My heart is so full of happiness and excitement. I’m beginning the long journey to our very first country. We got on the 5:45 pm flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam. It’s only a day into the world race journey and God is doing such incredible things to us already. We arrived at the Atlanta airport several hours early which made since we needed 50+ people to get a ride from the hotel to the airport, check in and get through security. Because my team and another team were the first ones at the Atlanta airport. We were able to attend a church service at the Atlanta airport. Which I was pretty excited about because I felt pretty bummed out that I wasn’t able to be at my home church that day and won’t be for another year but this is where God has me now for this moment, but God works in mysterious ways. Being able to go to the church and meet Pat and Edward were such a huge blessing to us world racers. It was the perfect way to start out this world race journey. They are such servants and have beautiful hearts. We were also able to pray for them as well which was such a joy. I have never heard of an airport that had a chapel inside. I sat next to a man named Dalton. We began to have a conversation. He said he’s headed back home to Uganda after 11 months of being in the states. If you know me you know how much I love Africa with all of my heart. He began to say that he was with a group of youth kids (ages 11-14) from an orphanage who are in a choir. They traveled all over the states to bring their hearts and passions for music to the people in the states. Dalton has about 14 orphanages that he partners with/works with. As I look to see all the beautiful African faces in the plane. It melts my heart and makes me even more excited to hold an African baby in my arms, to play, to sing, to dance with the children in especially Africa but not only there but everywhere around the world. It’s pretty awesome that I am about to embark on this journey and leaving my home. And it’s the opposite from Dalton who is going home after being away from Uganda for 11 months. Our 12 hour bus ride turned into a 28 hour bus ride from turkey, through Greece, Macedonia, final destination Albania. 48+ hours total of traveling with flights and all. AND WE ARE IN ALBANIA. The landscape in these countries is absolutely breathtaking.
The ministry that we are doing in Albania is We are here at Light Force Ministries http://www.lightforce.org.uk where we are working with World Vision putting on 3 different kids camps this month for kids ages 5 to 16. We are doing many different activities with the children like swimming, crafts, archery, bounce houses, etc. for the past week. I've really enjoyed it so far and it's so incredible. The first batch of kids left Saturday morning and we will be getting some new kids this morning. This weekend we are off, so I was able to explore the town that we are in with some amazing squadmates and ate some delicious pizza. I have an opportunity to do some construction around the camp. This week of ministry has been an absolute blessing to me. I have loved hanging out with the kids, them teaching me some Albanian words, playing with them, making them laugh, and just being around them.
I am ready Lord, Use me. Take me to the people who want me to talk with. Take me to the people who just need to know that they are beautiful. Take me to the people who need to know the true meaning of Love. Take me to the people who need to feel comforted and loved. Take me to the people who are thirsty and hungry. I want this year to be fully focused on You, Lord. I don’t want to pass up an opportunity that you have given me. Please take away any expectations that I may have for this trip. Take me to a place that I will get out of my comfort zone.
Goodbyes are not easy. But saying goodbye to people before I left California won’t be the last time for goodbyes this year. I will be saying goodbyes every single month.
