Posted in General Articles by Jonathan Hiebert on 11/29/2007
 The last little while has been awesome. We were in China again for a while so there was no access to this site. We got to do so many things and see so many sights! God is still teaching me so much as well. Although I'd love to be home right now and I have a million things to do there I know that God has me here for a reason right now. He is teaching me so much about motives, about my motives for seeking after holiness and my motives in relationships with other people.
"So don't get ahead of the Master and jump to conclusions with your judgments before all the evidence is in. When he comes, he will bring out in the open and place in evidence all kinds of things we never even dreamed of—inner motives and purposes and prayers." 1 Corinthians 4:5b
I did a life planning session with the amazing Jimmy McCarty a couple of days before the end of the race and it really got me thinking. There were themes in my life of manipulating people that I had no idea were there. This ties into my motives for why I do things. God has really been diving into this and leading me as to what to pray for in this area and how to stop it from being something that happens in the future.
 I really wanted to "do" so much and look for official ministry options for this time after the race, but the Lord has been speaking and saying, "relax." This isn't the easiest thing for me to do, at least without feeling useless and discontented, but God has been impressing it upon my heart so often this year it must be important, and it is getting easier to obey.
I am so glad to be with Stacy and Eric to have fun with and spend so much time with, what a blessing they have been. I really think that this time of reflection on the year has been and will continue to be such a needed time for me to really get everything out of the year that I should. Having these life lessons realized and concreted in words or in my mind would probably not have happened at home with all the chaos that that would obviously have entailed.
So, soon we leave on a tour to Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, we are going kayaking, sleeping on an old boat and eating wonderful seafood meals for 3 days, then its back to Hanoi to maybe rent mopeds again and go down the coast…
 Thank you so much for the prayers, I'll be home in two weeks!!! CRAZY!
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Posted in General Articles by Jonathan Hiebert on 11/20/2007
 I've had a bit of time to reflect on the year, to write down what I've learned in each country, how God has changed people through me along the way, how I've been changed, and finally what I'll do now.
I'm sure I could write books on all that's gone on this year but now I'll just touch on some of the things that meant the most to me. A huge theme this year has been ministry and effectivity, we've had experiences of low intensity (Mexico and Mozambique) to periods of insane activity (Peru and the first part of China) but what all these times taught me was that it doesn't matter to God! He loves us for who we are not what we do. This also spilt over into teaching me about guilt, acceptance of people and the whole idea of "pressing in" to God. I learned about myself and how I deal with relationships both good and bad.
 When I let my mind wander back over the year I think of the people I've connected with in so many of the countries. Only a few have access to the internet but I love it when the Lord still lays them on my heart to lift up in prayer. There's Hilda in Peru who joined our faimly in April of this year and who is 7 months pregnant now, God let me show her Christian love and blessing. There's Mapoyisa in Swaziland who the Lord brought literally across my path on so many occasions, who taught me that our God is a redeeming God. I pray that his goat farm and the children he supports are doing well. There's Charlie (not his real name) in China who I connected with so well, I pray that that seed gets watered for an awesome harvest and a life change for him, right now all I can do is pray and try and send censored e-mails. But by far the people that I've truly connected with have been my team and my squad. Oh my goodness, we said goodbye at the airport and it all seemed so surreal. These people I have just spent the last 11 months with are going to turn into  just a memory. If I had a sad song playing on the soundtrack of my life I would be bawling right now. I can't even put into words how much these people mean to me!
My team has been by my side when I have been stretched way past what I thought my limits were: preaching in Peru, team struggles in Argentina, interesting times in Thailand and Cambodia, and the list goes on.
So now what, the year is over, what's next? Well, if you have been following the blogs for a bit you'll know that God has been confirming time and time again that I need to go in a 'business' direction with my life. Good news is I got accepted to UVic in VIctoria, British Columbia, Canada and I am excited to see what the next chapter of my life holds there. After I travel around Southern China, Vietnam, Malaysia  and Thailand with Stacy and Eric I arrive home mid December and start school January 7th! It'll be a crazy transition but I know that it'll be OK.
I can never go back to living a selfish ignorant life, I've seen people in such great need, people praising God when I would be so angry at Him, living along side people who have nothing, but share everything makes it difficult to just turn my mind off and forget about the needs that are so blatant the world over. As I look back on my life and the opportunities I have had and the thread that the Lord has woven through, I thank Him that through listening to Him I am headed in the right direction, I've taken Him out of the box I put Him in and now there's no telling where I'll go or what I'll do but who the hell cares, I'm got my Jesus and that's all that matters!
