Autumn- a changing of seasons

Autumn. It’s a season of change and new beginnings. The stepping away from the comforts of previous growth and abundant memories, and preparing for the oncoming seasons of perseverance and hardships but also the seasons of abundant thankfulness and joy. My life recently has been put through a hyper-speed process of change. Big and small, personal and communal, through milestone birthdays and new continents. Back at the end of August, I returned to the more-and-more-familiar Gainesville, Georgia for alumni team leader training. It was here that I said goodbye to the teenage years of my life and entered my twenties. A few days later, all my co-leaders and I headed to Atlanta for Gap Year Launch. It was one year after my own launch and it brought back reflection to the amount of change within myself that I experienced in only twelve months. It brought greater appreciation of the incredibly special people God has placed around me.

After a short version of a long travel day, we made it to Bucharest, Romania. Currently, I am in Craiova finishing up the first week of team leading Gap Squad X. It has been amazing, eye-opening, and exhilarating to start off these three months by jumping straight into evangelism. The staff here are clearly people of faith and hope. My eyes were definitely opened to a new level of poverty I never expected to see. Not that I have never experienced, witnessed, or been aware of such ways of life, but never did I expect it here in Europe within such immediate proximity of wealth. The Roma people (gypsies) live here in villages outside of bustling Craiova which is a college city. These people live in concrete houses without electricity, clean and consistent running water, or proper roofs. The children run around with what little clothes and shoes their families can afford and play with only their imaginations to keep them company. And it’s more jarring that all of this is a ten minute drive from streets full of BMW’s and Audi’s or university students at the Starbucks in the mall. Yet within these communities I have found people of immense faith in a good Father- people who are generous to give their time and prayers to you. So continue to pray for my squad as we minister to students on the street, reach out to people through art, hand out clothes to Roma families, minister to young children in the villages, and boldly share God’s love with every single person we come in contact with, regardless of who they are or what their story is.