BIG ASK: Do it Again LORD

Thank you, thank you, thank you! The World Race has been one of the best experiences I’ve had, but it’s also been one of the hardest in regards to challenging my faith and my expectations. Month 2 into 3 (Albania/Croatia), Month 4 into 5 (Ukraine), Month 5 into 6 (Jordan) and Month 7 into 8(Georgia) are just three of the many places I’ve seen God move in BIG ways. 

After our time in Durres, Albania, God told us to go to Theth: a fantasy-land in the middle of nowhere. Here, we saw God’s abundance and provision by bringing people out into the mountains of Theth, to this random bnb, and they all spoke English! He provided us with rest, with opportunities to evangelize in new ways, but also in how to remain patient and having trust in His ability to provide and guide us in patience as we waited on Him to move. In regards to Croatia, this was not a country on the route originally, BUT GOD sent my team (Amadea) to Croatia to minister to our team leaders’ family. A place you would normally consider to be a touristy, vacation type of place, turned into opportunities to minister, to speak truth, love and life over us all and God still provided us with beautiful fellowship and community with each other, her family (that became an extension of our own), as well as times to sightsee Croatia and have fun individually and together.????

“Find your delight and true pleasure in Yahweh, and He will give you what you desire the most. Give God the right to direct your life, and as you trust Him along the way, you’ll find He pulled it off perfectly! He will appear as your righteousness, as sure as the dawning of a new day. He will manifest as your justice, as sure and as strong as the noonday sun.” ~Psalm 37:4-6 TPT

In Ukraine, I felt like I was home; I felt an instant connection to a country I had never thought I would, and that I never thought I’d travel to, and it launched me into a beautiful, life-giving month, causing me to experience a lot of emotion and growth here. We worked with a local church, as well as an orphanage. I met a little boy that looked identical to me, and it broke my heart to see such precious children of God going through so much pain; even if it wasn’t in their actions, just taking one look at their faces I could tell all they wanted, and needed, was love and I felt particular motivated to ensure all of them felt love from their Savior in some way while we were there with them. Here I felt like I needed to stay, but because I wanted to follow along in God’s Plan, I chose to continue with the rest of the squad into the remainder of the Race instead of staying in Ukraine. Around the same time, and it was definitely used as a confirmation from God, but I ended up being fully funded! Saying goodbye to that little boy was incredibly hard; BUT once I told him the reason I was leaving, that there were still people who needed to hear that God loves them, he understood. With tear stained cheeks, he hugged me one last time and gave me a smile and a bracelet he had made for me, right before we left the orphanage for the last time.

In Jordan, we started out our time seeing the sights: The Dead Sea, Jesus’ Baptism Site, Mount Nebo, Wadi Rum (where the Israelites wandered for 40 years in the wilderness) and Petra. We rode camels into the desert and celebrated the birth of our Savior in the middle of the desert as an entire squad with the Bedouin people (whom we also have cool stories about). After, we switched teams (Psalm 138), we launched into our ministry: working at a NPO restaurant. Yes, that was a wonderful opportunity, but most of our ministry ended up being within the hostel we had stayed in during the whole time in Amman. The hostel host, Victor, ended up bringing his family to meet us and that’s where I met miss Lilianna. This little girl attached to me instantly; she showed me the meaning of boldness, and God used her to renew my childlike wonder as well. Pretty much every single person who came through the hostel, we made friends with and had a chance to share a little bit of fellowship with them; I had a really cool gospel conversation with 2 people until 3AM one of the days/nights there (and that’s a story for an in person conversation). We also met a huge group of more American missionaries who gave us a chance to sort clothes and toys for Afghani refugees, an opportunity we only found because we listened to God and He brought us to them multiple times throughout a day seeing an amphitheater and the Amman Citadel.

“Trust in the LORD completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on Him to guide you, and he will lead you in every decision you make. Become intimate with Him in whatever you do, and he will lead you wherever you go.” ~Proverbs 3:5 TPT

