Last week our team of 7 took an hour bus ride to meet up with the rest of the squad in Tirana, then after our small reunion we piled on a very hot bus and rode for 6 hours to Montenegro for our debrief. Debrief is a time for us to rest and talk with our squad leaders and mentors; we have team meetings as well as squad meetings to help refresh us and to encourage us as we go back into ministry.
While this was a time for us to rest and enjoy each other we quickly learned that our God never rests. I went into this week thinking I was just going to enjoy my time (which I did) but refill myself and be poured into from our leadership, but God had very different plans. The first night we were there the girls on my team and I (a total of 4) had a very small room with two bunk beds in there. I woke up around 2:30 because I felt something crawling on me…. That’s right, bed bugs. At first I was very frustrated and sat on the floor and cried, I had a combination of emotions of being mad, not feeling well from traveling, and being extremely tired. We then had to go down to the main room of our hostel and sleep on the cushions that we are meals on.
Here’s the cool part… While we were down there I got to spend many hours that night with a man named Dave who works there. We talked about our stories and how we ended up where we were. We talked about faith, Jesus, and I was able to share what God was doing in my life with him. As the week went on Dave started asking a lot of questions not only to me but many of my squad mates. Dave and the other workers joined us for worship every night and even participated in the talent show. Dave later informed me that it was the first time he had heard worship songs since he was a child and that it was the first time he sang, along in his life. Lincon stayed up all night with Dave our last night there and was able to teach him about Jesus and even gave him some books, later to learn that Dave was really hoping someone would leave a new book he could read, Lincon was able to further plant the seed that I was able to lay the first night we were there. While we were there to rest God had other plans. The owner of the hostel and Dave asked us to paint a wall so that whenever someone asked what it was or who did it they were able to tell them about the world race!! They asked that we put hands, because the hostel is ran by volunteers, and the words “I love you, I’m sorry, forgive me, and thank you”
The owner explained to me that, that was how he was taught to expect Jesus. Wow how crazy that we went for a vacation and we were able to bless them just by being there and living as Christ.
Once we got back to Durrës we went out with the youth on Friday night and was able to help with their street evangelism. There we met an American! Cary, who is a school teacher here, brought her daughter to get her face painted. Callie and I quickly started conversation with her because for one she could understand us and we wanted to know how she ended up here, turns out one of her teacher friends, Tom, always talks about the world race and she knew exactly what we were doing. We were able to pour into Cary and play with her daughter for a little while. Later that night we got to meet Tom who took us to a wonderful Italian place and then invited us back to his house to have desert and play games.
Come to find out through conversations with both Tom and Cary, that earlier this month when we went to a castle here we had met one of their colleagues from the school, so now we have made 3 different connections with 3 school teachers, WHO UNDERSTAND US WITHOUT A TRANSLATOR, just because we went out and talked to people.
Crazy how small this world can be and its been so awesome to watch God place people in our lives that we can pour into. Here in Durrës the church is our “ministry” but why should we box God in while He is brining person after person into our lives that we can impact in our “rest” time. I’ve been blown away over just this weekend how we can go one place for a reason and walk away so incredibly blessed because we were able to do more for the kingdom than we ever planned for that night.
My team has plans to meet up with the school teachers very soon for dinner and to fellowship, although we don’t see Dave anymore we pray that the seeds that were planted and the books that were left will create a spark in him and he will fall so in love with the Lord that he could never go back.
It’s a sweet reminder that while we need to rest God is always working and can always be using us in ways we didn’t know was possible. The relationships we have made have opened many doors not only to further those relationships but also to make new ones with people they know. We thought we were just meeting other Americans but God had greater plans.
