THANK YOU to everyone who has sent financial support and encouraging words my way! I have been blessed by so many people throughout my journey thus far on the World Race. I am excited to say that I surpassed my support deadline and now only have around $1,000 left to raise. I am sorry that I don't have the ability to thank all of you individually at this time, but know that you are all in my thoughts and prayers daily!
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Day 176: Day Off. We had high hope of visiting a vineyard today. Instead we all stayed in our P.J.’s, watched movies and gave each other haircuts.
Day 177: Today was full of home visits with seven different families. Some of them I had met before but several of them were new. It is so cute to see how excited they get when they open their doors and see us standing there.
Day 178: Today we went into the city center to do street evangelism. We had amazing conversations and handed out over fifty invites to church on Saturday. We talked with one man for almost 30 minutes using only hand gestures, then we gave him our leftovers from lunch.
Day 179: We went to visit Albie and Joseph’s families. I handed out more pictures I had printed and we spent a long time just hanging out. Joseph challenged Nick to a game of checkers and then challenged Matt to a push-up competition which was very entertaining. Keep in mind that we speak zero Romanian… and they speak zero English. Joseph’s daughter Maria and I prayed for each other. The third picture is the entire inside of Joseph's house (his wife and 6 children live in this tiny room with him).
Day 180: Went to a Hungarian high school during their lunch break to sing in the courtyard. We met a lot of students and invited them to church on Saturday. Afterward we went to the hospital to sing worship and pray for patients.
Day 181: Today we split into three groups for ministry. Some of us decided to return to the school to hang out with students, a few girls whet to meet up with a student at a horse barn, and everyone else went to a gypsy village.
Day 182: Stayed home in the morning to write a short sermon for church in the evening. Four of us spoke at the service and afterward we took a few of our high school friends out for dinner.
Day 183: We were supposed to leave for Brasov (to visit Bran Castle) in the morning, but we had found out the day before that our friend Albie had passed away. We stayed for the funeral (To read about Albie and the funeral check out “And Then He Died” which will be posted soon). We took a late bus to Brasov and when we checked in at our hostel… we found out that they LOVE when missionaries from The World Race come to stay (what a small world).
Day 184: We toured the city of Brasov in the morning and went to Bran Castle right after lunch. We had to return to Targu Mures midday to start the process of packing. Off to Serbia tomorrow!
Day 185: We had the morning to clean and pack before heading to the train station at 2pm. Our train left the station at 4pm and arrived at our layover around midnight where we met up with Team 220. We thought we were going to wait out in the cold for 5 hours, but luckily we found a gas station nearby that was open 24hrs. We moved there and settled in for the night.
Day 186: Many people attempted to sleep on the floor of the gas station throughout the night. We had to catch our second train at 5:30am, but discovered halfway through the ride that there was work being done on the railroad tracks. The train stopped at a random station and they told us to get off. We were then put on a bus to Belgrade. When we arrived in Belgrade we said goodbye to the other teams and made our way via bus to our ministry location in Pozarevac, Serbia. We met the Pastor’s family, the family that will be translating for us, and the family that owns the apartment we are living in. They are all so welcoming, nice, and funny. I already love them…it is going to be really hard to say goodbye this month!
Day 187: We had gone to sleep at 3pm yesterday and slept through until this morning. Travel days take all of our energy. We went grocery shopping and then Lydia and two of her kids came to give us a tour of the town. We had church in the evening and afterward we went to Lydia’s house for dinner. We stayed there to hang out with her family for several hours. All three of her kids said they are the only Christians at their schools, I am excited to pour into them this month.
Day 188: We spent the morning baking treats for a birthday party (celebrating the owner of our apartment) that we thought we were hosting during lunch. As it turns out, there was a miscommunication through the language barrier (what she had tried to tell us was that she was hosting a party at her house… but she would bring us food from the party to eat for lunch). Thus, we ended up celebrating her birthday without her. In the evening we went to the high school for a band/choir concert for Adrijana (Lydia’s oldest daughter).
Day 189: Lydia and Amaris left early in the morning to attend a women’s conference in a neighboring city. The remaining five of us decided to invite Lydia’s kids over for a game/movie day. Alex taught several of us how to play Risk while Shannon enjoyed a nail-painting party with Milleana. In the evening we were invited to Lydia’s house for dinner and learned that the church we are working with is the only Christian church in the city. I also learned that it is a federal offense to build a fire in Serbia.
Day 190: We had church in the morning. We led a few songs and Maggie, Brit, and Kat shared their testimonies. After the service we had the opportunity to pray over several people. The church we are working with is so alive with the Holy Spirit. Everyone is welcoming and takes care of us so well. We have only been in town three days and have already had six meals provided for us! In the evening we had a meeting at Pastor Dragon’s house to talk about ministry projects for the upcoming week.
