Coming into the eleventh and final month of this journey, a lot of questions arise in my mind and from those around me. The most obvious one would be the simple question of what is next? This is the question that our lives revolve around at the moment. I'm definitely tired of answering, but somehow I can't stop myself from asking the same question to those around me. Sure it is a natural progression of the end of seasons to be looking at what is next, not unlike graduating from college which often seems more about what you are doing with your life, and much less about reflecting on the fact that one spent often 4+ years, thousands of dollars, and may feel they either wasted a lot of both, or hopefully had invested well in that time and money to achieve something worthwhile.
Throughout this journey each month and each country has really been something all of it's own, aside from the obvious geographic and cultural differences, each month has been a different season for me personally. Looking back to the past two months I was given time to slow down and process through a lot of what I've experienced over the past ten months and also seek out what the Lord may have for my future. Though if I'm honest at the time I found myself wondering why we were even there at certain moments, feeling that being secluded in a camp away from the community was not really making much difference. I see now that sometimes what I do may not have instant impact on peoples lives, and specifically the past two months may have been more about supporting and encouraging those I had a privilege to serve with.
The very essence of a season is something that is a fixed time, that will inevitable come to an end, and change into something else. Instead of focusing so much on what is next, I'm having to remind myself that this is not forever, and that I only have about 30 days left with the team of people I have shared life with, meals with, and just about everything else with these past seven months.
Here in Moldova I have already seen a lot of changes from only being here three days. We are working with a local pastor, and have already been apart of 5 different church services at 4 different churches, where I preached at three of these churches. We are working with some local Baptist churches here in a village called Corjeuti, here the churches are much more conservative and traditional than what I have experienced before, but instead of getting caught up in areas where we may or may not agree, my hope is to get the heart of why we are even here and that is to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ. Beyond religious traditions, denominations, and theology, my hope is to see how to continue to grow more in loving and serving God ,and with that find more ways to be a man who truly loves the people that God has put in my life.
