This past week we visited the village with the children once again on Tuesday and Wednesday. Both days were obvioulsly special for the children as the second day we came back they were at the street ready to meet us and run by the van into the village. On the first day we played soccer and all the kids wanted to go for piggy back rides. Obviously its hard to say no to these kids so we would give one kid a ride, and another one would be ready to hop right on, very tiring. Eventually the piggy back rides evolved into races which the children loved. So about 5 or 6 of us world racers truly took on the role of horses and raced with children on our back. I thought about the hilarity and randomness of the scene of American adults carrying gypsy children on their backs in a racing manner down a glass filled street. The second day we came back to the village we brought clothing and food for the families. This was a surreal experience. Obviously I was thankful to be able to provide them with basic neccesseties, and after thinking about it, did not feel it was neccessary to receive a thank you, I mean I want to give to them even if they are not appreciative. But it was tough to see because the people were fighting over the clothes and food and hitting each other. There was only so much we could do and we tried to evenly disperse the goods, but the aggressive and selfish ones obviously ended up with more food and clothing, it was a tough scene to be a part of. I’m thankful for it, but it was probably the most surreal scene I’ve seen in my life.
Today we had an ATL day, which basically means “Ask the Lord” what he wants us to do. After prayer this morning we decided to head downtown. I was able to share the gospel with a college student on the bus. Chad, Sarah, and I were able to share the gospel with a high school kid downtown, both were very receptive. Heather, Tom and Casey were able to love on a homeless single mother by sharing Christ’s love through pictures and songs. It was a great day for sure of seeing God work in a really cool manner. His providence was at work and I was thankful to have a day to truly follow his lead, I hope we get some more days like today.
To give an update on where I’m at personally. I’m doing pretty well. Obviously I have times in which I miss home. I’m really wishing I would be in Auburn for football season this year. I’ve also been crippled with some doubts some days during our minsitry, doubts about the purpose of our trip and the purpose of serving the Lord which are obviously lies from the enemy. God’s also given me a great peace though. I am so thankful to be serving alongside my amazing team. I’ve truly had quite a few moments where God has just given me this peace that everything in life is going great. So all in all, I’m doing a lot better than I thought I would be doing, so that’s a praise.
One thing everyone can pray about is our contact has fallen through in Ireland. We will be looking for God’s leading to tell is where we will be serving Him this next month. I’m excited to see where he will take us, so be praying that we will find a contact. Let us know of any contacts anyone has in Ireland, UK, or France as we are open for suggestions. Until next time, God Bless, War Eagle.
