Finally a new blog post!
I am sorry that it is taking me so long to share with you how I ended up here. With here I mean India, and lately I have been struggling a little bit with being here. I have been dealing with power cuts, no air-condition, heat rashes, tiredness from the warmth, cockroaches and head lice!! (Yikes)
I have had days where I just didn’t recognize myself, I’ve been so agitated. But thank God the little creatures that lived on my head are gone! And to make my house as less attractive as possible to ants and roaches. I make sure not a single breadcrumb is left behind, which is a full-time cleaning job! Sigh…
Living in another country, culture and climate is definitely challenging, to be honest with you, a little over a year ago when I came for the first time to India, I held my head high and I thought to myself, “I can do this! This will be easy! I lived in China, I lived in the Philippines, I travelled all over Asia”. But you cannot compare anything with India… its has been the most challenging country to me so far. But no hard feelings..
Before I am going to share more about India and how I ended up here, I need to tell you first how I ended up In China, cause if it wasn’t for China, I would not have met Vibin in such a special way.
Last month it was 2 years ago when me and Vibin fell into each other’s embrace for the first time and that was in China. We spent a couple of days together in April/May 2017 and immediately we knew it, we both knew, we were meant for each other. The first time we met was in March 2013 in Hong Kong. But I don’t remember much of the very first meeting.
The stories that I am about to share with you are very important to me, they will tell you about the incredible ways my dreams about the future came true, I am not talking about day dreaming, No I’m talking about promises from God. The ones HE gave me in dreams and also while talking with HIM, and then later they came true! He literally gave me an experience of what the future will look like.
Let’s go back to the time where I left off in my last blog, because there I shared the story of how I flew to Singapore and then Malaysia in 2011. It was in Malaysia where I joined the Logos Hope, the world's largest floating book-fair, where 400 volunteers from more than 60 countries work to share knowledge, help and hope. The first couple of weeks were overwhelming, it was hard for me to follow English, half of the time I did not understand what was said in speeches and debriefs. After a couple of days on board the ship they told me I would become the Chief Baker. I was shocked, did they just say the Chief, as in Chief Baker?
I got to know my bakery team and I realized then I was the youngest in the bakery. It felt strange to become their leader and not even able to talk proper English. But despite being thrown in the deep end, running the bakery has been a huge blessing. I learned things in the bakery of the Logos Hope that a school or study could never teach me. God was my teacher, he gave me opportunity after opportunity, to develop myself as a baker, an English speaker, as a teacher, as a leader, as a planner and organizer, as a friend and also a harmonizer. Every three months some of my bakers left and I got new bakers in my team, but often they did not know a thing about baking, with one of them I even had to explain what a recipe book was. Can you imagine teaching them as well to make 100 loaves of bread in a couple of hours, or 1000 doughnuts before afternoon tea break?
It was hard for me at times to be a leader, if you would ask one of my bakery team members how I was in the beginning of ships life and at the end of ships life, they would say I became sweeter and more relaxed. I remember well, being upset with one of my bakers for making a mistake, or working slow, or inefficient. As a Dutch person, I tend to be very direct, straightforward and strict, I think my bakers would have called me bossy, pushy or stubborn. Over time I learned that my way of giving leadership and teaching was frightening for some of my bakers, and I became softer and more sensitive.
I developed a passion for teaching baking instead of just being a baker. 18 months into ships life I wasn’t only the Chief Baker but also the Events Catering Manager, at this time there was too much weight upon my shoulders, literally. I was so tired and stressed that my back was continuously aching and I had a non-stop headache for weeks. My director gave me some time off and he allowed me to go onshore by myself, (there was a two by two policy for leaving the ship, which means you were not aloud to go alone) it was January 2013 and we were docked in Hong Kong.
