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Submitted January 10, 2011
by: Erica Inge (2010 Tour Member)
My experience with the Romanian kids was super “productive”. What I mean by that is that I could measure my productivity based off of reciprocity; e.g. when I responded to the kids, they responded back. That made me feel good and it was easy to observe that we were making an impact.
Serbia…was different for me. The kids “appeared” disinterested; when I tried to play with them or tease them they looked at me awkwardly and walked away. I admit it rose up insecurities, one because I was feeling shot down by kids that were half my age, and two, it felt like my efforts were met with an unexplainable halt! It didn’t make sense, but all of a sudden I was swept back to recess in the 2nd grade and no one wanted to pick me up for their kick ball team…Awesome.
However I tried to maneuver around it; act like my helplessness wasn’t affecting me when it was! I didn’t know what to do? Typically I don’t find myself uncomfortable in social situations, and if I do I can con my way out of them. But here I was STRUGGLING! No longer could I rely on my competency because my capacity for competency was falling WAY short. Obviously this challenged me to reflect on my identity, and banged on the door of my paradigm raging, “WHO ARE YOU WHEN YOU CAN’T!?”
By default I was reduced to prayer, examination, and complete reliance on Christ. It is clear that God positioned me so I could simply watch Him move. And He did! Without me, method or explanation we left Serbia, but not after dozens of kids hugged and kissed us, shared their contact information, and a young Serbian man named Marko stood up in front of two hundred people and shared his testimony. Although I didn’t understand a word he said, I do remember Marko signaling to the audience and them all rising to their feet and applauding us. Wow. Applauding us? According to my failing eyes I saw no “measureable” productivity. But again, this is only according to my limited sight. In the Spiritual realm I could not be more convinced that I stood by as God- the One true transformer of hearts- moved.
It was good for me to be reminded that God does not NEED me; that His power transcends all things. Although I’ve read scripture after scripture testifying to the magnitude of Gods’ power, I somehow still manage to forget. I’m not sure why I tend to rely on my limited capacities? Fallen habit I suppose. But in my heart of hearts I desire to be one who makes the Lord her confidence, and is astonished at watching Him move. As the Word says, “’Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit’, says the Lord. Indeed, it is the Lord who has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
Amen."
by: Kirby Beneventi (2008, 2010, 2011 Tour Member)
I want to share a quick story of Gods amazing work. I was in Romania for the 2010 tour, and one of my campers assigned to my team did not talk at all. I would send him through drills, include him in all the games (because he was very talented), and I spoke specifically to him in Bible hour and loved on him as much as I could. But because I wasn’t getting much feedback from him, I felt a little discouraged. Three days of camp had gone by and on the last day, I prayed for my campers. That night we also played our last game. We played a great game, and every camper was invited to come, so we had a great turn out. After the game, I said my goodbye’s to the kids, and I went back to the bench to take some of my gear off and drink some water. When I turned back towards the court, I saw my camper who hadn’t talked all week, and he was pulling his dad over to me. I gave him a hug and his dad grabbed my hand and shook it with a smile on his face. He said, “ I want to thank you for being such a positive impact on my sons life. He talked about you every night and what he learned about God from you. Thank you, and my son and I wish you the best of luck!"
by: Nick Moultrie (2009, 2010, 2011 Tour Member)
Praise God for His grace and His willingness to walk with us in the fire. :)"
by: Heidi Theiss (2008, 2009, 2010 Tour Member)
"There are sooo many stories i could tell, but i will just stick to 2 for now... A couple of years ago I had knee surgery and the doctors told me after my surgery that i would never run or play basketball again, and that had been true, for the last year and a half i had not been able to be as active as i had.. but the first day of camp in Romania i started running like a normal person and jumping in on drills. And i know now that it wasnt a coincidence that God waited until now to begin healing my knee, I really believe a big part of it was to teach me patience, and because i was also able to use it as part of my testimony and to really connect with one of the campers...
Second- through this trip, God really taught me trust and depend on him again. I shared in my 6 Hs that after "momma" becky passed away i lost alot of my faith and trust in God to hear my prayers and handle my problems... but watching as He opened sooo many doors and opportunities, and answered so many prayers, he really showed me that i can trust and depend on him for EVERYTHING.
I pray that God will continue to use me with Crossover for years to come in whatever way He sees fit!"
Submitted August 13, 2010
by: Amber Satterfield (2010, 2011 Tour Member)