Stripping WOOD, that is…
This week was a week of manual work. Our team wanted to serve and bless Ivan's family and the church of Parvomai, so on Tuesday Team Sozo went over to the church to help with their quarter-annually clean-up. We moved furniture, washed all the dishes, washed windows, swept and mopped floors, re-organized kitchenware and toys, vacuumed, and killed spiders. I had the honour of sweeping out a grasshopper and millipede.
Kayla and Dani working hard on cleaning the kid's playroom.
On Wednesday we made a shopping trip into town (Petrich), and two of the teens, Dari and Sisi, made valiant efforts to guide us and translate everything for us. We had a fun time, but I think it'll be a while before Dari wants to be our tour guide again! Making plans, organizing people, making sure we catch the bus…it's tough to be a leader!
Into town. Only Olivia sees the camera! Dari is in green and Sisi in the pink.
Thursday and Friday we helped Ivan strip wood for his summer house. It needed to be stripped within these few weeks so the worms wouldn't eat it, but as always Ivan has a million things to do…so us seven girls stepped in to provide the man-powa!! It was good, steady work, and very satisfying when each log was finished. Read here for a teammate's reflections as she worked with the lumber.
Stripping wood!
We also had a day on Monday where we had some ATL time (Ask the Lord). We worshiped in the park, then split up into pairs/trio to follow what we felt the Lord telling us to do. Kayla and I ended up going to the library and getting to know George, the librarian, who spoke English. He is part of a folk dance ensemble called Gaytan and ended up showing us his pictures. We also spent time praying over places in the village, such as the market, the park, the disco, to ask the Lord's blessing on them and for his love and truth to reach those places.
It was amazing to just be able to focus each day on what the Lord would bring. As our team reflected on our day, we realized that though we had not done anything earth-shattering, that maybe this was the way the Lord wanted us as His children and redeemed kingdom subjects to live – everyday spending time with Him, being open to hearing His Voice, and having his purposes on our hearts. And we can do this wherever we are and wherever we call home!
As always, thank you for your love and prayers! 🙂
