Faithfulness, Freestyle and Fun

I would have to say this Outreach to the Ukraine was probably the best (and most fun) trip I have been on so far (but I probably say that about each one!). From the very beginning, we could sense that God was doing somethng here. We went into the trip not knowing exactly what we were to do, we had no set plans, but truly relied upon God's Spirit to show us what He wanted. That just made it more exciting!

There are just waaayyy too many God moments to write about them all, so here are a few of the highlights...

After everyone finally arrived in the Ukraine (we had people coming from CC Heidelberg, CC Stuttgart, CC Freiburg and another church in Sinsheim) we spent our frst night just seeking the Lord and praying for one another, really getting to know one another in this manner. Even here, we could sense the Lord knitting us together as a team as we just laid hands on one another and prayed. It was such an awesome time of prayer and worship; you could literally feel God's presence.

We then spent the next 3 days hitting the streets - every morning from 10.00 to 12.30 we were in the townsquare talking with people. Then after lunch, most of the team went to play soccer with youth in the villages around the city while the rest went back into town again. Overall we had so many great conversations with people and invited them to the evening bible studies. For me, the best conversation actually came during one of the evening Bible studies.

Two young men Vitalik (17) and Wowa (19) had showed up, but were kinda making trouble during the study. Finally halfway through, they went outside. I followed them and started talking to them and God opened the door for me to share the Gospel of Jesus with them, and how it/He changed my life. They both were so touched by God's Spirit - sometimes you just know that you know that you know that the Holy Spirit has spoken to someone. Well, that was the case with the Vitalik - you could see it in his eyes, he was almost in tears. I know I was - as I was sharing my testimony, I was almost crying with joy at how good God was and is to me! So pray for these young men, that God's Spirit will continue to speak to them, that they will one day step into the kingdom of God.

Another highlight came on our last morning on the streets. The team leader and myself had gone to town early before breakfast to meet with the Director of the University to see if we could do anything there. But the Director was on vacation and so we ended up talking to the Head of the English Dept. and she was so excited to have us there that she invited us to her Advanced English class. So we hurried back, got the rest of the team and returned to the Uni. While the rest of the team went to the English class, I waited outside for someone who I was supposed to meet at that time. But she never showed up, so after 15 minutes, I went looking for the rest of the team. As I walked down the hallway of the Uni building, I could hear worship music coming from one of the classrooms and knew that had to be them. So I hurried to the class, just in time to catch the last few words of the last song. As I came into sight of the team leader standing outside the classroom, he turned to me and asked 'Want to say anything?'

Now I am not a gifted evangelist, nor am I very spontaneous speaker. But as he said those words, I knew that God was challenging me to trust Him and speak. So I said waveringly 'uh, sure...' and went into the classroom, with my heart beatng a mile a minute! I asked the teacher how long I had to speak and she said 30 min. at which point my heart started beating about 5 miles a minute - 'ahhhh!! What am I going to say for 30 min!?!' But God was faithful and filled my mouth with His words as I was able to share the full Gospel in those 30 min. I know it was all God because (1) I can't rememeber much of what I said; (2) many from this English class came to the Bible study that night and told me it really spoke to them and (3) how many non-Christian Universities would allow you to preach the whole Gospel!?!

Well, I could go on for hours writing about what God did (like the Christian border guard, the permission to play worship in the townsquare, etc.) but I'll stop here. As the Aposlte John wrote in his gospel - 'And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen' (John 21.25).

Ahh, God is good. Always. In every situation. He is faithful, even when we are faithless. I was once again reminded of this on the outreach. Well, Becks' turn is coming up in a couple weeks as she goes on the next outreach to Ukraine. And I am sure God will be faithful on that trip also....