My ruthless team, abundance, is in Romania this month and our ministry is evangelism. Straight walking around the streets of Alba Iulia and talking with people about Jesus. I just wanted to share a few of the stories the Lord has given me the privilege of being a vessel!! He is so so good.
One story that had really cool connections (Jesus really cares about the little things y’all!!) was Marc. Marc was a nineteen-year-old pre-med student from a city two hours away from us. He just drove down to Alba by himself to learn more about the history. He loves music festivals and weirdly enough we both saw Bastille in 2014. We talked with him for a while about how Jesus is the center of our lives and how we cannot do this life without him. He had a beautifully open mind on all the things and asked us our opinions on things he shared his opinion on. It was just a great conversation about Jesus and life and music and everything.
Then there’s Mary. Mary is a fourteen year old that Teresa (our legend of a mentor) chased down at a crosswalk of one of the busiest intersections in Alba. We sat down at a coffee shop and started talking about her story. It lined up a good bit with my story and I got to connect with her in a really unique way. Both our dads have passed away and both of us are super interested in the medical field. Part of the way through the conversation she mentioned she felt like I can understand her. I started to really see this gift of compassion overflowing that has been spoken over me so many times. She had to leave to catch a bus, so I gave her a hug (big deal if you know me – no likey the physical touch) to encourage her growing up with the absence of an incredibly important influence.
The last story I want to share is one of the most beautiful ones I’ve seen on the race. One of my teammates and the squad leader that is with us this week were walking around a less familiar part of Alba. (This is the story the title comes from so stay with me ok!!) We ended up spending some time with a man sitting outside of a bar. He has read the bible through SEVEN times and had no idea how grace affected him. He didn’t know what it was. It blew my mind. It’s insane how the church can be all about head knowledge. There’s no faith or believing, it’s just knowing facts. But it makes sense, because there’s no risk involved and it’s “safe” to just show up when you want. If you don’t really give your life to Jesus you don’t really get life from Jesus though. That’s the message our squad leader was explaining to him. At the end of the conversation, he decided he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart!!!!!!! How freaking cool is it that starting a conversation with a random man in the courtyard of a bar in Romania was the push he needed to give his life to the Lord!
I’ve learned so much about myself here in Romania. My team and our leadership has spoken SO much into me to build me up. I’m beginning to live out things I’ve always been intimidated by like evangelism and learning to play music. I’m still SUPER new at both, but you gotta start somewhere! I’ve learned I NEVER get tired of being in awe of the mountains, or climbing them. I have also learned that every single person on my squad is absolutely resilient in following the Lord, and a lot of them haven’t learned it about themselves.
If you’d like to hear more stories or more details about these, chat me up!
Love always,
Alexis
