A week or so into Nepal, I got the e-mail I was thinking would come.
“Armenia Set Up Sheet!”
This is the e-mail that team leaders typically get a couple weeks before transitioning into the next country.
It has information about our host, location, ministry, etc.
But this e-mail was a little different.
It was one email, sent to all leaders, all with the same information.
All squad month?
Not quite.
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“Ministry Host: God
Contact: Holy Spirit
Phone number: Not necessary. Close your eyes and pray
Email: See above
Ministry Summary: See Matthew 10
Lodging: See Matthew 10:14”
Welcome to ATL. (Ask the Lord)
At first glance, this can seem scary or unsure or chaotic.
But from the second I landed in Armenia, my spirit has been covered in peace.
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Our team began to pray about Armenia, asking the Lord for visions, dreams, words, whatever we could get that would push us closer to His plan and not our preference.
That night, I had a dream.
I saw our team sitting in a coffee shop.
Cute chairs.
Couches.
Tables.
We were sitting with young women, and we were teaching them scripture.
Underlining, highlighting, smiling, deeply expressing the love of Christ within the words.
It was clear to me that we had created relationships with the baristas, waitresses, and regulars.
When I woke up, I knew I needed to find that coffee shop and start going there regularly, as soon as we arrived.
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Day 2 in Armenia, Allie, Katie, and I were walking around, and Allie asked me, “what was the main color in your coffee shop?”
I said, “dark tan.”
The night before, Jesus had told me I’d find the coffee shop the next day.
We were walking to meet Kaylin and Jezie, and Allie said, “let’s stop in here to get some coffee.”
We walked in and my heart was racing.
“This is it!! This is the coffee shop from my dream!!”
It felt right. Peaceful. Home-y.
I sat down, heart still pounding, and just looked up at Jesus.
He’s faithful.
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ATL is literally just waking up, asking the Lord where He wants you to go, what He wants you to do, and doing it.
It’s everyday life with the intentionality of being in tune with Holy Spirit at all moments.
How we should all live, right?
This morning, He told me to go paint in the coffee shop.
I came in with my computer, bible, paper, watercolors, and journal.
I sat in Psalm 31 for a little while & painted this…
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Then, this…
A woman came up beside me and smiled as she looked onto what I was doing.
She looked at the paper and mumbled something in Armenian.
I smiled back and said, “do you speak English?”
She responded, “oh yes… Ask the Lord what?”
“Anything,” I smiled.
