Posted in General Posts by Jordan Snellenberger on 3/23/2012
My heart skipped a beat this morning as I was invited to
attend an all night worship / prayer meeting where between the hours of 12 and
2 a.m. we'll be praying for those involved in human trafficking. As is so often the case, one has but to
say the words "Thailand," "Prostitution," or "Human Trafficking" and I am
quickly reminded of many memories where these "simple words" take on faces,
stories and personal emotions. As
I lay in bed trying to get some rest after the ever traditional all night paper
writing session, sleep is held at bay as memories and the emotions that follow them once again fill my
thoughts. I never want to forget
what I felt, saw, and how my heart was broken for these women... and so this
morning I am writing this blog in hopes that it will help me remember, and in
hopes that I can introduce you to the "ones" I'll never forget:
--------- As I left my
little house where myself, and seven other WR girls were staying, I didn't know
exactly where I was headed. We
were on the streets of Chiang Mai, and in broken English our translator
informed us that "downtown" wasn't a far walk. Not knowing what I was getting into, or where I was going,
me and the seven other girls followed our translator in almost a single line
fashion. I remember passing block
after block that night, trying to take in all the smells, sounds and sights of
the country that would soon come to steal my heart. Although there were several turns along this particular walk,
I'll never forget the night I turned left down a dark street corner in Chiang
Mai. Before the translator even turned
around my spirit twisted inside of me, and I remember thinking "I'm here."
As I lifted my eyes from the side walk, I tried to keep the
tears from my cheeks and the grimace off my face as I saw bar after bar, at
least 100 of them, most filled with no less than 15 girls. Young and younger lined the streets and
alleys, and filled the seats of the ever so many bars. I watched the men (most of them white, and all of them too old to be sitting with the average aged 18 year old) I knew that needed to have compassion for their borkenness and emptiness.. but mostly I felt hate and anger pump through my veins. My heart fell to the pit of my stomach,
as my brain silently did the math: 100 bars, at least 15 girls each ..... no less than 1500 girls on one block... how
were we going to "save them all."
My heart wrestled with the injustice of it all. I began to ask the Lord (as I still ask
him so often) "what are we going to do?"
My heart sighed in an almost defeated fashion as I heard my Jesus
say "it's about 'the one'." I
learned in the 3 and a half weeks to come, that saving them all meant saving
"the one"... one at a time. So night by night,I
began to learn their names... hear their stories... and try to bear just a little
bit of the shame that hung itself around their neck and the pain that filled
their young eyes.
These are the stories of "the One"s I hope to never forget: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There was Ja... Ja is a 42-year-old mother of twin boys. Before
coming to the bars she was married to an abusive husband who would crack beer
bottles over her head in a fit of rage. In order to save her boys from becoming a man like their
father, she packed them and herself up, and left. In order to provide for her boys education (education isn't
free in Thailand), she went to work.... At the bars, the only place she was ever told she would find work.. doing the only thing her family, her father, and her culture told her she was made for. There are so many wonderful things I remember about Ja... her
smile... her broken English....her love for connect four or uno (really anything
she thought she could 'win'). How do you tell this woman there is a Jesus / a daddy / a man that loves her? I couldn't figure that out... so we played a lot of connect four, went shopping, shared a lot of hugs, stories, and yummy food... and tried to plant some seeds of what real love looks like and replace awful memories with some good ones.
There was Nu.... the 18 year old with short brown hair and
beautiful brown eyes. This quiet,
and yet sassy girl broke my heart one night as we went to the night market together. As she studied a pair
of earrings, I offered to buy them for her, and when she asked me if I liked
them (to which I stated yes) she said "good... I was going to buy them for you." She took the money I had used to get
her out of the bars that night, and bought me earrings. A story which I still can't tell without tears in my eyes. (This was done for me when approximately 90%
of what each girl makes is sent home to feed the family that sent her to the bars in the first place).