 OK, I'm rambling, I just wanted to let everyone know what was up, I may still post on this World Race blog site a bit but other than that I'll be home December 15 at my parent's place, probably in the hot tub with Carole!!! I love you all and thank you for your support both in prayer and in finances. We did it!! And what an amazing time it was. Praise Jesus for bringing me through every step of the way. (soundtrack of my life would now be playing some power ballad, probably by Celine Dion, gotta keep in Canadian!)
Over and out.
Goat feast in Mozambique
INdian Ocean in Mozambique
Getting a massage by this elephant in Thailand
My birthday party in Phnom Penh, POOL PARTY
Race day in Hong Kong, GO YETI
Sleeper train to an undisclosed place in China
Southern China, what a gorgeous place!
The Great Wall!
Eric and I are crouching Tigers on the wall!!
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Posted in General Articles by Jonathan Hiebert on 11/18/2007
 Hello all!! I wanted to thank you for the people who helped me reach my goal in support, thank you for listening to the Lord and being obedient. It has been wonderfully chaotic here for the last week wrapping things up and saying goodbyes, right now I am headed to the airport to say the official goodbyes and then I stay in Hong Kong for a few more days.
That's right, Little Eric Retterbush, Lady Stacy Utecht and I are traveling for another month around Southeast Asia and then I will be home on Dec. 15 in the morning at my parents house if you wanna visit.
I love you all and will be posting a more comprehensive blog a little later when I have more time to process all that has happened this year.
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Posted in General Articles by Jonathan Hiebert on 10/10/2007
Hello All,
We are leaving for China in 3 hours and I thought I would let you know that I will not be checking my gmail account. If you would like to e-mail me please send it to jonathan.hiebert@yahoo.com and I will be able to read it, probably sporadically, depending on where we are stationed.  Please do not use any words, like church, Bible, Jesus, missionary, books of the Bible, freedom, democracy etc. Those words will be flagged and arouse government suspicion. We will also be accessing the AIM blog site as little as possible so there may be fewer blogs... not anything new for me though!
Again, this month will be hush hush about ministry and everything like that, just to give you the heads up again.
Just a quick update on my finances as well...I am still in need of about $1000 to finish covering the cost of making this all happen this year. If you have a heart for this ministry and for the work me and my team are doing, I would love for you to consider giving! If you are interested, click on the link on the left hand side of this page "Support Me" (this will only be tax deductible for USA residents) or if you are Canadian and would like a tax deductible receipt please e-mail me at the above e-mail address and I will give you more details about giving through my home church. If you have already supported me thank you so much for your contribution.
I love you all, keep praying for me and the team to finish strong.
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Posted in General Articles by Jonathan Hiebert on 10/7/2007
 This last month was interesting… again. Phnom Penh, Cambodia was nothing like I had expected, not only physically but ministry wise as well, but hasn't that been every month? It is so great to finally be "getting" this community thing, the whole idea of living, working, vacationing, and just about everything else with the same 5 people. To be able to work together as a unit, sure things go wrong but being able to address them and move on. I am truly going to miss these guys. Oh, we had a phenomenal time in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, they really know how to take care of their tourists, and in a fun way too.
So right now I am just fed up being in a large group, sick and tired of feeling like a cow in a herd being shepherded all over the place. I am looking forward to this next month in China, but also I am excited to travel after and then get back to my life. I continually pray that I will stay here in the now and realize that this is a choice. That theme as been pretty clear recently in a lot of people here, it is our choice to stay here in the now. We all go through it on a constant basis, with seasons of life starting and ending all the time.
 It was really nice to have some encouragement from some team mates. They said that I had changed a lot since the beginning of the race. I asked them how. They said that I was not condescending anymore making people feel like they weren't holy enough, and that I was holier than them. I realized that my "seeking" after the Lord was with the wrong motives. And it hurt many around me, because of how judgmental I had inadvertently become. I was being so hard on myself and also on others. I thank God for releasing me from those judgmental, condemning thoughts and letting me enjoy those around me, and I also thank Him for not being the God that I sometimes think He is. He is not a mean God out to get me, He is not a God who doesn't care.
Malachi 1:10 ""I wish that someone among you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not at all pleased with you," says the LORD Almighty, "and I will not accept your offering."" (NLT)
 This is what I believe I was doing, I was sacrificing things to God on my own accord. I was bringing things to Him for my own, sake to make myself feel good. I was trying so hard. God doesn't want that crap, He wants real stuff. God doesn't want us to always be so hard on ourselves, or that's at least where He has me right now. Sorry I can't write more about the ministry, trying to keep people and organizations safe.
