We’ve been in Serbia for 13 days now. I went from Launch to the airport to leave for Serbia thinking, “After training camp and launch, I’m so ready!” I felt so prepared to go into Serbia and do what the Lord called me to do about a year ago. At training camp, we met one another and learned what true community looks like, we learned how to love each other genuinely and how to effectively communicate. We learned practical tools for working with orphans and widows, teaching English, preaching and evangelizing. Launch reiterated many of these lessons that we learned at training camp, plus a little more about real life scenarios and how to handle them (just in case anyone from our team steps off the road and gets hit by a car, which we are praying will not happen to anyone on our squad).
But I didn’t expect to feel this unprepared or unequipped to face these in real time. I didn’t expect to not know what to say to the people that we have met up with. I didn’t know how hard transitioning from living at home for the past 22 years to living with 6 other young adults (who I haven’t known for that long in the grand scheme of things) would be. Or how hard it is to communicate if you’re having a hard day/week/month. So far, the World Race is a lot more work than I thought it was going to be. It can be rough when you get home from a long day at ministry and try to make dinner, and have that dinner fail. Or figuring out that you are allergic to bug bites (I have a bite on my forearm that is now two inches in diameter) It’s rough when you want to drive to the beach and just sit, and one: you don’t have a car, and two: there aren’t any beaches in Serbia (at least none like San Diego. They have river beaches, but it’s totally different).
But what I really wasn’t prepared for was worship in a village with the stars above us and lightning in the distance and how beautiful and sweet that moment was. I wasn’t prepared to meet our friends and create relationships that mean a lot to me. Or being able to say I have another mom here in Serbia, and new brothers and sisters in Christ. The amount of laughter through some of the most uncomfortable times has taken me by surprise, even when we make fried chicken and not being certain if it will make us sick or not. And I definitely wasn’t prepared for how loved I’ve felt from the people here in Serbia. Yes, it can be really rough at times, and there have been times when I’ve asked myself, what on earth did I get myself into. But, even in those moments, I have a team that reminds me that it’s worth it because of Jesus. Because we are bringing the light of Jesus here to Serbia, even when it doesn’t seem like it. We are like little fireflies. We have our own little glow, and in the darkness of Serbia our light will shine. But together as a team, and with the church, we can shine so bright with all of our lights together.
So yeah, I really wasn’t prepared for the lack of sleep, the frustration, and hurt that comes with the World Race. But I wasn’t ready to be so loved and supported, and to see the hands and feet of Jesus at work here in Serbia. I’m not cut out for the World Race, but Jesus is.
God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.
~Catie
