What a month this has been. From June to now I feel like life has not been what it usually is for me here, and to an extent that is true. For 7 months prior to this (been here 9 months now), I lived in a different place, had a pretty typical schedule, school and university were still in session, I pretty much knew what I was waking up to every day. But then summer hit. School’s out, interns are here, vacations are on and off, and the World Race sent us not only one amazing team, but two!
I’m going to be honest- to tell you I was extremely excited about all this would be a lie. I found from my short trip home that, Americans are really overwhelming people (sorry everyone) and I didn’t know if I could handle having 18 here for a month. I tried to seem excited; I guess part of me was. It would be something new and different for me here, but at the same time- I would be experiencing a different side of missions. For the first time in my life, I found out what it is like to HOST a short-term team instead of being ON a short-term team. Memories flood my mind from Missions classes at Messiah on debates about short-term missions, but I am not going to get into that. What I’m going to get into is what God was doing. Not for Uzhgorod, not for Ukraine, not for these people visiting, but for me.
God was teaching me a few lessons this month- and I got schooled. He seems to like to teach you lessons when you don’t feel so ready for them. But I guess that is the best time to learn, because it really teaches you to depend on Him. I could tell you all about flexibility and how I went from being able to just hang out with World Racers to trying to organize days and plans for them. I could tell you about patience and spending every day one week going to the same paint store, trying to pick out paint, be cost effective, and using the owner’s son as a translator by passing a phone back and forth. But I’m not- instead I’m going to tell you what God taught me about community and what a better way for God to teach me about community then by sending 15 people here who have been living in community for the past 10 (now 11!) months traveling the world.
Community- It’s messy. It’s beautiful. It’s challenging. It’s rewarding. You hate it but you love it. You get sick of it, but once you don’t have it for a while, you miss it. Community is what you make it. Here are some of the things I learned:
- Community is messy and hard. It isn’t going to be all rainbows and butterflies. Community includes hard conversations; it includes calling people out on things, but in a loving way. You don’t always get to pick your community. There might be people that are completely different than anyone you would choose to hang out with and call a friend. But you do it, and you do it joyfully. When there are divisions and hard conversations to be had, you have them (with love!). It takes guts- but in order to keep unity, it needs to happen.
“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
– Ephesians 4:1-3
- Community get’s the job done. I have been working on this café project since I got here. I have had the help of others, but the past 3 weeks I was in the space every day with 5 other people. Each of them doing their own thing, but working towards the same goal. It was a true visual example of the “body of Christ.” How everyone has a different function, but makes one body. A humbling experience admitting you cannot complete a project like this alone. I had said in the beginning that I wanted to paint the space myself instead of hiring someone to do it. I wanted to feel like I actually contributed to the space. But as I sat there one day- I saw all these people working around me and it hit me- there is no way I could have done this alone.
“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many members, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”
-Romans 12:4-5
- Community is encouraging and willing to go to the hard places with you. When you live in community with someone, soon enough you see when they are having a hard day; you can tell when they have something on their mind. A part of living in community is encouraging one another. I felt this first hand. I only got a glimpse and small time getting to live along side and join in on some community with these world racers, but it has been the most encouraging few weeks of my time here in Ukraine. Every day people were willing to grit through my crap with me, help me talk about things going on, and speak truth into my life/situation. They were encouraging, helpful, and taught me (again) how important it is to be vulnerable. God used these people to speak to me, to my heart.
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
-Hebrews 10:24-25
- Community- you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. I thought I was living my life just fine here. I knew I had something missing, but couldn’t pin point it. I had God and me, which is enough. But not really. A HUGE part of living faithfully to God is living and fellowshipping with other believers. I had this during my time at Messiah and was over it. But these past few weeks reminded me how amazing community is. Even the sucky parts. Even the people hard to get along with. Community is so important. God uses it to teach you. God uses it to speak to you. God uses it to encourage you- and you probably don’t even realize it.
So- even the most dreaded month you may have- God uses it. He is always using every experience you have to teach you, to help you grow. I may have heard all of this stuff about community before. But God knows me better than I know myself and He knew that I needed a refresher course.
Thank you, Racers. Thank you for doing the hard work. For living in community for 11 months, for traveling the world, for serving God and others. Thank you for allowing God to use you to reach the least of these. Thank you for allowing God to use you to teach me. Most importantly, thank you for your encouragement and for letting God use you to speak into my life.
With love and in Christ,
Julie