Dober Dan.

June 10, 2019

For my American readers this is a Slovene greeting that means “Good day!” This is one of the handful of Slovene words that I have learned. I still have a long way to go.

It is crazy to think that I have been in Europe for a week in a half now. Time has flown by so quickly. Adjusting to a new area has been interesting. There was a fighting of exhaustion from being jet legged during the amazing race and now there is an adjustment of being in a new environment. It is weird being in a new place where every conversation you encounter is in a different language and all of the faces are unfamiliar.

This past week has consisted of meeting the rest of the missionaries in Slovenia that we will be working with, in addition to Mary joining us! Yay! So our Celje team is finally complete. This summer all of 4 of us, interns, are living with our missionary family, the Stevens family. They have so graciously welcomed us into their home. The 3 of us girls will be living downstairs in their apartment that is in the basement of their house, while Mitchell will be living upstairs with the family. I love family has embraced us and created a discipling community for the summer as we reach out to the youth of Slovenia.

Every Monday we will be traveling to Ljubljana, which is the capital of Slovenia, for our Intern Day with the rest of our Slovenia team. This is a day of spiritual rest for the week where we are spiritually poured into by our intern leader, Matt, and his family. Today was the first Intern Day which was refreshing and familiar to do in the midst of all of the new activity we have been introduced too.

By the end of the summer we will have read through the entirety of the New Testament, which means a lot of reading each week. This past week and half we read through Matthew and Mark. As we read through we were encouraged to underline/highlight parts of the Bible that stood out to us and spoke to us differently.

“Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three day and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Matthew 12:38-40, NIV

I did not remember reading about the Sign of Jonah until I saw it reappear in Matthew chapter 16 when the people were still demanding signs from Jesus. Reading these chapters in a short span of time helped me to see this repetition and want to dig a bit deeper into what the Sign of Jonah was exactly. If you are familiar with the story of Jonah you know that he turned away from what God was calling him to do and even through a stubborn and reluctant heart of a prophet, God was able to use that move in the hearts of the people of Nineveh.

At first I was confused why there was a comparison of Jonah and Jesus. It did not make a lot sense to me. One is answering God’s call while the other one ignored it. But it all comes down to the circumstance that each individual is placed in. Jonah continually ignored God until he found himself in an impossible and absurd situation. He did not believe God could do what he said he was going to do with the people of Nineveh – he was scared. In the same way, the people that Jesus interacts with resemble the little faith that Jonah had. They will only believe that Jesus is who he says he is if he performs just one more miracle. Their belief has conditions. Even though Jesus has been walking around healing one person after another. The people are asking for a sign but were blind to the one happening right in front of their faces.

This was eye opening for me and the way in which I demand a sign from God before I choose to follow through. It is almost as if I challenge God to prove himself to me. I feel as if this is how a lot of us treat God. We want to be ensured for the future instead of trusting in the faithfulness we have seen in his Word. Which is definitely easier said than done.

This passage reminded me to continually be all in for Christ and trust his Word. There are so many times that we are discouraged because it is taking too long or we overlook the miracle performed because it is not what we expected. We start to lose faith. Jesus came to share the good news and did so every moment of his life on earth, but not everyone understood. It took time for people to grasp that Jesus was the Son of Man. As we are all familiar with, people did not start believing until after he had been crucified and even then people were trying to cover up the fact that Jesus had stayed true to what was prophesied.

The people of Slovenia need to hear the good news. And even when there is little faith, we are reassured that even the faith of a mustard seed will make mountains move. So as I am challenged with creating intentional relationships with youth who do not know Jesus and what he has done, I challenge you to invest in someone who is not familiar with the good news or someone who is new to the faith and is in need of discipling. Yeah it is scary to be open and vulnerable, but saying yes to Jesus opens doors to paths you cannot see yet. Your story and the way you have been impacted is more relatable than you realize. You never want to underestimate God because he will use you even when you are moving in the wrong direction.

Take Flight.

