The World Race - Kendra Baird

Beauty in the Broken

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

It all began in a question I asked my team leader, Don the other day. Looking at the van window we were riding in, I saw a half-ripped-off sticker that had been on the window for a long time. Dirt was stuck to the residue, the sticker was all wrinkled and the content of what used to be there was completely unrecognizable. Just the way it had been ripped, wrinkled, dirt had been stuck to it, made it look beautiful to me. I actually framed it with my hands as if I was seeing what it would look like if it was cropped into a square, painted on a canvass. I looked at Don and asked, "Am I crazy for thinking this is beautiful?"

He replied "Not at all." He proceeded to tell me a story about a car wreck where the windshield shattered, and how the way the glass broke looked beautiful. It made me think about how beautiful all of Africa is, with all of the dirt, chipped paint and rust. You can't exist in this place without ending your day with dirty feet.

This is all very different than the way we exist in America. We want everything to stay perfectly clean, freshly painted and well-groomed, but I look at this place and I am in awe of all of the beauty I see just in it's natural broken-down state. Maybe it's just who I am as an artist but I love that these people are okay with things being dirty, chipped and broken-down. Even the people have calloused feet, dirty clothing and even broken hearts. We are in an area of Uganda that has been plagued by a 21 year war. EVERYONE who lives here has been affected by it. Their experience, as aweful as it has been, has given them a character that is vastly different from those who've never seen such atrocities. I'm not saying this war was a good thing, but it creates in their being, a type of character that can be, and hopefully has been, redeemed by God. I believe the most beautiful people are those who allow their broken state to be redeemed by God.

In America, it's difficult for us to even allow ourselves to get to the broken state because of all of our sanitizers, pristine paint-jobs and general belief that we have enough money, knowledge and resources to take care of it on our own, without asking God to help us. If we can allow ourselves to be broken', God can redeem us and make us who HE wants us to be. This is the most beautiful version we could be, broken people redeemed by God.

1000 bugs, 22 people and a Chicken

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

We have been traveling for about 36 hours at this point (with a break in Lira, Uganda for one night), and we are asked to climb into a Matatu (a 14 passenger vehicle) that will take us to our final destination of Gulu, Uganda. As I sit there in the second row next to the window, this scene unfolds before me. Ken decides to stay outside the vehicle to make sure our packs stay strapped to the top of the matatu. Women, children and men occasionally board the vehicle and claim their seats. As we're waiting, a man approaches my window and asks me to buy socks or some sort of weird plastic toy in Lugandan. He notices that I'm eating my travel snack (which consists of two types of cereal, peanuts and dried pineapple mixed together in a plastic grocery bag), and looks longingly at it. I tell him no thank-you, but he keeps looking down at my snack, so I offer it to him. He's hesistant, but eventually he takes it and says thank-you. About that time, Ashlee tells me there is a cockroach right in front of my and flicks it right down into my bag. I jump a little and then she says, they're everywhere. Just about that time I look around at the walls of the matatu and I see little baby cockroaches everywhere. I look back out the window, and the man I gave my snack to comes back to hand me 500 Ugandan shillings (about 25 cents). I refuse the money, of course, and he says thank you again. Women and children continue piling in, about the time 14 people had loaded the matatu, we tell Ken he'd better get in the car or they might sell his seat. Little do I know, they let people keep piling in until we have no inch of butt space left, and even then, they just pile the children on top of the adults. One of the people who climbed in brought a chicken with him. Finally, Ken is the last person to squeeze in the second row, along with me, Ashlee a random woman and a little 7 year old boy who has to sit riding backwards on the wheel well in front of Ken.

We finally take off and we round the corner and the driver stops and gets out to visit a friend for about 10 minutes, then we take off again on a ride that is supposed to take 1 hour. Later, I figure out Gulu is 120 km from Lira. I know it shouldn't take more than a few hours, but with all the stopping, the slow driving, the dirt, pothole-filled roads it takes us 4.5 hours. Sweating, body to body, we make it to Gulu.

Point of Salvation

Mon, 1 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Recently, I prayed with two men who received Christ as their savior for the first time. It was one of my only prayers for this trip, that I would witness the point of salvation for at least one person before I returned home. In our time in the Kibera slum (1/2 mile from where we were staying in Kenya), I witnessed Peter receive Christ. Then, the very next day at Church, a man named Benson asked that I pray with him because he wanted to receive Christ.

A few weeks have passed since these amazing moments happened. I was super excited for both of them at the time, but the actual moment they made the decision was a little bit less glamorous than I'd always imagined it. Don't get me wrong, this is THE most important decision anyone could ever make - deciding to follow Christ. But I realized something through these experiences that will shape the way I view ministry for the rest of my life.

The moment at which these two men chose salvation through Jesus Christ was just ONE moment. I have no idea how many people evangelized to them about Christ before that moment, I have no idea what God has been speaking to them their entire lives, how He's been guiding them, pursuing them and showing His love to them before that point and I have no idea how many people God will put in their lives to encourage them and teach them in their faith walk from that point on. When I prayed with them, I was being obedient to God. I was there, so I prayed with them and if someone else of faith had been there, I'm assuming they would do the same. AND, the actual salvation of the person was not dependent on me or anyone else praying with them in that moment, their salvation is still between them and God.

All of the people who came before me in these two men's lives were just as obedient as I was in that moment. The fact that all the people who came before me didn't witness them receive Christ has no bearing whatsoever on their call to witness to these men. God created situations where people of faith were there with them, telling them about Christ, influencing them and encouraging them to see and accept the truth long before I came along. I just happened to be there for that special moment when they realize the truth.

