Each month we are in a new country with a new ministry host and ministry. As students are arriving back to school from summer break and teachers are finalizing their preparations for their new little kiddos, I have been thinking a lot about first days. This is probably due to the fact that If I were not on the race, I would likely be preparing a classroom of my very own full of love and wisdom and awesome new school supplies so that I could lavish knowledge and grace and kindness on my own little sponges. There is no doubt that a very large part of me is so sad that I’m not doing this right now, however, I have no lack of first days here on the race which is both a lot of fun and lot of scary!
Romania has been my 8th first day (technically 7 because we spent 2 months in Ghana and did not go to Burkina, but for the sake of keeping track by month I am going to say 8).
First days can be a little (or a lot) awkward. First you have introductions, then you try to make small talk, you get tours of where things are and how things are done, people ask you your name again because they didn’t remember it the first time (NAMES ARE IMPORTANT PEOPLE- PAY ATTENTION THE FIRST TIME), and then, hopefully, things begin to get a little less awkward as your relationships begin to settle in. This settling in period can take weeks, days, hours, or even minutes depending on the people, the place, the situation, and just pure blessing.
Yesterday was my team and I’s first day of ministry in Romania and IT WAS THE BEST ONE YET. I give all the thanks to God for this one and call it blessing! We are working with a girl’s home where 7 teenage girls from tough, tough homes live with a family who has 3 kiddos of their own. Most of the girls have lived their for years and some only months. Our ministry is to hang out with the girls, help cook meals, teach some English, assist with any little projects around the house, and just lavish these girls with love and truth. For me, this is no work but straight up blessing because these girls are FUN, FUN, FUN and altogether wonderful! This family and the 7 girls are a lot wild, a lot fun, and a whole lot of joy. They offer hospitality, warmth, goodness, and so much blessing. Upon arrival we learned names (mostly on the first try!), ate, had a piano recital, got to know each other, ate some more, did some girls hair, and walked around the center of the city eating ice cream and enjoying each other’s company.
I am excited to get to know each girl individually this month. I want to know their pasts, the good and the ugly, and I want to get on the level of what they feel. When I was their age I was in a very similar situation- I didn’t have family, a permanent home of my own, I moved around a lot, and I felt alone. I’ve been places some of these girls have been and I have felt the things they feel. Beyond the beauty, joy, and fun I see in each of their exteriors, I desire to know their hurts, their struggles, their victories and their failures. My prayer for this month is that I can share with these precious souls what God has taught me about being unconditionally loved, known, heard, and valued over the course of my life. I pray that I can express the amount of love Jesus has poured out to me, and that they would each want to accept that same love. I pray that, through me, they would know that they are not alone and that God can and will provide family for them in so many beautiful ways! I pray that when they hear of how wonderful my life has been despite the many challenges I have faced, they would see God and his abundance and not me and my own works.
I am so excited for the time I get with these girls. Please join me in prayer for their 7 little hearts and souls!
You are magnificently loved,
Sara
