Listen to a story all about how
my life got flip turned upside down.
I’d like to take a minute just sit right there,
I’ll tell you how I … ended up waiting three days to eat french toast?
Ok, admittedly, that’s not as catchy, but hey, I don’t claim to be a lyricist.
So, why on God’s beautiful green earth am I talking about french toast? I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there, I’ll tell you how I……. ugh, moving on (that can really get stuck in your head).
So, I’ll get to that in a moment. First a little bit about the last three weeks or so, about Romania. Right off the bat, before I-Squad even arrived we were told we had two options. Typically, we get one day to do something adventury each week (usually Saturday) and one day off (usually Sunday). But this month, we were going to use up all four adventure days one one big trip, and our romanian host would arrange everything and take care of transportation. We could either visit the black sea on the east coast of Romania, or suffer through a much longer drive time, spend a little more personal money, and go to greece. When we heard that in greece we would be right on the beach looking out at the Aegean Sea and walking distance from some sweet, highly jumpable cliffs, our minds were practically made for us. I mentioned in my last blog that it was written on the long ride to greece, so it was only briefly mentioned and contained like one nice mediterranean pic. Here are a few more pics in case you were wondering how awesome it was.
A Louisiana boy doesn’t see water like this very often
Here is somewhat of an indie grab off a 35-40ish foot cliff (and yes, I do look a bit sunburned).
These were floating around just off the cliffs. If you are unfortunate enough to touch one, then in the wise words of our Romanian host Raul, “you not dead, but you kaput.” Weirdest jellyfish I’ve ever seen. And no, I did not get this close, photo cred to Hunter Streff lol.
The USD to Euro exchange rate is not kind. Buuuuuuuut, when in Greece, you don’t say no to a bowl of fruit covered in greek yogurt and honey. And a local beer to top it off? Livin my best life 🙂
The incredible I-Squad!
Greece was an amazing way to kick off month two of the race. Our debrief in Brasov was a time of rest, of reflecting on month one and getting spiritually prepared for month two. Greece however? It was just an epic chance to have fun together as a squad, setting the tone on our way into all-squad month. Typically, our group splits into teams and moves to different parts of a country to participate in separate ministries, but for our second month here in Romania, it’s all 26 of us and our three squad leaders bunking together in a mission house and serving together.
Hope Church, the amazing ministry that we had the pleasure of serving alongside this month has a decent sized operation running. They have over 30 full time missionaries serving in dozens of towns and small villages in the area, and the nearest cities. Based in the small town of Draganeshti (pronounced Draganesh), Hope Church has a strong focus on evangelism and reaching out and spreading the Gospel throughout the Olt region of Romania. In the past, southern Romania has been called a “graveyard of pastors and missionaries”. The area holds to a lot of old superstitions, and though it has dwindled in recent years, is still a major setting for witchcraft. Just a few years ago, it hosted an international convention of sorts for witches (or is it witch doctors? whatever you want to call them). For decades, the are has been know for a heavy demonic presence and very active spiritual warfare. The moment I arrived in Draganeshti, I felt off. Everything just seemed….heavy. Like the air itself was somehow pressing in on me. The whole squad felt similar, even more so when we returned from Greece. We did a prayer walk in and around the mission house, and it all stopped pretty much immediately, praise God! We declared this area as ground taken for God’s Kingdom, and soon started street evangelism in the area.
This month, had a crazy variety of ministry aside from typical street evangelism as well. There are never enough ways to love on a community and minister to them. Just this month alone, I’ve helped put together and took part in skits for kids ministry, played soccer with local kids and young adults, and helped lead a worship concert in Craiova, the largest nearby city. I’ve picked up trash on the streets, helped repaint the church sanctuary, and even shucked corn. Never thought i’d ever found myself doing something like that.
Coming up on the end of the month, a new worry crept into my heart: the ever dreaded fundraising deadline…
On September 30, two days from now, need to have fundraiser at least $13,000 dollars to support my ministry on the World Race. As of four days ago, I was $2,525 short of that goal. Other than monthly, automatic donations (you people are AWESOME!) I had only had a couple donations since launching nearly seven weeks before, and so I was pretty discouraged in my fundraiser going. I had under a week to raise so much money, aaaaaaaaaahhhhh!
So that day 9/24, I prayed a simple prayer. “God, can you have one person donate $100 dollars, just so I know that you are here, that you are in this with me, that you hear me.” Nothing happened. The next day, a bunch of the squad started fasting after my squadmate Hunter Streff lead a teaching on fasting. Hunter, myself, and several others decided to fast for three days (AIM asks us to limit fasting to that so we aren’t too weak to serve in missions). I’d only ever done one day, so three was a little daunting, but I was excited to see God show up; in fact, I was desperate for it.
I soon learned that Caitlyn one of those in it for the long haul, planned on making french toast for all of us to break the fast, so obviously I had it popping into my head on many an occasion (and there is my title 😉 ).
Last night, the evening of September 27th, the last evening of fasting, I was playing guitar in the common room/the guys bedroom (its openly connected to the kitchen, this place is set up weird) and Regan and Morgan (teammate and squadmate) are sitting nearby and they ask me, with huge grins on their faces, if I have checked my fundraising recently. I told them I hadn’t gotten any emails, which I always get as a notification when someone donates. Morgan turns around her laptop and shows me that I’m over the $13,000 mark! I was speechless! HOW? WHEN? WHAT?!?! I logged into my account and discovered that the very day I prayed about someone donating $100, I received an anonymous donation for $2,600!!! God’s answer to my prayer wasn’t a no, but simply, “you are thinking too small Matt.” I received 26 times more than I prayed for, God is so good. His provision is endless, and everything that I need is just a drop in the bucket” to God, as our squad mentor Jeremy always says. I’m still processing the fact that someone values my personal ministry so much and was willing to take such a leap of faith by supporting me with such a generous donation. God knew exactly what I needed and when, and some amazing person out there not only heard His still small voice, but they walked in obedience. Mr. or Ms. Anonymous, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I feel so loved and valued and cared for, its unreal. Thank you to all my anonymous supporters, you guys are my heroes, along with everyone else who has supported me. If I haven’t yet taken the time to thank you personally, accept my thanks now. Y’all rock!
With five days or so left in Romania, my mind has begun to wonder at the limitless possibilities that my next month in Bulgaria holds. Team SOLDOD and I will be having an ATL month (Ask The Lord). We are entering Bulgaria with no plans for ministry, no Adventures In Missions contacts to partner with, essentially no cards on the table. We will simply pray and see where God leads us. I’m super excited about this! I can’t wait to see what God will do in and through us when we are simply open to whatever the heck He has for us. More often then not, you won’t be able to see what the next step holds, But when you know that is where God is leading you just have to jump for it.
Thank you so much for reading! Honestly, I need to post more often, then my blogs won’t be so dang long, my apologies! Also, I was a bit short on photos from ministry this month, I’ll try to put something together for you guys in the next few days 😉
Once again, I would like to invite you to make my journey, your journey! Here are three simple ways:
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The most important, PRAY.
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Donate. (If you would like to donate, click the orange “Donate!” button in the top right-hand corner or reach out to me for more information!)
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