A huge focus of mine before coming on the trip was expecting to see people accept Christ. Now that I've seen it, it's more clear than ever that my calling is not to live to see JUST that one moment in peoples lives, but it's to be a light to people at all stages in their walk with God. I knew this before, but I always felt a little bit inadequate at getting people saved' or sealing the deal'. Now I realize that I'm called to a life of obedience, of being the person who speaks the truth when God needs someone to speak the truth, to be a person whose life lets Jesus shine through everyday, every minute. To be the person who is willing to sit and talk with a girl who is hurting for hours, to be the person who offers to babysit free of charge for the single mother down the street, to feed the hungry and serve the poor, love the widows and orphans and be Jesus to everyone I encounter from this day forth.

Beautiful

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Kibera from Ken Virzi on Vimeo.

For a Good Laugh

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

mama africa take 1 from Ken Virzi on Vimeo.

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

To say the least, we've had an incredible month in Kenya, full of ministry and fun times with my team. Here are some pictures that can give you an idea of what we've been doing.

I got to teach a few bible lessons to a 7th grade class. In one lesson, I invited the whole class to try juggling!

Here is the pastor we were working with (Pastor Ezekiel Kioko)And his wife. We took them out for lunch one Saturday.

One of the ladies we met doing door-to-door evangelism took us to town to get our hair braided. YES, that is a weave.

For Shannon's birthday, we went to the giraffe park where we all got kissed by a giraffe named Daisy.

We de-constructed a building on the church grounds where we were serving.

We got from place to place this month in something called a Matatu.

And we got to minister in the Kibera Slum (Africa's second largest Urban slum)

And... I witnessed my first AND second person accept Christ for the first time. Thank God for Peter and Benson!

This Place Makes Me Smile - Part II

Thu, 7 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The few days we spent at the hostel were filled with a New Year's Eve celebration, making final plans for our ministries and a lot of crazy changes. Whoever you know who's been to Africa has probably heard or used the term TIA (This is Africa). Since I help with Logistics for our entire squad, it's usually an extremely busy time for me when our whole squad moves from one location to the next and now that we were planning in Africa, it made the changes that occurred much more drastic and frequent. My usual demeanor during these times is not a happy one, filled with stress and general frustration that I can't enjoy time with the people I've been away from for the entire month, but I found myself with the biggest smile on my face throughout our 3 days together.

My team was picked up on Sunday morning to go to Deliverance Church in Nairobi where we will be serving for the month. There was this up-beat African music playing, we were all squished into this tiny van and we were on our way to a Kenyan church. Just looking at these people makes me smile, and I really haven't got a clue why except that God has given me a heart to love them. We participated in the church service, worshiped and then we were given tea afterwards. Let me just say that Kenyan tea is the best hot drink I think I've ever had. I think I love it more than coffee (that's a pretty big statement for me).

Today we went across the street to some apartments, knocking on doors, inviting them to church and asking them if there was anything we could be praying for them about. Some invited us in and most were really receptive and interested in talking to us. Part of my frustration in the last five months has been due to the fact that all we were doing was evangelism'. Now, that is essentially what we did and I still have the biggest smile on my face. We stopped to play with some kids when we were done going door-to-door and that probably has been the highlight of my day.

Our time here has just begun, but we have plans to go into the Kibara Slum and meet more people, do some demolition on a building, do some teaching and preaching with bible students and so much more. I'm so excited so please pray that this month we make a difference, we see fruit and that I will begin to see how God is working firsthand.

Ashlee, Katie and the kids!

A few girls I met our first day going out to meet people.

Some boys I met on their way home from school.

The Kibara Slum from the outside.

This Place Makes Me SMILE

Sat, 2 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

After a fun day of getting back together with the squad and a 6.5 hour flight from Istanbul, we landed in Nairobi, Kenya at 2:30 AM. I was exhausted and dehydrated, wanting to do anything but fill out my Visa paperwork or even be standing upright, but something in my spirit told me that my race was about to change. After piling our bags onto the top of a janky-looking bus and piling aboard, we were whisked away towards our temporary home at Milimani Backpackers hostel and immediately I had an uncontrollable urge to smile.

Up until this point in the race, I've felt mostly useless, depressed and frustrated (to be the most brutally honest). These feelings came about mostly because this entire race has not been anything like what I anticipated. Back in August, I thought I was coming to save the world and after five months, I can count the times I've FELT useful on one or two hands.

It began to rain pretty hard during the ride and the bus drove right past the entrance to the hostel, onto a mud-pit of a road. We drove over one pothole after another and another smile came to my face... the bus was about to get stuck in the mud, it was raining all over our packs that were safely atop the bus and it was now 4 in the morning.

We finally got backed up and pulled into the driveway of the hostel. The men on our squad unloaded the packs into a tiny lobby that quickly filled up, so a lot of our bags got laid in the rain (mine included). After picking up my muddy pack, I subsequently got my jeans mud-soaked from bottom to top. I was directed to sleep in a tent with 3 foam pads already inside. The rain had leaked in and my pad smelled like cat pee. I was so exhausted that I just laid down without changing my clothes. Before I fell asleep, I almost got frustrated at my uncomfortable situation. Then I remembered how I had just been praying for my time in Africa, praying that I would have to sleep in a tent, take bucket showers, not be able to do laundry, live without internet and electricity for at least a few weeks and especially praying to LOVE EVERY DAY HERE. Since I found myself lying on a cat-pee bed in a leaky tent with muddy clothes after only a few hours in the country, I could do nothing but smile - I was finally in AFRICA.

