The setting in Oradea is reminiscent of the north Texas area. I recall riding in the car around the Dallas / Fort Worth area to the north and the west when I was a child to visit my grandparents on both sides of the family. Usually we would make this 2-3 hour drive during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, but it was somewhat regular in summer months too when I was free from school. My brother Lee and I would sit in the back seat and read books like Beverly Cleary or Tom & Huck, or my favorite, the Dinosaur Encyclopedia. When my eyes grew tired of focusing on the little letters as the peripheral world glided by on the other side of the windows, I would lift my gaze and fix it upon the living roadside. Cotton, corn, and hay were the most abundant crops. I knew what it was at the time, and appreciated then (especially when my dad would pull the car over so we could feel the cotton with our own bare hands), but now it carries sentimental properties that possess far greater value than the nutrition or coverings those plants offer. The flat land covered in crops and manicured fields adorned with an ample supply of railroad tracks and power lines bear a great resemblance to the land found in this region of Romania.
My team lives in the developed housing unit that is the end of rather large, deep warehouse type barn. It has 3 bedrooms, one spacious bathroom, and a decent sized kitchen outfitted with all the necessities, including a coffee maker! The rooms are filled with natural light that comes in through large white framed windows. Under the window sill in the kitchen there is a white heating unit fixed to the wall. Though we don’t need it in this pleasant weather, it adds to the ambiance of our cooking space, and boy do we cook a lot. We went through one tank of gas in two weeks when we were told it normally takes a family 1-2 months to do so! But hey, we’ve been without a Western kitchen for quite a while now, and with generously stocked grocers only a couple of miles away, we’ve been routinely enjoying creations like pancakes, omelets, quick breads, pasta, cereal, and baked or sautéed vegetables. We could call this month our culinary re-entry primer. But I digress. As you gaze through the window, you can see a pear tree about a stone’s toss away, followed by a vast green field, followed by 8 foot tall corn stalks growing as thick as monkey grass. Just to the east is a railroad track that guides freight and passenger trains seemingly every hour. And along the tracks are power lines hanging on T-shaped wooden posts. Directly in front of the window, there is a pavilion about 80 meters away, shaded by two large walnut trees. And just to the yard’s west is an endlessly long barn that’s been converted into a “hotel.”
Now that you have a visualization, you can imagine that the nights are pretty peaceful. Occasionally we hear a train roll by, sounding its awkward horn, but for the most part, it sounds like a farm. Birds chirp, crickets sing, owls hoot, and the wind blows through the leaves as the refrigerator hums. Many of my days here are spent in this manner…
Wake up at 5:30am and start a small pot of coffee as I make something quick for breakfast. Raj and I then trek down the hill to the north about 300 meters through the new housing development, all the way to the last house on the left. The progress can be seen daily. When the teams of Italians and English were here, we all worked together framing the garage, hanging the plywood, setting the trusses, nailing the roofing sheets, stacking the red clay tiles row by row on the roof, and pouring the concrete in the driveway. After they left, our days start closer to 8am, and we’ve done things like dig out ditches and place drainage pipe.
After the labor finishes each day (usually about 1pm for me and Raj) we eat lunch and take a short rest before heading to the neighborhood on the other side of the village to play with the kids. Sometimes we play 4-square, or card games, or simply chase each other around and act like wild animals. Recently, we were taken in by one of the families, almost integrated with them. I’ve spent considerable time with them in just a few days sharing food and stories and testimonies and even a shopping trip into town. In the evenings, our team usually has dinner together with about an hour of team time discussion led by an alternating cast so everyone gets a shot of sharing their ideas and desires for the team.
So as we approach the end of this World Race, the above is a description of life in Oradea, Romania. I’m beginning to take some time to reflect upon the past 10 months, as well as to prepare a series of blog posts with sermons that I’ve delivered over the year. Recently, Aubrie, our social justice advocate and cultural sensitivities expert, had the team do research on Romania in order to promote awareness of the needs here and the relationship between this nation and our own, thus bringing to light any areas in need of prayer or worldly attention. It has cultivated a growing sense of appreciation for the places we’ve visited, and is blooming a desire to know more about these countries. I encourage you to do the same. Simply run a Google search with the name of a country, or check the CIA’s Factbook, or the US State Department’s listing of countries to find information on these unique sharers of our world.
My home church, The Austin Stone, says church members (or partners, as they call us) can be Senders or Goers. I, obviously, have been a Goer for these 11 months, and you, as my readers and supporters, have been my Senders. I believe that God will empower and equip any one of His believers to be a Goer, so I further urge you to consider visiting a foreign country in His name, sharing the Gospel and being taught by our Father. After all, our Great Commission is as follows:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20.
And in regards to what Jesus has commanded us, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40.
You’re not too old. You’re not too poor. You’re not too sinful.
