Hi everyone! I hope that everyone is doing well! I miss you all so much! It has been hard approaching this season to know that I will not be home. I have been trying to decide what I wanted to share with you. I decided that what I really want to share with you is more about what ministry has been like for us over the last four months and what has really stuck out for me. As well as introduce you to my new team.
If you don’t know already I will give you a quick update on where I am at now. I am in Lusaka, Zambia. I have been here for all of one week so far. This has also been the first week of ministry with my new team. We are Team Hephzibah! Where did that name come from you ask? It is from Isaiah 62:4. It says, No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah and your land Beulah; for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married.” The word Hephzibah means “His delight is in her.” We chose this word to represent that God takes delight in us and our team. I am yet again with an incredible team of strong women of God. Our Team leader Emily Julson is a prayer warrior and a gentle soul. We have Amy Workman my fellow Colorado woman who is exuberant in her worship of the Lord and strong in prayer and in the Word. Campbell Stewart, who is vibrant, has abounding energy and holds so much knowledge of the Word. Abbigail Lambert keeps us laughing, but also honest and bold. Catie Sundberg brings energy, enthusiasm and her incredible gift of evangelism to our team and our ministry. Finally, MariClaire Lake is the introvert of our team, but that does stop her from bring life, humor, and order to our team.
Over the last four and a half months I have served in now five different countries. Each has their own culture, language, and people. While there were many glaring differences there were also striking similarities, especially in the ministry I felt the most called to. I have enjoyed all of our experiences and in each country I have learned something new.
Month one I was outside of Belgrade, Serbia. I was helping at HUB, a bible school that runs and hosts camps during the summer months when school is out of session. I spent most of the first two weeks there doing what our Magda called “practical work.” Practical work is things like… washing dishes, sweeping floors, cleaning toilets, oh and my personal favorite! Flunting! What you ask is flunting? It is hunting flies! That’s right we turned it into a synchronized art form. J The third week we were there, there were a lot more volunteers, which translated into not as much work time and quite a bit more free time. At first I didn’t know what to do with myself. I questioned myself as to how useful I was when I really didn’t feel like I was doing much. I felt that since I didn’t have much work assigned to me that I wasn’t really doing much for the Kingdom. After prayer and talking with God he taught me one of the first lessons of my Race. He taught me that I didn’t need to be doing assigned tasks to please him. He also taught me that my ease with communication and building connections with new people is not just who I am, but it is a gift that He has given me. He told me to go and use the gift He gave me. It is still one of my favorite weeks on the Race so far. The relationships that were created that week are so special and are ones that I hope to hold on tight to. Over the course of the month I learned that serving is meant to be fun. If it is not there is always a way to make it fun. I also learned that I really enjoyed really getting to know the people that I was working alongside.
Month two, my whole squad was in Draganesti-Olt on the southern side of Romania. One of the first things that our host Raul did was, ask each of us to tell him a little about ourselves. He asked each of us pointed questions about our future goals in ministry, life, and whether or not we could see ourselves overseas. He set up our adventure days and many of the missionaries we were going to be working with came with us so that they could build relationships with us before starting ministry. He made sure that we spent time in prayer and worship each day. Over our time there not only was it a month of powerful personal revelations as I spoke of in my last blog, but I learned the importance of intentionality in building relationships. This month was also my first real experience with outreach evangelism. It was interesting experience that I honestly struggled with. I felt like I never knew quite what to say.
Month three, my team was right on the Black Sea in Varna, Bulgaria. We were working with a church plant and spent most of our time either doing prayer walks or doing outreach and evangelism with the university students there. Our host was a humble, but strong man of God who had a passion for history and evangelism. I learned so much from him and our ministry there. Through him God taught me persistence and drive. Trif was willing to keep pushing and trying over and over again to share the Word and to reach the people there. He also taught us patience and confidence through prayer. It was a tough city where there were few Christians and was spiritually very dark. However, there is no doubt in my mind that one day there will be a spiritual revolution that will bring so many more into the light. This month was also one of the first months that I really felt like God had a personal mission that he laid on my heart. He took a part of my past where I had no home church or Christian community and used it to grow a passion within me for creating and being community for the people that I worked with. I will never forget the time that I spent with the two university students that went to our church. Whether it was just sitting and sharing in conversation until late hours of the evening, watching a movie, or going for a walk it all fed my passion.
Month four was filled with hills and a completely new culture in Prishtina, Kosova. To give you a little background on Kosova, the population is 96% Muslim and more than half of the people are unemployed. The result is people spending a large amount of time socializing at cafes drinking macchiato. This month was quite literally the epitome of relational ministry and evangelism. We worked with an American missionary couple Hunter and Kelsi Gray. One of the strongest lessons I learned was that sharing the Word of God is not something you set aside specific time to do. It is something that you do wherever you are and whenever the opportunity arises. They also showed us that being a missionary is not a job you do, but a way of life. Most of our time was spent visiting people that they are building relationships with, whether it was a woman who worked at the Prishtina Bear Sanctuary or spending an entire day at church on Sundays. One of our days really tied into my passion for community. We got the opportunity to go visit a Christian family who lives quite a ways outside the closest city. They don’t have means of transportation and because of that are unable to attend church very often. My team and I were able to bless them by bring church to them. We played some music and Hunter taught a Bible lesson. It was special to see just how much it meant to them.
It was an incredible four months spent in beautiful Eastern Europe. There was an over arching theme of community and learning. There are so many important and poignant lessons that I will carry with me throughout the rest of my Race and my life. My time there will forever hold a special place in my heart and in my memory. I have met so many incredible people and build some very special friendships that I hope to hold onto.
In case I don’t get a chance to write again before the holiday…
Merry Christmas!
God Bless!
Miss you all so much!
Sara
