Bonjour! We have just entered into our 4th country of our trip...Belgium!!! We have been led by faith for 4 weeks now and my heart is stirred by the Love of God, seeing Him move in each country, and the ways He provides, protects, and leads us. Each country we step into, we gain a new perspective for that nation as we feel the Father’s heart for it, hearing the thoughts of Heaven of the Sons and Daughters who live there.
After praying in Spain, we felt the Lord speak Portugal as our next destination, the one place we did not have contacts. Portugal was not even on my radar, thinking it was in another continent. Lord knows I need to brush up on my geography skills. We posted on facebook and blasted out emails of our newly formed plan to head out to the Western most part of Europe, hoping a contact would emerge. The day came to leave, and we had yet to hear from anyone. With no real final destination, we stepped out in faith and moved forward with buying train tickets to Lisbon, the Capitol of Portugal. Minutes before the taxi arrived to get us, we received an email from a friend of a friend in the south offering us a place to stay for a week for free and the invitation to be involved the church they pastored down there! Jesus is faithful, up to the very last second. Before going south, we spent 5 nights in Lisbon- 2 at a hostel, 3 at the YWAM base there. We had connected well with a Portuguese church, which happened to be moving into a new building that week. We helped move into the new building, and formed an amazing relationship with the Pastor there and a man of the Church who was able to hook us up, John.
We then headed south to Logos, or “the end of the world” to the locals. Calvin, Camille, and Christer stayed with the pastor of an international church while Kaylea and myself stayed with his daughter and her family. The next week was filled with friendship, ministry, beautiful sights, and seeing 7 people saved! The families who hosted us were an absolute blessing and I will be so thankful the day our paths cross again.
After hearing from God, we headed to the YWAM base in south France via a 28 hour bus ride. I do not recommend doing this. Ever. What awaited us on the other side of this that beastly ride was incredible. The YWAM base, a 250 year old renovated farm house, was up in the country side hills of france. BEAUTIFUL.The true beauty of this place was not the sights, however, but the amazing community that they cultivate there. My heart felt at home as we sat around the dinner table, chatting away as if old friends. Their time is spent together hanging out, cooking, and just being a family after the day is kicked off with worship and prayer (when not running schools). We were able to pick the brain of Dudley, the base leader, and he gave us some awesome insight to community living with Christ as the center. When speaking about discipleship and evangelism, he made a good point. Our purpose in life is not to save. That is what Jesus does, and Jesus alone. We are to love God, love others, and be obedient to what He says. Do what He says, nothing more. He will take care of the rest. Makes life so much easier than trying to do what we think He wants us to do over actually doing what He says!
Our time came to an end in the south, and we trekked to Paris for a night. PARIS. My heart sings with the beauty of this place! Jesus must love Paris, it is one of the most stunning cities I have ever been to. One thing that I have been discovering on this trip is that Psalm 37:4 is so so so true! “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” He gives us the desires of our hearts, for He has put them there and will use them for His glory. Even seeing Pairs :)
And now here we are, on a bus arriving in Brussels, Belgium. We do not know what God has in store for us here, but it must be something great if He told us to come for 2 nights! That is another thing I have learned...I don’t always need to know the answer! I can easily revert to the 4 year old Kristi, asking why why why about everything, challenging everything He says instead of actually doing it. It has been such a leap of faith to head out a city where none of us have been, no set place to stay, and no agenda of what to do. But that is the beauty of it. It gives God the freedom to do what He wishes without us boxing Him in to our own plans. He has not failed us once, but instead provided more abundantly than we ever thought possible.
I cannot wait to see where else He will lead us on this trip. Thank you for all the prayers and support that have been coming our way!!!! I can not wait to share all of these experiences in person with all of you :)
Much love,
Kristi
