Words Cannot Express
Sorry for not writing the past 3 days! Our internet went down on Friday and it was super late last night when we got to the hotel! So check out this entry and the next one! I wrote this on Friday about how the conference ended!!
I’ve sat here for the past 15 minutes trying to figure out what to write about the past 2 days, but I can’t even put all of my thoughts together! Our team is absolutely exhausted, but we wouldn’t trade this feeling for the world. Yesterday we had our last full day of breakouts and team time, and the relationships that were built between the Romanians and our team is something so special! It’s amazing how you can love a group of people so much after only spending 4 days with them!
God orchestrated the most spirit filled time last night! We were not able to use the main sanctuary due to a college gathering. We had to rearrange our plans, so we thought it would be really cool to have a night of praise and worship on an outdoor patio under the stars. Then when we were setting up, the noise of the band was so loud that it would have overpowered anything we would have done on the patio. So we quickly shifted gears once again, and met in the large gathering room where we had been eating lunch and dinner. Casey brought down his guitar, we pushed the tables out of the way, and moved the chairs into one large circle. Casey led us in a few worship songs, and then the Romanians sang the songs in Romanian and it brought tears to my eyes. It never ceases to amaze me that God can understand the praises of His people regardless of the language. After a few songs, Chris stood up and began leading us in a time of personal prayer. It was the most powerful part of the night. He had everyone hold out their hands, palms downs, and he talked about how God want us to let go of the things that He needs to have control over. After a time of praying through that, he instructed us to turn our palms upward when we were ready to let go of the things we hold onto so tightly and then receive all that God has for us! It was such a powerful evening as we watched people let go of their frustrations and worries! And then not just letting go of those things, but putting themselves in a state of receiving from God all that they need to continue their ministries back at their churches! We broke up into groups of 3 people and just prayed over each other, and then we closed out with a couple of more worship songs! It was a night that only the Lord could bring about! All week, we have told the Lord that we loosely hold the plans for this conference, and asked him to changes things that He wanted changed, and rearrange things where He wanted Him rearranged! He did that last night, and it was amazing to sit back and watch God be glorified!!
After our time together last night, we all went to McDonald’s and ate ice cream and hung out! We took tons of pictures, played games, talked, and laughed as we enjoyed our last few moments together! It’s so incredible to see how in just one week the Lord will create deep relational ties among his children. This week we met more of our brothers and sisters in Christ, and they have taught us so much about his love!
The girls with Marta
Tomorrow morning our team is leaving Vox Domini at 7:30am (12:30am back at home), and we are spending 2 days exploring more of Romania. We are driving to a 900 year old town about 5 hours away called Sigisoara! Everyone tells us that the drive to this town is one of the most breath-taking things we will ever see! So we are excited about enjoying the beauty of God’s creation! We’ll spend the night in Brasov Saturday night, hang out in Brasov on Sunday, and then drive to Bucharest Sunday night. There we will have our team debrief before boarding a plane Monday morning at 6:50 am (11:50pm Sunday night at home) to make our way back to Atlanta via Paris. Our plane lands at 4:00 Monday afternoon!
Leaving is bittersweet! On one hand, I’m ready to come home to my own bed, have drinks with ice, have a salad and fresh veggies, but on the other hand I don’t want to leave! A piece of me will stay in Romania! I have such a heart for these people, and the more I learn about where they have come from and see where God is taking them, my affections for them deepen!
We will be processing all that we have experienced over the next 2 days! I’m not sure if we will have internet or not, but if we don’t we will update you about how our trip ended when we land back in the States!
Thanks for all the encouragement and prayers you have poured out on our team!
April
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