Some of the tents outside the backpackers hostel... notice the plastic covering... that's because they leak!

Turkey Paintings

Fri, 1 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I did some paintings during my time in Turkey. I left them behind with our gracious contacts. They all have some significant meaning. If you'd like to know what the meanings are... email me :)

Having Chai

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

After 3 weeks in this country, I've realized a few things about a culture that is 99 % Muslim that are very distinctive. Having Chai with a person requires only that you've met them on the street 30 seconds before you sit down to chat for hours. Watch out for traffic or you WILL be run over. The men are always wearing nice shoes. If you wear shorts and go jogging, you'll be stared at as if you're wearing a clown costume - these people exercise in their business suits and head scarves. The main distinction of this country is, of course, the Muslim religion. The daily calls to prayer, the head coverings on many women and the lack of pork products in this nation are just a few of the things that are distinctly Muslim. Since our assignment this month was to go out and meet people, I've asked lots of questions about this faith to a range of Muslim-followers.

This is a short synopsis of what I've found out:
-    Even if you are the most devout Muslim, praying five times a day, doing good things for people and even being the guy who sings the call to prayer, you still may not go to heaven. You only go to heaven if it is the will of God' when you die. There is no assurance of salvation. And they are all strangely OK with this.

-    The religion is based on being a good person, doing good things.

-    Radical Muslims believe you should kill anyone who is not Muslim.

-    They also believe in Jesus, but don't believe He died on the cross, they believe that God just took Him up to heaven.

-    Muslim people are afraid of God, wanting to go to heaven, and that is what typically drives their faith'.

When you compare this to Christianity, it's like night and day difference:
-    No matter how many times a day you pray or how many good or bad things you do, if you ask for forgiveness of your sins (past, present and future), and accept Jesus into your heart as your Savior, you can be assured that you are going to heaven. (Because of what Jesus did when he died for all our sins on the cross, not because of anything you DO).

-    Christianity is based on the blood of Jesus Christ covering all of our sins (because none of us are good enough to go to heaven to be with God without Him).

-    Radical Christians give up their lives to tell others about the love and salvation that comes through Jesus.

-    Jesus came into the world to show us how much God Loves us. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:16

-    Christian people usually realize how short we fall from the glory of God, how there is no way we can earn heaven on our own, just how much God really does love us and how much the whole world needs that love, and that's what drives our faith.

A Christmas to Remember

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Last night I slept between my teammate Ashlee and one of our contacts, Rachel. Christmas eve was filled with an appetizer dinner, White Elephant gift exchange and many Christmas movies. We covered the livingroom floor of the apartment we're staying at with couch cushions and mattresses and piled on -11 of us sleeping in one room. We woke in the morning to stockings full of goodies and exchanged our secret Santa gifts. Don has been holding the Full-Sized football I gave him all day. It's like we're all 7 years old again. The excitement of Christmas is back, even though, just yesterday morning, I anticipated this years festivities to be anti-climactic and sad without my family. It turns out this year was just the opposite and actually reminded me of the days when my sister and I would spend the night with our cousins under the Christmas tree. I still miss my family and friends back home, but God softened the painful lonely blow by giving me a new family to spend the time with this holiday season.

Here's a little video to give you a better idea of what my day has been like!

Christmas Day ... World Race Style from Kendra Baird on Vimeo.

The Shadow proves the Sunshine

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

As Switchfoot says:

Sunshine won't you be my mother?
Sunshine come and help me see.
My heart is darker than these oceans
My heart is frozen underneath.

We are crooked souls trying to stay up straight
Dry eyes in the pouring rain
The shadow proves the sunshine
The shadow proves the sunshine

God is the definition of love and goodness. And, as humans, when compared to that perfect picture of goodness, we fall tragically short of that glorious goodness we were originally made for.

A recent topic of conversation has been the discovery of just how short we all fall from that glory without even realizing it. That is why I KNOW I need Jesus. I knew I needed Jesus before I came on this trip, and yet, before the World Race I think I must have believed that I was in a category of people who didn't need quite as much grace as the rest of humanity.

My eyes are now opened to the true darkness of all human hearts.

Imagine that you haven't taken a shower in 5 days and the only way to bathe yourself is to use a baby wipe. Then, your teammate, who is in the same situation as you, asks to use one of your baby wipes. You immediately think how many baby wipes do I have left? I don't know when I'll be able to buy more, or IF I'll be able to buy more. What if I give away this baby wipe and then I run out?' Instead of, yes, of course you can have one.

Imagine 10 of you have slept on the floor for 30 days straight and then you are given three beds. You immediately think, how can I get to sleep in one of those beds?' instead of giving up one of the beds to your teammate willingly.

Imagine that you get $3 per day to eat and someone asks you for a scoop of your peanut butter. Your mind immediately goes to no, you can't have any of MY peanut butter' and it's a lot harder to say yes.

My point is that when you have a whole house full of beds and couches, a hot shower, a source of income, a car and the convenience of going to a 24-hour Wal-Mart for anything you may need or want, it's a lot easier to give of those things because you can always sleep on a different bed or couch, you can hop in your car to go to the store and buy more peanut butter and you usually never have to worry about sharing baby-wipes because you can just let your friend use your shower. Even if they use all the hot water, it will usually be warm again in 30 minutes.

