hellooo! i, claire, am going to recap our day for you! i am only blogging the exciting days apparently, lucky me!
we had to start the day early because we were driving an hour and a half into the city to go to church! i did fall sleep the WHOLE way there. we got to attend a service with the church we are serving for! the service was the longest i have ever sat through- two and a half hours. there were definitely some pros and cons to this though. a pro is that so much happened during this time. we had a few different periods throughout the service for worship which was so beautiful. i loved worshiping at different moments throughout the service rather than just the beginning and it was in another language! it was beautiful to still feel the Holy Spirit when you can’t understand the language. we were able to have a translator but with the service in the church it was really hard to understand which did make the long service a little difficult.
during this service there was a moment where they acknowledged the children who had finished Sunday School for that year (they get a two week break and then go back in their next age group) but all the kids got to go up for acknowledgment and to be prayed over which was really beautiful, and some of the kids sang a worship song after which was SO CUTE. i almost cried.
after church we ate lunch and then got a tour of the church by one of the pastors who is actually in charge of the missionary part of the church. he is such a cool guy and shared with us how they use this space to serve refugees. during the tour we ran into some of the refugees working on things like cooking, and because katya and karina speak ukrainian they were all able to have a conversation! it was so beautiful watching them communicate. the women cooking lit up when the girls came up to them and talked to them. it’s always nice to feel understood and have someone who understands you.
it was amazing to hear how God is using this church to reach others. he also told us of other stories regarding how they got called into this ministry and the struggles they have faced. it was really beautiful to hear their testimony and how God has worked in their community.
after this tour we explored the city. we walked thirty minutes from the church and explored “old town” which is not equivalent to an “old town” in California. it was very busy, the building were old but made new for businesses and restaurants. it was really cool seeing the culture, and it was a different part of the country than where the castle was so the culture was different. we walked around a book store, around some shops, got some coffee, and then got mediterranean food. we got “kabobs” which were like Gyros and they were really good. then we got gelato… again. but it’s so good! i loved it.
this time i stayed awake on the ride home! danyelle, vincent, rebecca, and i had a great conversation! SOMEONE said that they know i’m not feeling good if i’m not talking. i’m not sure how to take that one…
then we made it back home, levi shared a devotional on rest- perfect for today- and we did our daily debrief.
it was a great day, i got to see the Lord move in this country and spend more time with my team!
~Claire
Isn’t it cool to see how God works in different cultures and churches!? At first I thought as you, a 2 1/2hr service how different? Then I thought, we sit through 2 1/2 hr long movies, isn’t it interesting! We can do so much more than we think we can with our Lord! I’m so blessed you get to experience all this, it will be somthing you will never forget in your walk with Christ. I pray blessings over you, peace and continued strength. God Bless you all!
Thank you Claire for the recap!
Enjoyed your description of the church service. Stirred up more memories, of us having our European conference in Austria back in the late 80’s with 3 different translations: English, German & Hungarian. simultaneously with 3 translators on stage. Quite an experience.
Sounded like an amazing service with singing breaks and the kids singing too. I Love it!
I was also reminded of a trip to the former eastern block where we (18 of us) ministered to a small church youth group through music and drama, in East Germany, with the KGB sitting in the service waiting for us to mention freedom which was prohibited. We didn’t of course. We were warned by the pastor not to!
I found myself in tears much of the day seeing the joy on those faces, while knowing they were living behind the Berlin Wall. God knows how to bless His children even in the most dire of circumstances. It was an experience our group will NEVER forget! I think we were the blessed ones!
The youth group surrounded our vans crying and tugged on our vans when we had to get out of there. They wanted us to take them with us, but of course we couldn’t! We could only stay until 11:00 pm. The Holy Spirit did some miracles throughout our day there, and we baffled the guards at the gate even as they tried to intimidate us with fear, by making us get out of the vans and searching EVERYTHING twice. And with lots of questions. We had to buy their money to get into the area and they wanted to know where we spent it? Of course we left it for the church, who were so poor. God is so good!! Chris’s mom made a pen pale friend with one teenage girls. They kept in contact for quite a while. . Eventually the WALL CAME DOWN in 1989 and those teenagers got their first taste of freedom in western civilization. I look forward to seeing some of them in the presence of the Lord when we get called home.
And let me just say you gals looked beautiful dressed up in skirts for church! ❤️
What a great joy that Katya and Karina could bless those women by speaking Ukrainian. I’m sure it was a God move, to show His love to those beloved refugees. Your all taking me down memory lane big time today, with your adventures, I love it!! God is SO GOOD!
The food experiences, both what you guys cook and what you eat while on an outing sound utterly amazing! I know I keep saying that but it’s true. It’s wonderful to hear you describe the food and it brings great thankfulness to see your well taken care of!! I especially love the pictures of the Gelato. 🙂
Lord, please continue to impart your love, grace and mercy to this group. Give them even more wonderful experiences the rest of this next week, that will cause them to have a burning heart for missions/ministry. We know it all starts with just one trip and your Holy Spirit, to change a life for your glory…. Hallelujah!!
God Bless you all! ❤️