 PS Thank God for Stacy?
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Posted in General Articles by Jonathan Hiebert on 9/11/2007
 Hour 5… I am waiting here at the garage, "Holding" a Toyota Camry's hand as it is getting inspected. I know things take time especially when shops are busy even at home, it's just that it's going to be difficult doing this for another month. I have come to notice that it's not 100% true, it's just that right now things are getting frustrating. The hoops you have to jump through, the hours you have to wait, the communication that doesn't happen, it all can get to you.
Lord, give me patience with culture; give me patience with all those around me. I know that many different things are ministries, that so much of life has God in it even if it doesn't feel like it. But that doesn't help when trying to take any initiative to do anything is met by walls on all sides: locals, organizations, people in authority that aren't flexible and want
 to make it so difficult that you just want to give up. I'm not fully overwhelmed right now its just getting to me that even with all the initiative I can muster up, it still doesn't make things work.
Maybe this is a good lesson that I need to learn: compassion and grace. Actually I pray for that so I know God is stretching me, the process is just brutal. It makes me really appreciate people working in these places that do get things done cause it is seriously only by the grace of God that anything comes to happen here!!
I am not in control, I hate it but I love it. Great that the responsibility is on God; brutal that I'm left feeling useless and discouraged with myself. Isn't it so often that we pray for situations and things to change, when most of the time God wants to change us, our perspective…
Pictures are from the torture chambers of the Genocide museum in Phnom Penh, some pretty horrific stuff and only 30 years ago.
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Posted in General Articles by Jonathan Hiebert on 9/10/2007
 So… as I said, here is an update of Birthday '07 events for Sept. 8. We went out for dinner at FCC, which is a really cool restaurant on the river here with great food. When we came into the restaurant we saw a big table of Americans, turns out is was a group of Christian Radio Broadcasters from around the US. They were visiting Cambods to get informed about Bible distribution and then raise support back in the US.
Some people with my group listened to these guys' shows for years at home and were pumped to meet them!! They gave us their leftovers, which made me happy, and they bought me a chocolate/banana shake!
After our late dinner I decided we should walk along the river to the royal palace and just see some of the sights at night (like 10pm) Then we headed home for a games night. As we were getting out of the Tuk Tuks (taxis) 2 guys on a moped drove by and grabbed Becca's purse and sped off, it all happened in a heartbeat. To hear more of Becca's ordeal visit her blog at www.rebeccatharpe.theworldrace.org . That kind of ended the festivities for the night, we chatted and watched a couple more episodes of The Office (surprisingly Stacy was there again, weird how when I mention The Office, she is always there…) and then bedtime.
 Brutal twist to the story is, in the whole mix up of things my camera made it's way into Becca's bag before the robbery. So, Happy Birthday Jonathan, your camera got stolen. Its' not anyone's fault it just sucks. (I had just uploaded all the pics so nothing was lost picture-wise.)
Prayer Requests
1. Please pray for protection of our belongings, lots of things are breaking/getting lost or getting stolen
2. That I would have PATIENCE trying to get projects done in this laidback culture where I can't speak the language
3. For our ministry, that the directors would have peace, wisdom and be able to listen and understand when the Lord is speaking.
4. For wisdom and direction as to what to do after the race
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Posted in General Articles by Jonathan Hiebert on 9/8/2007
 OK, it is 3pm on the 23rd anniversary of my birth and it has already been the b-day of a lifetime. Continue reading for further details! We are in Cambodia and have just started ministry with an organization that wishes not to be named or talked about so I will be pretty vague in talking about anything we're doing.
We just moved to our own apartment that turns out will be only 50 cents more per person per night then our previous arrangements, with phenomenally better accommodations!! It is air-conditioned, we have 3 bathrooms(including 2 tubs and 2 showers), 2 bedrooms a kitchen, and there is a workout room with new equipment on the roof (8th floor) And all this for my birthday everything revolves around me incase you didn't know, wow, I have an amazing team…
So, back to last night, Andrew and Ginger found a cool restaurant that was having a pool party that night so we got a bunch of people together and went over later that night. It ended up being an awesome dance party outside surrounded by huge trees and mats everywhere to sit down and enjoy friends company. We danced until we were
 dripping then went over to the pool, which was surrounded by people dipping their feet in, but at 1a.m., no one had dared to jump in yet. That changed very quickly as our World Race group debriefed, you could say, and all splashed into the pool, I was dragged in fully clothed but I didn't care, they were soaked in sweat anyways. They sang to me at midnight as we hailed in the most amazing day of the year, and we had a blast taking pictures with Andrew's underwater camera most of the night.
