This is the story of the rise of Team Phoenix—how I’ve been called along with 9 other YWAM missionaries to venture out into the rural, distant land of Mongolia to share Jesus with an incredible, nomadic nation landlocked between Russia and China.
Though being in Hawaii as part of YWAM Kona’s Discipleship Training School (DTS) has been a great blessing over the last month, my anticipation was and still is much more greater for the outreach phase / mission trip. For me, this is the entire reason why I jumped into YWAM! My DTS could’ve been anywhere, but my outreach had to be in Asia.
With YWAM, there’s several locations to pick from for Outreach depending on your DTS. But the interesting part is that you don’t really know what the location options are until a few weeks into your YWAM lecture phase! Keeps it a surprise, you know? Since my DTS has a specific focus on Northeast Asia, I already knew Mongolia was an option—but I hoped that I would finally be able to work as a missionary in South Korea, a nation my heart burns passionately for.
But when the outreach locations were announced just two weeks ago, I watched the options appear on the screen one by one, “Vietnam/Laos, Japan, Russia/Germany, Mongolia.”
…No South Korea. My hopes dropped, but I also knew long beforehand that I could end up anywhere for our outreach, even if it was in Mongolia (which was one of the last places I thought I’d go actually. Ha!)
So we were given about three days to pray and make a list, 1 through 4, of the places we felt God was calling us to (and from there, the teachers would pray over the list and ultimately decide where we end up!)
I didn’t have a hot clue now that South Korea wasn’t even an option. I thought maybe Japan, as I recently fell in love with this nation in 2018. But I asked my family and friends to pray for me, because I didn’t want to go where I wanted but where God wanted! I also knew this would be one of the biggest decisions I’d have ever made so far in my life. So I gathered support and prayers as fast as possible!
While waiting on the Lord (or honestly just staring at the list blankly most times), I realized finally that Mongolia was highlighted on more than one occasion to me even before I came to YWAM. So without any further direction to follow, I wrote my list like this:
- Mongolia
- Japan
- Russia/Germany (For North Korean communities)
- Vietnam/Laos
On Friday when we turned the lists in, I asked God to confirm where He wanted me to go in a dream. And guess what? By the time Monday came to announce our official locations, I had no such dream.
But…the announcements became delayed until Wednesday. And the very last possible night, God did give me a dream.
In the dream, I went to our classroom tent and every student was being called up for the staff to announce their outreach location. And when it came my turn, the staff told me, “And Allison is going to Mongolia because God gave her a heart for Mongolia!” In my dream, I started preparing right away with great excitement!
Then I woke up in the middle of the night, long since forgetting I actually asked for a confirmation like that (haha, the Lord is so patient with me!) I thought it was very oddly specific and went straight back to bed without thinking more of it. Sure enough, that afternoon, it was announced that I’d be part of the outreach team for Mongolia (later known as Team Phoenix, resembling God’s plans for our purpose there!)
What’s funny is that when I brought my dream to God the next morning, He told me, “Remember? You asked for confirmation in a dream and I gave it to you not in your timing, but my timing.”
*Two things I want to say about this. One: God is an excellent reminder. Two: God is so good, He would’ve never let me go to the wrong place. He’s more committed to me than I could ever be to Him! The same goes for you!
Now I’m preparing a two month mission’s trip in Mongolia from the end of March to the end of May! The plans are still being made as communication with YWAM’s Mongolian contacts have been quite difficult, but we’ll be staying in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city, for two weeks, and then traveling to rural, countryside villages for a good chunk of time. We hope to minister to the youth and children of Mongolia, help alongside new churches, and cleverly show strangers the love Jesus has for them.
Though I don’t know much about Mongolia yet, I do feel my heart growing for this nation just as it was prophesied in my dream. I will be given the heart for Mongolia just as I love Japan, South Korea, and the rest of Northeast Asia!
During my journey (should I have WiFi in the city for even a moment), I’ll do what I can to post real updates on what God’s been doing and what I’ve been experiencing! Until then, I’ll continue to learn about God here in Hawaii and how to evangelize to and pray for strangers of all ages!
Thank you for supporting me in this journey so that the people of Mongolia can come to know Jesus and initiate a powerful movement of God’s freedom across all of Northeast Asia! (If they could conquer half the world for the Mongolian empire using only horses, imagine what they’ll do for God’s Kingdom now. Wow.)
Signed,
Allison the Adventurer
