With so much going on this past few weeks and getting ready to return to the States, I haven't yet given myself an opportunity to just sit down and write about anything. I have however, read a few of my squad mates blogs and found a few that I thought were worth sharing...
As of this month, I am fully funded!! To complete the World
Race, AIM needed $13,800 to be put into my support account. At the beginning of July, I still needed $2,104
in my support account to complete the World Race. Now, the total sum of that money has come in
full. Thanks be to God, who has provided
every last penny, and thanks to you, everyone who has been his instrument in
stewarding it. Woo Hoo!!
Thanks to all the money you sent, I was able to buy a new pair of clothes...
This past week we spent 5 days helping run a youth camp with
a local church in Gayvoron, Ukraine. It
all started for Michael and I with a 45 minute walk (carrying our packs) to the
church where we met up with everyone. We
then consolidated packs to lighten the load, and began our hour and a half or
so hike into the wilderness where we set up camp right next to the river.
The weeks activities consisted of a daily bible study,
prayer and worship time, cooking, gathering fire wood, swimming, more swimming,
a time for sharing testimonies, games, more games, some fishing, some napping
(I needed it), etc. I led two of the
bible studies focusing on "Who is Jesus?" and "Meeting with Jesus," trying to
make sure that in the little bit of time I had with the students I painted as
clear a picture of Jesus and the Gospel as I possibly could and helped them
form an understanding of why we have need of Him. Although the language barrier made it
difficult to gauge how the message was received, we did have two campers make
professions of faith in Jesus Christ for the first time. Praise God!
Home Sweet Quarter Dome.
Heating up some "Ukranian Borscht "
Our view of the river from our camp site
Hmm.... Not sure what's going on with my hair but the watermelon was good.
Rebekah and Alana enjoyed the watermelon as well. I'm not sure where it kept coming from, but we had watermelon almost everyday of the camp.
Sharing stories with the kids around the campfire...
The Campfire... playing around with the exposure on my camera.
Meet my friend Sasha. I love this guy... He came and visited us at camp everyday and would bring snacks (watermelon?) and help gather firewood.
Michael!
Michael and I, back at the dam.
Some of the campers on our way back into town.
Meet Oksana, our translator for the month. And here's proof I am actually in Ukraine.
The past two and a half weeks my
team has had the privilege to begin a relationship with Sharon Eason, a
missionary from the U.K., that has been in Moldova for three years running a
home for the elderly and hosting annual women's conferences.
Michael, Sharon, and Me... after church on Sunday.
While we were with Sharon, we
were able to help her with some physical labor that was actually quite
refreshing for us. We tore down an old fence and a cement wall, prepared the
foundation of a patio that will be used to give the old ladies a place to hang
out, helped build a new wall, helped prepare the driveway to be paved, and
helped with the construction of a chicken coup that will be standing until
Jesus comes back and provide meat for lots of oldies.
The beginnings of a chicken church that will stand forever.
The video below will give you a
little glimpse of what Sharon does. The three women in the video are all being
taking care of by Sharon's ministry now. Lisa now has a team of people to take
care of her and is never alone. Natalia
is an ornery old woman, but she has people around her that love her. Anna gets to use all the soap she wants,
because she is so cute.
After our time in Africa, the thought of a 24hour prayer and
worship service kind of worried me a bit. Flashbacks of shouting, knocking people over, "deliverance," and pouring
anointing oil down the throats of the pregnant kept me from being too excited about
coming, but it turns out that working with a movement of worship and prayer can
be a tremendous blessing.
Not
to be confused with the drink of the same name... "store in a cool place, consume
in a dark place."
The goal of Burn is to create a self-sustaining 24 hour, 7
days a week, "platform of worship" across the nations. "Burns," as they are
called, are broken into 2hour slots where worship teams or individuals come and
sing praises, while the people in attendance pray, paint, dance, sing along, or
whatever God has put on their hearts to do in worship.
