This weekend I went backpacking through the mountains of Europe and snuggled at a bonfire as the sun set.. it was incredible!Me and another missionary left for a small city on the border of Greece near Phillipi at the beginning of the week. We stayed with a another missionary couple that was married a year ago and sent out together to raise up a church in the southern region of the country. Their story was fascinating.. I can't even express how hospitable the people in this village were to us and how opened they are to the things of God. One day soon this area will be bursting with signs and wonders as house churches spring up all over! It's perfection really, because everyone in the entire region knows everyone else and all of their business.. so imagine how the truth of God can spread! We were really pioneers down there, standing strong as the only light in a really dark place. I've never been in a city before, knowing that I was one of only four Christians standing in the gap for an unreached people group.
An interesting thing I've learned is that hundreds of years ago, Bulgaria was a Christian nation.. when it became corrupted and overtaken by bordering, communist areas, the people were forced to renounce their faith and practice islam. Thousands of Bulgarians refused though and were driven to jump off a cliff near where I was. We need to bring back the roots from which this nation was founded upon. The muslims I've talked to don't even know why they're muslim and why they practice the things they do.. I've asked them specifically. It's just a matter of time and some commissioning of missionaries before Bulgaria and all the unreached people groups (Bulgarian, Pomak, Gypsy and Turkish) it contains are transformed. I can't imagine living life without Jesus.
Our trip was full of seed-planting. First we met at a cafe with around six women and talked about the miracles we've seen on the field (blind eyes being opened, cancers drying up, deaf ears restored, addictions abandoned.. etc) and even a few men at the table next to us starred on in disbelief. We never would have been able to talk to those men on our own, being females in this culture.. you never know just who you will touch. By the end of the day my cheeks were sore from all of the kisses I received from old babushka-covered ladies and I can't tell you just how many of them tried to get me to marry their sons! I think I have a grace right now to really soak up new cultures and connect with people I've never dreamed of meeting. Even the language is coming to me which is a huge blessing.
I cried for the first time yesterday.. thinking about home, Christmas, snow, YMC, the many more months I have to be away in foreign lands and all the work I have to do.. that's pretty good though considering my first trip to China when I cried before my plane even took off! I've made it a week and a half!! Yay!
Don't worry, I keep telling myself to be strong. I wouldn't be here if Jesus didn't think I could handle it and I've walked through some things I never thought I'd get through before, but I did.. guess it's all a part of maturity. I also keep telling myself to live here in the moment.. not in Youngstown. There will be a time for that again but it's not now. So.. as I drift away to dream land.. know that I'm safe in Europe, snuggled in yellow blankets and preparing to once again take on a day of gleaning, serving, loving and living in this land God loves and that I'm beginning to cherish as well.
I know, the next few months will be hard for you. I think it's amazing. I only know God from an American standpoint. God has taken you out of America at the exact time it's easy to be a Christian in America. He's teaching you how big he is and that your citizenship is not this country, or this world, that your God is the same all over the world. He's going to let you see him on Christmas, not as a baby in a manger, he's going to teach you who he really is, not who we've made him to be. I will pray for you to embrace that and not what you think you are missing. I love you!
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