I feel like I’m always updating about the practical. About details of where I’m living, because that’s what I love to write about. So, let me share a little about what is on my heart and what God has been doing through me and in me…. and of course all my practical writing too.
It was a typical dreary day this past Monday when we all woke up, all 3 teams boarded a bus to Dublin to reunite with the rest of our squad. We knew it was going to be an exhausting 4 days of travel but we were excited to see everyone and find out what all the other teams had been doing that month.
We awoke and boarded another plane to Istanbul, Turkey. Running on little sleep we tried as best as we could to spend another night in an airport. 7 hours later…. we get on another plane to Kiev, Ukraine. We step out into the hot, crowded, poverty stricken streets to walk to the train station. In the midst of the beautiful train station were men gawking at women, and women dressed so scandalously that it made me blush and look away. Sitting out on the street outside of a mcdonalds, (ice cream cone and wifi device in hand) I had to look away because dogs were running around uncared for and in desperate need of love and a vet.
My team decided to go to a restaurant that night for pizza. Extremely under budget, we were each able to get our own pizza! After all those travel hours, being in cultural shock, and in serious need to process what was happening from this past month and what was about to happen in my life this upcoming month… I had a melt down. On a scale from 1-10 and 10 being the most awful meltdown, it was about a 3. I sat with my team and just poured out my heart and asking them why God is doing this to these people? Why is He doing this to these animals? Why am I so blessed and they aren’t?? WHY?!? It didn’t make sense to me. All I could do was cry as my heart was broken for these people…. and that was just after 1 day.
We were given random train tickets in various orders for our over night ride to L’viv, Ukraine where my team and 1 other are staying this month. As I looked for a familiar face that was on the same train car as me, my teammate Tom and I literally had to squeeze with our big packs and day packs through the narrowest hall ever to find our sleeping compartment. We arrive to the smallest room I have ever seen with two Russian ladies that just stood there gaping at us. They didn’t speak any English but in that short 2 minute staring we all seemed to understand that our massive big packs and their stuff was going to be a challenge. Some how we made it all work out. 3 buckets of sweat later, 10 hours, random Russian music blaring, I stumbled out off the train and into the English speaking arms of the Blessing Family. Yes, you read that correctly, our AMERICAN ministry hosts this month have the name BLESSING as their last name!
They drove all of us, and all of our crazy gear to a small village that was founded in 1250. This village also has a concentration camp from days gone by.
As we entered their home, we realized this is more than a home. This is a home that God built. We all have BEDS with LINNENS, 3 showers, closets, yes, closets!!! Closets that are NICER than the ones I have at home. WIFI!!!!!! And endless amounts of purified water!
So, even though God is breaking my heart for this nation already, He is guiding me through it, holding me tight and still comforting me.
God worked miracles with our entire squad even on travel days. We all have packs that weigh between 40 and 50 pounds. We realized that Turkish airlines only give 44 pounds for checked bags and only 8 pounds for our day packs. Most of us freaked out and wondered HOW this was going to happen. One hour later we found out that after talking with them….. they were giving us 66 pounds for EVERYONE! Yup.
Once we got to Ukraine and had to go through Customs… somehow they just waved us through, no questions. Only our group!
This is stuff only God could pull off.
He takes us to the most poverty stricken countries and still manages to give us the best blessings he could come up with.
God is good, all day, every day!