Our ladies during their set... The angels were
singing.
Because the Berlin chapter is relatively new, they currently
only have one 24hour session every weekend, which allowed us the opportunity to
take our worship to the streets the rest of the week. The afternoon we arrived we were taken to a
park in the heart of Berlin, where a burn session was taking place. Between the two of our teams (Judah and RC),
we have quite the crew of musicians, singers, and songwriters. Throughout the week we were able to do
"worship sets" in parks, at a coffee shop, walking downtown streets, at a new YWAM
base, at the house, in our contact's flat, at a church, and during the 24 hour
burn session. Because I do not fall into
any of the above categories of musically inclined people, during our sets I was
able to talk to people in the parks about Jesus, pray with the people I met,
intercede on behalf of my team and others, prayer walk, read Scripture, swing
on the giant swings in the park, and hand out cups of Apple Soda to the addicts
in the park that might have been thirsty.
Jordan McGuffin and Alana Serna, playing for Jesus in front of a
remaining portion of the Berlin Wall.
Probably my favorite thing about our time here in Berlin has
been the prayer room in the basement of Lindenhof (well, and the Doner Kebab I
got from a street vendor). I think for
the first time in my life, I have been able to get away from absolutely
everything that could distract me, light some candles and just pray. What a joy it has been to feel a burden for
the people I have prayed for and to trust that the God of the Universe is
listening to my prayers and working them according to His good pleasure.
The
Doner Kebab... The picture just doesn't do
this thing justice. I got mine with chili sauce and cheese.
The
enormous swings at the park are not for children.
For those of you who haven't caught a glimpse of "Lucy" in a while...
Standing in front of the future House of Burn, maybe?
The
Brandenburg Gate in Pariser Platz...The French are always getting hosed.
All
those years of baseball practice for this? Okay, so I didn't spend all of my
time "being spiritual," I spent some of it completely frustrated that I can't
hit anymore.
Towards the end of the month in Romania we began to talk
about where we would be going next. After a few days of talking about it, we were asked by Team Judah to
accompany them in traveling to Berlin, Germany to work with a 24-7 prayer and
worship movement called "Burn." Although, not everyone felt settled about it (myself included), the
decision was made. Not really knowing
how we would get to Berlin, we boarded a 12 hour train to Budapest, Hungary in
hopes of catching an 8pm train to Berlin. Turns out we got held up (mechanical problems or something), and our
train sat on the tracks somewhere between Bucharest & Budapest for about
3hours, causing us to miss the last train of the night as we arrived at what is
likely Eastern Europe's sketchiest train station after 10pm. We quickly
assembled in a corner of the station to discuss what we would do. Jamie Neuman
and myself, set out to figure out what to do about getting on another train,
while others guarded the gear, hit up the fast food joints, and looked for a
place to stay the night if we couldn't get on a train pretty quickly.
The Roaring Concords, refreshed and ready before leaving Romania.
The next train didn't leave until 5:15am the next morning
and they wanted 100 Euros a ticket, which was well over our budget and the
nearby hotels wanted 25 Euro a night per person, which is well over our budget.
As we bowed our heads to pray about where to go next, we were interrupted by a
security guard telling us we needed to move... And although I was content to spend the night hanging out at the train
station, within minutes a few people stepped up to pay for our nights stay in
the Hotel across the street. What a blessing it was to the rest of us! Thank
you Justine, Rebekah, and Mike.
After an awesome night's sleep Brad, the leader of the Tribe
of Judah, hopped on the Internet and found us a bus (sort of in the budget),
that would take us all the way to Berlin. Sadly enough the bus didn't leave
until midnight, and we were forced to spend the day hanging out in the
beautiful city of Budapest. We ate at a
Mexican food restaurant, rode a subway, used good Wi-Fi, went to the zoo, and
saw some pretty cool buildings. It was like a Pseudo-vacation. Then, we loaded the bus, hopped on the
Autobahn, and booked it to Berlin (actually bus travel should never be referred
to as "booking it.)
