I have realized that it is hard to put something like this
into words. It is understandable when you are in it and experiencing it, then
when you try to explain what happened and how things came together it is hard.
So here is my best shot…
During this pre-ATL I was 
stretched. In the beginning it is
easy to try and figure things out. We are getting on a train heading to a place
we don’t know and going to do something there. God had his plan we just had to
follow.
So we got on the train, we went three hours away from where
our ministry was. First thing is first…pray. What is our next step? Jordan
and I played music for a while. Some people saw us getting on a bus. Where are
we going to stay? Not many people speak english here. hmm…TRUST. We kept
playing for a while. Tyson and Annie walked to see where the bus might lead to.
Kelsi meets a guard by the bathroom, he speaks english. Start talking, he tells
us to get on a
nother train to a bigger city. We talk about it. Annie and Jordan
are talking to a woman who has two daughters. She speaks english as well. We end up buying the ticket to go on. None of us felt the pull to stay. The little
girl shows us how to play guitar. We talk about what we are doing…ATL. She
tells us about this monastery she knows of. A place to stay, provided housing,
provided food. It is on the way to the city we are headed to. We all say okay.
We arrive at the stop and get our tickets stamped so we can
still use them, since we got off the train before the purchased destination.
Look for a bus to take, but meet a taxi driver. Speaks english and takes us to
the monastery.
I have never been to a monastery, I have only seen them in movies.
What is this going to be like? A little nervous, but what is the worst that can
happen?
The taxi driver translates for us for the monk. Asks why we
are there, what we are doing. We let them know we are not Orthodox. He tells us
that we can stay! Put our stuff in a room and head to mass. After we went to
mass we had dinner and after dinner, time to rest. That night they let us know
we can only stay for a night, which was perfect. We didn’t think we would be
there the whole time. The next day Gregory, one of the Monks who is studying to
be a priest, shows us around the monostary. Tells us about the background on
the specific monostary, and w
hy they do some of the things they do. We all got
along very well. But something I believe that happened while we were they was
with him.
Before we came his view of “Christians from America”
was that they come to convert, to change the beliefs of the people there. We
were they just to help and love. We were able to ask him questions as well as
his ask us questions. We talked about our differences and out similarities. I
learned a bit from him and I hope that he learned some from us. Since we couldn’t
stay, we left that afternoon. He ended up riding with us, a chance to bless him
for them blessing us.
We stayed in a hotel that night, our taxi driver knew of a
cheap one. He came and picked us up and drove us there. That night Gregory called
us. He was at another monastery and said we could stay there for the rest of
the time if we wanted. Blessed and now friends with a Monk. 
After all of this that night I read Romans 14-15:13. That
even though there are differences among us we still live for the same God. We
will stand before God’s judgment and God will judge us for the life we lived.
We can not judge one another. Only during this time can we sharpen one another.
We can share the revelation we have received, the beliefs that we have, and sharpen
one another. We all gained something out of it, we all grew in some way.
The rest of the trip we grew in different ways. God provided
every step. I believe this, I grew so much more because I gave him to wheel,
because we all gave him the wheel, and allowed him to direct our steps.
