Hello Blog World!
I am writing to you from Bar, Montenegro. Where in the world is Montenegro, you ask?! Well, don’t worry, because I was curious too. Apparently it’s a fairly new country, sitting on the coast of the Adriatic Sea between Bosnia, Serbia, Albania and Kosovo. My team along with 2 other teams are in the city of Bar. We have the ocean on one side of us and the mountains on the other. It is absolutely beautiful!
I am now in my 5th month of being on the Race. IT IS FLYING. Sometimes these days fly by and I look up and think “Oh no, I haven’t posted a blog in the 2 weeks I’ve been in Montenegro” WHOOPSIES. Sorry Y’all!
Anywaysss….The beginning of this month brought forth some changes. Four times during the Race our whole squad, along with all of our leadership, come together and have debrief for a few days. This month our debrief was in Scopja, Macedonia. Macedonia was beautiful but also odd. It felt like we were on a movie set. None of us could really get our minds around the place but it was so cool. Google it. You won’t regret it! Okay, back to my point… This debrief brought about lots of change. For one we had major team changes. I went from being on an all girls team to having 3 girls and 3 guys. I was also made a team leader, which brings on a whole new sense of responsibility but I’m really excited for it. My team has been great so far and I’m excited to see what the Lord is going to do in and through each of us individually and as a team.
This month our ministry hosts are from South Africa and have been in Montenegro as missionaries on and off for the past 4 years. They are amazing and are so diligent about pouring into all of us. We meet with them each morning for Bible study and it’s been so refreshing! Phil is a hilarious man of God with a passion for the Word and his wife Tanya is as sweet as candy and walks in so much grace and peace. We love them so much!
My team, along with 2 others, are all staying in one house together this month. A very sweet couple from Bar opened up their home to us. It’s a cute little 2 story house and I’m sure we have woken up this quiet neighborhood with all of our loud activity! haha! Living with 17 other people is always an adventure. Me and the two girls on my team are all in one room together. For fun we kill mosquitoes that are swarming our ears at 4am. Okay, that’s not actually fun…but it really did happen the other night. There are remnants of the blood filled, flying beasts on the walls. We really need to clean that up…Whoops. Just another day on the Race, I suppose.
Ministry is a tad bit different this month than what we have been used to. We are doing “ATL” , which, in World Race terms, means Ask The Lord. So basically, we meet as a team each day and pray and ask God to show us what our ministry is for that day. I’ll be honest, I’m an extremely task oriented person so this has been a growing experience for me. However, it’s so good because it’s stretching me and causing me to get out of my comfort zone and experience the Lord in new ways. God continues to show me that ministry is not some cookie cutter cut out and doesn’t have to look a certain way. We also have a ‘home group’ at our house on Thursday nights where we invite people from the community to come and hang out. We are basically just coming alongside Phil and Tanya to help build the Church here in Bar. Which we’re all so excited about!
So, right now, I’m sitting on a couch…inside my sleeping bag…between Esther and Lynzie, writing this blog. I am alive and well, still trying to figure out how to do this life on the World Race. It’s full of adventure, weird moments, encounters with the Lord and sweet times of growing friendships. I can’t thank you all enough for all your support! I’ll leave you with a picture of my new team, Umbrella:
