it could be worse...

As I was sat while Betty (a missionary here) talked with several people in Macedonian, I started to think about how my trip has gone so far. God really has taught me so much in such a little time already. For instance...

By now, I'm sure you know that I have completely lost my camera. I left it on the international flight I took into Germany, and have since been told that it hasn't been/won't be found. I was pretty upset about this, and still am in some regards, but God is working on that with me. While I was walking through the streets where the Roma live today, I wanted so bad to have my camera to pull out and take pictures of different things that I saw. Then, I started thinking. I did not come to Macedonia to take pictures - I came to serve Him and share His love with these people. Of course, it's great to have pictures as a memory, but it doesn't look like that's a complete possibility, which I'm starting to become okay with. As much as I long to capture each moment in a picture, I long even more for God to move in this city.

I get homesick pretty easily, and night times are always the worst for me. I'm up and down trying to get some sleep, but not succeeding until the early morning hours. This is so exhausting! Although I haven't completely figured out how to overcome this, I've decided to spend my sleepless evenings digging into God's word. Not that it's supposed to make me go to sleep, but instead, put my heart and mind at ease.

Although I have no clue how to speak Macedonian (outside of hello, goodbye, thank you, and mouth *usta!*), God is still able to use me here while I go places with Emily. We visited a family very dear to her today - they are Jehovah's Witnesses, but God seems to be working in their hearts, the wife's especially. Emily sat and talked with her for quite awhile today. Although I'm not able to participate in this in the sense of offering support for the woman in a forward way, I can pray for God to move even more in her heart and for Emily to have the words to say. Prayer is powerful and extremely important - something I'm learning all over again. Even if it seems that my job is to sit quietly while Emily ministers, I will be praying for God's leading and direction.

And one last thing, which is something that has come up several times since the start of my trip. --It could be worse.-- From the minute that I lost my camera, I had a sense of peace that at least it wasn't my Passport. Yes, I was frantic in wanting to find it, but my heart kept going back to the ultimate smallness of the situation. Then, today, while Emily and I went on our extremely long bike ride, I complained the whole time...with a laugh, of course. lol It's just my way of letting some of the pain out of my body, I reckon. Anyhoo - so I was complaining about how dumb bicycle seats are in their design. Just take a second to think about it........ Okay, so right as I made another comment about it, a guy pushing a bike, about ready to hop on it, passed us. Nothing unusual, right? Well, right when he passed, his bicycle seat fell off. haha - yeah. He just picked it back up and plopped it back on the bike. It kind of took both Emily and me back for a second, then she just turned to me and said, "It could be worse."

So, yes. It could be worse.