Well, I hope you have heard, or at least figured out that I got married this past November. Remember that cute blonde boy from my team "Agape"? We fell in love on the trip, came back to America and got married. 

For real. If you want the details visit weddingwire.com/ashleymatthewpoole

Things have been CRAZYYYYYY so forgive me if I have bypassed keeping in touch. Re send me an email and I would love to catch up. Matthew and I will be going on a short term mission trip this summer. I have attached below our support letter if you are curious. 

Love you all! 

Hello Friends and Family!

Greetings to you in the Name of our Wonderful Savior! 

Can you give us an update? Yes. First of all, we have been deeply enjoying our new life as a married couple. Nothing has ever brought more peace and joy into our lives. Thank you all for supporting us! 

We are currently living in Raleigh, NC. Matthew is pursuing a ministry degree from Southeastern, and Ashley is nannying, or rather, helping to raise, two girls, ages three and five (the cutest girls in the world!). We have been a part of the Imago Dei Church plant and have enjoyed living in community with such wonderful believers. Although this all makes for a very busy schedule, we feel blessed beyond measure.

What's new? God has led us to an opportunity to serve Him in Uganda this summer. It is a two-week trip, after which, we will then travel over to Rwanda for a few days, reconnecting with the church community that housed us last January when we were on the World Race. 

Who is the Uganda trip through? We will be going through a local nonprofit, started in 2007, called, "Embrace Uganda." More information about them can be found at www.embraceuganda.org/. Having established themselves among three different communities, they are "committed to long term relationships..., seeking better educational opportunities for children, quality health care, and sustainable economic development." 

What will you be doing? With our team of apx. 15-20 people we will be meeting the physical and spiritual needs of the communities. Half of our time will be at Agape Children's Village, and half will be at the remote village of Koreng (where we will have the opportunity to connect with many who have never heard of Jesus). As we travel back to Rwanda seperatly we hope to encourage the local body, as well as spend time with the dear friends and children we grew to love. 

What does this have to do with me? We want you to have the joy of taking part in God's redemptive plan in the world! We invite you to partner with us in God's mission for Uganda. Whether financially, prayerfully, or both, we would be deeply grateful for your generosity. However, we don't want to pressure you in giving; our desire is that you support us with a cheerful heart, motivated by love.

What is your goal? $6,000 (covers all traveling and ministry outreach costs for both of us) You can send a check directly to us, or for a tax deductible donation, make it out to Embrace Uganda, P.O Box 742 Wake Forest NC 27588. Please include "The Pooles June 2012" in Memo line. 

We are so thankful to share the work that God is doing through each of you. Your love support and prayers are not over looked by our King. 

Much Love, 

Ashley & Matthew

"Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples." Psalm 96:3

Future racers, take my word on things and do what you want to do... it will take you 10 months to finally figure it all out and by then you won't care anymore... you will look back and laugh. Your route will change everything.

Bring clothes you wear at home! Really. Most ministry you do you will do in normal clothes and you are going to feel gross if you are in quick dry ugly shirts and cargo pants. I brought a bunch of "racer" clothes and then bought a bunch of stuff in Cambodia at the Russian Market. I would say bring two crap shirts to work in, and a thick tank if you don't want a farmers tan. Bring some work shorts that are longer... and the rest? Honestly, bring what you like. Bring a skirt you think is cute or a dress you like to wear to church, if it is too short you can wear leggings. Scarves make all things cute. I think Nepal was the only country I needed ankle length. Also, you can buy cute clothes for wicked cheap in countries... Russian market in Phnom Phen had "H&M" stuff for 3 dollars. I am obsessed with white T's and I wish I brought more, when I got some at Christmas I put them in Ziploc bags to save them for when we left Africa and one for final debrief. Best decision ever. Bring chacos if you wear them at home, bring sneakers if you work out, but I mostly wore my flip flops all year. I am so glad I broght my favorite hoodie and jeans.

You can find shampoo and all that everywhere so just bring  small bottles to last you until you find some. Usually you will get team stuff and save your stuff for debriefs or travel weekends. I don't wear makeup so I just had some mascara and eyeliner that I wore every now and then, some girls wore makeup everyday.

