Jennifer Mitchell » 03 Romania

Catch the Vision

Jennifer — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:42:15 +0000

Someone very dear to me tells the story of a poet’s muse. The poet says that she would be working in the field all day when occasionally she could feel the wheat begin to tremble. She would then hear the poem coming from the outskirts of the field, rushing over the wheat, weaving back and forth. She would then run back to her house as fast as she could to grab a pen and paper to write the poem down. If she missed it, it would travel on looking for the next open ears. Sometimes, she would make it in plenty of time to write down the vision. But sometimes, she would only just reach out and scarcely catch the end of it, grabbing hold and reining it in. I love the imagery of this. I believe that God’s vision is rustling all around us, rushing over the wheat fields of our minds. His Spirit is looking for someone who is willing to rush home and write down the vision. Sometimes we miss it, and the vision goes in search of another willing vessel. But oh how wonderful are the moments we catch the vision, even just the tale end and pull it in. Do you feel the rustling?

While here in Romania, I caught hold of one vision from an amazing family. Our host family is one of the few bright lights in this village. Here in Viilli Techi, many people know about God, but they do not have a true relationship with Him. Legalism and judgment run rampant. Abi, the father, has a vision to change all this. He has a heart for the people, and desires to serve them in every way. I watched Abi and his family give to those less fortunate, even though they do not have much at all. Behind our village there live some people who are rejected by even their own people. These villagers arrived about a year ago after being kicked out of their own village. They have no running water, no real houses, and barely any food or clothing. Seeing the conditions these children live in is heartbreaking. They are dirty and hungry and starving for love and joy. Many of the girls did not even have underwear or pants. Because they are not accepted by society, the children cannot go to school, and therefore and not even give the opportunity for a different future. Abi wants to change all of this. He works in construction and desires to build houses for these people so that they may have an attempt at a better life. He is working within the community to change their hearts and teach Christ’s love and acceptance. This is hard work, but Abi and his family are the perfect people to do it.

Working together with his brother and brother-in-law, Abi’s vision is to build a building that will change the whole town. The first floor would be a factory, providing jobs and goods for the community. The second floor would be rooms for missionaries to come and get training and help the village. These rooms would also be used to help men get off the streets, get an education and change their life. This building would also have English as a Second Language classes and Bible Studies to help change the community. Both of these projects are big undertakings, but I fully believe that this vision is from God, and that it will be blessed. I am writing to petition you to pray. God is very real in this village, and I know that he is doing big things here. The last thing I want in the whole world is to go somewhere for a month, smile, hug some kids, show love and then leave. I believe that God is calling me to tend the seeds that are planted here in Romania. For that I need a lot of help. My team is still working on all of the logistics about how exactly to help take hold of this vision, but we will be posting some things hopefully in the near future about how you all can get involved. Until then, please join me in prayer. I am so excited to see what God does through our month here, and how he begins to bring Abi’s big dreams to reality. Thank you for all of your prayers.

Today, may we be open and willing vessels and when we feel the rustling of the Spirit,
may we do everything in our power to catch the vision.

Sora Mia

Jennifer — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:41:00 +0000

That’s “My Sister” in Romanian. I want to tell you about a precious relationship that God has given me during my month here. Our host family, Abi, Lily, Andrea, Alexandrea and Ade are such a wonderful family. They are one of the few families in this village that enjoy a personal relationship with Jesus. They walk under the freedom that Christ brings, and try to show love to all those they know. Our first day here, after traveling for 18 hours straight everyone picked a bed and fell into a deep sleep. Just as I was about to sit down I felt a hand in mine pulling me toward her bedroom. Alex is 13 and one of the most precious girls I have ever met. She pulled me into her room where we watched Romanian rap videos and tried to communicate. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Even though she is only 13, Alex is full of wisdom and maturity. She is learning English and can communicate very well. She graciously has been our main translator this month. Beyond that, I had the honor of really getting to know Alex. She and I just felt a connection and have been spending a lot of time together since. Some mornings we wake up and do a Bible Study as I try to teach her English through Scripture. Other days we walk through the village and eat as much icecream as our stomachs can handle.

