Sometimes you get through them without any real problems, like our bus ride from Bulgaria to Romania, where I was able to take a Dramamine and sleep for the majority of our 12 hour bus ride.
And sometimes…well…let me tell you about our travel day from Serbia to Bulgaria.
It was Monday night in Belgrade, Serbia. My team was traveling with the two other teams that were in Serbia this month, team Talitha Cumi and team Warriors of Light. Our train was set to depart at 9:50pm an arrive in Sofia, Bulgaria around 8am the next morning. We got on the train early and everyone got into a compartment. Everything was great and we were all set for our 9 hour train ride.
I watched a movie and then decided to relax and listen to music. I was really enjoying myself.
Then we got to Niš, and after we left the station, they went through the train, checking tickets again. When they got to our group, we directed the man to Marie who had our group ticket.
When I saw Marie out in the hallway of the train, I knew something was up, When she came into our compartment and asked to talk to Erin, I really knew something wasn’t quite right. (Marie and Erin were our appointed team leaders since our leaders had left for debrief early.)
Sure enough, the door opens again and we’re told that the train will be stopping in 10 minutes and that we need to get off when it does.
Turns out, the train we were on was actually headed to Macedonia.
I had no idea how this happened, but we got off the train when it stopped and there we were, at this dinky little train station in the middle of Serbia.
It was 3:15am.
We were told that another train would be coming at 6am to take us back to Niš, where we would be able to get a train to Sofia.
So we waited. I napped on my first bench, curled up in my sleeping bag.
When 6am rolled around, the train came and took us back to Niš, but of course there wasn’t anywhere for anyone to sit on the train. So we stood in the aisles, with all of our stuff.
When we finally got back to Niš, we thought we would be catching a train to Sofia. We were wrong. We ended up getting on a tiny, one car, train that took us about 3 hours away to a little town called Dimitrovgrad, which was right by the border to Bulgaria.
After waiting around the train station in Dimitrovgrad for a while, and still not sure how we were getting to Sofia, we walked about 20 minutes across town to the bus station, getting many stares from the locals, as usual. We thought we would finally be boarding a bus to Sofia.
Nope.
The bus we planned to get on, turned out to be a bus to the border. A whole 3 minutes away.
And then it started to rain.
And then we walked through the border crossing.
In the rain.
(photo credit:Erin Costello)
When we got to the other side of the border crossing, we were kind of at a loss. Marie and Erin were doing everything they could to try and get us a ride to where we needed to go, but everything kept falling through.
Finally, it was suggested that we start praying for favor as a group. We needed God to show up, and show up, He did.
As we prayed, we watched Erin and Marie walking around trying to figure things out. And as we watched them, we could see on their faces that things were falling into place.
Finally, they came back to us and said that they found someone who knew a guy with a van that would take us all the way to the hostel we needed to go to, and he’d be there in 40 minutes.
Cue the cheers and tears! God is seriously amazing.
So we pulled out the snacks, got comfy on our pile of packs, and waited. I’m pretty sure we waited a lot longer than 40 minutes, but I’m not really sure because I fell asleep. (Right there at the border crossing, in the middle of a pile of packs. Welcome to the World Race!) When the man finally came, he took us right to the door of our hostel, even when he had to stop a few times to get directions. He didn’t speak any English, but he was so generous, and we were so grateful.
The point of the matter is this, travel days get crazy, but it’s amazing how God can show up when you need Him. And, honestly, it would be better to go to Him first. We always realize this in hindsight, but what kind of amazing things could we see if we always went to God immediately? He wants to give good things to His children. So from this crazy experience, I’m learning to go to Him first, and I challenge you to do the same. When things start to get crazy, remember the one who brings peace to every situation. Remember the One who’s in control.
You’ll be surprised by the difference it makes.
Update on Fundraising: I currently have $8,779 in my account. I need to have $11,000 in my account by the end of this month. That means I'm still in need of $2,221 by October 1st.
I ask that you prayerfully consider donating so that I can stay on the field.
Thank you so much for your support and prayer thus far. God Bless You!