Then it was home to watch a few episodes of the office, 3rd season that Stacy already got me for my birthday, and for the enjoyment of the whole squad, who are we kidding Stacy? You basically bought it for yourself!!! Then this morning my teammates let me sleep in until 10am. Then I got out of the room and started finding notes all over the house from my friends on the race and things that they love about me, naturally there were too many notes to count. I smelled pancakes and we all sat down to enjoy a wonderful breakfast that Talia prepared with chocolate chips and nutella. Then the gifts started coming out, from Mom and Dad. Thank you so much for all the food, you did well with the smoked salmon and the chocolate covered raisins.
Then after breakfast as I was taking pictures of my cornucopia of gifts there was a knock at the door. To my surprise it was a tiny Cambodian woman who was here to massage me! Thank you Ginger for that amazing gift! Since then I have been finding more notes and cards and relaxing until me next engagement at 8 tonight.
How are we going to possibly top what this spectacular day has already blessed me with? I wait in eager anticipation and will try to fill you in as soon as the information is made available to me.
I love you all and am so happy to greet you as a 23-year-old and no longer be that horrible age of yester year that I thankfully will never have to endure again (that number is my most loathed number of the entire number system.)
I love you all, if you want to call me (which is much appreciated) find me on skype, name jonathan.hiebert and send me a time request (I am 14 hours ahead of Vancouver), we have internet in our apartment so calls can be whenever. Or e-mail me and get our cell phone number for a clearer call…
 Our ministry is going well and looks like it will be a lot of fun to help out with what is going on here, it's insane to see how God works in such vastly different ways all over the world.
Here's the cornucopia!
I have amazing friends
The best hour of my life
Totally deep tissue, my shirt is still holding up though!
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Posted in General Articles by Jonathan Hiebert on 8/24/2007
 So good news and bad news.
I sent my laptop back to Bangkok with Clinton and the wonderful
girls of Team 61 brought it into an Apple store. What do you want to hear first… the good or
the bad.
Ok, I'll say the good first.
They looked at the cereal number and everything that is wrong with it is
under warranty and will be fixed for free!!!
Bad news: it is a hardware problem (whatever that means) and nothing can
be recovered of my files and stuff.
That's pretty good news to me! I have pictures backed up in a few places as
well as music, and all the other stuff doesn't really matter, now I can have a
fresh start and begin organizing it how I should have in the first place! Praise Jesus that it still works.
We are leaving the orphanage Saturday night on an overnight
bus to Bangkok,
and then it's off to an island for debrief.
I want to give a blanket apology to everyone who has sent e-mails and
received no replies, because although we have had internet in the house where
we live it is in inaccessible or awkward places (people's bedrooms) so I
haven't been on for more than a few minutes here and there. So if you got a reply consider yourself
loved… if not… it's in the mail and you're still loved.
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Posted in General Articles by Jonathan Hiebert on 8/19/2007
 Do I really hunger for more of God? Do I really want what I pray for? I ask for God to stretch me, to mold me into the man He wants me to be.
But do I really want Him to do it, do I want that pain…?
Spiritual stretching sucks. It's always in ways that you'd rather not. This month is no different.
We are in the Eastern part of Thailand in Buri Ram, it's the major city in a province of the same name. we are living with a family who has opened it's doors to orphans to joing their family.
Right now there are 7 orphans and about 10 other people (parents, kids, maids, etc.) not including 6 YETI members, and a family of 5 from Australia. It's a busy place.
 Back to stretching... So a few days ago my laptop broke.
Now it flashes a questions mark when it tries to turn on, I tried a bunch of troubleshooting things to no avail. Any suggestions? God is teaching me that I don't need my computer and if it is broken why bother worrying about it. It's only money and possessions! Dying to my flesh is what I pray for so here it is in all its glory!
Patience is another lesson God is teaching me through some people this month. Not fun but I just pray it's making me a better person.
I'm also learning more and more about ministry. This time in Thailand we have done mostly painting, English camps and lots and lots of cleaning. So that's sometimes hard to get excited about. Not that this house doesn't need it! It's just hard to feel like you are serving the Lord when you are scrubbing iron bars for hours on end and sweeping the floor 3 times a day.
 You know what God? Keep stretching me, BRING IT ON!!
Pictures from top to bottom:
1.Ashley and I are stretching after a long hike up the stairs, gotta keep limber, especially when you're 29.
2. Eileen is by far the cutest!
3. Fil and Fern are the coolest twins ever and there they are in picture 3 as well
4. We did English camps,these are the actions to the song "Everybody NEED love"
5. Oh Gai, you are so great!
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