So, before this trip, I thought that I had at least began to master the art of being selfless. The truth is, that God has blessed me tremendously, giving me the ability and appearance of sometimes being selfless, but underneath "my heart is darker than these oceans". Our true dark, sinful nature proves that there is goodness (which I believe that God is). The shadow we walk around in proves that there has to be sunshine somewhere, or it wouldn't be a shadow. Just like you would never enjoy a sunny day if you only have sunny days and no cloudy ones to compare one to. It would just be another day. The same holds true for cloudy days - you would never know that it was a cloudy' day. You would just think it's another day until the sun comes out and shows you there is something different.

I believe this is further proof for those of you unbelievers as well. Think about all of the pain in the world that we walk around in because we don't give a second thought as to how the creator of the universe intended for it to be, we don't even realize that there is a better way! Maybe that's why there is so much pain in the world, we all walk around in the shadow and never realize that there is sun.

I've heard it said that the light of the world is Jesus, but we wouldn't need light if we were ok this way. We all walk in darkness until we chose to walk into the light. I have to wake up every day (now especially) and decide to walk in the light instead of letting my own darkness defeat me. I want to give up that bed for my teammate, give away my last baby wipe and the whole jar of peanut butter. Jesus said in Luke 4:4 "People do not live by bread alone". I can substitute the word bread' for any of those three things. He said this while being tempted by satan in the wilderness for 40 days. He hadn't had a thing to eat the whole time! Even on our small budget, I get to eat every day and it's still difficult for me to be generous. I can only pray as I move onto Africa, Asia and re-enter my normal' life, that I can keep fighting this dark nature and become a more Christ-like version of Kendra.

Happy Thanksgiving a few days late...

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

One of my teammates, Ashlee, was so kind as to make an "i'm thankful for" video and my team leader Don is just so great with words, so I thought I would just send you to His blog page to read about our thanksgiving day and see our video!

http://donbrensinger.theworldrace.org/?filename=happy-late-thanksgiving

(i'm also thankful for teammates who let me steal their material for my blog!!! Love you guys!)

You Know You're A World Racer When...

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

You Know You're a World Racer when:

Daily conversation involves discussion about who has had diarrhea.

Someone telling you "You're pack looks really small" is the best compliment you can get on travel days.

You and your teammate are offered two Full-sized beds to sleep in and you CHOOSE to sleep in the same bed.

Doing the dishes can bring you to tears.

You can wear the same outfit 4 days in a row without washing it and STILL feel clean.

You have to stick your computer out the window to get internet.

You've slept in 19 beds/floors in 101 days.

You're wallet has 5 or more currencies in it.

Watching a movie on a 9-inch computer screen with 4 other people is considered thrilling Sunday afternoon entertainment.

Showering every day just seems wrong and IS totally unnecessary.

You share your plate with 5 other people on a regular basis.

Getting new comments on your blog is like getting free candy.

You've paid more for going to a public toilet in the last 3 months than you ever hope to the rest of your entire life.

You think McDonalds is an Oasis.

My fellow World Racers, feel free to add others to the list!

24 Hours with Sally

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

In my first two weeks in Israel, mostly because of safety factors, I felt like my service here has been very minimal. I have learned, however, in times where I don't feel like I'm very useful to make a point to pray for my friends back home, buy a treat for one of my teammates here or simply read the Bible (of which, I've read an embarrasingly small amount of).

This past Friday, I met and spent 24 hours with a young woman, Sally, from Israel. She actually knew one of my squad leaders from his original World Race and lived only minutes from where we happened to be staying in a remote village.

We were invited with a few other people to their friday night Shabatt, which is a traditional Jewish meal they use to celebrate the sabbath. I'm not sure of all of the details and traditions of this meal or the Sabbath, but there were at least ten different 'appetizers' set before us preceding the meal, all prepared by the mother of this woman. Then they brought out two main dishes, soup to finish the meal, then fruit, pastries and coffee as dessert. Enough to feed most world-racers for a week:)

This was a very rare moment where I got to go into the home of this culturally Jewish family. Through our conversation that followed this amazing meal, I began to realize just how deeply religion is rooted in the culture of the Israeli's. How much religion keeps them apart (even though they don't seem to really believe). I also realized how difficult it is for them to understand the difference between culturally Christian and having a relationship with God through Christ. This is an idea that is so strange to them (and to a lot of Americans as well), I didn't know how to explain it. Even though I did a few times, they still seemed to be stuck on the word 'Christian' meaning something totally different than what we are trying to represent.

Ashlee and I ended up getting invited to spend the night in their guest house. The house had two bedrooms with double beds, nice shower, kitchen and a living room. Even though neither of us had a room to ourselves in over three months, we chose to share one double bed. I suppose it just felt weird to sleep that far from another person after being in such close quarters for so long.

The next morning we woke up to clean towels, showers, coffee and breakfast. We took a walk with Sally and got to know more about her and her family. We then were invited to just hang out on the couch and watch movies until the rest of our group got there for another traditional meal that afternoon. We stayed and talked for a long time and then had to get back to the place where we were serving.

Despite the 'religious' conversation that seemed to take us nowhere, it's a small world at the very least that this all happened. That the same woman my squad leader met on his first world race in Central America happened to live so close to the place we were serving this month with him as our leader. It was a glimpse into the world of Israel that most of us haven't gotten to see and I'm so glad I got this chance.

New Team Olur!

Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We just finished month 3 of the race and at our last debrief, not only did we have one heck of a halloween party, but we also had some team changes. Our fearless leader, Brandy Chaffer, has been chosen to step up as our squad leader and so one of my team members, Don Brensinger, has been chosen to step up as team leader. We lost a member, Anthony Ardino, to another team and we got Ken Virzi in his place. The new team name is Olur, which is the Turkish word for Possible. To see more about Ken and our new team, click here:

http://kenvirzi.theworldrace.org/?filename=team-olur-has-arrived

Nutter Butter

Tue, 3 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Since leaving the United States, we've all been faced with being removed from the familiar things that bring us comfort. By combining a little bit of creativity with my hunger for normal cookies, I discovered that this:

Plus This:

Equals

Nutter Butters!!!!

How He Loves Us

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

His love is why I believe, and I keep waiting for that to change or be added to, for my faith to become more solid by learning more theology, learning about speaking in tongues and trying to have enough faith to heal by the power of Jesus, learning more profound lessons that will, once and for all, make me the Christian He meant for me to be.

But I keep finding myself in a state of mind that is just desperate for rest and comfort, dreading another lesson in theology or another Bible study that will make me feel inadequate or even a group prayer that seems insincere. Then I remember that Jesus loves me. He loves me when I don't feel like opening my Bible. Jesus loves me when I make the wrong decision. Jesus loves me when I break my promises to Him. He loves me when I desire to talk to him AND when I'm silent before Him. He loves me when I forget to pray or don't want to go to church. Jesus loves me when I tell others about Him and when I'm afraid to share my faith. Jesus loved me long before I loved Him and that is why I believe.

The way He loves us is unlike any love we can comprehend. His love is defined by a relentless pursuit and grace. His love is not earned and isn't even dependent on your belief in Him. It's a love I wake up every morning asking God to help me show to the world, to my family and my friends.

So the more I seek to find a new key to my faith, the more I realize that it's been in my pocket the whole time. The key is His love.

The two most important commandments are (Luke 10:27) "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind. And, Love your neighbor as yourself."

And 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3 says "If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it, but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing."

For Nick and Nicky

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Because of the amazing generosity of the English couple we met (Nick and Nicky), I was inspired to do a painting for them so they could remember us, to say thank you for the meals they cooked and the service opportunities they facilitated for us.

The verse I wrote on the back was Mark 10:45 "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Bulgaria Re-Cap

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Bulgaria was a place I had heard about once upon a time, but never dreamed I would visit. After spending 4 weeks here, traveling to six different cities and villages, sleeping at the mercy of four different contacts in six different beds, packing and unpacking, sitting through ten different church meetings, listening to countless translators and meeting countless Bulgarians I realize that God had a plan when he sent us here.

If I had to tell you the exact names of each city or even the names of all of the people we've come in contact with and how they are all so closely connected, I couldn't tell you, but my jumbled memory does serve me correctly in remembering how often our lack of planning just fell into a perfectly woven plan. The first contact knew the second one and the third one went to the same church we attended when we first arrived. We had zero contact with anyone in this country up until 2 days before our arrival and every night, I've had a roof over my head and most of the time, my own bed to sleep in, a shower, kitchen and electricity. Most of these things I anticipated never having on the World Race.

We were able to serve others by doing some rose-bush pruning, door painting, tree planting, preaching and playing with some handicapped orphans all the while gaining information that will allow the World Race to send many more teams here in the future and gaining relationships that I pray will flourish into saved souls.

Because of Jesus

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

So many great moments have defined the amazing nature of this month, but the last two days of service we had orchestrated by an English couple (Nick and Nikki) were the best of my entire World Race so far. This couple arranged with the Mayor of a small village outside of Veliko Turnovo, BG for us to meet with him about serving in some way.

The mayor agreed to have us help plant trees, build a fence for a children's park and prune some rose bushes for the winter. During our first day of work, the townspeople were all so curious about our group. I vividly remember old ladies sticking their heads out the window staring at us. Our donated time inspired the village tree-salesman to give the trees to the village for free. Our service most unexpectedly, made many people in the town stop and ask why? Why would this group of American young people want to do this work for free?

As the newspaper wrote the story and took our pictures, Nikki personally asked why we would volunteer our time like that. And for the first time I was able to boldly tell her how much we all loved the Lord and that we came to serve the town because we wanted to show all of them the Love of Jesus. For the first time, our actions as Christians, made people wonder why? This is something I long for. I long to live my life in such a way that people notice I'm different, and I want to tell them that difference is BECAUSE of JESUS. That is why I'm here, not to push my faith on people, but to show them that God is a loving God and He wants us to love others the way He loves us.

This opportunity to share with Nikki and this small village about my faith made my day, my month and the entire World Race so far. Thank you Jesus!

This is the story they did on us in their town newspaper:

Saving the World

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

"Faith never knows where it is being led, but it knows and loves the One who is leading." - Oswald Chambers

When I chose to apply for the World Race, It's because I wanted God's will to be done, not mine. It seemed I had never given my whole life over to Him, every part... Not leaving anything out. I thought, what better way to put the fate of my entire life in God's hands than to apply for a trip like the World Race. After I was accepted, a large portion of my focus turned to what I thought I was going to be doing for God while on this trip. I thought that I was coming to save the world, knowing the whole time I had no credentials to do such a thing. What I now realize is that the moment I put myself in God's hands, He sent me here to save me.

I think it began to hit me while painting a door in the hallway of a church in the village of Sandansky, BG. We asked to be able to serve the church in some way, so we were given paint brushes, old doors and twenty small buckets of white paint. This is a job that most people with motor skills of any sort can accomplish. Many of my blogs call attention to this same idea that the actual work we are doing isn't very profound and doesn't take all that much skill to do. So I think it's safe for me to say that painting a door isn't saving anyone's life, but everything that surrounds it is teaching me to be obedient - No matter what the task and even if I can't see why.

