Wow talk about how time flies when you’re having fun! haha
Well I am sitting here trying to figure out what to say about my time in Europe but I think I am having writers block! So I’m just going to word vomit and maybe in the end it’ll make sense ha!
Europe hasn’t been an extreme difference from America. Other than being more careful about what food we eat and the water we drink. Oh and shaking your head up and down means no and shaking your head side to side means yes! But these 3 months have been filled with a lot of moments that remind me of home, moments of realizing how I don’t really know as much as I thought I did and that’s okay because that just means there is so much room to grow and that’s a place I don’t ever want to retire from. Growing. Because if you’re not growing, you’re dying. And ain’t nobody got time for that, well, I don’t and I don’t think you do either. At least I hope not haha.
I am learning that growth doesn’t always happen as naturally as we expect it to. Sometimes you have to go after it. To choose. Choose to grow and put yourself in situations that will help you grow. Is it easy? Heck no! But is it worth it?! Heck yes!!
And growth is a process. The Lord has been teaching me a lot about that. In practical ways.
From the process of painting a church in Romania. From the process of a sunrise in Greece. The process of hiking 7 Lakes in Bulgaria. And even from the process of doing a puzzle that I was working on last week.
With the process of the puzzle pieces. I couldn’t just dive right in and try to put things together. That would take me a really long time and a lot of trying to put pieces together that don’t belong. For a more efficient way- it was better to separate the pieces that obviously didn’t belong with each other.
With the process of painting a church in Romania which I already talked about in a previous blog. But to quickly do a recap of that. With painting the church, there as a lot of prep details to work on that I usually like to skip past. But without doing that prep work, the final product wouldn’t of looked as good.
With the process of the sunrise in Greece and hiking 7 Rila Lakes in Bulgaria – I caught myself both during the beginning of the sunrise and about half way through the hike in Bulgaria, thinking “that was it”. Both were beautiful but both times what I didn’t realize at the time when I thought that was it- that there was SO much more to it. The sunrise got even prettier and the rest of the hike led me to see some of THE most breathtaking views (both literally and figuratively- that elevation ain’t no joke) lol.
In those moments I felt Jesus reminding me that often when we think “well, that’s that, this is it”, God has SO much more ahead.
So my question to you- where does the principle of the process through a puzzle, a sunrise in Greece, painting a church in Romania and hiking 7 Rila Lakes in Bulgaria- apply to our lives and what process is like?
Philippians 1:6
What else have I learned? I learned that Bathrooms here don’t always have toilet paper. Or they make you pay to use them. I learned how to use public transportation in a foreign country. What a great way to learn trust & vulnerability. I remember the first day I got on a bus by myself that I’ve taken a bunch of times with my team. All was going well until the bus took a turn it doesn’t usually and begins to take me to a part of the city I’ve never been to. Then asking around and nobody understanding a word I’m saying because uh English! haha. (don’t worry, eventually I found my way from a kind girl telling me what stop to get off to get on a metro that will take me where I needed to go).
But then also busses randomly kicking you off at night.
I remember the first time that happened. The bus driver just starts speaking in Bulgarian and someone says “We have to get off”.
Being dropped off at an unfamiliar stop in the cold- confused. But then we found out another bus was coming. Why they randomly kick you off? I’m not sure, maybe their shift is over or the bus needs maintenance.
Learning that McDonalds does taste better overseas ( I think ).
Dogs & cats. They are EVERYWHERE! And the amount of strength it takes for me not to fully approach these poor little animals -proves God is real haha.
But let’s be real, I have caved a few times. Like within the first week on the race in Ukraine I caved and pet a dog in a park. I remember In Romania I went and bought some meat for this doggy that was always near the same spot. I remember after I fed it, I didn’t see it for a few days and I thought I accidentally killed it haha. But then I saw it a few days later! 🙂
I’ve also learned what it’s like to somewhat go without. Things you’re used to having in America, you don’t always find overseas and sometimes that sucks hahah. But you learn to just do without it. The World Race so far really does teach you how to just take in any situation that comes your way. You have to.
So hmmm, yeah I think that’s all I got for now!
We just got to our Hostel in Da Nang, Vietnam! We’ll be here for a few days until we hear from God on where and what to do next as this is our ATL month!
On our 23hr bus ride that turned out to only be about 18hrs- I was praying and thinking about this month and the word I got for this month is compassion. So I would love your prayers for God to show me what that looks like and to bring me to a new depth of compassion.
If you got this far (Fist bump)
Much love, T.
Till next time!