BRING YOUR HAIR STRAIGHTNER. You can laugh now, but you will thank me. One girl on the squad brought hers and we were bribing her to use it all the time. At Christmas my teammate got Heidi and I one and I cried. You will have power, you will want straight hair. Get rid of the bug spray that you will never use to make room for it.

Nalgeens get GROSS, I didn't believe it when I read a blog like this but mine did and its wasted space and I chucked it, just buy bottled water when you can and reuse the bottle.

I never used my tent... used my sleeping pad a few times...

Get a sleeping pad that is big and comfortable, I sent mine home in Africa because it was not comfortable and I never used it... wish I had a comfy one in India and when we slept at airports.

Bring a lot of black underwear.

Bring a lot of Tampax compact...

If you have or can get an iTouch, do it, boredom buster, wifi when you can find it, movies and iPod all in one. The new ones have a camera which is cool, especially if you have an SLR.

I got a SLR for the race, and am so glad I did, worth every dollar. I would also bring a small point and shoot with video for when you don't want to haul it around. My team mate Curt fond a backpack with a SLR compartment in the bottom and laptop place in the side, it was great.

Don't bring much jewelry, you find TONS of cute, cheap stuff everywhere, especially Africa.

Get a hard drive. Back up your pictures and music every month before you travel. Swap movies and workout videos with people. When you travel I would pack your hard-drive in your big pack so if one gets stolen you still have all your stuff.

Bring a book or two, you will swap with squad-mates, and find book stores along the way.

You can get away with a big pillow, small ones are doable but I wish I had a big one. I never used my sleeping bag liner, I would bring a sheet, doubles to use at the beach. (we went to a ton of beaches.) Sleeping bag, make sure its light and comfy.

I did bring a jar of PB and stocked up whenever I could. I also bright candy that I loved and had it when I was having a "freak-out" moment.

The only time I used my mess kit was to bucket shower in Kenya, and the spoon to eat my PB with.

I wish I brought my knitting needles and yarn. You should bring a good paintbrush (you will get to Africa and your team of 5 will have two brushes) A garlic press and veggie peeler would have saved me hours. I got markers and journals in most countries. Oh, bring those headsets to skype with, trust me. Best thing I brought? Possibly the power strip, it had three THREE PRONG outlets and two usb jacks. You can get converters in every country for a dollar, don't buy them in America.

Your stuff will get lost, broken, stolen, you will get over it. My team had two working computers and 1 iPod cord for a while and we made it work. Everything turns into every ones and just accept it now, it will save you stress and frustration later.

Bring Benydrill for allergies and to sleep on travel days... you can get all meds for dirt cheap everywhere so don't stress about bringing a bunch.

A cell phone! If you have one with a sim slot bring it, some countries are super cheap to call home.

Everyone is different and countires and ministry sights can change everything. Don't stress. My bag started at 54 pounds and when I flew home it was almost 30.

:) 

omania

Ministry: Partnering with a local church. We painted the inside, did some yard work. Worked with the youth a lot, Kids fest, boys did soccer ministry, B and I built relationships with local Roma girls and played with kids at a low income daycare. We visited a gypsy village church and painted some canvas for the sanctuary.

Living conditions: Ah... we were in a hostile, Bridget and I got our own room, two beds to myself... western toilet and shower that got hot if you waited 30 minutes. Our bathroom was covered in black mold.

Food: Yogurt and a pastery from the grocery store for breakfast, traditional dishes for lunch cooked by the church ladies and B and I cooked dinners (pasta, BLT's, burgers, grilled cheese, etc.)

Transportation: Good ol' 13B bus. We rode that thing a few times a day, it was great, especially when B and I got our favorite seats in the back

Favorite part of the month: The church service in the village, our contact and his family, being able to live on our own, grocery stores, the kid's outreach we did on Saturdays.

Most challenging part of the month: Having some comforts of home made me more homesick, also everyone dressed cute and I only had a few shirts... I was also exhausted, I could have slept all day and still would have been tired.

Random things: We did clown ministry, Clint then wore the clown suite all day for free dinner. We had McDonalds where we enjoyed iced cokes, when we cooked I still couldn't touch raw meet, good things for Bridget. We also got to visit  Dracula's castle.

Ukraine

Ministry: Fixing up a house where they will have a rehab center, sports camp at VBS, built the shower we use and scraped paint off the house.