There was MI... the "lady-boy" with a heart of gold. This young man came running to greet us
every night as we entered the bar. This young man spoke life into our lives with his compassionate heart,
and fun loving nature. God
opened a door with MI, to share with him who God saw him as... the man that he
was, and although we didn't know if he would ever believe a word spoken, we
found out later that he left the bars. :)
And then there was the girl with the rose. I never learned this girls name, or a
thing about her story, but her face is the one I see most often when I think
about the girls in Thailand. I'll
never forget her sad eyes, or the way her shoulders fell as the man that came
to see her every night walked to the bathroom... and subsequently the way she put
a smile back on her face and picked herself up as he walked from the bathroom to sit back beside
her. I'll never forget the way he touched her and spoke to us about her... I believe his exact words were "this is all she was made for." She looked about 16... maybe 18 at the most, and even though you could see the shame on her shoulders, and the fear in her eyes... she always managed a smile when we walked passed. I never learned her name..
never bought her out of the bar ( as this man was always present when we were
there), never did more than buy her a rose, and yet every time we passed by she
lifted her eyes to smile a "thank you." -- did she know she was worth so much more?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*For the sake of those I am writing about, their real names were not given, however their stories are real. I have felt their hugs, heard their laughs, and seen their smiles. Theirs are the stories of the 1500 girls that fill just one street corner of Thailand, so tonight, if you think about it... please say a prayer tonight for "the one."
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Posted in General Posts by Jordan Snellenberger on 6/7/2011
I have been thinking a lot about honor lately, and what it looks like to truly honor someone and / or live a life of honor.
I have been thinking about a conversation I had with one of my contacts in Thailand about honor. I was being blessed abundantly by this family, as was my team, and it was a similar theme I had seen throughout the country, and I asked why did they honor us so? The answer was very simple, and yet incredibly complex, and one I have thought on often ever since. I was essentially told that: We honor not for what you have to offer, but because you came to offer anything at all.
I have lately began to think about what it would look like for the body of Christ were to operate in this way. If it didn't matter what the person sitting next to us "came to the table with", but just because they were "sitting at the table" at all, they would be honored by our actions, our motives, and even our thoughts.
I have recently found myself in a new position in my Parent's house. After two years of living out of the house, and not being home longer than an average of 2 days at a time, I have come to realize that I am at an age where obedience isn't really required anymore.......however, honor still is. I remember growing up and hearing about this age and thinking that it was a "get off the hook" age where responsibility was lifted, and freedom set in. I have of late, however, come to a completely different thought process about the subject.
I have realized that living a life of honor, opposed to obedience or duty, is actually a higher step up, and even a harder one. That it takes a person of honor to honor someone else well. It takes a person of integrity and character, and someone with a great deal of strength to honor those around you, Not because "the act" of honoring is hard, but the heart sometimes is. It takes character and integrity to do something, not because you have to, but simply because of the person who asked something of you, because they are of value, and they asked. It takes character and integrity to think more about the person next to you than it does yourself, as our minds' favorite topic is often ourselves, even if we over spiritualize it :)
I know that I have a tendency to use a lot of words, in reality however, honor is rather a simple concept "It doesn't matter what you have to offer, but because you offer anything at all, I will honor (bless) you". The reason why doesn't really matter...
( I would like to add an addendum that this is by no means a concept that i have grasped, but something I have been thinking on and am currently working towards lately)
Thanks for reading :)
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Posted in General Posts by Jordan Snellenberger on 5/18/2011
My heart is heavy today, and has been since last night, as I have learned about what Christians are saying in regards to "the world ending" on Saturday. I know to most that I speak with, this seems somewhat comical, but as I began to think more and more about what Christians are representing to the world in this "platform", my heart broke.
To be like Jesus, to represent Him to the best of my abilities, is what I long for, but not just for me, for the "church" that carries His name on their lips. How does preaching "Hell and Brimstone" accomplish anything? I don't understand how so many can be so eager for Jesus coming knowing how many still live without Him, and then when they have "a platform" to show Jesus we preach hell and fire and death.