God put me here to work for others, to serve others in the way of cleaning up pine cones from a lawn, painting doors and trees, playing with children for a few minutes one day and speaking to a congregation of gypsies who need encouragement. He put me here for all of these random assignments to teach me to keep coming to Him and asking why. Jesus came as a servant and gave his life for ours. He wants to shape me into the same kind of servant who is willing to live my life to love Him and love others.

God put me here so He could have my full attention, so I could learn to lean on Him for my comfort, trust Him for my needs, so I could see the world as it is and let Him show me how to operate in the way He intended me to for the rest of my life.

Despite the fact that I now know that I'm probably not going to save the world with my time here, one thing I do know for sure is that I am in God's hands and whatever I do and see this year - it's in the will of God.

I Really Do Love Jesus

Mon, 5 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I Really Do Love Jesus

I wouldn't still be here if I didn't. I realized that during a mountain hike in Brasov, Romania where we were having a conference and our Romania debrief. I cannot complain that I have been given this amazing opportunity to travel around the world, serve God and serve people, but the simple fact of this is that it is not easy.

It isn't easy to sleep on an inch-thick mattress inside a small tent every night, It isn't easy to take a 5 minute shower when you really need at least 12 to get fully clean. It isn't easy to hang out with 6 strangers every waking moment and pretend like they are your instant best friends. It isn't easy to go to the store and have to guess what is inside the package because you don't read Bulgarian. It isn't easy to travel for 36-67 hours at a time to get to your next destination and then not even have a guarantee of a place to stay when you get there. It isn't easy to eat on $3.75/day (especially in European countries) and have a place to stay for $5/night. It isn't easy to leave your best friend in America and want nothing more than to sit across the table from her and just talk, but knowing that you cannot do that for another 9 months. It isn't easy to live out of a backpack for 11 months. It isn't easy to not always have a flushing toilet. It isn't easy to tell someone that Jesus loves them and have them reject that.

It isn't easy to have FAITH that God knows what's best for you and is molding you into the person He wants you to be. None of this is easy. But the difficulty is what makes it so amazing. I climbed this mountain in Brasov and the further I went up, the harder it was to keep putting one foot in front of the other, but the view also got exponentially better than I could have even imagined from the bottom.

The Impact of a Pine Cone

Fri, 2 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The Random nature of the World Race never ceases to amaze me. I woke up this morning in the church we're staying at for the next 10 days, went for a run, showered and went down for breakfast, it wasn't two hours later that I found myself on top of a mountain, painting a tree outside a home for mentally handicapped women.

After the trees were painted (apparently this stuff we were painting on the bottom of the trunks kept bugs from killing the trees), we were asked to pick up pine cones from the back yard forrest area. This seemingly fruitless effort to maintain a pine-cone free ground made me think about how and why Jesus came to the earth.

Mark 10, verse 45, "For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve..."

I would find it safe to say that each one of my team members has skills that reach far beyond picking up a pine cone, but I think it's more safe to say that Jesus has more far-reaching skills than what is limited to Him in the form of a human. He willingly gave up the right to His throne in Heaven while he came to us on earth to save us.

As frustrated as I've been with not being able to see massive impact from my presence in these countries, today's work awoke me to a piece of the reality that is key to my time here. We each sacrificed even being able to use our skills to their full capacity by becoming a servant to those we are coming to save. Just as God came to earth to save us by becoming like us in human form, we are coming to the world in limited form so that we can relate to those we are trying to save.

Open Doors in Bulgaria

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I'm curled up in my two seats on a mostly nice train car, waking up for the 10th time during my broken sleep. I looked at my watch and notice we've been traveling for 24 hours now, and it's almost time for our train to arrive in Sofia, Bulgaria. I stumble around the train car waking up each of my teammates and a few minutes later we pull into a huge train station with no signs... I assume it's the right stop.

Anthony opened the door and yelled "Sofia?" to some unsuspecting Bulgarians.

We got a "Da" back, so we assume it's the correct place and we all stumble out of the train 3 minutes into consciousness. (Da is the word Romanians used for Yes' so we pray it's the same here).

As we emerged into the main center of the train station, I notice the Bulgarian Alphabet is completely different than English. We can't even pretend to read a single sign, but it's okay because a man named Al (who I called a day earlier) has set up a nice young girl named Callie to pick us up at the station and walk us to the nearest McDonald's (an oasis to anyone who's traveled away from America, has been traveling for 26 hours and doesn't know any Bulgarian at 7AM on a Sunday).

We were then escorted to church around 9AM where Callie quickly goes to change into her bridesmaid dress. There is going to be a wedding today at church and we're all now invited. Since we are guests, we're also asked to sit in the front of the church. We are now 14 random Americans sitting in the front seats of this church for a girls wedding whom we've never met before, wearing attire that is suitable for climbing a mountain or crawling into bed at best. Sweet.

After the service, Al meets us at the sanctuary so we can go see the historical sights of Sofia and grab some lunch with another American missionary, Bob. He and Bob offer to take us to this amazing pizza place where they also offer to pay for the entire bill.

After seeing a few more sights and taking another 3-hour bus-ride, we make it to where Al lives, Petrich, Bulgaria (about 12km from Thessilaniki, Greece). There at Al's home was prepared a feast of homemade chicken noodle soup, tomato soup and grilled cheese!!! (yes, I am excited about grilled cheese and tomato soup! It's probably a lingering desire from the cold rainy days back in Ireland). THEN he informs us that not only are he and his wife going to let 7 of us sleep at his house, but he has two friends nearby who are allowing the rest of us stay with them. 2 girls went with Maria and 5 girls went with Peggy. When I walked up the stairs of Peggy's home and looked over at the twin-sized bed that was sitting there for me I thought I was in heaven. The duck tales print on the blanket and striped pattern that mimicked one I had at my home in Ohio spoke a huge amount of comfort to me. Thank you Jesus!

