Here’s how it started..
I came into The World Race expecting big surprises.. I knew that God was limitless and that with the Fusion ministry being solely based on listening to God’s voice, there would come unexpected changes.. So why would I still so surprised that God’s added so many new countries on our list?
Our team had just finished walking the Camino de Santiago and we were still praying for guidance for our next steps. We knew that our next country was Serbia, but when we aren’t changing continents, we are in charge of transportation from country to country and the cheapest option for us to get straight there was a bus ride that would last almost three days.. THREE. DAYS. Let’s just say, there are plenty of countries in between Spain and Serbia and we had a feeling that God wouldn’t just have us pass through some of them.
Though it was extremely out of the way, our cheapest option to get to Serbia was to stop in Paris. Since I had last visited Paris, it has been a strong desire of my heart to return. I went two years ago as a tourist, but I wanted to see the city again but in the way that God did. I don’t want to see the world with a worldly view- only seeing countries and not investing in them. I wanted to know the spiritual needs in Paris and how God wanted to use such a powerful city to impact the world. Though we knew that Paris was the cheaper option, I didn’t want to say anything to sway our team’s decision. It was one of those moments where I thought, “Okay God.. Is this YOU that’s placed this desire in my heart or is it my own?” But as we were praying, the Lord had laid France on my teammate, Kate’s, heart and we prayed further into it and God gave us so much peace about the decision!
Then, God did the impossible. Over and over and over again.
At this point, we knew that God wanted us in Paris.. But let’s be honest. Our budget makes it almost impossible to stay there. It was already amazing enough that transportation was cheaper to go to Paris from Madrid. Our lodging is $7 per person per night and $5 a day for food. When we looked for lodging, no AirBnb’s or hostels could be found.. A cardboard box on the streets might not even suffice. We reached out to so many friends, friends of friend’s, churches, etc.. But nothing was working out. However, God called us… So we took the leap of faith and booked bus tickets for the next day. The next morning, we were expecting to hop on the bus and figure out accommodations when we got to Paris. It was a pretty long ride, so we had some time. But the morning we left, our squad-leader from Paris sent us a message saying that her friend would love to have us stay with her!
So that was it! We were getting ready to head to France! We stopped at a Starbucks before our bus-ride and decided to stay for a few hours so we wouldn’t have to carry our bags around all day. My teammate, Grace, and I went to go get some food while the other girls watched our bags. When we came back, Grace’s day-pack was missing. We looked everywhere and sadly accepted that it was stolen. We had two hours before our bus left for Paris and her Passport, which was in the bag, was gone for good. They filed a police report and we knew that we needed passports to get on the bus. When got to the station and started to board the bus, the driver told Grace that she couldn’t get on without her passport. She tried explaining the situation and showing him her police report, to which he sighed and warned her that she probably wouldn’t be able to cross the border because the police always check the buses. He said they’re pretty strict and wouldn’t accept a police report. So we prayed. A lot. It was around 2:00 in the morning when we crossed the border and the police came on the bus. When they got to Grace, she showed them her police report (written in Spanish) and they allowed her to stay without any questions. It was so smooth! What a miracle!! Then around 9:00 that morning, the police stopped us again. This time, they had everyone exit the bus and take out our luggage. Dogs checked out bags and the checked everyone’s passports.. But completely looked over our groups! God did it again!!
Our faith seemed to get tested, repeatedly. We started off with booking bus tickets to a city where we had no lodging, then hopped on a bus where the driver told us from the start that we wouldn’t make it to France. But God is FAITHFUL. There was a point on the bus where I began to worry a bit, thinking of game plans in case things didn’t work out, but God stopped my thoughts. His words hit me, “Do you know who your God is? I am the God of the universe- the God of the impossible. The God that performs miracles on the daily. And I am on your side.” I started to laugh, immediately. How could I have doubted Him for a moment?!
What we did in Paris.