So I don't know how many people will read this blog, but if by chance one person reads this who hasn't yet heard what I'm about to say, this is for you:
Surely there is a Hell and a Heaven. Surely there will be a judgement day, and surely Jesus will come back someday, BUT!!!!!!!!!
Jesus is Love! He is so incredibly in love with you. Coming into relationship with you is why He died, not so He could have some measuring stick in which to deem you as a failure and cast you into Hell, for surely each of us have already failed (Romans 3:23).
He is Life, and Love and Beauty, and Fullness! He has a destiny and purpose for you. He died so you would know Him and His Love, and so that you would NOT be separate from Him!! So if you have the opportunity today, choose Him! For He said "ALL who believe" (John 1:12) shall be saved by the Beloved and shall be given the right to become "sons (and daughters) of God"!
I don't know when He is coming back, but I pray that He doesn't until each person knows this in their heart of hearts! I want Jesus to "receive His Reward"(*) for dying for us!!! YOU ARE HIS REWARD!!!!!!!!
(*)phrase taken from "The Reward" by Jonathan David Helser
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Posted in General Posts by Jordan Snellenberger on 4/8/2011
Tonight I was listening to the song "Abba" by Jonathan David Helser. In the song he sings the words "Abba, I belong to You". These words almost immediately brought tears to my eyes, and after about an hour of worship with the Lord, I began to think about the power of these words and why they have such a huge effect. Well my answers are simple and few, as has become the norm for me these days but here they are.
Intimacy - we were created to belong, to fit, and to be loved. There is an aching in our hearts to be known, really known, for all we are, and be loved and desired. These words speak to that longing, and sometimes I think we have to remind ourselves "I belong to HIM!!!". Like a child, we long to know we are desired, seen, and loved for ALL of ourselves.
It's all about Him - the more I have sought to learn and discover who I am (which is really a rather silly thought when you think about it), the more I find my answers lay in Him. The more I focus and dwell on who He is, the more clearly I can see myself and know my value. When I learn about his glory and his beauty, His faithfulness, and his Love, I can't help but think "If he not only touched me, and took the time to form me, but He also breathed his very breath into my lungs and poured His blood over me, I must be something pretty incredible... if for no other reason than His actions say so and look who He is... WOW!!!! I belong to HIM!!!!!" I know that we are but dust, but we were originally created as royals, as sons and daughters of a King. It's funny to me that whether we are familiar with these words or not, they can seem to be just something to say. They are hard to believe / hear sometimes. However they are true, and I think that every time we taste that original purpose of royalty and intimacy with the Father something in our hearts squeeze, it takes our breath.... We Belong To Him, how easy it is to forget this simple reality!
So I love these words "Abba, I belong to you"... they comfort me with the intimacy and sense of belonging, that I am HIS. and They comfort me because they remind me of who He is, and consequently who I am. I BELONG!!!!
(Some pictures that my mom gave me years ago, that remind me of whose I am... Where I belong...and who He is! )
#Drawings by Jean Keaton
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Posted in General Posts by Jordan Snellenberger on 12/1/2010
IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!!! 
I absolutely love this time of year. I love the Christmas carols, I love the Christmas movies, I love the live nativity scenes, I love the cheezy Christmas music / love songs, and songs like "A Tender Tennessee Christmas", I love the tears I get in my eyes when I think about the fact that Jesus came as a baby in a manger... simple and beautiful...
and I genuinely love giving presents to people... in fact shopping and planning the presents to give to the people I love and care about is one of my favorite parts about this season.
However, as you may imagine, memories from a year around the world in third world countries doesn't always settle so easily at this time of year.
I had a talk with a good friend of mine last night, and one of the things this friend mentioned to me, that I had no idea about, was that it would only cost about 10 billion dollars to solve the drinking water problems around the world, of which about 3,900 children die from a day. Initially that sounded like a lot, but then I was told that last year Americans spent 450 billion dollars on Christmas... just America.... just last year alone... that's 1/2 a trillion dollars. I was absolutely shocked.
