Hello and welcome to my super late blog…BUT IT’S GOOD at least a summary. I’d love to tell you the full details of everything that has happened, but they would take a very very long time.
Bolivia:We traveled once a week to various cities throughout Bolivia.
The first city we traveled to is basically in the middle of the jungle on a mountain helping out in an orphanage. Our main job was to lead bible studies for the different age groups they had. I got to help out with the babies (ages 5 months old to 3 years old) in one house for a few hours and it was honestly the longest I’ve ever played with babies. They would crawl all over me and ask for piggy back rides and I’d gladly run around with them on my back as they directed me where to go. After we left there in our land cruiser that would drive us everywhere we got back on the “road” which was actually dirt trails through the mountains with jungle all around you. We finally made it to a village called Caranavi. There was only one church in this village and our living area consisted of a free hostel that provided a small cement room with beds made of straw with a tiny window with mosquito net. We waited there for about a day and a half because no one knew (including the villagers) where the pastor went. When he finally arrived he asked us to give a 2 hour teaching and we had 2 hours to prepare for it. <- ask for stories about his later (and most of Bolivia. It’s a very long story for that whole country). We also ended up hiking a 2 day Incan trail into the jungle to share the gospel with a remote village of Christians. <- another fun story there and back.
Albania: I have no idea how we got to that country because I passed out from exhaustion through 2 whole border crossings. On the other hand when we made it the country was amazing!! This was our MANistry month where us C Squad guys joined with the B Squad guys. (that isn’t normal). It was such a fun and relaxing month of laughs with the kitchen ladies who cooked with us! The church we were staying at was about 20 years old and after a communist rule in the country where Christianity was outlawed. This means a lot of the people that worked there were very young. Including the band! The church worship band consisted of all 15-19 year old guys that were extremely talented. Our ministry this month was very much so leading morning devotionals to playing with kids in the day care they were partnered with to praying and ministering to people in the hospital. This was probably one of my favorite months so far because the church truly made me feel like I was at home with old friends who I could laugh and be with instead of it feeling like a business partnership.
Greece: Now this was an interesting month. We had the chance to go into the refugee camps and just in general make them happy! There was little to no Christian organizations around because the UN does not like Christianity and was methodically kicking out all organizations affiliated to Christianity. So we partnered for a day with a Muslim one. Yup. You read that right. We partnered with a Muslim organization feeding and entertaining the children because it was the end of the Muslim holiday called Ramadan. It felt weird at first, but then I realized that this was how God works. It doesn’t matter if it’s a atheist or different religion. He WILL get His lights of the world into wherever He wants them to. So in working with this Muslim organization we were able to bring Jesus where He would have otherwise not been wanted.
Romania: In Romania we worked in Olt County. This place is called the “Christian Graveyard” and for good reason. Only about .1 – .5% of this area is Christian. The people used to have a large witch doctor problem and many of the people still worship idols, signs, and Satan. The people of this area actually pray the name of Satan on their kids and I’m not even making this up. I wish I was. My squads ministry this month was very much so street evangelizing, handing out new testament bibles, and doing house visits. I got to get in on a little of this action, but most of the month I was helping rebuild the tile roof of a would-be church for a new church being planted there. It was a huge blessing getting to do this because I was able to get to know my host more and also live life by some men who haven’t accepted Jesus as their savior yet. Also! PVT (parent vision trip) happened that month. My parents flew into Romania and got to work alongside me in building God’s kingdom. We did house visits and handed out New Testament bibles on the streets. The most impactful thing to me would be when we did house visits. My parents did it so naturally just talking to someone of a different culture and encouraging them in the promises Christ has for us.
Quick note before you realize I’m in Africa. I’ve never actually wanted to come to this continent ever, but the Lord has me here anyway and I’m prepared to do whatever He has set before me.
Ethiopia: So we just made it to Ethiopia about 5 days ago and so far we’ve had about 20 people come to Christ. Our ministry so far has been street evangelizing with a tool called the “Evangecube” It shows a brief story of Jesus death and resurrection. We are able to gather MASSIVE crowds simply because we stand out so much. It’s so fun seeing all of the kids look at us with amazement that someone as white as us could even exist (and yes we have made a few babies cry just by looking at them). As wifi is not very accessible where I’m at I’m hoping to get at least 1 more blog in at the end of this month.
Love you all and thanks for reading!