We woke up the next morning to a huge spread at the breakfast table that Peggy prepared for us, coffee with milk and sugar, tea, orange and strawberry juice, cheese toast, peanut butter, honey and bread. Breakfast being my favorite meal of the day, and coffee being something I'm admittedly addicted to, this all brought me more joy than I'd like to admit.

Most of the people who have helped us since we arrived in Bulgaria had less than 12 hours notice that they were needed to help us, some less than a few hours, but they still offered everything they had to us, knowing only that we were a group of Americans here to serve the Lord! I'm currently sitting on the same bed I fell so peacefully asleep on last night wondering why God has opened this door of hospitality to the 14 of us? We didn't know we were coming to Bulgaria until 4 days ago, but we asked God where we were supposed to go and here we are. It's so clear that these people have the spirit of God in them... I can't even imagine opening my home to one stranger, let alone 14. I may have given someone directions to the nearest hotel, but not invited them in and given them everything that was mine OR stopped my life for 4 days to serve them.

This month is supposed to be about Asking The Lord what we are supposed to do and where we are supposed to be. God has given us a big unlocked door, I cannot wait to walk through and seek what's on the other side. Please pray for us that we hear God speak in the next few days, that we follow that voice and that we bless these people as we have been blessed by them.

Al and Dianne Mellinger's website: http://www.almellinger.com/

These two faithful followers have been in Bulgaria for the last 2.5 years and have dedicated their lives to doing the Lords work, including taking in each and every one of us on team Proclaim I61 and team Fuel, feeding us and guiding us to our next step. They are a pair that need your support and prayer as well. Please check out their website to see what they've been doing in Bulgaria.

every tear for His Glory

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

A tear rolls down my cheek after I hang up the phone. My entire family is heading to my nephews football game this morning in the US, except me. I wonder why I'm here and not there, and then I remind myself that I told God last November "Your will be done, God, not mine."

Then, I have to go through in my head the small moments here when I felt like I was being used for something TANGIBLE.

I remind myself that I chose this trip for His glory, for His will to be done, not mine. Even when I cannot see why I'm here, I do believe He's using me. He placed me here so I could hug one of these children because otherwise they would have nobody to hug them. He put me here to rub my teammates back as she walked past me, so she could feel a little bit of home. He put me here to clean, organize and paint that house for Oaza so they wouldn't have to pay someone to do it. He put me here to encourage the long term missionaries that we are staying with so they could be reminded of why they are here. He put me here so that I could buy a McFlurry for one of these kids who never gets to go out for ice cream. He put me here to paint a picture for these children that would illustrate to them the Love Christ feels for them and to encourage them to walk with Him. He brought me here to bring joy to some Romanian children for a few hours one day.

Sometimes I really get frustrated because I cannot see what good I am doing. I cannot see the entire picture. I can only see a glimpse, a few moments in someone's life where I am a part of it. Then I realize that does not mean I am not making a difference to these Romanian children because God said in Ephesians 2:10

"For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."

So if you question what worth you are to God's kingdom, just remember these words.

Children of the Light

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

One of the first images that came to mind after I met the children at Oaza's Shalom house was an image of Jesus leading them down the Roads of Buzac, Romania towards a magnificent light... the light of the Lord. As some of you may know, white light is made up of all colors, so I chose to paint each of their shirts a different color making up the 'light'. This represents how these children make up God's kingdom. When I gave this painting to the children, it was obvious what verse I should put along with it.

Ephesians 5:8

For once you were full of darkness but now you have light from the Lord. So live as children of the light.

Roosters really DO crow at dawn

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

And sometimes early afternoon, dinnertime and any other time they feel so inclined. Dogs also bark all night long and even though I have earplugs in, somehow the sound penetrates and keeps me wide awake. This is one of Romania's quirks... here are some more things I've found out so far.

Romania fell from Communism in 1989.

Romanians do NOT like the breeze, wind or anything that blows. They think it will make you sick. Imagine it's 85 degrees out and sunny. Wouldn't a nice breeze be nice? Oh no, not here, it'll give you pneumonia (or so they think). This explains why this kind woman on the train (to my left) didn't want us to keep the window open, even though it had to be at least 90 in our train car.

These beautiful people also believe that if you sit on concrete, you will become infertile. Oh no!!! I sat on the concrete!

The old ladies are super cute and most of them are Orthodox which means that they go to an Orthodox church and wear these cute little head coverings.

Most Romanian people (85%) are orthodox... and this is an orthodox church.

The Orthodox church split off from the Catholic church a long time ago... i'm bad with dates... sorry. But one thing I do know about the orthodox faith is that they don't actually have a Relationship with God or read the Bible for themselves. They get baptized to get their ticket to heaven and that's about it.

The tap water IS drinkable, at least where we are staying.

The Romanian language seems very much like one of the Romance languages, Spanish, French etc... which I'm thankful for. This means I can understand about 1% of everything people say vs. nothing:)

Romania is such a beautiful place and is never somewhere I ever intended to visit, but now am so glad I've gotten the opportunity to explore for this time.

