February could not have been a sweeter month for me. I mean yes, we did have chocolate on the 14th, but this sweetness came from the Father alone. In transitioning into Azerbaijan, I just had such a hunger to work, to see the Lord move, and to be a part of creating something bigger than myself. We were getting ready to spend a little over two weeks doing ATL (Ask the Lord) in Baku, and I didn’t want to let our time slip away. Wow, Jesus so completely met me in this space and provided more than I could have asked or imagined as far as ministry by opening a door that only He could have opened.
I’ll set the scene. So we had just arrived into Baku early on the 14th after another overnight train experience and did our now seemingly familiar scramble to get to our housing, find a grocery store, exchange money, meal plan, get cleaned up, and cook dinner. It was actually super sweet and after the train, we were all exhausted and decided to spend Valentine’s Day with some great conversation, chocolate, and a chick-flick. The next day we set aside some time in the morning and afternoon to get “nested” by unpacking, getting rest, spending time with Jesus, and just getting settled before the evening’s plans. During this time, it was so heavy on my heart to start looking for ways to get plugged in and to simply ask the Father to burden our hearts for what hurt His. After bringing it up, we all agreed to take an hour during that time to ask God for direction for our time in Baku.
After getting unpacked, I went out with a couple people to explore the area and find a good coffee shop to get some blogging and fundraising done. By the time we found one, we only had about 2 hours and I buckled down and wrote a blog and then spent the second hour looking for ways to serve. It was so crazy because I prayed and eventually got up and the cork board full of bulletins in the shop caught my attention. In looking, I saw a paper in English about SOS International. In pursuing the flyer, I saw that it was an organization that took in orphaned or at risk kids and provided them with the care they needed in family style units, and to my delight there was a phone number and Facebook link to a local branch. I sat down did some research and learned that SOS is actually a huge multi-country non-profit, but I was only able to find the contact info for the local branch by using in the Facebook link on the flyer. In a long shot, I messaged the page a quick message on Friday about being in the area for a few weeks and interested if there were any ways we could serve or volunteer.
To my surprise by Monday, I had received an answer and an invitation to come down to the local branch office. We prayed about it as a team and a few of us went down the next day. It took us a good bit to find the office as it was just a nondescript door at the bottom of some apartment buildings. But our shrewd “lost faces” and the kindness of those passing by allowed us to find it and before I knew it we were in a tidy office with the director of Baku and he was kindly asking us what we were doing and what we were looking for. I explained we were in the area for two weeks and wanted to help out if we could, even if it just meant learning about the organization and spreading the word about it. He surprised me by saying they actually might have a need for us and he introduced us to the most amazing lady I have ever met!
She invited us into her office and was so excited to get to know us and our stories. We mentioned teaching English and my friend Allison brought up art, and I still have chills because she said she was actually starting an English and an art club for the kids and really wanted help. We walked away with some rough times and almost complete freedom to design and run classes for the SOS kids and she would go with us, help, and translate. What is even more mind boggling is Allison had literally told me like the day before that it would be the coolest thing if we could teach an art class or something!! What!?
This was the start of such a sweet friendship with F. I have never met a more selfless or passionate person in my life. She is a mother to a 5 year old daughter and cares immensely for the kids at the SOS Village. We would meet with her multiple times per week and go lead art club with these kids that are so full of life and loved so well, inspite of so much trauma and hurt. For two special sessions, we were able to lead the girls in empowerment and speak to their value and worth and then do something similar with the boys and encourage them in their strength of character and kindness. It was so surreal to have a platform to share truth, real truth with these kids that would just melt your heart.
We discussed God, Jesus, and serving others with F and had so many amazing conversations. I will forever miss such a sweet friend! God just blew all of my expectations for what those 2 weeks would look like, and He gave my heart exactly what I had been desiring even though I couldn’t fully put it to words. All praise and glory to Him alone! Even F told me she didn’t think our meeting was just a coincidence.
We have transitioned and are now getting all settled in Kazakhstan! I would love prayer that God would just do such an incredible and complete work in the hearts of those around us. Praise!! My teammate Valerie is only $600 away from being fully funded! If you would like to support her and follow her blogs the link is here. Also Praise! I am in the $1000’s with only $1,900 more to go until I am completely funded for this year of ministry. If this is something you would like to partner with me, I would be entirely grateful if you could join me in praying and sharing my story. Thanks for journeying with me!
Blessings,
Bre