I walked the streets of Hong Kong by myself, a Taiwanese friend gave me an address of a doctor from Mainland China. This doctor had his own practice in his home in Hong Kong where he lived with his lovely wife and children. Their English was poor, so it was the first time for me when people spoke in Mandarin to me, his wife gave me home made dumplings which were very tasty. I went to see the doctor for massages and treatments for my back and headaches. It was a blessing in many ways, I started to feel better and because of spending time with this Chinese family my desires to go to China were triggered.
On another day in Hong Kong, I took the metro to the north, close to the Chinese border, I looked at the hills and I talked with God, I said God “I am so close to China, on the other side of those hills lies a country I have been thinking and praying about for many years now, will you bring me there God? God if it is your will, bring me to China”.
Then something happened…
How often do you wake up in the morning, with an interesting dream, but then you brush your teeth and you forgot about it? You are like, ‘I dreamed so weird last night, but I don’t really remember any more’. How often do you dream about people you have never met in your life? It is extraordinary to dream about faces you have never seen in your life; your mind doesn’t just make up a face.
Around January 2013 in Hong Kong I dreamed a dream that I will never ever forget. I dreamed I was teaching in a brand-new bakery/café, I was somewhere in China, but I did not know where in China I was, there were three girls with me in the bakery, I looked at them and they looked at me. When I woke up, I thought to myself; ‘how strange, I don’t know these girls, I have never seen their faces in my life.’ I knew immediately deep in my heart, that God had given me a dream, the dream was an answer from God that one day He will guide me to China where I will be teaching in a bakery/café.
By the end of our time In Hong Kong I received an email from the person in charge of Sunday Service on the ship, she was looking for somebody to share his or her testimony during the Service. She had sent an email to a selected group of people. I was surprised and something inside of me wanted to reply immediately. But actually, the more I thought about it the more afraid I became. Plus ‘what do I have to share?’ I thought to myself. I did not reply and thought ‘surely somebody else will respond to her email’.
A couple of days passed by and Sunday was approaching, I had to email her. I could only think about Sunday, about what I wanted to share, words came into my heart and it was like God was challenging me with all these questions that kept popping up while spending time in prayer; ‘Do you believe Sarah, that I have a plan for you?’ God asked. ‘Do you believe Sarah that one day I will bring you to China, where even you Sarah, can use your gifts and talents?’ When I said ‘yes, I believe’ the Lord answered me back and He said, ‘Then share about your beliefs and hearts desires, teach that God has a plan for everyone.’
So, I emailed the lady back, and asked her if she had found a person to share a testimony on Sunday, she said ‘No not yet, but I figured you would share.’ I asked her what about? She replied with ‘anything!’
So, there I was, I shared my heart about how I believe God can use anybody, even the least expected person to do something amazing for His glory. He created us all with unique personalities and talents, and God wants us to dream big and believe! I shared with everybody on board that I have a desire to go to China to teach baking, that God has shown me in a dream that I will go to China to teach baking, and that I believe it will come true. In all its details I shared with the ship’s community my dream and afterwards I got extremely scared. I was so afraid, because what have I done? How do I really know this dream will come true? What if it doesn’t come true, what an awful testimony do I have then?
While I shared during Sunday service, we were supposed to be sailing towards Taiwan from Hong Kong, but we were not, because during the night one of the engines broke down and we had to return back to Hong Kong, where we were docked again and the ship was cleared for the local people to come on board again. The trip to Taiwan was completely cancelled. This must have been frustrating for many people, but I still thank God for that day. Because on that day there was a European lady that 'worked' in China in Hong Kong, when she arrived in Hong Kong, she thought the ship already left but to her surprise the ship was still there. She came on board and spoke to the director who invited her to share about her work in China during the Sunday service. The actually preacher that day was also from mainland China sharing about another mission that he was involved in. It was an incredible morning, how everything was about China, but nothing was planned. I got to know the European lady a bit, and I was greatly encouraged.
