This past week I pulled my tent out of my backpack for the first time since….
….training camp.
….last July. Team Zion and I spent a week serving with a team of Americans at an English Bible Camp in Petrodolina, Ukraine (more on how God set that up in a bit.) We set up our tents on a playground outside the church that hosted us. The first night I crawled into my tent my mind was flooded with memories of training camp and the beginning of this crazy journey. I still remember the way I felt as our bus pulled into camp: a mixture of excitement, fear of the unknown, trying to take in all the new people I was meeting, and generally wondering, “What the heck am I doing?”
I am overcome with thanksgiving. I cannot even begin to express how thankful I am, how glad I am, that God led me to this crazy thing called The World Race. I fell in love with the whole idea during training camp, but believe more now than ever before in the process that takes place on the race. I’ve seen God do incredible miracles in my life, in my heart, and the lives and hearts of those around me on ouR squad. It’s truly priceless to me. We are different people than we were when we left LAX last September. And then there’s the amazing works of love, healing, redemption, salvation, freedom, and joy we’ve seen Him do in the lives of His children across the globe.
So back to the story of this month. I’m living with Team Zion right now in Odessa. Some things came up so that our original ministry host wasn’t able to host us. God provided a place for us to stay with a family in their apartment, but we still didn’t have much to do for ministry. A couple days after we arrived 3 members of the team were eating pizza in a mall and overheard English at the table next to them. They struck up a conversation with the two couples sitting there. They met Bill and Sally who direct the Eastern European Missions Network, and John and Nicole who were leading a team of Americans running an English speaking Bible Camp that started a few days later. They were in need of some extra help as more children were registered than originally expected.
Two days later we met the team at their orientation meeting. (Such a fun blessing to be ministering with a team of Americans after 10+ months with very little interaction with Americans outside of ouR squad.) They determined that they needed help with crafts, sports, and a co-teacher for one of the classrooms. The next morning we jumped on their bus and headed an hour outside of Odessa to Petrodolina. Isn’t God’s provision for their team and our team amazing?!
Camp was a blast! I helped with the craft rotations which was a little like chaos most days, but so fun to see the kids create things! I had a great time hanging out with the rest of the crafts team. We spent a lot of time laughing together. I was sad to part ways with our new friends on Friday night. We were truly blessed to be taken in as a part of their team for the week. They included us in everything and took great care of us! I was so encouraged to see the soft, loving hearts of the team as they poured out their time and energy for the children of Petrodolina.