Living conditions: Small little house, very old, I changed beds a few times due to comfort issues. We have an outhouse and make shift shower.

Food: Lots of soups, bread, porridge, Alex cooked us pizza, Ukrainian dishes.

Transportation: Walking, local bus, cramming into Deema's car, trains! Lots of overnight trains when we got here and to get to debrief.

Favorite part of the month: Our contact's daughters that live with us, loosing my mind with the team and being crazy, Deeana! Our translator for a week, sweetest girl I have met on the race.

Most challenging part of the month: Again, super slow month of ministry, we had no translator and the first month I can't stomach some of the food.

Random things: We went to the Black Sea on our days off, I found M&M's, the family is always bringing home animals, last month of the race!

Nepal

Ministry: Well, we did some VBS a few hours a day. We also gardened at the school and house and painted a room...

Living conditions: Stayed with our contacts, another couple and a bunch of rats. Squattie pottie and running shower. The water and power only came on for 4 hours a day, so that was fun to catch.

Food: Tons of fruits, french toast, rice, chicken and curry and this stuff you put sugar on that kinda looks like stuffing which was so good. All of it was so good.

Transportation: Our feet... we were in a small village and didn't really go anywhere outside of a thee mile radius.

Favorite part of the month: Bonding with Bridget and the new team. The French toast, teaching my class of little kiddos "God is love"  Tamal Kathmandu was a cool city we spent a few days in.

Most challenging part of the month: Lack of ministry... we really did not have a lot to do and we couldn't really go anywhere. The flies were brutal.

Random things: We went to the coke shop at least twice a day, the whole team did Insanity together once and I might have burned more calories laughing got to see Mt. Everest and they had Mexican in Tamel... good Mexican.

India

Ministry: Jam packed. We preached, we went door to door, sang at weddings, baby naming cerimonies, house dedications, prayer meetings, revival, kids ministry, visited families in the community and played with the kids.

Living conditions: Our own place! Shared a room with Bridget, our beds were wood tables with mats on them. Squattie potties and bucket showers. We had a fridge and TV so that was pretty nice.  

Food: Amazing! Momma cooked us chappati, chicken, tons of Indian curry dishes, they got us take out fried noodles alot. Sam always got us ice cream and cakes. We were spoiled.

Transportation: Sam rented a SUV, the A/C worked in it the last two days we were there.

Favorite part of the month: All the babies I got to hold, the food, going to weddings (a prayer I had since the Philippines!) At debrief we got to see the TajMahal ( a dream since I was little!)

Most challenging part of the month: The Heat! It was easily 110 most days, you would wake up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat and go to the bathroom to pour water on yourself. We were wicked busy, some 12 hour days where we poured out contantly and felt drained. Also a lot of people saw us as "gods" and wanted blessings from us which was uncomfortable and frustrating.

Random things: The streets were filled with "sewer pigs" these black nasty pigs that ran around. Our contact called me his "baby" because I never ate enough food. They had cable so we got to watch the Celtics in the finals. 

Rwanda

Ministry: Door to door... preaching at church, playing with the sweet kiddo's that lived nearby.

Living conditions: A house with our pastor and translator. I shared a bed with Heidi, bucket shows and sqauttie pottie.

Food: French fries and avocados... sometimes all three meals. Rice, potatoes, bananas... fresh, mini, boiled, fried and mashed.

Transportation: Our legs... we walked a lot, we also crammed in matatu's (10 passenger vans that at minimum held 25 people) to go to town.  

Favorite part of the month: Playing with the kids up the road, getting hunted down by the shop keeper when we did not return his fanta bottles, playing scum with the team and James. Tree time in the morning with Matthew.

Most challenging part of the month: The slow pace of Africa, some days it was just a few hours of ministry, some days nothing at all. Bucket showers with a little water and a heck of a lot of hair was frustrating.

Random things: Rwanda went through a genocide in 1994 and the oppression can still be felt. We had the opportunity to visit the mesueam memormial and see "Hotel Rwanda."  A woman offered me her baby to take home to America. Church was 4 hours long and we danced for a good chunk of it, the in that village children will always have my heart.

Kenya

Ministry: Tons of things, preaching, orphanage, prison and hospital visits. Taugh at the school and played with the kids, painted the doors at the church. Prayer and fasting.  Street kid feedings. Construction & college outreach.