Not only was I surprised and encouraged, several other people were as well. These amazing people started to believe with me. 4 months later the Logos Hope visited Hong Kong for the 3rd time and these amazing people, planned a trip for me to mainland China. I did not know what the plan was until I found myself in the Chinese embassy applying for a China tourist visa, the next thing that happened was sitting in an airplane together with another crewmember from the Logos Hope, we were on our way to China! We arrived late at night and our host was there to pick us up from the airport, and our host ended up being the European lady I met in January..
It was on a rainy day in April, I opened my eyes and I tried to look trough the window that was covered in raindrops…. The first face of China, I am finally here! I was sooooooooo happy and excited!
Our host showed us around and introduced us to some of her friends. But other than that, there was not a specific plan for our stay, after a couple of days I started to wonder If we were in the wrong place, on top of that our host had to leave the country abruptly, something was wrong with her visa. Me and my teammate did some touristy stuff, we had fun but also wondered what our remaining time would look like.
Until I heard that someone was looking for a baker, it was so random that we all kind of laughed, but when I spoke to this someone over the phone, it sounded quite serious, apparently this someone really needed a baker because he was about to open his coffee shop up in the mountains and he needed the help of a baker.
Me and my team mate spilt up and I travelled up into the mountains to meet this family that was about to open a really cool coffee shop. It was an unbelievable trip, until that day I never had set foot on a mountain before, the highest point in the Netherlands is 320 meters and I myself was born below sea level, but that day I found myself at an altitude of 2500 meters and I loved it.
After a couple of days being in the mountains, the café started to become more like a café, with a working coffee machine and lots of tables and chairs, also the bakery/kitchen was ready to be baked in. On the day I started baking the first cakes, and teaching the local workers. My dream from back in January came true right before me eyes, it actually scared me, because with all the excitement going on, I had forgotten about my dream. But the moment I was baking in the bakery and the three girls where looking at me teaching, all of a sudden, I recognized their faces from my dream, the way they looked at me, the way the bakery was built, I re-lived my dream in every detail. I was shocked and speechless, I had nothing to say till evening, I was having dinner with the family that hosted me. And I told them everything, how I prayed for this for years and how the Lord had shown me this bakery and the girls working there and how everything was the same.
To make a long story short, after several exciting weeks helping the coffee shop in the bakery I had to go back to Hong Kong since the Ship was going to sail to the Philippines, and there I met Vibin! Haha… I am not kidding. Vibin was already on board before I went to China, but I cannot remember meeting him. He remembers meeting me for the first time before I left, he still knows exactly how that happened and even what I was wearing, but sometimes I just forget some things like an old lady. 😉
Vibin got to know me quite well, for he was in love with my doughnuts and pizza’s and breads, he heard my China stories because I shared my China testimonies with the whole ship’s community. Vibin and I sadly enough never spoke to each other, except for hellos and good mornings in the corridors.
Let me tell you a secret, those hellos in the corridors were enough for me to fall for him. O yes, I remember that! My eye was on him! He was working in the engine room and I personally delivered the left-over cookies and cakes from events to the "mess" where the engine guys had their lunch and tea breaks. Vibin would be there, and I was peeking trough the door from the tiny kitchen to check him out. I don’t know what exactly made me like him so much, because we never even talked to each other. But I guess deep down somewhere I knew He was my man.
I added Vibin on Facebook, but we never talked! Vibin left the ship in June 2013 and I never saw or heard from him again.
Until 3 and a half years later….
to be continued.........
- Sarah Lisa
P.S. God is so incredible, in the way He speaks and leads and guides, in how much He cares for us, in how much He is interested in every little detail of our lives. If it wasn’t for the European lady, or those amazing people that believed in me to send to me to China, or the ships visit to Taiwan being cancelled, I would not have ended up in China, in a coffee shop/bakery where I eventually after ships life worked for a few years. Also, in this Coffee shop I met Vibin again in 2017.
The little things matter, maybe today you cannot see where you are going, but God knows! And I am certain that he speaks to you in those seasons of waiting, I am certain He is working in the background, for you to meet the right people in the right places at the right time and for the wrong door to be shut and the right doors to be opened.
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