This last month has been a really awesome month in may different aspects.
First of all, it’s Europe! Come on!
Secondly, we had unlimited Wi-Fi! (partially the reason why I have not been blogging, instead just posting pics everyday).
Thirdly I got a room to myself with ONE other person! (WHAT IS THAT?)
I got to shower almost every other day, my dreads got maintenanced, there were ice cream stand everywhere, I could keep on going!
But with all the romance of Europe aside and the extra luxuries we found all around us, for me, this month is one of my favorites because of all the relationships that were built.
Landing in Latvia a month ago I had this feeling that God was going to use me to speak to teen girls in Latvia and that I needed to tell my story.
After waiting for God to lead and open doors, our host begged me to tell my story and start a night where girls could come to get questions asked and talk about everything under the sun for girls. Many girls in Latvia, particularly Saldus area, don’t have dads present in their lives for whatever reason. So the constant search for a male figure and a way to fill the void of not having a father present is obvious.
For me, I could easily identify with the struggle. My father, whom I was really close with, passed away suddenly when I was 17. The loss left me searching for a way to fill the void I didn’t realize I was looking to fill. It was a long road to realize that God is the only one who fills voids and God has given me a passion to share the hard lessons I learned with girls in relatable circumstances.
So in that, I sat down with Ieva our host and started planning on what “Girl’s Night” would look like and when we could fit it into our schedule. We hosted it two nights a week and advertised that girls ages 14 to 18 could come.
It was very exciting to watch God move and to see the trust the girls started to have for me and my teammate that was hosting it with me. We talked about everything you could imagine and the girls asked questions. We would leave the end of each session up for discussion and just talk about whatever thoughts and questions came up.
Sometimes in the race you don’t see obvious signs of extravagant transformation from what we do day to day, and sometimes you do. This month no one made a decision to accept Christ and no one radically changed their lives. But in everything we did it was so apparent the seeds that were being planted in each of the girl’s lives.
To say “goodbye” to the girls we came to love, my teammate and I hosted a final party. There was not talk scheduled, but in the fun and games a few girls came up to me needing to talk. I loved that God used me to speak truth and life into the girls to a point where they could trust me with their deepest secrets that usually only their best friend knows. I love that God has given me wisdom in certain areas of life that it could be used to poor into these moldable teenagers and we were able to give them the encouragement to seek after God first in everything and focus on Him to fill the voids in their lives.
We may never know how deep of an impact we made on the girls of Saldus, but I do know that we planted seeds. My prayer is that God will keep growing the seeds we planted and one day some of these girls will be able to minister to other teens later in life.
Thank you to everyone who has supported me on this journey! Because of you, we were able to share the love of God to these girls! You are a part of this journey too!
