Half way through the race!! Here are some of my scrambled thoughts 🙂
Guatemala was difficult balancing work and rest. Our days were long, but God provided supernatural strength and sleep. In those 2 months in Guatemala I also learned about the joy of the Lord. My team (name was Lawn Chair Crisis or LCC) of 6 also lived in the same house as the 3-5 individuals from our host ministry. Our host ministry was called One Way Community. Our ministry consisted of visiting two villages in the day, with a 45 minute drive over bumpy dirt roads to each location. We spent time with kids aged 3-15 by singing songs, giving a Bible story, teaching simple education, doing crafts, and playing active games. LCC grew very close to our hosts. We partnered with OWC by planting their ministry in a new county of Guatemala, and just heard they are officially starting their ministry in Petén full time!!
After a 2 week debrief with the whole squad, we all left to Craiova, Romania. Debriefs consist of processing with our teams, intentional questions from our leadership, teachings, and many hours of worship.
In Craiova I learned the importance of putting on the armor of God, prayer, and leaning on the Lord. This was an all squad month, so LCC was living in a house with the 4 other teams that created our squad. My team grew close in friendship, whereas before there was a heavy focus on being coworkers and bonding over ministry. It was a blessing to bond with everyone else on the squad too. We all partnered with Hope Church. Our ministry consisted of organizing the office with our many hands, giving out shoeboxes, weekly youth events, meeting up with locals for coffee, intercession, and many hours of street evengelism. I could see the blessings and difficulties of a young church hosting a short term team. I enjoyed learning from their church leadership. Craiova was difficult because it was hard to find privacy to hold conversations or worship in silence. 30 people living in one house was difficult, and it was winter so going outside for a walk wasn’t personally a nice option. The culture was very cold, so before and after each day of ministry I was running to the Lord for strength and comfort. Craiova is a spiritually dark city, the enemy has a tight hold on it. I wrote some other blogs about the spiritual experiences there that you can read.
After 6 weeks, the teams split and ATLed throughout Romania. ATL means Ask The Lord. During the weeks or months of ATL, teams do not have a host. We are responsible for finding housing and ways to minister by asking God. We practiced this by gathering as a team to ask the Lord where He wants us to go and what to do. Through a series of events, the Lord took LCC to Bucharest.
The two weeks in Bucharest taught me the importance of listening to the Lord and resting with Him. The 7 of us squeezed into a one bedroom apartment. I found the quiet mornings before the whole team woke up to be one of my favorite parts of my day. I took my time reading through my ‘Bible in a year’ plan. Our team would sit together in the mornings in the presence of God asking Him what He wanted us to do. Our days looked like coffee shop ministry to locals, chats with strangers on the bus, walking to local stores, intercession at the house for teammates out and about, fun core memories for the team at our apartment, celebrating new years together, and helping out at Casa Shalom. Back in Guatemala, the Lord gave a few of us the image of a yellow house with a blue wall and the words healing spoken over it. On our first day in Bucharest, one of my teammates found her way to a ministry website. So we looked into visiting this ministry. God blessed our apartment which was 45 minutes outside of downtown because this ministry was only a 12 minute walk away. We got in contact with them and walked over several times to help out around their grounds and have conversations with the ukrainian refugees and volunteers over meals. There were also a few late nights consisting of opera, singing in 4 languages, guitars, and accordion. Casa Shalom was yellow and had a blue wall in it. This ministry had hosted world race teams in the past, but had a bad impression of them. God used us to bring healing to what could be a good partnership. These were the last two weeks as Lawn Chair Crisis, and we grew soooo much in the Lord and our friendships with each other.
At the end of those two weeks, the whole squad gathered for 2.5 days in Bucharest for a mini debrief. Team changes happened, then we immediately left for Albania. Roles were also changed based on what leadership heard from the Lord. They asked me to lead a team, which looks like empowering them to serve God and encouraging them to thrive. I am now with 5 other girls serving in Kotodesh and Pogradec.
Our team name is stckd, as in stacked. We are stacked stones, a living sacrifice for the Lord, preparing for the Kingdom by fostering a fear of the Lord with remembrance within our selves and inviting others to stand on holy ground with us, willing to get the Kingdom stacked.
This month in Albania so far has been a season of intimacy with the team and God. I have questioned why God wants me in this leadership role. I have asked the Lord regularly to expand my heart so I can love these girls well and see them as God sees them. We have so much time during our days to get to know each other, worship, pray, laugh, and cook. Our host partners with Adopt a Child and Adopt a Widow while also pastoring a small church plant here in the village. Our days rotate through services for kids, teenagers, and widows that have sponsors in the states. We have seen many aspects of his ministry here. On the weekends we go down to Pogradec and have freedom to walk around town and talk with strangers and do ATL. The Albanian Church is very young, and it is a majority muslim nation. We praise the Lord to have the opportunity to share our testimonies 3-4 times a week at the services. We have fostered a good relationship with our host family, and have learned a lot about suffering for Christ in a muslim nation.
There is SO much more I could share about the first half of the World Race. I still have a lot of processing to do. This is the point in the year where racers have the option to dive in fully to what the Lord has, or decide to take a step back and not surrender. I want to give God my all. I want to be stretched. I want God to show me where I need to let go of control. I want to walk as close to God’s will as I can. I want to walk in a way that is holy and pleasing to the Lord.
Not my will, but His,
Sarah
