Hey everybody! I just wanted to send a quick update from the field. I am now in month 8 of the World Race. Month 8! How crazy is that? My team and I are paired with another team in Pitesti (Pitesht), a city in the south of Romania. We just left Kosova and drove through Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and then to Romania in a van with no air conditioning and only two windows on a 100-degree day! We crossed 4 borders, found mountain dew in a tiny gas station, handed out my snicker doodle cookies to bus drivers and border police whenever they would take them, and carried a goldfish in a pickle jar the whole time! When I heard we would have crazy adventures I didn’t quite know what to expect. Now I know you just roll with it and know that God is with you the whole way.
A quick blurb about Kosovo, please pray for this part of the world. Serbia is pressuring Kosovo into a trade that would set an unhealthy precedent for the rest of Eastern Europe. Serbia has proposed trading some of their cities bordering Kosovo for old Serbian cities across the border. Pray that God will intervene in these European nations and bring peace between the people here. These countries boundary lines have been fought over since Bible times. Kingdoms brought down for difference of religions. But what is even more upsetting is that this part of this world is the least reached people group for Christian missionaries. You would think that the Amazonian peoples or the little-known African tribes would be at the top, but it seems as if the Christian world has all but forgotten former Yugoslavia.
Now back to Romania! We will be working with Living Hope Church in Pitesti. On the weekends we will help host a summer camp for kids in different ghetto neighborhoods, get this, in our tents in the actual mountains! During the week we will help with the different ministries the church is involved in. Mostly they work to form small group ministries or house churches in the ghetto neighborhoods. Yesterday our host told us a little history of their church. They have been hosting world racers for 12 years now. A few years ago, God showed them that the big events and conferences they kept doing weren’t going to work. They needed to go into the neighborhoods that they wanted to reach and get to know the people, their situation, and their needs.
I cannot wait to get started! This is my last month in Europe before we fly to Zambia. How crazy is it to think that I will be home in 4 months! I miss all of you and have been praying for you. I love getting to watch my church’s weekly sermons and bible studies because it makes me feel a little more at home wherever I am. Going into these last 4 months I will need your prayers to stay focused on my mission here and not on my future there. Thank you all for your love and support!
