Joy In a Stolen Bicycle

So this past week has been an interesting one. I've been settling in with my host/flatmate, Diana. She is this amazing woman of God who is Spirit filled and Spirit led. It's awesome to be living with such a wonderfully sweet woman who truly lives out her faith. She can sound a bit cooky at times, but that's partly because she doesn't mind standing out in the crowd.

I started gaining a little independence this week by learning the routes and borrowing a bicycle to take those routes! It was great on Monday, biking to the office in the morning and not making anyone have to give me a lift. It was also great on Tuesday as I got a little lost and was a little late arriving in Tremorfa. I got independence and exercise! 

Then came the interesting part: I locked up the bicycle on the bike rack outside the church where we were working on Tuesday. It was a bright, sunny day, the blinds in the church were all open, and we had someone doing some maintenance on the building from the outside. We were having a great time inside building relationships with some mothers of young children, playing with the kids and having lunch with all of them, when I took a look outside. What I saw were 4 bike racks with no bike to be seen. I went outside to double check and found that all the racks were empty and under the one where the bike had been was what was left of my bike-lock. My bike was stolen!

So for the rest of the day I was left to carry the heavy bag that was designed to attach to the bike. And while I was able to catch a train nearby, I still had to walk a bit more than a mile. So here I am, walking home and really just having a pity party. I started listing all the things that had gone wrong that week and of course things just spiralled from there. 

But somewhere in the middle of my complaining, I felt God nudging me. Suddenly this happy, kind of goofy song popped in my head and I felt like I should sing it. I really didn't want to, but ended up singing anyways. I don't know what the other people on the sidewalk were thinking, but I started singing, and then the song turned to a worship song, and then another! Soon, I was praising God instead of just complaining to Him! It turned my whole day around. I was happy the rest of the day, no matter what happened, and I've still been surprisingly happy whenever the bike is brought up. I've started praying that whoever took the bike would feel so guilty about taking it that he would return it and get saved! You may join me in praying for this if you like.

God has been teaching me to praise Him, no matter the circumstance. And it turns out that it will change your view entirely. It's like when you smile while you're in a bad mood, you will suddenly be in a good mood and thinking about why you're in a good mood. 

So thank you, Lord, for what you are doing in this community and with this unknown person who will soon be saved. I pray you will be blessed this week. 

If you would like email updates, please email me at Natasha@heartlandfw.org.

We are still well below our goal financially, so please pray about contributing towards this trip. If you are unsure if you can afford to contribute: stay tuned for the next episode of Natasha's Journeys

Across the Ocean At Last

Well, I finally made it over! I actually arrived on Tuesday morning, but this is my first evening off since I’ve been here, so I thought now would be a good time to update you all.

I’ve been to a couple of meetings with the young people over here and things have gone about as expected: kids being kids. A lot of these kids are new Christians (which is amazing!) so they are asking a lot of questions trying to figure out what they believe. It’s awesome to see this stage of Christianity, especially with all these young people exploring God for themselves. I grew up around mostly Christians, and while I have done youth ministry before, it was mostly mentoring young people who have already accepted Christ.  This is a whole new experience for me and I look forward to learning more about God on this journey. I always feel like you learn more about a subject when you teach and have to explain that subject to someone else. Please pray that God gives me wisdom and opportunities to share and talk about His love to others.

All this has been great for a first week , but unfortunately it’s not going to last if my finances don’t come through.  For those who would like to donate on a monthly basis here is a chart on how much I’ll need for the basics on a monthly basis. It would be extremely helpful if you would commit to donating for a need that will be coming up:

Rent per month: $430

Bills per month: $362

Food per month: $172

Transportation per month: $52

Plane ticket home: $1,000

*This is based off the expenses of a previous American intern

Unexpected Plot Twist

Even as recent as Monday I was expecting that today I would wake early, get on a plane and be halfway to Europe by this evening. But that is where the plot twist came in: some very important things had not yet arrived in the mail. Things so important that there was no way I'd even make it on a plane without. So here I am sitting at home writing this blog because now I have another week and a half to pack up everything and leave. 

Needless to say I was very disappointed when I heard we would have to set the flight date back so far and I'll admit there were a few tears. I think some of my tears were from the disappointment, but some were from realizing that the stress I had put on myself to get everything finished yesterday was not even necessary (not that stress is ever necessary, but that's a whole different point). 

I kept wondering what I could have done differently or paid extra for or something that would have sped the process to help me leave at the appointed time. I was venting a bit to my mother and she reminded me that though it was an unexpected delay for us, God wasn't surprised by it. She suggested I use this time to pray and journal about the journey ahead (something I'd not been doing much lately due to busyness getting ready to leave).

I suppose it really is a blessing in disguise. While I am still rather bummed that I won't be arriving early tomorrow morning, I can use this time to focus on the One who put me on this mission in the first place. We can get so busy working for God that we can forget to focus on Him. 

Also, I need to learn to trust God with everything. I've been really trusting when it comes to finances, but because of this holdup I'm forced to face the fact that I was worrying about other things that I should have put in God's hands a long time ago.

So if you're in need of something to pray for: pray that I learn to trust God in all matters, not just the ones I choose, and that these papers arrive in the mail before the next flight.

Here's a quick praise God: We have passed the $3,000 mark!
Please pray about giving to support this trip. We still need about $10,000 or more. 

Thank you so much to those who have already supported. I love you all.

Your sister in Christ,

Natasha Utz