You may be wondering, “Who is this Team
Considered Rapha?” Only the best combination of things since peanut butter and
jelly, popcorn and movies, or meat and potatoes! Team Rapha and Team Considered
Lost teamed up for the month of March to dominate the nations of Romania and
Hungary. We were sad to separate at the end of the month, but cherished each
time we had together—some great conversations during ditch digging, our team
worship times, and the dinners we made each night. Cooking for ourselves might
have sounded overwhelming at first, but it was such a blessing! We would get
partnered up at the beginning of the week, planning meals like Shepherd’s Pie,
Breakfast for Dinner, Baked Potato Soup, Chili & Cornbread, Sicilian Supper
(a really awesome lasagna-like dish from Vinny’s grandmother Rose!), and Pita
Pizzas. We even had a bread-maker at the place we were staying, which produced
multiple loaves of yummy breads. We definitely ate well in the month of March!
Photo collage by Elaina Rogers
I’ll give you a picture of what our combined team looked like:
Kacie-My
fellow Aggie! Kacie is from Cypress, TX
and we loved discussing all things A&M and Texas this month. She has such a
sweet spirit and is the team leader of Considered Lost. We have already decided
that she is the best dresser on the Race and took turns borrowing her various
scarves throughout the month. She is half Chinese and our dads would probably
be besties together.
KK- Team Leader of Rapha! KK
learned how to “be still” this month and was one of many to have their first
experience putting up insulation. She has a heart for younger girls, and her
and Kacie formed some strong relationships with a few of the teenagers at
Caminul Felix. You could often find her this month reading in her hammock or
going for a little run around the property. Blondina!
Vinny-
Vinny, Vinny, Vinny. This kid has got a heart for the Lord. He loves Corey
Asbury, Mumford and Sons, and Watchman Nee, and enjoys unwinding at the end of
the day with a bowl of cereal. He led us in our own church service and taught
us a lot about the innerman, outerman, and the innermost man (confusing…but it
makes sense, I promise). He cares deeply for people and led our combined team
to get into fasting this month. He was quite excited about VCU’s wins in our
T-Train March Madness bracket.
Elaina-
Oh, Lainey. I was glad another team got to take part in her hilarious antics,
her amazing Biblical knowledge, and her giftedness for children’s ministry. She
led us in dinnertime trivia games and put on a fun girls’ day that included a
fabulous aerobic workout and powdered sugar dusted chocolate croissants. She is
responsible for the amazing spoons video that I will share with you now:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150215470877067
Katherine-
This girl was the most excited out of all of us to do construction this month!
She likes to get her hands dirty for the Kingdom, and there was so much joy she
found in digging ditches, insulating the house, or just moving wood around. She
put on our second girls’ day, which included some fun face masks and a snippet
of a Beth Moore sermon about Esther. She has loved being on the Race so far and
is already talking about how she wants to go on another one! She’s a big fan of
Gilmore Girls and Grey’s Anatomy and was our resident vegetarian.
Roberto-
Praise God he got to have other guys to be around this month! Roberto had fun
being a part of the “man cave” and doing manly things like pickaxe-ing,
hitchhiking into town, and visiting the Lush store. He made us a Puerto Rican
supper one night and was our resident coffee connoisseur. He will miss his man
time in Moldova and will probably go crazy after being around the same 3 women
for 4 full months.
Dave-Dave
is our squad’s token heartthrob. He surprised all of us at Launch with his
great scream-singing voice and perfect renditions of Johnathan David Hesler
songs. He is much more than just a voice and a pretty face, though. Dave loves
the color purple, savors his morning bowl of cereal, and makes a mean sandwich.
He tells interesting stories about his childhood in Malaysia and Thailand, and
loves his mom, Lynn.
Faith-
Credinta! Faith will likely be the most genuine and kind-hearted person you
will ever meet. She is half Thai, and grew up in Singapore where her dad worked
for the Bible Society. She makes the best cards and notes with her special
scrapbooking pens, she was my partner in being on time this month, and is
really great at starting new relationships with people (though she will
probably not agree with this). Thankfully, she is also holding on to my bathing
suit that I left in Chisinau. I really hope we end up using our suits sometime
because otherwise it’s a good half a pound of unnecessary weight!
Natalie-
Romanian name—Natasha. Natalie is our resident runner and a great fellow chef.
We spent a lot of time in the kitchen together, chatting about life and
preparing the evening meal. She has a vast knowledge of youtube videos, and
calls her parents by their first names. She is a dancer, and allowed me to
relive some of my drill team days this month by giving me some
across-the-floors and attempting to do a New York City Ballet workout video.
She has a great attitude and has a gift for befriending new children—they just
flock to her! I will miss our daily talks, but look forward to all the links I know
she will share with me on my facebook wall.
There you have it, Team Considered Rapha!
We had such a beneficial time in community last month, and each member now
holds a dear place in my heart. Our greatest adventure was our Weekend trip to
Budapest, Hungary! It was a jam-packed 2 days of good food, walking tours,
shopping, a whole LOT of walking, and picture taking all rolled into one. I
even got to visit with my friend Brittni, who is a missionary there! She took
me to Starbucks and we had a sweet time talking about our different lives we’re
leading. It was really nice to talk to someone from home in person, and have
her be outside of the Race bubble. We are all big fans of Budapest!