Now as you may be able to relate to, there are two sides of me that rise up at this thought.... the first is....."OH MY GOSH... we could fix this, and we aren't.... I should not buy a single present and spend it all on water for babies in other countries"... and then there was the part of me that thought " But I love buying presents for people, I don't really want to take it all back... is it all wrong?".
As I am learning, so many things aren't black and white, and I think God actually put both of those parts of my personality in me... the part that breaks at the thought of a reality for these children that we COULD give them, and the part that loves to spoil my friends and family.
I don't know what the exact right answer is for every person. I'm not really even sure what the exact right answer is for me... but I know I want to help... so if you were shocked by those numbers as I was and would like to help too, I thought it would only be right to give you the opportunity.
If you click on the link below it will take you to a sight entitled "The Advent Conspiracy". This organization has partnered with another organization called "Living Water" that is working to dig fresh water wells in the countries around the world so that children, and adults will have fresh water to drink. Their heartbeat is that people would allow themselves to be broken enough / motivated enough that we can help to change the numbers of children and people dying from diseases related to bad water.... change it for the better.
"10 dollars will give a child clean water for life", and give them a chance to grow up.
I hope that you enjoy your Holiday Season! This blog was not to make you feel guilty, or to say "don't buy a single present"... not at all.. but I'll be honest... the purpose of this blog was to challenge... to challenge for the better, and to inform you, because you can't make a difference in this area if you don't know!
So have a blessed Holiday Season... enjoy your families... and remember
HE'S THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!!!!!!!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!
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Posted in General Posts by Jordan Snellenberger on 10/16/2010
Hello Everybody,
Well I have been home for 6 weeks now, and this blog is definitely late in coming, but let's be honest... all my blogs were late in coming :)
Life has been a bit overwhelming, wonderful, sad, exciting, full of wonderful food, a clean bed, hot showers..... ______________ pretty much fill in any emotion / item (apparently) and that has been life over the past six weeks.
When I first arrived home, the emotion of being home was indescribable, not to mention strong and overwhelming. This crazy concoction of joy, and absolute heartbreak all at once, both as real as the other, has become this fuzzy cloud I have walked in over the last six weeks. And although there are moments where that cloud is still very very thick, the intense density doesn't come quite as often as it did in the beginning.
As I have began to process the Race, and all that this year has been, I sit in a "dream state" almost unbelieving that I had the privilege to such a chapter. However, I am so blessed to know that it is and forever will be apart of my story.
As sit in my apartment now, back at school, surrounded by what should be so familiar I am flooded by memories of this last year. No more are songs about the nations singing praises to Jesus, a semblance of my imagination, but they are a reality. I have touched and held the singing souls across the world. I have heard their stories, seen their tears, literally heard their songs with my own ears. I have seen brokenness and despair, yes! But I have also seen Joy, and Hope, Peace and Trust unlike I've ever known before. I've seen worship in every tongue... the Nations truly are crying out!!!!
When I think back on how I have grown, how I have changed, I sit in amazement that God would take something so foreign and make it so familiar, something so scary and make it peaceful, someplace so far away and make it home. God took me down into the valley, and oh my goodness was it a deep valley, but God TOOK me there... He went with me, and He made my valley my mountaintop.... my sweet haven, my secret place. I have learned the beauty in such a place, and I'm so thankful He loved me enough to take me there. He showed me the depth of His love in the depth of the valley, and let that love catapult me to a mountain higher and more beautiful than I could ever dream.
I have all these wonderful memories and experiences that have shaped me, but when I sit at home now thinking about the race, the part that makes my heart smile, as well as ache are the people that I did this journey with... who did this journey with me. The people who stuck by me, held me while I cried, celebrated with me in the triumphs, held my hand through the muck and the mire, shouldered my burdens, so I wouldn't walk it alone. The people who've seen what I've seen, and know what I know. Whose hearts have been forever changed, and whose reality has become my own. So this blog is to you L squad!!!!
Thank you for your love... thank you for your faithfulness... thank you for your fire and passion that changed the hearts of so many, including mine!!! I love you all! You're family, and I can't wait to do the rest of life with you, to continue to celebrate with you, and walk it out.
