"Welcome, Sisters!"
our first night in Russia at the Mission Possible children's shelter.
We arrived on a bleak, wet day in Yekaterinburg, Russia and drove through the grayness of the city to the shelter. This is what we walked into....Life, hope, and warmth. The sounds of children running and giggling. What a shift it was! The spirit of adoption truly rested upon this place and we could feel the joy as soon as we walked in!
This first night was one of my favorites. After dinner we headed right upstairs to worship and pray with all of the kids before they headed to bed :)
The kids were so excited...the first snow came on our first night there, or "sne-ack" they would say pointing out the window!
Visiting a Russian Orthodox church in Yekaterinburg. We had to be sure to wear head coverings here. Viktoria was a wonderful guide and translator!
Valerie! I finally got to know Valerie on this trip and she's one spectacular girl. It was so refreshing to have her encouraging voice, and her laughter on this trip! So much laughing...one of my favorite things ever :)
Downtown Yekaterinburg
a fence FILLED from end to end with married couples 'locks' :)
This sweet face is Sasha. She was such an incredible spirit to be around. Sasha has been through some extremely tragic family events, she's seen things no four year old should ever have to. But even after hearing her story, you could tell the sparkle in her eyes and contagious joy is completely God's restoration in her heart and that her first year with Mission Possible has been such a safe place for her to grow and be free. Jesus' joy is so alive in her! She melted our hearts!
the Father's AMAZING servants...these woman don't ever stop at this shelter pouring out His love on these needy children.
Many of the kids stories were so heart-breaking, experiencing abuse and abandonment from alcoholic parents. We were so humbled by the stories but also their simple joy and delight in one another, now in a place of such love, family & acceptance. Below are pictures of their playground in the backyard. It's not much as you can see. This is something I hope we could come back and help with in the future...
This was a poster on my bedroom door...kind of intense to wake up to haha! Viktoria said "it means Shut up! or Don't speak!...even the walls have ears" it was a poster used in USSR when they were afraid of American spies...
Kelsey in motion :)
A couple days later, we were off to the conference center!
Annette bringing the word!
yes, coffee
Kelsey had her birthday in Russia!
I'm so thankful for this girl, her heart of worship has ignited mine and I loved leading with her during this trip, I know we both learned so much from it!
Ivo, and his wife Mirjami to the right teaching on the glory of God! Daniella also taught, but in Bulgarian...so Ivo was translating from Bulgarian to Russian, and then I had a translator sitting next to me, translating from Russian to English...Praise God for the faithful translators we had haha!
Worship with the Russian worship team. I can't even explain how this worked...but we just trusted Him to lead, the Holy Spirit totally orchestrated this and it was so fun! I love knowing I have these brothers and sisters in other nations that deeply desire to worship Jesus together, way past the language barriers!
a little guitar lesson for Viktoria!
The Lord so specifically spoke Isaiah 61 to us for Russia and for Annette's teachings. A song I felt to bring even before we knew we'd stay on these verse's all weekend, was a song my good friend Hudson Wells powerfully wrote, called "Break Free". Some of the lyrics:
You took my ashes and You gave me beauty
You gave me joy for my sorrow
You said Your mercies are new every morning
but the world can't wait for the dawn
so meet me here in the night
Break Free, you're not bound anymore
the power of the cross has opened heaven's door
Break Free, you're not shackled anymore
Taste and see, because there's gonna be so much more!
I love these women. There are countless testimonies of physical healing's in teeth, car accident scars and trama. Most of all, we were thrilled to witness many hearts being set free by HIS LOVE and the restoration from father wounds and family abuse, etc. We felt how He's been longing to give these woman restoration and I pray it only continues as their hearts go on revived!!
The next day was honestly difficult to leave Russia for me, as we had only been there a week and there were some deep friendships really forming. But I knew He had more for us to pour out in Bulgaria! With maybe three hours of sleep, we packed and headed to the airport in Yekaterinburg to fly to Moscow, and then Moscow to Sofia, Bulgaria :)
The porch of the beautiful Mission Possible base house we got to stay in! Bulgaria was so much warmer :) This Bulgarian piano was also there, I was so blessed to spend an afternoon playing it!
A 2-hour bus ride from Sofia, Bulgaria to Thessaloniki, Greece. The start of our mini vacation into Greece for two days! So awesome to be walking where Paul and Timothy had their ministry..
a real olive tree!
view of Thessaloniki from a Greek monastery
Addie! She was an amazing heart to travel with from Bulgaria to Greece and so graciously our Bulgarian translator! She's been a missionary with Mission Possible for a while now, we had a great couple nights listening to her stories and in worship with her beautiful Irish voice :)
Meeting the Mediterranean Sea for the first time :)
After a couple refreshing days in Greece, we took the bus back to Bulgaria, now to the city of Dobromirka where the conference retreat center was. This little town was so devastated by communism and was completely destroyed during that time. But as we walked around, so many signs of new life and restoration was being rebuilt...it wasn't a depressing atmosphere anymore and you could tell God was seriously at work in the town itself.
There are many things I absolutely adore about having Annette as a leader at Symphony House, but something I really appreciated during this trip was how she took the time every single day, to intentionally sow into Valerie, Kelsey, and I. She was always aware of the Lord's heart for us, and willing to impart it at any moment. I wasn't expecting that. Even before we would pray in the morning for the women or what the Lord would have her teaching on next, for some reason it caught me off guard how she would turn her prayers to what the Lord was saying about us that day, speaking such encouragement and life. This trip was very out of my 'ministry comfort-zone' in many ways, and I honestly felt weak and "unannointed" for most of the ministry times. But Annette continued to encouraged me into leaning upon HIS leadership in a new way. I see so much of Jesus' gentle leadership, but also His passion and bold protection over His sheep in her. I'm so provoked by her abandoned trust in His voice and faithfulness, even when she didn't have a 'teaching' ready...God was faithful to download the word to Annette in the moment! That was beautiful to witness. It was also amazing to be a part of putting some of the teachings together with her, I love how she invited us into that process with her, as we spent our free afternoons listening to His voice together..
Boyana. This Bulgarian girl's story with blow you away. This is another friendship that just seemed to click in the spirit and accelerate as soon as we met! We had so much in common, pretty much the same age, and we have a crazy amount of similarities in our testimonies!
The second day I met her, we took our guitar and violin and walked to this beautiful meadow to sit and worship. She is an incredible violin player, and hopes to go to Berkley College of Music someday (ofcourse I encouraged her to COME to Boston!) we shared some songs we had written, and that's when she played "House of Pain" this song has certainly marked my heart, because it's part of her testimony about human-trafficking. Jesus redeems the most broken of stories beyond anything we could imagine!! I can't put all the details here, but may post the video of her song later :) I'm SO excited for what the Lord is doing in her heart and raising up such beauty out of her life!
Bulgaria...the hunger in this place provokes me. The love they expressed to us as a team as well was so overwhelming, I was so blessed by their strong, mothering hearts. God brought so much unity through the generations represented.
There's so many beautiful faces and stories I cannot forget and feel so honored to have been their to bless His bride in these nations! She's rising up and taking her place! I felt the timing of this short term trip was perfect for the season I'm in. There were many things I was excited to come back to in NH, especially the house of prayer and Pillar Ministries. But there's something in my heart that feels that's not my last time in Russia and Bulgaria. Even now I feel the pull and know He's put something special for those nations in my heart. If you've been following my adventures, please keep me in prayer as I seek His direction for the next opportunities!
