You know you’re in Romania when…
- You fall asleep to dogs having fight clubs with chickens
- ‘Goody, Goody’ comes out of your mouth all the time
- You can’t eat enough ice cream
- You bond with kids over Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga
- Old men wear booty shorts
- You ALWAYS get dominated in football/soccer
- You can poop the same time as you take a shower
- You pick fruit from other people’s trees and eat it
- Christians are called Repenters
Romania has been my first month on the World Race. To be honest, I don’t even know what I think about it yet; it won’t seem to digest. Everyone has expectations when going into the World Race, whether you try to or not, and I know I had expectations but I’m not even sure if I even know what they are. Wow I sound very confusing haha.
I bet your wondering then what have you been doing this whole month then? I think I am wondering the same thing because I have done so many different things, nothing seemed to be consistent. But I will try and paint you a picture of a day in Romania, well for me at least:
My alarm goes off at 7:55. Someone in my room wakes me up because I don’t hear it. SNOOZE. 8:00. SNOOZE. 8:10. SNOOZE. 8:20. My roommates are now mad at me. SNOOZE. 8:30 then rolls around and I figure it’s about time to get up since I leave at 8:45.
So I roll out of bed and start rummaging through my “clean” pile of clothes because it is impossible to be neat. It literally looks like everyone’s stuff exploded out of their bag. So I find some clothes and go downstairs to brush my teeth. When I start trying to make my hair look okay, David asks me if I’m ready to go. “yeah, I’ve been waiting for you,” I reply and he rolls his eyes at me. I grab a banana and off we go.
David and I both work with Marian and Andrea. Marian needed a guy who was interested in men’s ministries, thus David, and he needed someone interested in websites and helping with kids, thus me! Marian is a leader for R.E.S.O ministries, who we all are working with. The county(similar to a state in the United States) we were in is called Oltenia and R.E.S.O.’s vision is to be a light to the people here bringing people to Jesus, there are only about .03% of professing Christians.
When we got to Marian and Andrea’s apartment every morning one of their two adorable kids, Ruth Naomi 3 years old and Josef Timothy 1 year old, would just run to David. Apparently a huge guy who looked german was much less scary than a smaller girl with dark hair, who btw tried her best to be as sweet and kid fun as possible. But I’m over it, whatever… anyway we always started every day first with prayer. If I learned anything this month, it’s the power of prayer. We talked about what we needed prayer for, how we could praise God for all he has already done and what he will do. Prayer time was really amazing for me because it give a better perspective of how important it is to pray before ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING. To come before God each and every day before it really starts to focus on Him and what his purpose for us truly is.
*side thought- its crazy how just writing about this past month God is bringing to light certain things he taught me that I didn’t even realize. He is so good.
After we prayed we would start our day. We usually did different things every day which consisted of going to villages, house work, yard work, cooking, teaching kids a bible lesson, watching a movie with village kids, computer work, taking pictures, etc. we would basically help with anything to farther their ministry and make it easier for them. Of course sometimes it was annoying to have to do random stuff that I didn’t really feel like was really doing anything, but then to put things in perspective and realize God’s purpose for me here. It is not about me, it is about Him.
It is about becoming less, so He can become more.
To be in a place where God can use me to bring His glory. To be a tool for people like Marian to do the work God has called them to do. To shine His light and show His love.
The part of Romania we were in is literally called a pastors cemetery. No one wants to go there, it is not an easy place to be. but the believers we met there blew my mind every day. Their strength, heart, wisdom and humility were amazing. God loves those people so much and it is clear his is moving, I cannot wait to see His big plan for Romania. I know it will be indescribable.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ~Hebrews 11:1