Alex has reminded me of the beauty of innocence. Her family has had a few World Race teams stay with them over the past few years, so she has learned English very well. At nights, her favorite thing to do is sit outside and talk with me. We talk about everything, boys, family, school, her worries, her burdens, everything. These conversations are so precious to me. Normal 13 year olds in America would talk about the latest fashion trends or Hannah Montana movie. Alex, however, is concerned about her family and where their next meal will come from. She worries about how her little brother Ade will grow up and if they will have enough money for school. It breaks my heart, but she is so mature and strong. I love just sitting and talking with her. These conversations have shown me the importance of listening to people. Everyone just wants to be heard. They want to know that someone cares about them and that they are loved. I can see how much talking with Alex and spending time with her means. My encouragement for you is to look for opportunities to listen to someone today. Everyone has a story and they just want to share it. We can be those listening ears and tender heart that Christ would offer if he were here in the flesh.

Even a small conversation can change a life.

Who can you be Christ to today?

And Now For Your Viewing Pleasure…

Jennifer — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:08:00 +0000

Well we’ve been in Romania for about 2 weeks now and on the Race for officially one month and three days. Time has flown by to say the least. I haven’t really had a chance to upload many of my pictures and blogs from Romania, so I thought I would try to lump a bunch all together. This month we are ministering in a little village called Villi Techi. Our ministry is to love of the people of this village and show the Christ in every way possible. So far we have washed carpets, picked potatoes, cooked, cleaned, made jam, painted faces, and participated in the daily lives of these wonderful people. The village is very small, but the people have huge hearts! Every house we go in expecting to show them love, they turn around and show us more! Many people are Christian, but live under the burden of legalism. They don’t wear makeup or jewelry and dancing is out of the question (Hmmm sounds a lot like that small little denomination hidden in the foothills of Tennessee). It’s been great to get to show them love and the freedom that Christ brings. I really do like it here. I have connected a lot with our host family, which is another blog for another day. Just know that I love them tons, and that I’m beginning to dream with theme about what God wants to do in their village and my part in it.

I also have some exciting news! Our original race route had us going to Egypt next, however that is not going to work out. So as of right now we are Asking the Lord for our next month of ministry. Each team is spending the next two weeks searching after the Lord’s will and listening for his voice. AIM has a few contacts that we may meet up with, but many of us will be praying and following the Lord’s leading completely. I am very excited about this next step! All we know is that we will be in Eastern Europe somewhere. From there we were supposed to go to Jordan in November, but it’s looking we will be headed to Turkey instead! From there we will hopefully still be heading to Israel in December! I hope that this is the case!! Please be in prayer for us this month as we learn in to God’s voice.

Also a quick update about support, I still have about $4,000 left to raise. My next deadline is November 1st, for which I need $1000 more and then the finial deadline is January 1st for the rest of the amount. I thank you all so much for all of your wonderful help and sacrifices in getting me on the field. I am SOOO excited about the ministry God is doing here and through all of your gifts. Be blessed knowing that He is up to great things. Ok, without any further delay, I present a snapshot of my life in Romania so far:

Caroling for Christ

Jennifer — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:33:01 +0000

This Sunday we all packed up to go to our first Romanian church service. I was really excited to experience how the Romanians worship. We have about 60 World Racers in the small village that we are staying at, so it was great to get to worship together. The entire January squad is here, 3 J squad teams plus Joholo and us. We pretty much tripled the population of this town in one night. Anyway, after worship our contact got up and said that he felt like the Spirit was moving us to do something radical. So he got us all to pack up, got outside and we began worshipping in the street. We formed one long processional and walked from one end of the town to the other. Every time people came out to see what was going on, we invited them to church later that night. It was a really great experience for me. I love worship, and I love prayer walking, so for 60 of us to be united together really touched my heart. We filled the streets of Villa Techii with praise! That night for service, all of the pews were filled with townspeople! It was amazing! We had about 4 racers speak and then an invitation. Many people went up for prayer and healing. It was exciting to see the fruit of our labor earlier that morning.

