back to germany from outreach

I am back in Herrnhut, Germany from a ten and a half week outreach, and the incredible experience of the past six months is coming to a close. It has been such a beautiful time for me personally, for the group of people that I’ve been in community with and, by God’s power and grace, for those that we reached out to during our outreach in Eastern Europe.

This time has been marked by growing closer to God with an intimate friendship, by healing, by friendship, by love. I could spend a lot of time writing using the word “I,” and telling you about things that I have done, but at the end of it all it wouldn’t be an accurate depiction of this experience. 

Instead, I’ll tell you what God has done.

God really moved in Eastern Europe. God took us all on adventure! Our team experienced God’s faithfulness in providing ministry opportunities, financial provision, favor with affordable living costs and His guidance all the way. He protected us on crazy train rides and all the time. He was so faithful in showing us who to connect with and how to serve in each location. Partnering with long-term missionaries gives such a sense that seeds that we planted with God will continue to be watered. Beyond that, God blessed our team with unity. With so much confidence, I want to tell you that everything that has happened since August has pointed directly to God, His goodness and His love.

Sitting in lectures for the first three months and then going to Eastern Europe to make God known has been such a practical way to learn and be discipled and then apply that learning. I treasure this time as special in a spiritually meaningful way. I have only good things to say about YWAM.

In the next few weeks we will be debriefing, having a report back night (which means sharing with the YWAM base about our outreach experiences), and having a graduation evening. At the end of the month I will fly back to Indianapolis!

Beyond that, I am excited about living the rest of life with God. I want to press into what He has for my life. As you might already know, my heart really breaks for women who are trafficked. Over the past six months, I really feel that God has given me a clearer vision for the horizon to walk toward. I would love to serve women who are rescued from trafficking by helping in the rehabilitation process as a missionary. I plan to pursue training for counseling.  

Thank you so much for joining me in this journey. Your prayers, words of encouragement and financial support have made this a reality. I cannot wait to hug you and catch up over coffee!

romania • week 9

I am sitting here, in the community center in Medgidia, Romania. It is a beautiful day with the sun coming through the windows. The rest of the week will be full of time spent with little ones who have next to nothing. Today, though, is a day of rest.

A friend has lent me a book to read so I spent a few hours this morning reading A Simple Path, a biography about Mother Teresa. It is beautiful and her life speaks of love, which especially inspiring for me and in light of the way we spend our days looking for ways to share God's love. 

"The success of love is in the loving--it is not in the result of loving." - Mother Teresa

And I think that is beautiful. We have spent our time here engaging in children's ministry at a few churches as well as at the community center. We usually have two or three programs each day, each at a separate location. The Roma children come to the community center from Tuesday to Friday for Bible lessons, meals and showers. There is always love and light in their little eyes! As exhausted as I feel by the end of the day, I do feel extraordinarily blessed to have gotten tired from doing ministry work. Here is a video about the ministry our team is involved with: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClbrlPbSsv8&sns=em


The journey last week from Macedonia to Romania was totally blessed. The bus from Skopje, Macedonia to Bulgaria had enough space for our team to sprawl out and relax. And then what should have been a long layover followed by an overnight journey on a potentially uncomfortable bus ended up being a short layover followed by discounted tickets on sleeper cabins in a train. That was Bulgaria to Bucharest, Romania. And then for the final leg of the trip, Bucharest to Medgidia, we caught a train that we should have missed, but it was delayed to depart even later than we were late. God's fingerprint was all over that day and a half of travel. 

Today is the first day of week 9 of outreach. I can't believe it is almost over! But it isn't just yet... we still have two and a half weeks until we return to the YWAM base in Herrnhut, Germany to debrief. 
If you are looking for a good read, I want to take the opportunity to recommend a book by Donald Miller, the author of Blue Like Jazz (which I haven't yet read). A Million Miles in A Thousand Years was the book that kept me occupied for the first half of the journey from Macedonia to Romania and it was so good. Here is a quote from it for you: "A story is based on what people think is important, so when we live a story, we are telling people around us what we think is important."


Thanks for joining me on my journey by reading this! 
-m.

skopje, macedonia

Hello! Our team is currently in Skopje, the capitol of Macedonia. Keep reading for a little bit of history, stories of God's provision and to hear about what we are up to!

This is really a city where east meets west, both culturally and religiously. The city is split by a river and one on side are Orthodox Christians and on the other are Muslims. The architecture is pretty varied with an old castle and then also modern buildings as well as new monuments that look like they could be older than they are. The city has actually been burned down, suffered a flood and has endured war, so none of it is as old as the Bible times... but Macedonia is mentioned in the book of Acts! Also, this is where Mother Theresa was born.

Our team has experienced so many blessings from God in the past week and a half, which I feel is a confirmation that this is where He wants us to be right now. We were blessed to be put in touch with wonderful Christian friends here in Skopje. They helped us arrive to the hostel where we are staying, invited us to spend New Year's Eve with them, and have been wonderful ever since! God really blessed our team financially with giving us a great deal on the hostel. Instead of paying 13 euro a night per person for the cheapest dorm beds, we are paying 10 euro a night per person to stay in the nicest apartments, and this also includes a good continental breakfast in the morning and as much coffee as we want (God knows how much I love coffee!! I could write an entire blog post about how God has shown how much he loves me through the provision of coffee all throughout my DTS... maybe I will!). There is a local farmer's market (called a green market here), and on our first visit a friendly vendor gave us each a free banana. These blessings are so amplified when we are living on a budget!

Our ministry here is different than our other locations on outreach: as opposed to being planned out ahead of time by our contacts, the nine people that make up our group spent two hours in prayer and worship each morning and ask God what is on His heart for the day. Our team has done many prayer walks, some street art and street worship, handed out sandwiches and have made personalized booklets with our testimonies to hand out to new friends. A few of my friends pointed out what a blessing it is to be so free in this time. We have all the freedom to do whatever we feel God is asking us to do each day. What an incredible opportunity!

Yesterday was Christmas in Macedonia (so this was the second Christmas I have celebrated on outreach!), as it is an Orthodox country. Our team passed out sandwiches and candy and had the opportunity to pray with people. One of the Bible passages I have loved during this time is John 14:12-14, in which Jesus promises: "I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. you can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!" So we pray for big things! Please let me know how I can be praying for you!

Our team is praying into where God would like us to serve after January 14. If you could please pray for our next location, continued team unity and ministry opportunities, we would really appreciate it!

Love and hugs,
Meghan