1. When ministry gets canceled because of the rain and you write an "end of the race bucket list" the result is playing in the rain and mud-sliding!
2. Blindesti! Monica, Liz, Kirby, Shelli and I had the opportunity to visit a village, Blindesti, for 2 days. During those two days, we met the sweetest children – we went on an adventure together, ate cherries and simply enjoyed each other's presence!
3. Bachelorette Party! This month we decided to celebrate being the Bride of Christ! We played games, ate chocolate, and laughed A LOT! Our party was temporarily disrupted when Pastor Tudor stopped by to check on us 🙂 He was, however, up for a quick photo!
4. Our amazing translators! Alex, Damarus, Victoria, Andrei, Nastia, and Carina! Our ministry this month wouldn't have happened without these servants!
5. Hospital visits – part of our ministry this month was to visit patients in the hospital and offer to pray for them. During visits one particular day, we were able to visit 2 different rooms and pray for a total of 6 women! One lady in particular felt significantly better following our prayer – We certainly serve a God is who still loves to do the miraculous! During a second visit, we were not permitted to visit any patients, but we didn't let that stop us! We walked around the grounds and stood outside of each building and prayed how the Holy Spirit led us. I believe God answered each of our prayers that day and the hospital will forever be changed.
6. One evening we had the opportunity to go to Chisinau for a night of worship and prayer. During our drive home, we were unexpectedly pulled over by the police! We all immediately began praying for favor because we had three more people than the car's intended capacity – one person was sitting on the floor between the driver's and front passenger seats, another added to the middle row, and one laying on top of the luggage in the trunk. Luckily, we had been pulled over for a sobriety check and God showed us his favor – the police officer let us go after Tudor told him we had been in Chisinau for church, which is why we were on the road so late, and we were visitors from America who serve the Lord! We were instructed to drive carefully and sent on our way 🙂
7. Sketchy Outhouses ….. after a relatively comfortable month in Romania and two weeks in Ungheni, Moldova, we almost forgot we were on the World Race. THEN, we moved to Rassvet, Moldova, where we finished out the month living with significantly different accommodations. God quickly reminded us that we are still in fact on the Race – our accommodations included a "summer shower", which is basically an outdoor shower with a water tank that has to be filled manually with the sun heating the water, and a "Slumdog Millionaire" type outhouse – if you've seen the movie, this analogy may make more sense to you – if not – I'll briefly describe the situation – a wooden outhouse on top of a slight hill (there's no hole or pit … just a mountain of poop … it's quite easy to tell how your team maters are feeling!)
8. Kid's club in Rassvet – During our two weeks in the village, we planned to meet with the kids 6 days for songs, games and bible stories. We planned each day's lesson in advance and gave each day a theme with a memory verse:
- Day One – The GIFT of Jesus (Romans 6:23)
- Day Two – The PEACE of Jesus (John 14:27)
- Day Three – The PROVISION of Jesus (Matthew 6:33)
- Day Four – The POWER of Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:7)
- Day Five – The CHARACTER of Jesus (Matthew 20:28)
- Day Six – The LOVE of Jesus (Romans 10:9)
These kids are hungry for the Word and for His love.
9. Team Fellowship Dinner and Communion – We celebrated the Lord's Supper like the early church – with a special fellowship dinner then communion. It was a special time with Jesus and with the team.
10. Home-cooking! During our last two weeks in Rassvet, we were blessed with a stove AND oven (it's extremely rare to find ovens around the world!) We enjoyed cooking REAL food – chicken pot pie, jambalaya, cabbage rolls, choclate chip cookies, apple turnovers, and much, much more!
11. Enjoying quality time with my team mates – this month has been a special time together because it's our last month alone. We came into this month looking to be intentional with one another and we've done a great job pursuing that. Next month is Month 11! Our last month on the field and our entire squad will be living and working together!