Waves

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I never think of how homesick I will be when I decide to leave home, indefinitely or for a shorter period of time. Well, since I've been on this race I've had momentary, yet overwhelming waves of homesickness. When I look around at the place that is supposed to make up my new home', and the people who are supposed to be my new family', I'm sometimes very disappointed at not having my REAL family and friends surrounding me. Don't get me wrong, I've been blessed to have the team I have (we are the best team on J squad by the way), AND this month I have been blessed to have a piece of my real family (my cousins are our contacts). Despite the blessings I've received, I still have suffered from at least a half a dozen of these waves' of sadness for missing home.

Usually these moments are halted by the thought of those we were brought here to serve. We are here working with some amazing children who have been abandoned by their parents. ABANDONED. No home' to go back to, no family' to bring them comfort when the rest of the world is harsh. These things that I hold as my greatest source of comfort don't even exist for these children.

These kids are gypsy children whose parents range from young mothers who have no form of income to care for them to prostitutes who simply have too many children to care for. One story I heard was of two sisters whose mother actually lived right across the street from the children's home (called Shalom House, one of the houses of Oaza). She one day came to the director of this house and said I'd like my daughter back, but she only wanted the one girl.

Can you imagine? Your own mother abandoned you and then when she finally returns, she would only like to take your sister back home with her. The gypsy mother's believe that giving their children to Oaza to care for is a privelage of Oaza, rather than realizing their own failure at raising them in a safe environment. It's only been in the very recent years in Romania that there has been any form of social services to regulate these group homes and mothers, but now there are rules that protect the children from having to go back to a home where they aren't fed or bathed or sent to school.

Unfortunately, most of the children who are in group homes like these are never given up for adoption, never given the chance at a normal life with parents who love them. Not only is it very uncommon for a gypsy mother to give up her rights to her child (whether she wants them or not), but most Romanian citizens (non-gypsy) do not want to adopt a gypsy child. Not to mention that international adoptions have been outlawed because of child sex trafficking problems. Gypsies, in general, are viewed the way African-Americans were viewed in America in the 1950's. Most gypsy children, in group care or not, have little hope for a real future. Getting a good job for a Romanian is difficult, but for a gypsy, much more difficult because of racial discrimination.

Here are some photos of the kids we've been blessed to live with and get to know the past few weeks.

Frustrations turned to Art

Fri, 4 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Ok, so the Evangelism never really panned out for me, so I decided one day to find an art store and start doing some paintings. The first painting came from my frustration of really feeling defeated by trying to Evangelize to people. This girl represents me. She is playing music on her guitar, but feels sad because she feels she's supposed to be doing more. I felt that, by painting in Ireland, in a way, I was hiding behind what I already knew how to do. I felt that I was, at all costs, avoiding the actual ministry we were called to Ireland to do. I can't say that picking up a paintbrush wasn't refreshing and comfortable. It made me feel normal after a few weeks of only showering every third day, being cold and wet most of the time, and being frustrated at my lack of ability to tell people about Jesus.

After telling a friend what it meant to me, she said that she didn't see that at all. She saw that this girl was using her art to tell people about Jesus. I still felt inadequate, like I was letting God down, my team down and I actually began to think to myself "why in the world am I here". This is the first time any doubt had entered my mind about being on this trip. After I embraced the fact that I wasn't going to be any good at evangelizing in the way Abundant Life church was teaching us, I created these paintings, some during worship and others just during our ministry time. I felt like I was giving up, but in the end, these paintings turned out to be a blessing to a lot of people around me.

I didn't really know what to do with these paintings, since they wouldn't really fit in my pack. I decided that the church of Abundant Life (where we were helping to evangelize) had done so much for us in the way of cooking us meals, inviting us to their private homes for meals and company, and just showing us such pure joy in knowing the Lord, that I would give the paintings to the members of the church.

The first painting of the girl with a guitar called "Behind the Art" went to Jacinta (A woman who invited us into her new home even before she was fully moved in to spend the night and take real showers!!!)

I wrote this verse on the back of hers: Matthew 16:25 "If you try to hang onto your life you will lose it, But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it."

This painting "Sharing in the Light" went to Alan (who picked us up every day, was with us during our ministry and brought us his own personal microwave when we broke the church's).

I wrote this verse on the back of it. Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. (this also happens to be the verse that my small team has chosen as our verse for the year; our team name is Proclaim I:61) My idea with this one was representing us doing evangelism in the town square. All of the people with umbrellas represent the folks who know nothing of Jesus, and try to protect themselves from the rain (sin) with their own umbrellas (their own abilities being the thing they think will allow them to enter Heaven). The man hunching over on the bench is the man who knows that there is nothing he can do to enter heaven on his own, and the man standing beside represents us telling him about salvation by Grace through Faith in Jesus Christ.

This painting called "Walk in the Light" went to a woman who took it upon herself to make us two different meals at the church.

This is the verse I picked for it. Ephesians 5:8 "For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as children of the light." My idea here stemmed from the fact that most of us who already know of salvation through Jesus still choose to walk in darkness, but the light is right there if we only choose to walk in it, we can be made whole again because of what Jesus did for us.

And this last one called "Bearing Fruit" I gave to another amazing woman Michele who invited us into her home (us' being 22 people, into a home no bigger than 1000 square feet), cooked us lamb and chicken and about 10 other side dishes.

The verse that I picked for this one is John 4:38 "The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike!" At the end of our time in Ireland we were told that this place is a place where ministry is mostly seed planting. These people have been so hurt by the Catholic Church and have come to a place where religion means nothing to them. Hopefully us being here brought a bit of hope planted a few seeds in a few hearts and will eventually grow into people coming to Christ.