Living conditions: Stayed with our sweet contact and his family. Had my own bed! Bucket shower and western toilet.

Food: Oh, some of the best food on the race, our brothers Kinu & Albert spoiled us with pancakes, coffee, green grams, chapatti, popcorn, chicken, mashed potatoes, avocados, mango juce and momma baked us treats.

Transportation: The back of our contact's old green Range Rover.

Favorite part of the month: Just about everything. The kids at the school, our family we lived with, hanging with the team, dancing for the church with Kinu, drying my hair in the sun.

Most challenging part of the month: Matthew was no longer on our team, church services were long.

Random things: The first time I asked anyone if they wanted to receive salvation was to a crowd of inmates at a prison and over 30 men stood up. Heidi and I went running every morning but she lauged at me when I ate chocolate in bed before we got up and put our sneakers on. Oh, calls to America were wicked cheap so I got Mimsie phone time in.

Tanzania:

Ministry: Door to door, preaching, orphanage visits, doing handicrafs at NEEMA (www,neema.org) village trip.

Living conditions: 14 people in one house, shared a bed with Jeannie, freezing running shower, squattie pottie.  

Food: Greasy chapatti, rice, beans, greens.

Transportation: Matatus, Tanzania was the most brutal for getting a seat and or personal space.

Favorite part of the month: Zanzibar... the squad had a two day get away to regroup before we left Africa. We prayed a blind man who got his sight back and a deaf boy who could then hear. Jeannie snuggle and vent session times.

Most challenging part of the month: Living with two other teams... honeslty we I think had the strongest personalities together from the squad. Church on Sundays was from 7-5 (with a lunch break) and I was extremely tired of doing door to door.

Random things: Got sick for the first time on the race, and it was in the middle of the village... Mango's were 5 cents, my sweet Tara got on a plane to go home and we had team changes as we left Africa.

The Philippines

Cambodia:

Malaysia:

Random things: I decided to fast from coffee before we got to our Penang, then found out there was several Starbucks near us... Chai Tea Latte's from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf were a good supplement. Penang is also the city with the best food in the world.

 

 

Thailand:

Ministry: Working at SHE during the days we worked in field doing construction, or helped the girls with making jewelry or baking cookies. At night we would go to the bars on Bangla Rd. and build relationships with the girls who were working in prostitution.

Living conditions: The entire squad stayed at SHE, our room was 8 girls and mats on the floor, sharing a western toilet and hot shower (tho you never wanted a hot shower!)

Food: CORNFLAKES & MILK for breakfast... you have no idea how great it was. Lunch & dinner were Thai dishes, white rice and soup usually. The blue hut down the road had some good chicken fried rice. After the bars Jasmine and I would share a meal from Burger Kind or ice cream.

Transportation: The back of the pick up truck, 10-12 of us packed in and Clint drove us around, it was fun I won't lie.

Favorite parts of the month: Having the whole squad together! Chels and I were the "Christmas committee" so playing elf with Chels and doing fun Christmas things for the squad was great. Having time off in the mornings and going to the beautiful Thai beaches.

Most challenging part of the month: Feeling defeated leaving the bars at night, going to tlak to one of the girls you have a friendship with and to see them get up on a pole to dance or having a man come in and steal her away. Not sleeping, got home and in bed no earlier than 2am and was awake by 7 every morning.

Random things: We had a big old cookout on Christmas day, one of the girls that I kept in contact with after I left told me she left the bars to work in a hotel. We lit off paper lanters in Bangkok on New Years Eve.

I am currently sitting on my bed eating expired chocolate and I smell like pickle juice. (Both have back stories) I will be back in America in 15 days and I hope I can get "back to normal" before that happens. (Doubt that will happen)  I am a mess.

I started to lose my mind a while ago, I can't really remember. Maybe it was in Cambodia when we started hiding food in our shirts because we were so full, could have been Kenya when I started dancing around and talking in weird voices every day for the last week, or maybe it was Nepal when some days B and I were in bed for 17 hours doing nothing.