Another cool experience we had was earlier in the week. Danielle and I spent the day with a lady named Simone, playing with her children and spending time with her. She invited us back later that night to sing and maybe study the Bible some. Our whole team went back with our host family, who are also serving as our translators. A couple of our guys shared and Abi, our host, translated. In the middle of it one of the men that was there began asking questions to Abi about the Trinity and holiness and what separates good people from Christians. Abi spoke with this man for a good half hour about the Lord. The man seemed to understand a lot, and asked for prayer at the end of it. He even invited our guys back to his house later this week so they can continue to discuss and pray! Later we learned that he had never spent more than 5 minutes at a worship service and never engaged in spiritual conversation. Even though we weren’t able to directly speak to him, I believe our presence in the village was a catalyst for this divine appointment. We merely created the space, and God did the rest. It was really freeing for me because so often I believe missions is an on the go type of thing all the time, but God just wants us to be, and rest, and create spaces and then allow him to work.

I am learning a lot about how to love people, despite a language barrier. Even though we have a difficult time with the language, love is the most powerful way to speak. We do a lot of acts of service, and I believe that speaks volumes. Later this week we are trying to get together a children’s ministry and a language school, so please pray that doors will be opened and that we can learn to communicate God’s love to people. We are in this village for two more weeks and then we are supposed to leave for an AIM conference at the end of the month. They are having 4 different squads, AIM staff, and many World Race alumn meet for a five day conference in Romania. I’m looking forward to meeting the other squads and learning as much as I can from them. I’m not sure when I will get internet again. We took a bus for about 30 minutes this morning because it was our day off. We may get another one next week, but who knows. I appreciate all of your prayers so much. I really feel it being here and not being able to communicate. Know that even though I can’t write much, I love you all so much and miss everyone terribly!! May Christ give us all the wisdom this week to look for opportunities to create the space for God to move.

Typical World Race

Jennifer — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:31:16 +0000

This has been such an exciting week! We were packing up to travel from Ireland to Moldova when we learned that our contact there fell through. So we left at 7am for the Dublin airport and flew to Bucharest, Romania. From there we got on a 11 hour bus ride to Viilatechi, Romania. Our team is partnered with Joholo, a wonderful team and great friends. We are staying with a wonderful host family. Life here has been wonderful so far! The village we are in is a gypsy town full of families and love. The community is very tight, and the people are very welcoming. Many of them have their own gardens and have their own produce. Life here is simple, yet wonderful. We are learning the art of Christian community and how to show God’s love in a practical way. We don’t have specific ministry assignments; instead our mission here is to love the families we come in contact with. So far we have cleaned houses, helped cook, cut hair, taught English and shared God’s love in any way that we can. I love how organic this is. I feel like I am constantly walking in God’s presence. It is very peaceful here and is easy to live and be with the people. I feel as though our actions are pulsating with God’s breath here. The gypsy people are so welcoming. It is great to show them love because they are not recognized as a people by the Romanian government. My heart goes out to the people who are not a people. It is a very interesting dynamic here because there are many gypsies who are Christian, but most of them are Pentecostal. For them, it is not good to wear earrings, makeup, or anything above the knees. I am seeing the effect of the Holiness Missionary movement here. It is very humbling because I see what an impact we can have in this community. I look forward to teaching the children more about God’s love and helping them learn English.

I think it has finally begun to sink in that this is my life for a year. I haven’t showered for four days, and I couldn’t be happier. I have waited my whole life to be a missionary, and I am finally here. I feel as though God is preparing me for a future overseas. I’m not sure exactly what that context will be, but I love helping people and travelling and seeing other cultures. I just can’t believe that I am here and that this is my life for the next year. It is so exciting to me!! I still miss everyone back at home, but I am confident that this is where God has me, for such a time as this.

Thank you for all of your prayers. This month is a lot of family ministry, so please pray that the language barriers may be broken down so that we can share Christ to them. The last thing we want is to be just friendly travelers. Also pray that the religion that is already here not restrict those who want to go deeper with the Lord. We are beginning to do children’s ministry and women’s Bible studies. I am excited to teach practical lessons and stories to them. I am not sure when the next time we will get Internet is. We either have to walk about 3 miles into town to get it, or take a 20-minute bus ride. Thank you all for your prayers and love. Know that it is being spread here like wildfire.