The following is a short testimony from brother Dean from the Eurotrip he and the other students from UCLA took in Europe at the end of year 2010.
12 of us, mostly students at UCLA, went on a blending trip to Europe during our winter break this past December. I didn’t really know what to expect, since I had never been to Europe or met any of the saints there. From visiting local churches in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, and France, my deepest impression is that the saints in Europe are much more desperate than what I am used to. They were not simply handed a church life; if they didn’t fight to leave time and energy to meet with the saints, there would be no lampstand where they are living. The result of paying a higher price is that the saints become more dear, and the church as the Body of Christ becomes more of a reality. By visiting and participating in the church life here, we had touched the reality of the one Body of Christ with them. It was so dear to join a home meeting in the Netherlands and realize that we are actually in love with the same Lord! And I got to stay in a newly formed brothers’ house in London with some brothers who had previously stayed in my place back in LA! Blending really produces something fresh in each person involved. Because we were so different, everything that we had in common in the Lord stood out. This common ground helped me see which part of my living back in Southern California was natural and which part was genuine. This trip did not involve sudden bright flashes of revelation; it was a brief viewing of what God is doing in Europe to prepare for His return. By paying a short visit, we got Europe, which is at the center of God’s move on earth, written into our hearts.
