Growth in Eastern Europe [Pictures] - Explore Archived World Race Alumni Blogs

If you were to ask me to describe the season I’m currently in in one word I think I’d say “messy” or maybe “jumbled” or even a bit “chaotic.” The last thing I had ever expected from being put in leadership was realizing how very little actual control of my life I had, but here we are! It’s pretty scary & my pride hates it. It’s kinda like the El Camino all over again, except with less blisters. I’m getting humbled every single day, but I am learning & I am growing & the process is really beautiful. God is showing me that there is so much joy to be had in the ugly parts of growth. You can’t have it all together all of the time (or even some of the time!) & that is nothing to be ashamed of. I have officially been a squad leader for 4 weeks & I have already messed up – hard, but Jesus is like “HEY! Another day, another lesson learned. Let me pick you back up, brush you off, & lead you forward.”

These last 4 weeks have looked a lot like that – Jesus picking me up & leading me forward. Visiting my first team as a squad leader, diving head first into a completely new culture, & grieving the ending of our time spent in the Middle East led to a whole new experience on the Race. To be honest, with my “jumbled” mind these days, it’s hard to put these things into words & my heart longs so badly for you all to experience them face to face with me. To know the heart wrenching & beautiful stories of the people, the taste of the delicious food, the sights of the most beautiful mountains & deserts & seas, & to witness all of the miracles God’s doing. So below, I am going to try my best to recap these last four weeks in the two beautiful Eastern European countries we lived in.

Armenia – We spent the last two weeks of January in Armenia. It was the most beautiful country I have ever seen. The mountains made my jaw drop, the city streets were hip & quaint, there was an opera house in the center, & a flower shop & café on every single corner. After the first week the snow began to fall & every day was like walking through a fairytale. There were some hard parts to the transition though. I didn’t realize how difficult adjusting to life out of the Middle East would be & I quickly found myself deeply missing the hospitable people & the beautiful Arabic language & the absence of the call to prayer 5 times a day felt so strange.

Armenia is sort of uncharted territory for the World Race, so a lot of what we did was create relationships with the locals, people within the church, & pray pray pray for the nation.This was a huge humbling moment for me. I was getting pretty stir crazy. I wanted to be put to work. I wanted to do something – something that I could see the fruit of. Then one day God just said “Landry, there is no hierarchy of good works in my Kingdom. You have to start somewhere. Trust me. Trust me that I am doing a good work here through you, through these relationships, through these prayers, whether you can see it or not.” Dang. That really made me think. Would I be okay if I never saw the fruit of what I was doing? That question rocked me for a bit, but every day God was reminding me that if He was truly in every little thing like I believed He was than He was also working through every thing, whether I will ever see what’s to come of it or not.

Georgia – After a looong 36 hours of travel & a midnight train later we made it to Batumi, Georgia! Georgia has been nothing short of sweet. We resided in Batumi, a diverse city on the coast of the Black Sea. It was a hodge podge of new & old & wealthy & underdeveloped & beautiful parks & shantytowns. I’ve been here for 2 weeks & I still cant quite get the vibe of this city down, but it is so fun to explore! During our time here we were blessed with the opportunity of working with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). We got to assist in teaching English to some kiddos in a little village called Dream City. This city is home to families who have lost their homes to various natural disasters. They created this village on the outskirts of Batumi so they could still come into the city for work. The kiddos are precious & we were constantly smothered with hugs & giggles. We also spent time working with the English speaking local church. We attended Bible studies, helped with their ministry – Teen Challenge, & spent a lot of time with their precious little ones.

Jesus brought me a lot of freedom here in Georgia. After the realization made in Armenia He really just started teaching me what it looks like to be His daughter. A part from all of the things I am doing & have done in my life He’s teaching me what it looks like to just be Landry. To stop striving to prove something, to stop working so hard to live up to expectations, & to stop feeling so burdened by invisible pressures. To start resting in who I am as His daughter & owning that authority with humility. Through this I have found that once you own who you are in Him there is so much more fruit that comes out of that! I think this is a lesson I’m going to be continually learning for a long time, but what a sweet start it’s been.

So, that’s my last month! A lot of kiddos. A lot of sweet relationships. A lot of messy, beautiful heart stuff. A lot of humbling & a lot of freedom. Below are some pictures from our time In Armenia & Georgia. I wish I had more pics of the precious kids we got to work with, but we try to refrain from taking pictures of them. We just want them to feel as loved & seen as possible.