The Race is only a beginning!!!!!
Miss you all like crazy, and love you tons!!!!
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Posted in General Posts by Jordan Snellenberger on 8/19/2010
Hey Everybody,
Well, for this last month of the race, I have been put on a new team. In the walk of my own life on the Race, as well as in the walk of the other 3 team members on my previous team, there was a great need for refreshment. Therefore, it was decided that for this final month of the Race my former team (Tribe Zebulun) would be split up and each of us put on separate, already preexisting teams.
Well, the transition has been wonderful!!! I am with team Second Mile. (Kelsi Dawe, Annie Walker, Sydnee Mela, Will Jung, and Tyson Payne). It is amazing to see how God has allowed me to just naturally fit in with this new team. Things that took months to achieve on Jubilee, or even Zebulun, only took days and even moments with this team, which is incredible considering that I only have a month with them. The reason I am writing you all this is because two of my new team members are still in need of some support money. Kelsi and Sydnee are two incredible women of God.
Kelsi is the team leader of Second Mile. I had the privilege of being with Kelsi and working alongside of her when I was doing missions work in the Red Light District of Chiang Mai Thailand. She has a contagious joy, and a huge heart for both the people on the squad, as well as the people we meet on the field. She is also an incredible worshipper, allowing the freedom of God to penetrate and saturate every ounce of her worship to God. This has both encouraged and inspired me to worship God with a new level of freedom and abandonment.
Sydnee is one of the sweetest people I have met on the Race. She has a beautiful heart for her family, both on and off the Race. She is an encourager and loves fiercely. Sydnee is also an artist, with the gift of both photography and painting. This incredible woman of God, however, doesn't just keep this gift to herself, but so often uses it out here on the field. When contacts need pictures for their own records, or simply for their own personal enjoyment, Sydnee jumps in and offers her gift to the World. She recently said "I enjoy taking pictures for a purpose", and therefore does so, using her gift to both bless and encourage those around her.
We finish this race in about 16 days, and combined, Sydnee and Kelsi need about 2,000 dollars. So this is what I am asking for. I have approximately 150 people, give or take 10 or 20, who click on my blogs each time that I post them. If each of you gave just 10 dollars to each of these women, they could go home completely support raised and even have a little left over for the reimbursement of those expensive vaccinations we all had to get. You all have sent me on this trip and faithfully supported me, both financially and spiritually, every step of the way, and I don't say lightly that "I couldn't have done this without you!" But, I am asking that you would please do the same for these 2 women as we end this journey together.
If you feel like this is something you have the means to do, and would enjoy doing, please click on their names below and then click on their "support me" tabs to the left of their blogs.
If you would like to check out their own support blogs, you can click on the links below:
Thank you all!!!! See you soon!!! Jordan
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Posted in General Posts by Jordan Snellenberger on 8/17/2010
Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet a man named Vladamir. Vlad has an amazing story, and after hearing it yesterday and feeling the hope that it stirred within my own heart, I asked him if it would be okay to share his story on my blog so that you all could share in it too. He answered with "You must share my story". In his heart, if it brought people to a greater knowledge of the Glory of God, there was no option in whether or not I shared it :)
I met Vlad, along with four other incredible men (with four other incredible stories) at a rehabilitation center for people who have struggled with alcohol addiction, as well as drug addiction. When I first walked into the rehabilitation house it was nothing like I had expected. I had prepared myself to walk into a place similar to a hospital, as well as a spiritually heavy environment. I was pleasantly surprised to find neither. We pulled up to a house shortly after lunch, and out comes Vlad. He lead Annie, Tyson, Will, and I, as well as our contact and another girl we have met here at YWAM, into the living room. Vlad, as well as the 4 other men in the house, welcomed us with huge smiles and then proceeded to share their stories with us.
