OK I know it has been so long since I last posted but I have an excuse: I started bible college! I moved out of the house in early September and moved to York and have been at the Calvary Chapel Bible college here since. It has been crazy busy so far and the adjustment to the student life has been hard but my time here has been amazing so far.
Every semester the college has outreaches to various places. Two trips really stood out to me: The first was to King’s Lynn! I had the chance to go back home and I really wanted to! I was tempted by the thought of my bed and my family and my Mum’s cooking. The second was to Romania. I know now that the only reason Romania was on my heart was because God wanted me there because I never would have picked that on my own. But here is a brief summary of the trip, which one I went on, and what happened:
“When the outreaches were put out, I had originally planned to go back to my house. I wanted to be able to see my family and have a break but God kept putting Romania on my heart. I had pretty much reserved myself to the fact that there was no way of getting enough money for Romania. A few days before my Grandpa called me and I told him about the outreaches. I very briefly told him about Romania and then went on to talk about other things. That night my Grandpa called my Mom and gave her a talking to saying that Romania was dangerous, and a waste of money, and that she should not allow me to go. This just cemented my plan of going back to King’s Lynn.
The morning of the outreach, I put my name down to go to King’s Lynn but I just felt like it was wrong. I opened my laptop and saw an email from my Grandpa. Opening it, he said he wanted to pay for my trip to Romania. I was blown away! My Grandpa is not a believer and it was crazy seeing God give him a complete change of heart. So I stood up and changed my name from King’s Lynn to Romania.
For the first few days, I was struggling. Outhouses, fleas, and cockroaches are defiantly not my thing and to add onto that, I had the thought of “I could be at my house right now” during the time there. I was praying to the Lord in a place of “Why am I here?” I knew God wanted me there because He clearly opened the door but I just felt lost and alone. In my morning devotions I read 1 Corinthians 1:9: “God is faithful…” and God really just spoke to me that He is faithful to be with me no matter where I go. After reading this it was time to do devotions with the group and the verse we read was Genesis 26:24 “…Do not fear, for I am with you…” and I just felt peace. God spoke to me that even though I was in a foreign country where they don’t speak my language, He was right by my side and He was faithful to never leave me or forsake me.
After this, I had the chance to teach the kids in a gypsy village in a town called Valeni. My group had a day where we were just preparing for the week and so we all broke off to prepare our studies for the week. I wanted to pour out what I had been learning so I put together a study with the disciples in the storm and Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego showing that Jesus is right next to us in our storms. I had been outside and it got cold so I decided to go back in. When I did I saw Kirsten, one of the girls on the team, with a felt board of the ocean. I asked what she was teaching on and she said the disciples in the storm! I was so blessed to know God had given me my study and confirmed that by giving the same to Kirsten. After that I went to the next room and saw Kate surrounded by bits of red and yellow paper. When I asked her what she was doing, she said she was putting a craft together for her message which was on Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego! I was so encouraged by the unity God had put in our group.
God really confirmed his faithfulness and goodness to me while I was in Romania. He is beyond faithful to us! Christ was faithful, to the point of death on a cross! He has demonstrated His love for me and I really fell in love with Jesus on the Romania trip.”
I hope to update this blog as often as I can so keep checking back. Please keep praying for the church in King’s Lynn!