And last but not least, one of my other favorite places would have to be: Batumi, Georgia. Here, we ended up meeting a group of YWAM leaders, where we ended up having some really cool conversations that led to a prayer walk around Liberty Square. Here, not only did we see some really cool sights, we also met a young woman named Nicole in a coffee shop that God had led us to. She ended up being such a fun person, bubbly and talkative because she knew English and wanted someone to practice with. Lo and behold, she didn’t know that God would bring 3 native English speakers to her workplace and intentionally put time into getting to know her and just being a light of Christ to her. A couple hours before meeting her, we had received a couple flowers and while I had felt the need to give mine to an elderly woman near the metro, one of my teammates felt convicted to give her flower to Nicole. Then, as if that weren’t enough, God led us through the YWAM leaders to a church they work with in Batumi; so, without hesitation, we went. Here, we ended up working a lot with the Thai women, their Kurdish school, an English club, their youth ministry, and the homeless ministry. This month as a team was the hardest for us, but I really do think we made the best of our time and we were very open to God’s voice and His guidance. We met a lovely group of people through their church: Manases, Max, Ilia, Elena, Rebekah, Matt, Gulnaz, Aida, Jane, Florence, David and many more lovely people (it would be a very long list if I got all of them). Then, I met another young lady (by the guidance of Him) at the library, and I invited her to English club and youth group. I knew He was speaking, and I knew it would be fine, but for a second I let insecurity get in the way. Then, I brushed it off and had a really nice conversation with her, and guess what? SHE’S STILL ATTENDING!!! God is SO good! 

Then, there was the burn. Which, to be clear, there will be a blog coming for that one, BUT there’s a really good reason I wanted to share some really cool stories, regardless of how brief they were. I wanted you to know that God has been moving because you were obedient to Him when you helped me financially and/or prayerfully; yes, he physically sent me, BUT He also sent you to help in this way and you listened! And I can’t wait to share more stories (including the ones I shared, but more detailed) with all of you in 2 months because He’s done SO much more in each country than what I’ve just shared. It’s been such a beautiful thing to see how our God works and to really rely on and trust Him fully with our whole, completely surrendered self.

For our last month, God is taking us back to Romania! Our hosts in Craiova, Raul and Ana, have asked for us to return and help them in their ministry, as well as to help them bring aid to Ukrainian refugees; they want us to love on them, to just be a listening ear, but also to do admin work to help them relocate and to help them start their new life. And of course, we are also going to help them to see that the only One who can bring them true peace and contentment is our Father; we want them to see His love and to see how GOOD He is, while also just loving on them because they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. We will be here up until the last 10 days (June 12th-23rd) on the field, where my BIG ask comes in…

For the 10 days, we were given the opportunity to go ANYWHERE; we could go on vacation essentially, just relaxing on a beach, or we could choose to do ministry. Honestly, I’m pleased to say that God told me to rest, BUT to be open and available for Him to use me. So, I chose Italy!! Why? I honestly had no inclination to go somewhere specific, until some of my other squad mates started presenting their ideas, and because I genuinely want to visit Italy, and a group of them also wanted to go, I decided to jump on board with them. The only thing is…I can’t afford it. There is a decent amount being covered by AIM, but because we’ve all chosen different places, that means there’s different budgets for all of us and there still needs to be some that comes out of personal money. My goal is to raise $500 because that would give me what I need to be covered, plus a little extra to be a young adult traveling to Italy and see what God wants me to do with it. 

“Have you forgotten that your body is now the sacred temple of the Spirit of Holiness, who lives in you? You don’t belong to yourself any longer, for the gift of God, the Holy Spirit, inside your sanctuary. You were God’s expensive purchase, paid for with tears of blood, so by all means, then, use your body to bring glory to God!” ~1 Corinthians 6:19-20 TPT

I want this time to be fun and filled with fellowship, BUT I also want to make sure that I’m honoring God and His vision too. That’s another reason I picked these stories in particular to share so that you can hear some specific ways that I HAVE been listening to the Spirit, that He has been working in everything and that even with the times that seemed a bit harder, or I felt discouraged, He STILL used those times for His glory. There’s many more things that I want to say, but right now, what I’ve said is all that needs to be said. You guys have been amazing, (and to be clear, you were all STILL amazing before I started fundraising for the Race) and I need your help again. I can understand that it’s difficult to not worry, it’s difficult to trust, BUT I know (and I know that you all know) that we CAN ALWAYS trust our Jesus because he has never failed, and He never will. I will have fun in Italy, but I’m always on for God to use me; I know that I am not my own, that I am merely a vessel that God has chosen to use, BUT I have seen Him do it and I know that He can do it again! 

If you feel the desire to help me out, please contact my mom for more information. I believe that God will get that $500 in, and I know that He will use it for His glory no matter how it’s used. In order to give, either send directly to my mom, or you can also venmo me at Taylor-Hall-210 AND, thank you so much for all of the encouragement and prayers you have been sending to me! They are being heard, and I’m seeing the fruit of them as well because God is giving me so many opportunities to grow, but also, to go into after the Race is over in 2 months. He has provided SO MUCH and I’m so grateful to have had this opportunity to be HIS light to so many people across Europe and parts of the Middle East. This route hasn’t been what I expected, but it turned out to be exactly where we were needed and that’s all that matters; God’s plan is far greater than my own.