Month One in Bulgaria, I had the privilege of getting to know the pastor's 16 year old daughter, Sarah. She has a beautiful heart! She would lead our team in loving on kids with disabilities when we felt a little uncomfortable and unsure as to what to do. She opened up to us and, like the rest of the church, made us feel like family. I was in awe of how she stood firm in making her beliefs known, even though she was the only Christian in her school and she faced harassment for it each day. Instead of hanging out with friends, Sarah chose to come with us to ministry each day to translate for us, share the Gospel, and encourage believers. She showed compassion and love to everyone we met. Sarah dreams of becoming a missionary one day. I can't wait to see this dream come true! God is already doing great things through her and I know there is so much more to come.
Now, month 5 in Kenya, I have made friends with a 14 year old boy named Vitalis, whose passion for the Lord reminds me of Sarah. He was in Kaptembwa visiting a friend when he came across our crusade on our second night and ever since then he has been with us for every crusade and revival meeting. He even comes early to do door-to-door evangelism with us. He has walked through the rain and mud from his own village to get to wherever we happen to be doing ministry. He has such a joy in worshipping and praising the Lord. He has more excitement about ministering to lost souls than I think our team has. He learned all of our names in one day and always greets us with a smile, asking us how we're doing. I should also mention that Vitalis can dance. Oh man can he dance. Truly, I've never seen anyone dance like this kid. He's been giving me lessons during our praise sessions. Vitalis dreams of becoming a pastor. Already he has developed such a heart for ministry that I know he will make an excellent pastor. I hope that somehow God will allow me to return to hear him preach God's Word and to see the church family he will bring together and minister to.
These two teenagers have blown me away with how intimately they know God and how they live out their faith every day. They are only 16 and 14! Yet they have devoted their lives to serving the Lord. Seeing how they are living out their teenage years made me reflect back on my own time as a teenager. I was far from the Lord, angsty and living completely for myself, unsatisfied. I thank God that these two have known their Savior from an early age. I pray that He will protect them. The world is so rough with teenagers, throwing them so many lies and temptations. But I know that Sarah and Vitalis have strong faiths that can withstand these hardships. I know that God has sweet, sweet things in store for their lives. God is already working through them in amazing ways! I pray that their generation will rise up along with them to radically change this world. I've been poured into by the previous generations. I have been told that my generation is going to bring change. I believe it and I'm so humbled and excited to be a part of it and I am going to keep fighting to bring change for God's glory, but I truly believe that God is going to do even greater things in this next generation.
These two teenagers have inspired me and challenged me so much. I hope that by me sharing a little bit of their stories, that they have inspired and challenged you as well. Please let this be an encouragement to you to stand firm and step out in faith. Please also let this be a reminder to pray for this next generation. Pray that they would know and love their Savior from an early age, pray that God would protect them from the many lies and temptations that the world throws at these young people, and pray for their faith and spiritual growth that they would be firmly rooted and at the same time boldly stepping out to share the Gospel and transform the world we live in.
