PRAYER TOUR !!

April 30th Nadia, Ruth and I got on the bus to start our week long tour of the black sea coast. The GOAL: PRAYER!

Our first stop was at a youth conference where we shared about what and who Youth With a Mission is. This was the first place that I stuck my toes into the Black sea!! We enjoyed meeting new people and had good times of worship and prayer with them.

After the conference nothing was planned. We did not know where we were staying or for how long in each place. We had 3 cities on the list but stayed open to how and what God was staying as to when and where. It was a real adventure for us to step into the unknown!!

We ventured north in the underbelly of a bus (where the driver sleeps) a few hours to GALENDZHIK...

A small resort town. A place known for its dysfunctional families and children with psychological problems. We had some extra insight into this place as we knew and met with local Russian Church planters.

We prayed against greed and that the hospitality would extend beyond the tourist but to one another as well!

HIGHLIGHTS - riding the chair lift up and down and the mountain! eating south ossetian pies!

We left early for the bus station hoping to be able to buy tickets... but to no avail, one just has to wait and see if the driver is friendly enough to at least let you stand if there are not seats...we were fortunate enough to have seats!!

TUAPSE - I want to start with an incredible story. Beside the bus station there is a supermarket. We planted ourselves there and got a map. As we stood there looking for a place to stay we hear "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" - in english. Shocked we turned, and there before us was Rosanne a YWAM staff member and the only one living in Tuapse. We had no plans to contact her as we would only be staying one night - she served us by finding us a place to stay and buying lunch. After she left, it was great to see Nadia bouncing up and down just yelling - God did that!!

The theme in Tuapse was about proclaiming God over the city. We had worship time here and we read out promises and just read the bible. We prayed for hope!! We prayed that God would encourage the locals and they would continue to bring hope to those around them!!

We took a train to Sochi – it was a beautiful ride right along the edge of the Black sea. After God provided another great place to stay we ventured forth. Sochi was the place I was most excited about as this is where the 2014 Olympics are going to be. It is these Olympics that God has been speaking to me about now for over a year... so I was just so excited to finally be there... closer!

We were tired in Sochi. It was coming to the end of the trip and we excited to be going home to be able to rest! BUT we pressed through and did our best in prayer.

We went to the NORTH, the SOUTH, the EAST and the WEST. From each of those points we prayed that the local believers would be strengthened and encouraged. We prayed that God would invade the city!!

Friday night we got back on the bus and did our best to sleep through the mountain roads. We made it back to Rostov early Saturday morning!

Thank you for your prayers and support!!