We stayed with the sweetest woman, Sabrina, and her son, Gabriel, in Paris! It was Sabrina’s prayer for her home to be used by God so she was so thankful to have the four of us girls stay with her! She helped provide for us in ways that we couldn’t have ever imagined. She provided breakfast and dinner for us, daily, and had blessed us so many times. She was so hospitable and from day one, she took us with her to her Connect group through Hillsong Paris. It was so refreshing! We’re amazed at how quickly everything came together. We were able to do some cool things with Hillsong, like feed the homeless, attend their church a couple of times, go to dinner and a movie with their pastor and other people from the church, and attend their Encounter Conference! They had an Australian speaker at Encounter and the head pastor of Hillsong France preached on Sunday, so attending Hillsong was the first time that we all had heard a sermon in English this year. The Encounter was such a special time for me and the Lord did so much in my heart through those two days.
We also had been given an incredible opportunity to help a young couple startup a new café in Paris, called Cafe Bienvenue. They hire refugees in Paris and their mission is to create a space that’s really welcoming to refugees and French people alike and a place that feels like a home away from home for people who are fleeing persecution in their own countries. Inside the café, they’ll be hosting all sorts of workshops like story time for kids, language classes where refugees teach their native language, writing workshops, and music workshops all aimed at helping refugees and host society connect. We got connected with them through a new friend that is a missionary in Paris through an art ministry. I had been given her name and before we met her, we messaged her and she didn’t have anything that we could help out with at the time, so she connected us with her church friends that were starting up the cafe! They had been working so hard on the cafe, they were helping lead their churches youth group, and they had just had a baby 6 months prior (He’s the sweetest baby I’ve ever seen!) so they were pretty busy, but they juggled it all so well! They told us that it was perfect timing when we came! Before going to Paris, my prayer was to have an opportunity to help refugees. It was definitely an answered prayer to be able to work alongside a couple who’s cafe is going to make a long-lasting impact on the refugees who walk into this home to all! Also, remember when we helped startup a cafe in Cusco that hired people with special needs?! We’re pretty sure it’s no coincidence that we had such a similar ministry in Paris, as well. God is so cool!
Leaving Paris was difficult. We had connected with so many people in such a short amount of time and such great relationships were made. We were told many times that we will always have a place to come back to in Paris and I firmly believe that. In just two weeks, the sweet city became like a piece of home. I believe that God is doing so much in Paris and He’s using the influential city to change the world for the better, someday.
Budapest?!
I am currently on a bus to Novi Sad, Serbia, where my team and I will be staying for the next four days. We’ve spent the last three days in Budapest, Hungary because it was laid on one of my teammate’s hearts, but we didn’t know why the Lord was leading us there when it was so close to our next country. We stayed at a YWAM base and only really connected with one person, who was the missionary living at the base. BUT GUYS.. He was from Serbia! It was a man from Serbia! And he was a Christian! What are the chances of that? There are so many events going on in Serbia right now, so lodging again has been difficult to find because hostels are booked. But out of the blue, he offered to connect us with his church in Nis, where they have rooms for us to stay in and opportunities for us to work with them. I love having a Father that pieces everything together for us.
Here’s how you can pray for my team.
- We are still looking for accommodations for tonight.. Pray that this goes smoothly!
- Most of Serbia’s population is Orthodox Christian, but it’s more of a religion than anything. Marko, the missionary in Hungary, told us that actually practicing Christianity like we do, where we have a relationship with Christ, will caused you to be shunned by your family. Pray that we can be LIGHT and TRUTH to the people that we encounter. My heart’s desire is for people to see the beauty in who Christ is and what He did for us.. And for their lives to be changed for the better by receiving the Father that has loved them for so long.
- Pray that we boldly pursue everything that God has for us in Serbia and for beautiful testimonies to come from the friendships that we build in Serbia.
- My teammates and I are still support-raising! Pray that God provides the rest of our funds and that we can continue to trust in God’s provision in this with confidence. 🙂
