May 27, 2009, Vienna, Austria, 14:00 Central European Time – JV interns fly in and the Amazing Race begins!
Sixteen teams competed over the next three days, finishing tasks in many different places like Vienna - Austria, Budapest - Hungary, Bratislava – Slovakia, and finally arriving in Malenovice for a week-long training. The purpose of the race is for the individual teams to bond, to discover people’s personalities, and to see how people react under stress. This is all very important and useful information given the teams will spend the almost three months together. Our team did well. We definitely bonded quickly and had fun running around [leisurely walking to be more accurate] to find clues, figuring out tasks, and riding trains!
{Compete: strive to gain or win something by defeating or establishing superiority over others who are trying to do the same}
I have to laugh when I read this definition. While we had a great time going through the race, there definitely were times during the race when we got too distracted [beautiful places, great conversations, laughter], and completely forgot we were racing. Fourth place in the race came as a shock and a pleasant surprise! :) We had a great time as a team, and it was an awesome start to serving together this summer.
Yep, four girls and one guy. [from L to R: Katka, James, Charis, Irina, Alina] James is from California, Charis is from Delaware, Irina and Alina are from Romania.
After a week of intense training and teaching in Malenovice, Czech Republic, we got on a train [five trains to be exact] and arrived in Arad, Romania on Friday night. We will be in Romania till mid August, working with local churches doing English Camps.
We walked around the city of Arad today, and learned more about the orthodox church. It was heartbreaking to hear about how most people are taught to believe that the way to God is through their deeds. No grace there.
Our desire and prayer is that God uses us to communicate love to people everywhere we go. We want to be tools used to spread His truth. We are here to love, to serve, and most of all to share the hope of Christ!
The month of June will be spent traveling around the country, visiting the churches we will be working with. We are working on our English lessons, preparing materials to train the youth groups, meeting people, learning about the country, attempting to learn the language [conquering it really] all the while praying that God uses all this for His glory!
Please, pray for:
boldness and humility as we talk with people, team unity, love among our team that would be a testimony of Him to people around us, health, communication with Romanian leaders, the churches we will be working with - Ineu, Pancota, Seleus, Craiova, Galati, the rest of the finances to come in for our Romanian interns
On a more personal note: This whole summer is full of challenges. I do not see myself as a leader and am praying that God shows me how to lead this team well this summer. While at training, God revealed some areas of insecurities I had to confess. I realized I sometimes give in to the lies and focus too much on who I am not rather than on how God can use who I am. I want to be a woman that God can use. Not a woman hiding behind her fears, defeated by lies and doubts!!
One thing that is always a (huge) step of faith is financial support. I realized that I would not have enough to cover my expenses for this summer and needed to raise additional $1,500. As I prayed, I really felt that God wanted me to raise this money in Czech. I talked to people and it was so encouraging to see their excitement, their desire to be a part of what God is doing in Romania! Eight hundred dollars were raised before our team left Czech. On Friday, sitting on a train somewhere in Hungary, I received a text message saying another $700 came in! God provided all the money and I really love the fact that the church in Czech is a part of this ministry down here in Romania, sending and supporting our team!
I am thankful for you. Thank you for lifting our team up in our prayers! It is so humbling and beautiful to be a part of God’s story and I cannot wait to share more with you as it unfolds... I am really humbled by all that God has done already!
Love,
Katka
