Man, keeping up with these blogs is a true discipline. God has been teaching me a ton these past two months. Last month we were in Kosovo working in what was called “Manistry” where all the men on the squad got together and formed a team. That month was a stretching month where God was teaching me about my identity. It was not easy or fun, but it was good and it was needed. He knew some changes and corrections needed to be made in my life and he used these men to do that.
To give you a little background about Kosovo, it you are unfamiliar with this small country, Kosovo is the second newest country in the world. Kosovo has fought for its independence from Serbia for a while and recently has been recognized as its own country. Kosovo is about 90% ethnic Albanians. Not to get into the politics, as I have seen and lived on both sides, I have seen pain and heard many stories. Throughout all of this one thing kept coming to mind as I though of Kosovo: Hope. Despite all the pain and suffering and bloodshed, there is hope. Hope for a better future for many families, hope for a new economy, new government structure, new freedoms, and even the eternal Hope that Christ brings. With Kosovo being predominately (96%) a Muslim country, there is a great opportunity for the hope and love of Christ to be made known here. Please pray for the believers there as they are very much the minority.
In Kosovo we lived with an American family who has been there many years, planting their family there. This was their “home”. We were blessed with the opportunity to partner with them in ministry. Our team was divided up into two groups: Jon, Jason, and Zach (Water for Life), and Doug, Justin and I (Prishtina High School). This was difficult for team unity as we did not get many opportunities to work alongside each other. We were usually separated for a majority of the day. However, the Lord redeemed that and we got to work together by the end of it in the school finishing up the library.
The Water for Life project was in conjunction with a couple NGO’s and Rotary. Our team went into villages and schools all over Kosovo presenting to elementary students the benefits of clean drinking water, safe hygiene, and taking care of the environment. They got to play soccer with the kids and teach them.
The other half of our team went to Prishtina High School, a private school started by our host John and Ruth. Every morning we would head in on the public bus from our home about an hour away from the capital. When we got to the school we would spend most of our time organizing their library. This was our main project for the school, organizing and cataloging these 7,000 or so books. We ended up looking up each book, finding its corresponding Dewey Decimal Number, labeling them, and putting them in their correct place based on their category. What a task! You should have seen our efficiency; we were a well-oiled machine by the end of it. What a blessing it was when Zach, Jon, and Jason finished up with their project and came to help us out. I don’t know where we would have been without them.
A lot happened in November. From bowling and Mexican food for my birthday, to watching sunsets at a fellow British missionaries’ farmhouse on top of a mountain, sharing my testimony and song to an art class at Prishtina HS, playing American football with Team Valor, joining up with Arton (My friend from Albania) and his ministry with campus students, walking in the rain, playing Romanian Settlers of Catan and playing countless hours of soccer both with students and staff. God has a plan for Kosovo and has not forgotten them. There are faithful men and women planted there for the long-haul, seeking to transform lives for the Kingdom of God. I am learning more and more that long-term missions provide the solid foundation from which short-term missions is able to have an impact. In reality everything is based on relationships. Sadly, we are only there for a month and then we leave. What can we do in a month? This is all true if we are operating on our own. But we are not, we are ambassadors of the Most High God. And so our efforts are not in vain. God uses us to plant seeds that he has a plan and purpose for. Whether that be for someone else to come alongside and water or reap the harvest, that is in God’s hands. We are here to do what He calls us to, whatever part of that process we might be. We do it gladly and humbly knowing that He loves these people so much more than we do.
“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
-Galatians 1:10
Growth hurts. This verse has popped into my head more times that I can count. I have made many mistakes and will continue to make even more, but God has been showing me what His grace looks like in those moments. My people-pleasing side begs for attention and keeps pounding away telling me I am not worthy, keeps speaking lies. In those moments He reminds me that I am not here to please man, I am here to please God. In doing so I desire to do it with the best of my ability and where I lack, I trust that He will fill. God is in the business of drawing people closer to Him, and oftentimes this doesn’t “feel” good. Stripping away the bad habits, chipping off the unhealthy views, prying away the lies, breaking the pride does not “feel” good and the longer I wait to embrace Him and His way of doing things, the harder and more painful it will feel.
While I am not called to seek the approval of man, I am called to love them and serve them because He first loved and served us. But why is this so hard to do?
It would be a lie if I told you that these past couple months have been a breeze and I have enjoyed every moment. There have actually been many more harder, difficult moments than the fun and enjoyable ones. I don’t know exactly why this is but I am sure it has something to do with what God wants to do. This is a season of pruning and teaching and training.
Thank you for all your prayers and support as He takes me on this journey. I could not do this without you!
*Wifi here in Zambia is not very good. I will try to add pictures later, but until then please refer to Facebook to see what we have been up to*
