It’s been a while since my last post, which means that there’s some catching up to do.
We left Albania, headed toward Romania, passing through Kosovo with the intent of passing through Serbia and then Bulgaria to get to Romania. At the Serbian border, we found out that if you have an Albanian stamp in your passport, then you cannot enter Serbia via the Kosovo border. So we turned south and passed through Macedonia. By this time, we had realized that our detour put us behind schedule significantly, so instead of first going to Draganesti (Dragon-esht) and then to Bucharest, we redirected straight to Bucharest.
We held debrief in Bucharest. That was a nice week for us to gather as a squad with our leaders, coaches, and mentor, and to process what we all had experienced in Month 1.
One thing that I saw that has stuck out to me was a reminder that God’s strength is made perfect in my weakness. During our two weeks of kids’ camp, I felt that working with kids was not my gift. Even in the States, where I speak the language, I struggle to relate to young children. So imagine me around 50 kids who don’t speak much English and I speak all of 3 words in Albanian. It was a frustrating experience for someone who feels like I can fit into any situation and be successful. So I went 2 weeks like this. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it, and it was a lot of fun to play with the kids and to see them enjoying themselves so much, but I felt that I was not connecting. On the last day of camp, we had a crafts day, and one of the little girls showed me how to make those rubberband bracelets, and then she gave me one that she had made. It was a simple gesture that spoke volumes. In that instant, she redeemed all of my feelings of inadequacy during those two weeks, because through that little girl, God reminded me that His strength is made perfect in my weakness.
After debrief, we caught at train to Draganesti, which will be our ministry base for Romania. Except that Draganesti is a relatively small town, so the train station is proportionally diminutive. So when the train stopped in what sort of seemed like the middle of nowhere and somebody said “this is us, everybody off!” there was some understandable confusion and concern. Fortunately, it was the right stop.
In Draganesti, several of my squadmates, including myself, felt heavy or down. There was an emotional and spiritual darkness in that place. During our orientation on the second day, our ministry host told us that there used to be women in the town who practiced witchcraft and who cast spells over the mission house, the church, and the ministry in general. Regardless of how you feel about witchcraft, there is very real, tangible spiritual warfare going on in that place. After this realization, I prayed for the Lord’s strength, peace, and joy. I began to feel better, but still was not back to myself.
Our ministry host wanted to take us to Greece for a week of ministry (and a little tourism), so most of the squad is in Thessaloniki this week. I look forward to giving y’all an update on what God does here in a few days when we head back to Draganesti.
A quick preview/update for Greece:
– I have talked with a few squadmates and we agree that we feel much better emotionally and spiritually here than we did in Draganesti, which reinforces the idea that there is significant spiritual warfare underway there. Please pray for strength for those who remained there this week, as well as for the rest of us when we return on Monday.
– Instead of emotional and spiritual heaviness, in Greece we have experienced some physical illness. Several people, including me, have been sick. Please pray for God’s protection and healing from illness. (Don’t worry Mom, I’m back to 100%.)