Vlad is 50 years old, and he was severely addicted to alcohol for the last 35 years. He started drinking when he was 15 years old. He has 2 daughters around 20 years old and a son who is 30 years old. Over the 35 years that he was suffering from alcoholism, he was in the hospital 15 times getting intravenous treatment for his alcohol addiction, only to come out and start drinking again. He was in the military for several years. He said that he got to a point where he hit rock bottom. He decided to go for help at a Christian rehabilitation center, about a year ago. There he received Jesus as his savior. He said that the day he received Jesus, that was that, he never touched alcohol or drugs again, nor did he have a desire to. He didn't have to wean himself off little by little.. he was changed forever in one day. He stayed at the rehabilitation center for several months, and now is on staff working to help others that are / have been in his same situation.
If you saw Vlad you would probably be more than a little intimidated. He is a very large and built man. (Let's just say he fit the "military profile") However as I began to listen to his story and look into his eyes, I couldn't help but cry, as there was a joy and gentleness that is almost indescribable in his eyes. I saw so much of Jesus in those eyes. He is completely changed by the blood of Jesus, and serves Him now whole heartedly with a faith and confidence, but what's more, a knowledge of grace and humility that I haven't encountered but in a few people.
As I was listening to his story and to the stories of the other men in the room, I couldn't help but think about the miracle of a story. So often I ask God for signs and wonders, but very seldom do I sit to listen to the miracles in the stories of those around me... they are my signs and wonders. It was another lesson I hope to never forget. It was a moment of grace. I sat there in awe once again, as I have several times on this trip, that Jesus brought me on a journey I didn't want to go on originally, and if He hasn't done enough already, He didn't let me go home without meeting Vlad!!
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Posted in General Posts by Jordan Snellenberger on 8/15/2010
I have been horrible about posting pictures on my blog... but hopefully better late than never will apply?...
Here are some pictures of Greece!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=192404&id=723212296&l=7b47d3a0f0
(Just copy the link and paste in your browser... you don't have to be on facebook to view them)
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Posted in General Posts by Jordan Snellenberger on 8/15/2010
Although for much of the Race I have been under that mindset
that we haven't had many of the "adventures" we were thinking we would have
(non-missions adventures that is).
After parachuting / Ukrainian skydiving yesterday, I stopped to think of
how many other non-everyday-missions-experiences I could count, and there were
actually more than I thought there would be. I haven't written a "fun" blog in awhile, so I thought this might be an opportune moment to share :)
Guatemala:
- Hiked
a Volcano (Volcan de Pacaya) in Antigua, and roasted marshmallows over the
lava. Later on in the Race we
found out that volcano actually erupted only a few months after we had
left. (I guess when they say
"active" they mean it.)
Niceragua:
- Hiked
up yet another volcano, 4 hours up.
This one was unique however, in that when we got to the top there was a
lake in the crater. ( I would say
I hiked down the volcano as well, but honestly I practically had to be carried J )
Thailand:
- Rode
an Elephant
- Bamboo
rafted down a river
- Set
off "lanterns" on New Years Eve.
This was one of my favorite things I have done on the race. It is a Thai tradition on New Years, and
the sky gets filled with these glowing lanterns... truly beautiful!
Cambodia:
- Visited
Angkor Wat
Thailand (part II):
- Ate
a Fried Cricket. Honestly it
wasn't that bad... even so however, I could only do one. In Thailand this is a yummy
appetizer.
Ghana:
- Visited
an old Slave Castle in Cape Coast.
A very sobering experience, to say the least.
- Swam
in some of the largest waves in the Atlantic Ocean that my 5'2" frame has ever
swam in. Don't know if
surfing will ever make my "adventures" list.
Togo, Nigeria, and Romania:
- Wasn't
too eventful on this side of things.
Greece:
- Saw
the ruins of Thessalonica
- Stood
on Mars Hill
- Visited
the Acropolis
- Hiked
to a church on the top of a large hill overlooking the city. (Let's just say you would have to be a
dedicated church member to attend this church every Sunday. It was quite the hike)
- Took
pictures at the Olympic Stadium
Moldova:
- Once
again, not too eventful in this area.
Ukraine:
- Skydiving
/ parachuting from a plane at 2,400 feet, by myself! One of my favorite things I have done on the Race thus
far.
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