Hey all!
I just wanted to post an update before I head out to my second month of ministry. We’re leaving Casa Shalom at 4am tomorrow morning (which obviously means I won’t be sleeping tonight… you know you’re not surprised). I want to get every last moment in with my squad and newly-found loves here in Romania before I jump on another 29-hour long train ride to Kiev, Ukraine. I’ll have plenty of time to catch up on sleep there. 🙂
Oh yea, so our whole squad has been here for the last few days and it’s been wonderful to see them all and hear about their first month of ministry in Ukraine. It feels like training camp all over again (since this is the first time we’ve seen each other since then) and we have therefore been staying up until all hours of the night chatting it up with one another. I love it. 🙂 God has begun a mighty work in both my teammates and squadmates and I can’t wait to see what He continues to do in us these next few months! Tyler led worship for the squad last night and it was a sweet, intimate time with Jesus – the Spirit was strong in that place. I believe the Lord softening hearts, breaking down walls, and offering us true FREEDOM… so sweet! But I continue to long for MORE. 🙂
The last week here has been awesome. It feels like every night we’ve had another celebration of some sort and the kids and staff have just been showering blessings down on us. We had a 4th of July party with popcorn, homemade browni
e cookies and whipped cream, soda, games, and lots more fun. All the Americans belted out the Star Spangled Banner while cooking up a storm in the kitchen… it was quite the scene and simply made me SMILE. There’s nothing quite like celebrating Independence Day in another country!
We also had a midnight cookout one night with delicious meat, ice cream, lots of music, DANCING, ping pong, and other crazy games and adventures.
Tracy turned 25 this weekend as well so we had a BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION for her… I’m SO GLAD SHE WAS BORN! We had a surprise party (a few of them actual
ly… another one occurred yesterday morning in the walk-in refrigerator at the back of the kitchen… priceless). We had more cake, ice cream, food fights, snacks, and romping around with the kids.
[photos of: me looking longingly at freshly-baked cookies, Carin & Brittany enjoying some baked goods & whipped cream, and then Mija (one of the amazing girls who lives here) and I at one of the many celebrations]
We’ve also been playing pick-up games of soccer, capture the flag, volleyball, jumping on the trampoline, sardines, tag, ping pong, cards, and anything else we can come up with – it’s been a blast! I love these kids – I feel like they’ve become my little sisters and brothers I never had growing up and it’s been amazing to spend time with them and build relationships. It’s definitely gonna be hard to leave. 🙁
Speaking of GOODBYES… I’m starting to realize how difficult it’s going to be to pour myself into different people each month and then have to leave just as quickly, never knowing when or if I’m going to see them again. I knew this was going to be a challenge when I signed up for the World Race last year but I began to actually experience it recently. Our last day with the girls at JUBILEE was this past Wednesday and for the first time since we’ve been here I started to experience BREAKTHROUGH with them. In little ways, I was able to connect with some of the girls more than I had ever been able to before… and then I had to say goodbye a few hours later.
There was one girl in particular who I really connected with; her name was Paula and she is just a precious daughter of God. She learned my name, taught me words in Romanian as I taught her English, did hand games with me, played basketball, danced, sang, and just looked up at me sometimes – longing for affection and affirmation. I simply tried to love on her with the Father’s LOVE as much as possible throughout the day; I held her hand, scratched her back, smiled at her, and told her that Jesus loves her. When it was time to go she was in tears; it was so hard to pull away cause I wanted to keep giving her hug after hug and letting her know how precious she was. My heart longed for her to feel the love, hope, and JOY found only in Christ – and now all I can do it pray. But that’s a lot – prayer is powerful. As I drove away I couldn’t help but think… wow. I can’t believe so many walls were torn down just before I have to leave the country… but I’m so grateful that they were. Paula and the girls at Jubilee will continue to be in my prayers and I know that Jesus sees them as beautiful daughters of the King – I just hope they will begin to see themselves as such as well.
(This is me with some girls at Jubilee; from left to right is Mariana, Paula, me, and Vivi)
As “short term missionaries” we can’t always expect to see the end result of what we do. We are often the seed sowers, unable to witness the harvest or what Jesus will ultimately do in these people’s lives. It reminded me of a verse in Ecclesiastes:
“There is a time for
everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be
born and a time
to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot…” (Ecclesiastes 3: 1-2)
I believe we’re in a time of planting… of sowing the GOOD SEED of Jesus’ love, hope, grace, and freedom in the lives of others. We have no idea what will come from what we do; we’re just called to be obedient and serve in whatever way the Lord leads. As a GOOD DAD, we can trust that He has it taken care of and is using us for His ultimate purposes in this world. On top of that, He blesses us with small glimpses of His redemption is the lives of others as we serve Him. Little breakthroughs, even if they occur the day before we leave a country, are examples of the KINGDOM of God at hand. I pray for more of these experiences… more lives to be touched, more people healed, and more captives set free. 🙂
God is doing a lot… and I feel so blessed to be partnered with HIM in this work. What an honor! I can’t wait for MORE.
Speaking of that, I thought I’d give you a quick note about what we’ll be doing next month. We’ll be serving in a small town of about 200 people right outside of Kiev, Ukraine. The place we’ll be working is called Jeremiah’s Hope and it’s a camp for at-risk children and missionary families. We’ll be camping out in tents (yay!) and doing a variety of different things such as waking the kids up, putting on activities for them, cleaning, cooking, etc.
We won’t have any internet access for the month unless we take a day trip into Kiev one weekend, so I apologize in advance for the lack of communication. (Feel free to continue emailing/ commenting though… I always LOVE to hear from you guys!)
I hope all is well… THANKS AGAIN for all you do and who you are! I am so blessed!! 🙂