June 1, 2019

After traveling all day we finally landed in Prague in the Czech Republic with a couple of hours to spare before we started the Amazing Race. The first day of the race was physically exhausting. One of the first challenges we encountered was moving a kilo of gummy bears, which is roughly 400 individual gummy bears, from our bucket to color coded buckets in the middle of a field using only our mouths. Most teams had about 5 or 6 people on a team, but our Slovenia team from Abilene only had 3 people. It took our team about an hour and a half to complete this challenge, resulting in each of us sprinting about 1.8 miles each. Let me tell you that after this challenges I could no longer feel my legs and we still had more challenges to complete that day. I thought my legs were going to fall off. For the rest or the day we were able to team up with the other Slovenia team and complete the challenges together, which was pretty cool to get to know the other half of the people I would be serving with this summer!

The second day of the race started out with us running Prague hopping between using the tram and the metro system. We had to complete a bingo card by going to different tram and bus stops and taking selfies with the stops, which took us about 2 hours to travel between 5 different stops. The last challenge we had to complete in Prague was sewing together a doll and clothes for the doll to wear so we could mail it to UNICEF. Just when we were getting comfortable navigating through an unknown city, we had to find our way to the train station and navigate buying tickets to Brno and finding the right platform our train was leaving. Arriving in a new city meant asking new people for new directions to new places and walking up and down A LOT of hills. But now I can say I have seen a castle – the Spilberk Castle – in real life and fulfill that childhood dream. After the business of everything, our final challenge of the day ended up being an hour of prayer. Which was a total change of pace from how the day had been going. As weird as it may have felt to be going a 100 mph to stopping all of sudden, it was nice to sit, breath, and regroup with my team in the presence of God. This hour allowed for an appreciation of everything God was doing in all areas of the earth and in everybody’s life. Also, to give God praise for who he is and the ways in which he has blessed us. Realizing that sometimes God’s blessings come in the eleventh hour and in the small moments. It was also a neat way to grow with Mitchell and Sarah and bond with them on a spiritual level. It is one thing to know people when they put a “mask” on for the day and it is another thing to be vulnerable with someone and take that “mask” off. I have noticed that so many times we only connect with people on a surface level and our relationship with Christ remains on private. But there is a new connection made when you open up and allow God to be the focus and direct the conversation.

The last day of the race was the final stretch. With each new clue given with a new destination, we would hobble our way trying to find people who would give us confirmation that we were heading in the right direction. One challenge took us out of the city to learn the camp dance we will be teaching youth’s this summer, just to bring us right back to the Spilberk Castle where we learned how to play a French game called Pentanque. Which I have to say was quite fun. The twist to it was if your team lost to the pervious team you had to stay at this location until another team showed up to play you. The only way to move forward was to win the game. It did not take us long to get the hang of it. Knowing that the race was coming to an end meant that we would be changing cities again. Arriving at the train station we found out that we had 5 minutes to board the train before it left the station, which meant making a mad dash for the platform and praying to God that we made it onto the right train. Traveling to the first train stop we were told by a kind stranger that we were in fact not on the right train and would have to switch at the next stop. Getting off with confusion we asked one of the crew members on the train and was told that the train we needed to be on was on the platform across from us, which just so happen to be getting ready to leave the station. So, yet again, we ran as fast as we could down the flight of stairs and up another flight of stairs that would bring us up to the opposite platform. Finally boarding the right train we were able to sit and relax for a bit as we settled in our the 4 hour train ride. Arriving at our final destination meant we only had a little bit left of the race. Once we had the finish line in sight we, both Slovenia teams, crossed together with huge smiles on our face and taking 5th place out of 26 teams.

As challenging as this experience may have been, whether physically, spiritually, or mentally, there was always someone cheering me on or encouraging me. This race taught me to rely on my teammates, check multiple times that you were given the right directions, a smile on your face can go a long way, and so much more. Our intern leader, Matt Mormance, at the being of the race introduced the way in which we would run the race. In Christ we would, celebrate each other’s strengths, protect each other’s weakness, be thankful no matter the circumstances, and communicate. At the end of the day it felt like a movie. We all celebrated conquering the Amazing Race, treating ourselves to a big dinner. Then we drove up part of a hill to watch the sun set and we were amazed at God’s beauty. As we sat there, we ate ice cream and made each other laugh. Nothing is better than going to bed with a smile on your face.

