A little more than one week ago I lived in an orphanage in a surfing community in El Salvador. It was always hot and we woke up at 4:30 in the morning. Everyone spoke Spanish and on Fridays we killed chickens. We ate beans and rice every day. We worked with children. We lived on a compound. I loved my all-female team, Brazen Hearts.
Now, a little more than one week later, I live in the apartment of an American missionary family in Sofia, Bulgaria. Bulgaria is as different as can be from Central America. You can see snow on the tops of hills, for one. Fields are green and trees are pine. The alphabet is Cyrillic. We live in Sofia, the capital, and take the metro every day. We’ve gone from knowing pleasantries in the local language to knowing how to sound out words in the local language if you give us five minutes. We work with refugees from Africa and the Middle East. We hang out in parks, where people spend hours just sitting and talking, and most of all, playing chess. Bench after park bench is occupied by chess players and their audiences. Blossoms are everywhere.
Oh, and my team, Brazen Hearts is no more.
Life changes quickly and often on the Race, and this is the first really big shift I’ve experienced since we launched in January. All C Squad had their teams changed, so now all of us are dealing with living in brand new little communities. Team changes can happen for a variety of reasons, but this time, it was to raise up new team leaders have us continue the race in new groups, with people who have new things to teach us. I was blessed to be one of the leaders asked to step down, and I’ve really appreciated the rest. I’ve also appreciated our new team leader, Matthew Fitzgerald. We’re all lucky to have him as our humble, cheerful, loving leader!
My new team is pictured below. From left to right, we are: Daniel Williams, Deborah Jones, Kori Higdon (she was on my last team too), Matthew Fitzgerald, me, Nicole Bouza (previous Brazen Heart as well), and Arden De Cuir.
We had to think of a new name for our team. There were lots of ideas: Matthew’s Band, Fast and Furious 7 (because there are seven of us and we beat another team to Subway one night at dinner), Boxcar Children (because it sounded cool), Ask Me Next Week (Tanner told us that procrastination is big in Bulgaria). We decided on the name Deep Roots, which, besides prompting some awesome tattoo ideas, gets at the sense of maturity, strength, and faithfulness that God seems to be inviting us into this spring. Kori put it well: the last three months have been a time to adjust to life on the Race and experiencing what it means to leave behind what we’re used to. And now, as we get accustomed to this crazy, wonderful way of living, we have the chance to start really focusing on our work and on what God is doing around the world.
The other good reason we chose Deep Roots was because it shortens nicely to the very versatile “Doots.” As in, “Just doot it.” Or, “We’re in deep doot doo.” Or, “Doot you have the time?”
We Doots are staying with the Chadwick family from Tennessee, who have lived in Bulgaria for about three years. They have graciously opened their home to us, which means they have 7 extra people sleeping all over their family room and using up their toilet paper. It is so comforting to live here. After months of heat and bucket showers and bugs and dirt, it is pure luxury to be back in “normal” conditions, with a kitchen, hot water, internet, and TV. We are all appreciating their generosity, counsel, and hospitality.
The refugee ministry we’ll be involved with is just one of the programs run by the International Baptist Church in Sofia, one of 80 such churches worldwide. We get to do other things with IBC this month too. Today we went to a big park to hang out and see where God led us, and we ended up playing music and hanging out with some teenagers, swapping music recommendations. Tomorrow we ladies will be at a women’s Bible study. On Sunday three of us ran Sunday School and Arden and I helped lead worship on the piano. It looks like we’ll have several chances to do music-related things this month: singing at Easter, leading worship for ministries during the week, and even leading a Taize service on Good Friday! I’m so glad to be involved in musical ministry, and so glad to be involved in the life of IBC. Even though we’re missionaries, it’s been a while since we actually went to church: the kind with preaching, worship, and coffee after the 11 a.m. service.
This month be praying for my new team, Doots: pray for unity, good times, and that we would pursue God together! Check out their blogs and get to know them. As much as I miss Brazen Hearts, I am very excited about this new group! It feels like we’ve been together longer than a week, and I mean that in a good way.