This month we found ourselves sneaking the pellet gun we found in Bridgets pants to go shoot in the field. I seriously considered going down the well bucket (still am thinking about it) to see if the boys could crank it back up. Decided to stop eating when they served spaghetti noodles in milk for breakfast.  Some afternoons we ask Clint to turn down the AC unit, or talk to Curt about what movie we want to go see after we have dinner at the Cheesecake factory. Ryan has figured out some of my voice that I talk in on our 10^th round of Monopoly Deal. I have washed, cut and jarred thousands of cucumbers with no instructions other than "soooppperrrr sissstherrrrr." All the snacks at the shop next door expired at least 6 months ago, like the chocolate Curt got me for my birthday, but I still eat them. The highlight of my day last week was when we got NEW Panteen shampoo AND CONDITIONER and I spent an hour washing my hair in buckets. Bridget just laughs at me when we work out because jumping jacks make me have to pee and I hate doing every other move on the video. I begged Clint for 10 minutes to clean out his backpack so I could help tell him what to throw away. We carry the well water back to the house on bicycles, or roll in down the road in drums. I have long conversations with the three little girls who don't speak a word of English. Yesterday it was my "Happy birthday to you day" I think I have been told more "no" this month than my entire childhood combined.

I am the type of girl who does things at the last minute. Every school project or paper I will do the night before or even that morning. I sometimes study for tests... I woke up 20 minutes before I had to leave to teach last year and on occasion didn't write my lesson plan out until that day. It has worked well for me, I made Deans list, my kids learned, I am hardly ever late... no big deal.

Well I should have known better when God decided to teach me all sorts of lesson here in the final month of the race. I shared a little before, but I was ticked about out ministry this month. We are in some middle of nowhere village, super small house, worst food I have had on the race, no translator, no English, uncomfortable beds, ministry for an hour a day... if that. I was mad, and did not want to be here. I cried a LOT every day for the first week and seriously wanted to quit, it didn't matter how close I was to the finish. I was done.

So fast forward a few days, I am out chipping paint off the house and God starts to speak to me. I had already walked away from the project twice crying because it was stupid and barley working. The third time I was about to give up and God started to show me how some pieces came off very easy, and some I really had to hack away at. He then was saying... "kind of like the crap in your heart"

Oh.... Ok God.

But I knew he was right. He has done a lot of chipping away at my heart this year. Some things like desires of my flesh, shame of the past, came right off. My patience and "going with the flow" took a little longer, but of course I still have more junk in there. This month He brought to my attention about my joy being circumstantial.

Yes, I will admit it, and sometimes I get a bad case of it.

Of course Romania was great! I had two beds to myself, wifi in my room, the ministry had tons of kids, we cooked food we liked and wanted, people spoke English, we did what we wanted, no living with the contacts, what is so hard about that? It's so much easier to be joyful when everything is going great... right?

"Rejoice in the LORD always, again I say rejoice..." Philippines 4:4

Ok God, but what about when things get hard?  

Count it all joy my brothers when you meet trails of various kinds... James 1:2

Ok well, what is the point? I know my joy comes from the Lord, what has happened to me? I started off the race on fire to serve and now the thought of doing anything makes me cringe. I used to get excited about manual labor or playing with kids and now I can sleep 'til 9 and would rather watch a movie  (I NEVER watch movies!)

At some point I switched and I was no longer getting my joy from the LORD, I was getting it from things that bring satisfaction for no more than a few moments. No wonder all my joy was lost, it was not really joy at all.

Something needed to change, I couldn't go back to America like this. It will be like a kid on a sugar high if they go to a candy store all day, everything will be fun, great and exciting, but you will crash and vomit when you get home. When the excitement of seeing old friends, eating at Chick Fil A, having internet on my phone or driving around in my car fades, where would I be? Where would my joy be then.

Where it should have been, and was the whole time... in the LORD. It was a hard lesson to learn, I am not convinced I have aced the exam yet, but I am glad God brought it to my attention before I got home. Once I smartened up I realized how much the team and I have laughed. (I think we have laughed more this month than any month on the race.) I realized how beautiful the three girls we live with are, how much I love to pray, how beautiful the moon is and have how much I enjoy conversations with old ladies that don't speak English.

 No, what we are doing here is not what I want to do, but that's ok, because I get my joy from something greater than ministry. The food here I will never willingly eat again but my joy is greater than a bowl of Borsch, its more than the pain in my back and stronger than the smell of the outhouse... my joy is in the LORD, His joy is my strength, and will carry me through.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Pslam 51:12