A lot has changed, as my team and I left Africa, traveled to Dubai, London, Dublin, Bucharest, Cluj, and now Villa Tecii in the Transylvanian region of Romania. Team dynamics have changed, as Keet is our leader and Leisa is now a fellow teammate. Ministry has changed (women are not allowed to preach in this eastern European country.) Climate has changed (it feels as though summer is finally leaving us after 9 months of chasing it.) Continents and cultures have certainly changed.
After a week-long conference in Dublin, which was an ideal transition between eastern Africa and eastern Europe, I can be found humming David Gray's song (hence the title of this blog.) I was sad to leave the 'black continent' and cried during the first day of debrief with Ashley Musick in Dublin. I didn't want to leave, but I knew I had to. I signed up for this constant movement and displacement of a year of missions, didn't I? So, I packed my bags and prepared to love a new people all over again, which I have grown accustomed to doing this year. I prayed in between talking with Andrea White and Drew Crain on the late-night flight from Dublin to Bucharest. I prayed again after Charity Powell and I hung out at 3 a.m. in the airport, wating patiently for our bus ride and two trains that would take us across Romania to Transylvania for a month of ministry to gypsies. I prayed again as I sat in a train car along with four older men and one teenage girl and the Transylvanian Alps rushed by.
My prayers were answered when I woke up on Monday morning to find our contact's sons at the ready to be my new brothers, hills ready to climb across the street, and children and babushkas to befriend. While Africa will always grip a part of my heart, I am looking forward to loving the people around me here in Romania.
