrusting me to shepard and lead these people that you love so deeply. Thank you for covering me with your grace daily.

that’s all for today! love you guys! 

<3

hallie pallie

 

(also….Im still fundraising…but im halfway there! Praise God! && thank you for all of the support I have received both financially as well as in prayer. I am so blessed to know that I always have people in my corner even if I currently live halfway across the world from all of them.)

 

okay…see you hopefully sooner rather than later 

<3