Oh my goodness, where to start? I obviously got behind in my blogging, caught up in life on outreach. All the outreach teams that left in March have come back and we are together again in Norway. It is good to be back and see the people who have become so dear to me all in one home. Outreach with just 8 people was also fabulous and filled with God's gracious presence. Each team shared today (One team was in New York, the other in Central Asia) and it was an encouragement to hear all that God did through willing people. There is so much I could write about, but I'll just give some highlights from outreach to ya'll and hopefully have good talks when I get back home! :o)
So, this first photo is me taking in Budapest. It was so cold that day-we had a hard time appreciating the city as we took a tour with our contact person-but we still saw it's beauty in the old buildings. The people of Budapest weren't as friendly as they had been in Prague, but we constantly had to remember these people had been under hard communism not that long ago and the effects still lingered. There was a general lack of hope and the "no talking" rule on the buses seemed to reflect the silent sadness people had there. The good part is though, God gives us His view of things and He sees Budapest as a place for His glory to dwell. He sees the beauty and life in people, and when we prayed and stepped out in faith-we did too. We did a lot of street evangelism in Budapest, where we created a "program" with drama, testimonies, telling the gospel, worship, prophetic singing over people and prophetic acting for people. This was some of my favorite ministry that we did. I loved seeing my friends and teammates step out in boldness and proclaim truth when they told a personal testimony or shared the gospel. Once we acted out the gospel as Semira told it-that was pretty neat. Simple and effective. Another time we choreographed a little drama piece showing some walking around in chaos and then Adaja and I came in as peaceful dancers, bringing calm. We also performed a mime about God redeeming the past that JoEllen and I had choreographed off of Jo's idea from part of her testimony.
I realized after Budapest that I never actually gave an official testimony or gave the gospel. But the funny and wonderful thing is, I had chances to speak out wherever I was. I got to thrive in what was natural for me-facilitating a group of Jesus-lovers and leading them into what was next. I did speak out to the people in street evangelism when I felt like I should tie up loose ends, or the Holy Spirit was giving me something to speak. It just came. It was naturally me, moving and stepping up. It was awesome. I learned from this that though, as a Christian, I can do every kind of ministry, it is true God wants us to work in our strengths. I found so much joy in leading and helping others step out. I felt closer to God in my friendship with Him when I was in these roles of leadership and encouragement. One day in particular I was struck with such joy as I looked about the metro and saw my friends moving in their strengths. David was playing the guitar, Camille, Adaja and Lyndsay were drawing pictures inspired by God for people, JoEllen was playing the drums like a beast, and Leif and Semira were ready and willing to talk to whoever came up. I stood there so proud to be friends with these Jesus lovers. We worked as individuals loved by God, coming together under His banner of love to make a family that spread joy. Amen!
Singing, dancing, acting! Our team was blessed to be able to use our creativity and the prophetic to bless people all along the way in Budapest. One time I danced in the metro to the song "Pure Bride" by Leeland. I was nervous beforehand, but I knew God was going to bless people and I would let go and let God and just worship Him. Still, I'm human and I had some butterflies. I started dancing and immediately we had people's attention. I could feel the people gathering around me and could see them in blurs as I danced around-but my focus stayed on Jesus and the message I was there to bring. In a way then, I was thinking about the people, but my heart wasn't so concerned with how I looked to them, my heart was impacted by their spirits so in need of Jesus and this message of beauty in purity and hope. So-I twirled and swayed and jumped in that metro. At the end there were cheers and claps and one guy had tears in his eyes and came up and shook my hand. Man, God is good. I was told later by one of the leaders on our team, Leif, who is Norwegian that there was a Norwegian couple that he was talking to who were not Christian. They were listening an talking to him and then I started to dance. They were totally drawn in by the dance and just stared "in awe." After it was done they told Leif how beautiful it was and how it touched them. The funny thing is, I remember smiling and waving goodbye to them, but I didn't know their hearts had been that impacted. God is good.
God blessed me so much in Budapest by leading me to sing over people words inspired by His Spirit. Sometimes I sang with Leif from our group, and sometimes alone. JoEllen would play the drums and David played the guitar as accompaniment. It was awesome to be guided by the Holy Spirit and be a team, creating a beautiful song that spoke into someone's life. It was neat to see how people stopped and were eager to see and hear what was going on when we did this. There was one time I had sung over a couple people and there was a guy in the crowd who was so eager to be sung too, but I had missed seeing him. David leaned over to me and said, "Beth there's a guy who really wants you to sing over him, he thought you were going to and got really happy and then you started singing for someone else and he looked so disappointed " I wasn't about to let this opportunity pass by so the next person I sang for was this gentlemen. He had this huge smile when I asked him his name and as I began singing. I was in awe as this man stood in the middle of a metro station, eyes glued to us, taking in every bit of this Jesus love song sung over him. Another time I experienced singing and dancing with a woman named Elizabeth who happened to be a prostitute. As I held her hand in my and the microphone in the other I looked into her eyes and saw the hunger she had. She gazed so intently into my eyes and never lost eye contact the whole time I sang. My heart was moved with compassion and I knew here was where she could see Jesus-in the eyes of someone just willing to hold and sing and look deeply into her.
There are many more what I call, "Shabba" (a word that has come to mean "yeah, I'm with you-Amen-encouragement") moments in Budapest. It was my favorite place we ministered in. We saw a lot of fruit and I got to pray with a man to receive Jesus into his life! Another big ministry we did there was "sandwhich runs" where we handed out sandwiches to homeless people and just spent time listening and talking with them. I met so many beloved people, like John the blind homeless man who sang in the metro for money or Chandor who after we talked and prayed with him the next day saved all his begging money and went and bought a Bible. So many specifics-God is specific and He had specific encounters for all of us. My team worked beautiful together in Budapest and I known much of that is because of all the prayers we received. Shabba! We left Budapest happy and ready for Romania.... (and that adventure will be in the next post!)
Pictures: (click on pics to make larger)
.Terry, our friend from England, joined us one day on the banjo!
. Zoo trip with JoEllen and David (We saw baby goats and a baby elephant!)
. Coffee House started by YWAM Budapest where we invited people we met on the streets to come to, to encourage further friendship and speak into their lives.
.We got to go to the famous Opera house in Budapest and actually see a Wagner Opera!
. Budapest is beautiful at night-great lighting
.Street evangelism in metro-notice JoEllen playing a bucket-she forgot the drum that day. At the end of the day the bucket had a hole in it. ;o)
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