It’s Sunday night and I’m sitting in a room about half the size of my bedroom back home in Wisconsin. Couches and cushions are lined up around the room and I count about 45 people filling this small room. It’s nearing ten at night but time doesn’t matter here, not when they are worshiping God and praying with so much passion.
My stomach hurts and I’m beyond tired, but I hold as still as possible. I don’t want the girls to move. The girls on my right and my left have laid their heads on my shoulders and are holding my hands. Whether they are sleeping or praying I am not sure, all I know is that I never want this moment to end.
On my left is an 11-year-old girl. When I look at her I see a girl that is so smart and wise for a girl her age, a girl that could change the world, if only she was given a chance. To my right is a girl the age of 14 cuddles up next to me, wanting more than anything to just be loved. She is sweet, the kind of person you can’t help but fall in love with. Both girls could do such great things, if they were just given the chance.
You see, I’m sitting at a gypsy refugee camp. Most of the people here have fled from Kosovo years ago during the war. Sinisa is the pastor at this church and spends all of his time pouring into the people at the refugee camps. The majority of the refugees are Muslim, but those who have converted to Christianity are young, they have a fire for Christ like nothing I have seen before.
I look back to these girls on both sides of me and my heart breaks a little more. If these girls had been born into a different situation, their lives would look completely different. If they are going to get out of the places they are at now they will have to fight like hell. It seems so unfair, but then I look at the passion they have and the outrageous amounts of love they have for Jesus. They remind me that God has a plan for us. Even when things look so bleak and impossible, the girls put their whole trust in God, knowing that he works for the good of those who love him.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” –Jeremiah 29:11
It is a little after 10 when the church service finally ends. We have a time of fellowship and share some juice, cookies, and coffee. Yes, it is nearly 11 at night and we are having coffee. After all of this we say our goodbyes and Sinisa brings us home back to our church. On the way home we process with him all that we have seen and experienced, asking so many questions. At some point Sinisa tells us what he really needs is someone to stay working full time, someone that can help him with many day to day things.
Just like that I can feel my heart wrench, knowing that many moments like this is what the World Race is going to consist of. Each month I am going to fall madly in love with so many different people and places. I know that my heart will hurt and I will want to stay and do more. I am being constantly reminded of how great of a God we serve. That even after we leave God stays, because He was there in the first place! I have faith that he will keep doing great things in this country and that he is with the Gypsies of Konik, Montenegro.
I am completely inspired by all the people I have met at the gypsy camp, it was all God’s doing that we even stumbled upon this organization, and my team and I are so thankful that Sinisa keeps welcoming us back every Sunday.