Rebekah and Alana trying really hard to look like they are enjoying Budapest.
All of the people who read my blog met me in Budapest. Sorry you couldn't make it Mom.
Whoever comes up with the best caption for this photo wins.
Riding the rails. Brad and Erika Baldwin, Jessica Johnson, and Jamie Neuman.
When we arrived at our bus station many hours later, we were
greeted by our host-for-the-month Chuck Magnet (that's right his name is Chuck
Magnet). Chuck and his wife Della, are
the directors of the Berlin chapter of Burn, and have been awesome hosts. A few hours of rest at the Lindenhof (does
anybody know what that means, because I don't?), and we were on our way to the
park to get our first taste of the "Burn..."
Welcome to Berlin... This is the infamous Hotel Adlon, where Michael Jackson dangled Blanket over the balcony. We tried to stay here but they wouldn't let us pitch our tents in the lobby.
While in Romania, we worked with
a ministry called "Casa Shalom." Our
main ministry for the month was a children's camp we put on for 50+ kids from
the villages surrounding Bucharest. The
children's camp allowed us the opportunity to preach the Gospel and show the
love of Christ to the children as well as giving them healthy meals and a safe
place to sleep.
So many beautiful flowers growing everywhere at Casa Shalom made it very difficult to buy impressive flowers for the women on our team!
Casa Shalom was once a
children's home until the Romania Government began to make it very difficult to
operate an orphanage. Instead of housing
orphans, Casa Shalom now uses its resources to make sure hundreds of gypsy and
village children are put through school, fed, clothed, and taught about Jesus.
Casa Shalom also has beautiful facilities to house missionaries and mission
teams, host children's camps, local church meetings, and allow children a place
to come and play from time to time.
This is Patrico! He was my favorite until he pulled my beard hair... Nah, he's still my fav.
Before children's camp started
we were able to help Becky, Casa Shalom's director, give the main meeting room
a new paint job as well as doing a few other small maintenance jobs. One day we went and picked up about 30 gypsy
children and brought them back to Casa Shalom to play for the afternoon. It was really cool to see how the children's
faces lit up at the sight of Becky. She
has been in Romania for many, many years and has worked tirelessly to build relationships
and pour into the communities she ministers to by going back time and time
again bringing food, clothes, and the message of Jesus Christ.
Melina and one of her friends.
Becky also took us to a few
churches where we got to speak about the things that God has been doing in our
lives and encourage the congregations. She also took us out to a few villages where we fed the children, did
skits and told bible stories, and just spent time playing with the kids.
Throwing the frisbee with one of the boys in the village.
Truth be told, I wasn't too excited when we found out we would be
working with a children's ministry all month. Different people have different gifts and callings and some people God has
given a heart for children and some He hasn't; however, this past month I was
challenged to remember that if I truly have a passion for the Gospel and its
spread, it should be my delight to proclaim Christ whether I am speaking to a
congregation of adults or a room full of five year olds. And maybe God has called me to a particular
ministry, but I should be more than willing to do anything that will bring Him
glory whether I think myself gifted or called to a certain area or not... It is
only pride that would keep me from doing so.
"Missions is bidding the [children of the] nations, come and sing with us!"
I can never tell when a kid is happy or is about to cry?
The village bicycle gang. Unfortunately, they only have one bike.
"Pretend to be a tree" or "Sing Praise." Don't remember which one this was.
Twice during our stay in Nigeria
we were taken to an all night "Power Vigil." The meetings consisted of some lively music, people shaking violently
and falling down (sometimes with small children strapped to their backs), a
guest speaker taking up an offering for redemption, hours of the pastors
screaming incoherently at the audience, pouring oil in to the mouths of
pregnant women to "anoint the babies inside," and a whole other list of things
that made me cringe. Wide eyed, I downed a Power Horse energy drink, and
listened for Christ, even a tiny mention of Him past the occasional "in Jesus
Name we pray" repeated 15 times just so the audience knew the prayer was over. There
would be no such mention of our Great Savior who poured out His blood so that
all who put their trust in Him will have eternal fellowship with Him.
