October 26th and October 27th both were days that I believe I will look back on at the end of the race as days that significantly impacted my overall world race experience.
October 26
Thank you George and Pam Zaiser for sponsoring October 26th! The day started off like most with a prayer walk in the morning. Most mornings I try to walk somewhere I haven’t walked before. The streets I came upon this morning in particular was undeniably a wealthier part of Sombor. It got me in the mindset of wanting to be with people who have less. I was looking forward so much to being able to engage with people who have less in more impoverished countries. For a brief second I thought why are we even here but then God reminded me that it’s not just the poor who need to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, everyone who doesn’t is spiritually poor and needs to be shown love and joy that God provides.
After our prayer walk the amount of work to do at the church was minimal and not something everyone could help with so some of us went grocery shopping to get team food. After getting back with the groceries I went to get wifi with a few others to get some work done before going to friend from the church’s house. We went to his house for a few hours to hang out for a bit but also to help him clear out his shed.
Our plan that night was to have a bible study with some people we had met but unfortunately only one person was able to make it so instead we decided to have a worship night. We went into the room where we have service and put on some worship music and in my time of prayer and reflection I really felt God telling me to let go of all the things I fear/worry me. So I made a list, which included things like, dancing, physical touch, living the single life, public speaking, not being enough, fundraising, and failing in general. From there I tried to process why I feared/ was worried about those things and speak truth into those areas. What I learned about some of these struggles was that I had almost put myself into those characteristics. I had become known as the guy who stood in the corner at a dance with my hands in my pockets. I had been the person who either runs away from a hug or has someone feel inclined to celebrate when I give them one. In reality for all of these fears and worries they have no place in my heart. Perfect love casts out fear and my heart is to love others and at the end of the day my identity is not found in what kind of dancer I am, what’s my relationship status, my ability speak in front of a crowd, whether I fail or not when I try something new. My identity is that I am a son of the creator of the universe who loves me unconditionally. As for things like worrying about fundraising and not being good enough, I know God called me on this trip. As long as my heart remains in the right place and my focus is on serving Him through loving those around me, whatever I do will be enough and He will provide. There is so much more to all of these and what God was telling me that night that I could go on and on about. If you’re interested in hearing more I’d love to organize a time to talk to you more.
October 27th
Thank you to my mom, Karen Anthony, for sponsoring October 27th! Once again the day started with a prayer walk. Though nothing really stood out to me on this walk, their is something really special about starting off your day with a prayer walk. After the walk we came back to the church and once again their was only the one job that needed to be done which was painting a small office. A couple people stayed behind at the church to take care of that, while others of us went to get wifi. We were having a party the next day at the church so I was trying to look up easy american snacks we can make for the party. After doing some research I went to the grocery store to scout out what the store actually had. The grocery stores here don’t have everything we are accustomed to back home. For example, beef is hard to find, marshmallows on their own are non existent, and peanut butter isn’t the same, what kind of resembles it is in a small jar and is crazy expensive. After scouting out groceries and prices we all met back up at church for a different kind of prayer walk exercise.
The exercise was called an ATL or Ask The Lord. Basically we pray about where God is leading us and we go. Having been on trips with Adventures in Missions before I have had some ATL experiences and always have seen God move in those times. I’ve learned for me the Holy Spirits “voice” isn’t always an audible “GO HERE!” sort of commanding voice but often comes in the form of hunches or thoughts that pop into my head during prayer leading up to the walk. When we prayed at the start of the walk I felt like we were supposed to go to the market and a church. Something I have been wanting to do was work with the poor more and our walk at the end had led us to an orthodox church where people were outside begging for money. This was my first experience with poor people here in Serbia. They were outside the church because people here often give money every time they go into the church, therefore they knew people had money on them and the hope was that christians would have the heart to help them. As I mentioned earlier, from the beginning I had felt like we were supposed to go to the church and from the moment we saw the poor outside the church I knew we were there to help them. We went to the near by bakery and bought some bread and water to hand out. After we handed out the food at the church I went into a time of personal reflection and talking with God. From this I strongly felt led to go on a bread and water fast starting tomorrow (we are visiting a local who made dinner for us) to try to further understand what these poor people are going through on a daily basis. I don’t exactly know how long God is calling me to do this but I think that’s the point. I share this with you all not so you can be impressed. In fact a part of me didn’t want to share this and keep this private between God and myself. However I feel led to share incase any of you want to join me in this fast. You all are my support group and I am thankful for that and as this is a journey that we walk together I wanted to extend the invite. God willing we will never understand what it means to be in their shoes, but I feel like this will at least enlighten me/us in some aspect as for what they are going through.
I didn’t start this fast on the 27th because a local was having us over for dinner and I didn’t want him to feel offend for me not eating his food he made for us. It was a great night of fellowship and getting to know him and each other even more. Once we got back to the house we had some more good conversation and then when everyone went to bed I watched some star wars waiting for 2:15am Serbia time so I could call home to wish my mom a happy birthday!
