Hey all!
It feels like I haven’t slept in about four days cause… well… I haven’t really. 🙂 It’s all good… it’s been worth it.
I fit all my necessities for a year into a backpack (praise GOD!), packed up the rest of my stuff, moved out of my house, unloaded it at my parents’ place, and then drove to NYC with my dad at 3am on Tuesday. I have an amazing popster. 🙂 I slept for a few hours at a hotel with some teammates, then met up with the rest of them at JFK, flew out Wednesday night to Paris, France, had a layover there for a few hours, and then arrived in Kiev, Ukraine at around 5pm tonight. We’re here! We made it! I’m officially on THE WORLD RACE!! WOO!!
It still feels so surreal that it’s actually happening. I’ve been planning vigorously for this for so long… and to actually be living in it now is just… well… kinda crazy. But I love it. 🙂
I realize I have been working on my training camp blogs for weeks now and haven’t posted them yet… so there’s some info you don’t know. (Being super thorough and a perfectionist doesn’t help too much when it comes to blogging… I’m working on it.) 🙂 But yea, long story short… training was amazing and we found out our teams and I LOVE MY TEAM!! We are Team JUBILEE and it’s more fitting for us than you can imagine. God has truly begun to mold us together in unity in HIM as a family and it’s so beautiful! I can’t wait to see what happens this year and I truly feel honored to be working with these FAITH WARRIORS! These people are legit. No lie. 🙂 More on all of them later… but here’s a picture!
Going in a kind of clockwise circle from the back to the front is: Aly, Tyler, Justin, Carin, Brittany, Tracy, and me. 🙂 YAY TEAM!!! 🙂
Ok I’m going to bed soon cause we leave tomorrow for a 29-hour train ride to ROMANIA for our first month of ministry!! I’m so excited!! I love the train (good childhood memories), and I’m sure it’s gonna be even more fun in a foreign country! What what! 🙂
We’ll actually be working with a ministry there called JUBILEE!!!!! How divine is that?! Same name as us. I love it! I don’t know too much about it yet… but apparently it’s a house for about 30 girls who have been victims of abuse and abandonment, etc. We’re just gonna love on them as much as we can – I can’t wait.
It turns out there were only 7 ministry contacts in Ukraine for June and 8 teams… so we’re the ONLY team from our squad that will be venturing to Romania this month! We’re so hardcore, lol. I like to call us the SWAT team sometimes. 😉
Ok so one quick story and then I’m done! Promise! We were roaming the Ukrainian streets today with all our bags (we didn’t stick out like a sore thumb at all…) looking for our hostel. We were kinda lost, but all in JOYFUL spirits (cause that’s how we roll) and trying to play the game “How many Ukrainians can you make SMILE?!” We had a team tally going and we were up to about 10 all together when our count skyrocketed! We met this man named VadiJAH (? I don’t really remember how to say, let alone spell it… sorry bud!), but he was amazing. (He was wearing a “USA” hat too! LOL Alex – I thought you’d enjoy that.) 🙂 He knew almost no English and we know basically NO Ukrainian… and yet he felt compelled to try his very best to communicate with us. He had such a gentle, joyful spirit about him and we “talked” (well, tried to communicate at least) for a good twenty minutes. He kept leaving us and then coming back to say hi and try again. He then began asking people on the streets to help him translate what he wanted to say. After many rejections from his fellow countrymen, one nice woman stopped and decided to lend a hand. He spoke quickly and excitedly to her for a few minutes… and then she smiled, looked up at us, and said, “He wants you to know how happy he is that you’ve come to visit his country and that you are welcome here.” We were so touched and tried our best to pronounce “thank you” in his language. He then spoke again with this woman who had become our impromptu translator, and this time spoke incredulously about something. His whole heart was in what he was saying. After he finished the woman looked up at us again with a smile and repeated the same thing she had said the first time, “He is very happy that you’re here and is so pleased to meet you. You are welcome here!” We felt so loved! He was deeply genuine in his desire to simply make his feelings known. “You are welcome in my home.”
This experience taught me a few things. One, I felt like God was speaking right to us through that man, whether he realized it or not. “You’re welcome in this land.” That’s a good feeling. 🙂 It also truly amazed me how persistent he was in trying to get his message across. He was rejected again and again by people as they passed him by on the streets, ignoring his pleas for help. We didn’t understand what he was saying… even though he tried again and again to make it known. I can’t help but think this is a metaphor for what we’re about to embark on. We have a MESSAGE to share with the WORLD: the HOPE and LIFE and LOVE and FREEDOM of Christ! This is an IMPORTANT message and something we should be AS excited about, if not SO MUCH MORE than Vadijah was to share with us. I pray that we can have the same vigor, persistence in the face of adversity, and heartfelt compassion to those we encounter over the coming months. He was never frustrated with us – simply gentle, patient, loving, and genuine. It was truly a beautiful experience. On the way back we just prayed for him as we walked – thanking God for bringing us together, for the encouragement he offered, and we prayed that the Lord would reveal Himself to that man in mighty ways and truly bless his life. It was a pretty sweet time. 🙂
Would I have been so inclined to teach a foreigner some of my own language or go out of my way for close to a half hour just to make them feel welcomed and loved in my country? Probably not. It was definitely an eye-opener to how I often treat others and yet how I want to strive to live. Thanks Vadijah. Thanks God. It’s just the first day, and already Jesus is beginning to transform me. 🙂 I can’t wait for more!
Love you all – thanks for reading! 🙂
