So, this month God has been speaking to me a lot through coincidences. The first thing was that the village I went to do ministry in Romania was named Coteana. My middle name is Katiana. Even though they are spelled differently they sound the same. I’m still praying about what it means, but so far, I have realized that Coteana was a broken place and the Lord used our team to speak life into that village. Emily our mentor http://emilybjerstedt.theworldrace.org/index.asp?filename=bio mentioned that she saw a big bright light in front of the darkness. The light is brighter and closer than the darkness. When we went on house visits in Coteana, there was a lot of heaviness in my heart. People in this culture are freely open to explain their feelings and that is not something I’m use to because our culture is more closed off. The first two visits, we listened and the other two, we gave encouragement. When we gave encouragement, there was enlightenment and when we listened, we gained more insight. Both were very beneficial in order to grow.
The second thing is that God confirmed that I am on the World Race for a reason. The way he showed me that was through a girl named Madison http://madisonathompson.theworldrace.org/ Madison and I went to Haiti together last year and she is the one who talked to me about the World Race. When I applied for the race, I found out that she was also doing the race. I kept up with her blogs and her blog said she was going to Romania. I was also in Romania at the time that she was, but I didn’t think anything of it. After I got done grocery shopping in Romania with my team, I went to my mission house where I found Madison. As soon as we saw each other, we both gave each other a big hug and talked about what the Lord was doing in our lives! What are the chances of that? Probably 1/100 chance! which makes it a God thing.
The most recent coincidence is that there was a broken vessel in Rivne Ukraine where we are staying at. Our team name is Vessel. Our team motto is that through our weaknesses, God will use them for his strength. When we asked God for our name, he gave us an image of a cracked vessel and water flowing through it. He reassured us of the name because we saw the cracked vessel!
But none of these things were coincidences, they were God. The Lord is showing me himself through physical things. “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand” -Proverbs 19:2
Team Vessel
Madison and I in Romania together
Teaching English!
Our Host Family for ministry
I got to play and love on the kids
watching tangled and braiding hair during English class
