This month I have gotten to travel to so many different parts of Bulgaria (and I even was blessed to spend a day at a beach in Greece)! I’ve had the opportunity to meet all sorts of people from gypsy babies to babas (grandmas). I have been able to partake in a ton of different ministry opportunities. Things like playing with kids in the gypsy quarter, ripping up a whole backyard full of weeds, scrubbing down the walls of a very burnt garage, wiping the ash off of children’s Bibles, and later painting the walls and ceiling of the garage, taking dozens upon dozens of nails out of old logs that were being prepared to be chopped into firewood, teaching English to an 11 year old and her mom, singing worship in a sweet old ladies living room, painting curbs and washing windows at a nursing home, sharing a short testimony of mine to two different congregations, it has been an incredible month.
I wasn’t expecting to fall for this place. In all honesty, when I first got here I was kind of turned off to Bulgaria. However, the more that I got to know the people here and the ministries that they were apart of, amidst the persecution and loneliness that they faced, the more the Lord opened up my heart to this country. We were moving around from place to place so much, I was afraid that the majority of the relationships that we formed would not have much depth… especially with the language barrier. False. These people welcomed us with open arms. They invited us into their homes, they cooked for us, they shared stories with us, they cried and laughed with us, and poured out their hearts to us. It’s hard to believe that this month is at its end.
The two times that I shared in church services this month I had an opportunity to speak about a time of challenge in my life. The Lord placed on my heart my move from New York to Utah. I shared about how when I was a junior in high school I essentially had the remainder of my life mapped out. I had my own plans for the future. That all changed when I moved across the country, to a state that I knew nothing about – home to a religion that I had never heard of before. Of course, the opposition and resistance that I faced is far different from the opposition that Bulgarian Christians face here in a half Orthodox half Muslim community. I was friendless, not persecuted.
I shared a piece from the passage in John 13 about Jesus washing his disciples feet. Simon Peter asks, “why are you doing this?” and Jesus responds (verse 7), “You do not understand what I am doing now, but after you will understand.” This was something I had to continually go back to during my struggle with the move to Utah. I couldn’t see what the Lord was doing in the moment, but perhaps one day I would know. As I was sharing my story of struggle – I realized that the Lord’s plan for my family to move to Utah was at least twofold. First, the move gave me an opportunity to share my faith with the community there in Utah and second, the trial that came with it enabled me to relate to the community here in Bulgaria, struggling with a similar story (being a minority in a place where the predominant religion was not their own). As I was sharing from this passage, I realized another thing… there have been many times this month when I’ve asked the Lord “why this or why that?” Sometimes we may never get an answer, but sometimes we just need to be patient. We need to move forward confident that the Lord’s plan is better than any plan that we could make for ourselves. For me, going on the World Race was never in my plan. Being on this team of seven was not my plan either. This month the Lord has been so slowly and graciously revealing to me why He called me to the race and why each of these 6 people are in my life. Sometimes I still put up a fight, I still ask those “why” questions. I’m still working on surrendering my plans to Him. I’m thankful that the Lord is patient towards me, and that I have another 10 months to continue learning why I’m here.