The pastor took his position at
the podium and began to speak about how tonight was the night. "I am tired of having to wait in line at the
airport, I am trusting God for a private jet," he said to a hungry
congregation. I asked God to break my
heart that 200 of His people were perishing before my very eyes, that private
jets were being exalted more than Christ, and that I was more concerned about
my discomfort or what I was going to do later or how tired I was. That the 50 or so children that came along to
these meetings were malnourished and likely had treatable or preventable symptoms,
and that I didn't feel anything, except maybe a little dislike for a church
that didn't care for my preaching. "God
break me, I want a heart for your people," I begged.
At about 5:30am, Weston, Michael,
and I jumped up to see if we could help distribute the bags of food that were
given to everyone in attendance. The people
were supposed to come up two by two to where we were giving out the food. A mob quickly formed and before any order
could be made dozens of people were pushing and shoving their way into the
small office where the food was. People
were fighting over a bag of rice; children were being crushed so that a few
days food could be had. "Is the love of Christ in any of these people," I
asked. "This is Nigeria," someone
responded.
I got a little angry. Earlier that night the pastor had complained
that he was tired of waiting in line at the airport to a congregation of people
who would later fight for rank in line and risk their children's safety for the
sake of a food ration? These people can't
afford to live and you are going to complain about your two hour layover in
Paris?
And later that night, I was
punched in the face by the reality that I'm not as unlike that preacher as I
would like to believe. How much of my
speech is Christ exalting and how much of it is wasted on the trivialities of
the World? How much time do I spend
complaining about discomfort, dislikes, and circumstances when I will never
know the feeling of needing to fight for food? When will I finally wake up?
As I sit down to type it is June
15 and I have been in Romania for two weeks working with my new team at a
ministry called "Casa Shalom," which is an outreach mainly to poor and
abandoned children in Bucharest and the surrounding villages. Right now we are running a 5 day children's
camp with about 50 kids. Camp means that they don't leave for the entire 5
days... God, help me! Anyways, I thought I would finally fill you all in as to
what ministry looked like last month in Nigeria...
A black Lincoln Navigator with dark-tinted windows showed up
to drive us off to our new ministry location for the month. The pastor that would be hosting us is also
the CEO of a Nigerian oil company. A
little overwhelmed by the luxury of the SUV I was sitting in, I barely noticed
the dirty shacks and malnourished children we drove past as I slipped into a
deep, air-condition induced slumber. Through the massive gate and past the oversized security, our rich
friends-for-the-month had given us the 3 bedroom apartment they own directly
across the hall from theirs to stay in. The apartment was really nice. I know something about me has changed as
I barely seemed to mind the 45+ mice we caught and the hundreds of cockroaches.
I did my best to avoid thinking about how I was living a hundred times more
luxuriously than the thousands of people that lived in the same community who
would fight over a free bag of rice. Because of "security concerns" we weren't allowed to leave the premises
unless it was to go to church or if we were accompanied by security.
Our first night with "Christ-Heart Healing and Deliverance
Ministry," I was asked to preach at the Wednesday night service about an hour
before I was asked to get up and speak to about 120 people. Although it was short notice I was glad to do it. The Scriptures
instruct us to be ready to give an account for the hope that lies within us in
season and out of season, but before I can explain to someone about the hope
that Christ has given me I must first talk about His grace and mercy, and so I
did.
Pastor Mrs. Olufemi Abulde
The next day, complaints came in from the pastor's wife that
I didn't preach with enough "fire," referring to the fact that I didn't scream
the entire 45min. sermon, and it was asked that whoever spoke next would bring
said fire. Weston spoke next and our
group was not asked to deliver another sermon after that.