I am going to kill Mitchell.

May 28, 2019

Mitchell and I have been together since 7:30 a.m. It is now 5:41 p.m. in Philadelphia and we have met up with the rest of our Slovenian team for our flight to Prague. Our internship has not started yet and in the span of this time, I have found out that Mitchell’s favorite book series is Pendragon from when he was 13 and he recently reread it last year, at the age of 20. I have had the privilege of hearing this story so many times that when we would meet someone new I was able to recite the story myself. He has managed to purposefully spill water on me because it was funny. And talk not only my ear off, but the rest of the Slovenia team’s ear off. There has not been a dull moment with this dude. Good thing I have been friends with him for the past 2 years.

In all sincerity I love Mitchell and he has made this long day of travel enjoyable and filled with laughter. I am so excited to serve with him and Sarah this summer. As it gets closer to our flight departing we are meeting more and more Josiah Venture interns and the anticipation for the summer festivities to start are at an all time high. I have loved getting to talk to the people I will be serving with and getting to know them better and seeing them beam with excitement for what the summer holds.

In the picture from left to right: Hannah, Sarah, Maggie, & Mitchell

Please pray for safe travels these next couple of days as we compete in our Amazing Race and begin intern training! Also, please keep the family and friends of Lance Bleakney in your prayers in light of his passing.

Go.

May 16, 2019

And so the countdown begins. There are 12 days until I will be leaving for Slovenia with my teammates. I am so excited to announce that I have reached my fundraising goal for Slovenia. Thank you to everyone who helped me reach this goal, I am so grateful!

Through the fundraising process I learned a lot about trusting in God’s timing and not my timing. I also got to witness how faithful he is when you have nothing to do but trust him. It definitely was not an easy lesson to learn but it was one that forced me to grow and let go of always needing control. I was nervous throughout this process because if I did not raise all of the funds then I would not be able to go. I started to question if this was really the path God had paved for me. But I continually had to push past the doubt that was being planted in my head by the enemy and be all in for God’s plan. It is so rewarding being on the other side.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:8 NIV

Just a matter of weeks before I leave, my college group started to do a series over Acts and following God’s calling. A lot of the time we pray for God to give us opportunities. God gives us those opportunities but we fail to recognize them. We hope that we will have a flashing billboard pointing us in the right direction. Or sometimes we recognize that the opportunity has been presented to us but we refuse to act upon it because we are too afraid. There have been so many times that I have sat back and not acted because I was scared of what other people would think. But the times I did take advantage of the opportunities I had prayed for proved to be perfectly timed – God’s timing.

Before I made the decision to intern with WorldWide Witness I found myself being held back because of the expenses. As I continued to pray to God I kept hearing him tell me to “Go.” I realized that all was holding me back was the fact that it would be a costly expense. I thought, how sad would it be if I said no to an opportunity because of money? As a current college student, money is something that I do not have a lot of but why should that be the ultimate factor? How little did I think my God was? I had been told time and time again how big and awesome God was but my actions were not reflecting that.If I believe God to be as powerful as he is, then I knew for a fact that no earthly or human intervention would prevent God from providing. I figured that it was time to act upon how faithful I believed God to be, and so I took the leap of faith.

One mountain has been conquered and I am ready for the next one. I am ready for the new relationships I am going to build. It’s crazy to think that I will shortly be surrounded by people that I haven’t even met yet, but will have a huge impact on my life. I am ready for God to use my as a vessel to help build his Kingdom.

As my pastor has challenged, are you going to push continue, or exit? Are you going to push those overwhelming doubts aside or throw in the towel because the odds seem stacked against you? It seems like you have a decision to make.