month 2 has been a valley. a big fat dark scary depressing valley.
at month 1 debrief, God spoke over us that the next season would be barren. he warned us about being in a valley. none of us knew exactly what that meant, but boy were we in for a treat.
here’s a few things that I struggled with in month 2 and how God used them for good!
my mini squad i’ve spent the last month with! these imbesuls have my whole heart. i’ve loved getting to know each and every one of them more and grow with them in our relationships with the Lord!
home.
we’ve moved seven times in the last month. seven. times.
my team has grown super duper close together! we’ve had the time and space to just be around one another, not in a forced environment, but as people who genuinely wanted to get to know each other more.
we’re also pros at packing now haha
we’ve had to completely depend on God. every place we set our big packs down, no matter for how long, was our home. it didn’t matter if it had nice mattresses, a good kitchen with an oven, a close distance to the rest of town or anything. home is about being present wherever God places us.
look! a picture of morgan! this is at the craiova house where the entire squad spent month 1 together.
the BEAUTIFUL town of brasov where we spent a week for month 1 debrief. our mentor and coaches all flew out to be with us! i love them!
our squad split up into 2 mini squads. this is me and megan, i’m sorry, megan and i, in the stoenesti church where we lived for a week. they had some cute lil kitties there:)
my team got to spend another week-ish in cristina’s apartment in draganesti (it’s just over a bridge from stoenesti)! it was so cozy and homey. we love it there<3
then our entire minisquad moved into the mission house in draganesti. we spent our sabbaths watercoloring and digging into the word. our whole team got to stay in one room full of bunk beds and it had the biggest window and i loved the sunshine that was constantly pouring in. we even bought a flower and named her estelle.
here’s a few of my goofy teammates in paul’s house where we stayed for our last few days in draganesti.
and then we made it back to craiova! it’s been great to see my wonderful squadmates after a month and catch up on what God’s been doing in us. this goofy pic is of kylah and i and a sunset in front of our mission house. the plan is for all of us to stay here for the last 3ish weeks in romania before we leave for guatemala. it’s safe to say that we’ve nested by hanging up our pictures and christmas lights.
spiritual warfare.
we’ve all been sick. it started with one person, then one day ten of us got hit by it like a truck. talk about a spiritual attack, am i right? but it’s only made us stronger. everyone was always praying over one another and helping each other out. we have AUTHORITY over these illnesses. we are confident in that. (and no worries bc we’re all happy and healthy now:))
i personally struggled in being able to hear God’s voice. I think that that’s also had a lot to do with comparison. a lot of the people on my mini squad are able to give these amazing encouraging words and prophesy over people and they’re just so darn confident in their faith. which is awesome for them, but can be a lil intimidating for me. but God is teaching me my identity is in H I M and i don’t need to worry about other people in their relationships with him. but we’ve been going through the book the art of listening prayer by none other than seth barnes! it’s been super duper helpful in guiding me in learning how to listen to what God is telling me.
on top of the mountain looking over draganesti interceding for the people there. God is moving here.
fruit.
it’s been difficult to do a bunch of little small tasks but not see the fruit of them. like we would spend days cleaning out the gardens in the back of churches and yards. it was hard bc i know what we’re doing is helping, but i felt like we could be doing more. i was frustrated that we wouldn’t be able to see what would come of the beginning tasks we had been doing.
my gorgeous team leader cami! this is the garden in the back of the church in stoenesti where we cleaned it up.
we were told that just by being in draganesti, we were making a difference. the people here are hopeless and don’t understand that there’s a God that genuinely cares about them and hasn’t given up on them yet. we were a living testament to that. let’s be honest, we stick out like sore thumbs in romania. but it sparks a curiosity — “why are they here? they’re working with the church? why would they want to help us?”
every day in draganesti, we would walk all over town from the mission house to the church to the houses to the grocery store and everything in between. when we would pass people, we would smile and say “buna” (meaning “good day”). at first we would get stares. confused and blank stares. people were confused about what we were doing in little draganesti, romania. but slowly people began to warm up to us. the last morning we were in draganesti, we passed this woman who would sit on the bench at the same time every day when we would walk past to get to the mission house for breakfast. every morning one of us would smile and say “buna” and sometimes get a response. as we said “buna,” this woman looks up at us with the biggest smile and says, in perfect english, “good morning!” that simple interaction spoke volumes to me. we were making an impact. this woman went out of her way to learn some english to talk to us when we pass her in the mornings.
my girly Gel on top of the draganesti mountain on our last day <3
the thing about valleys is that that’s where the rivers are. typically when you realize you’re in the valley, your first instinct is to start running up the mountain to get to the top. but the thing is, the valleys are where the rivers are. you have to nourish yourself and grow in the valleys so you can make it up the mountains, otherwise you won’t have the strength. it’s not about getting out of the valley, it’s about growing through the valley.
to get from glory to glory means you have to go from valley to valley.
the strength doesn’t come from the mountaintops, but from the valleys.
and you can’t choose the song, you can only choose how to dance. draganesti had a slower pace. i knew that moving back to the busy city of craiova would be a change, but i’m ready to keep dancing no matter what the song may be.
