April 30, 2013
?????? (That’s Russian for Hello!)
First off let me start by saying, even though my hello was in Russian my route for the World Race hasn’t changed. How ever by the end of the month I will know more words in Russian than I ever thought I would! (More people speak Russian here than Ukrainian) I’m currently in Odessa, Ukraine and my team and I will be here until the end of the month when we travel up to Kyiv before meeting up with the rest of the squad and flying down to South Africa. A lot has happened since I wrote you all. Let me start by recapping my time in Draganesti, Romania, before I move on to our week Debrief in Brasov, Romania and our current ministry here in Odessa, Ukraine.
Draganesti-Olt, Romania:
My time in Draganesti, was a mixed blessing for me. I spent almost all my time in the church office or with Raul the churches pastor doing errands, and typing e-mails while he drove. Raul is one BUSY man, who is always on the go and ALWAYS on the phone. I was extremely blessed to spend so much time with Raul and be poured into by his wisdom and ability to ask the hard questions to the right people at the right time. However it was hard at the same time , because while all my team mates were out building relationships and participating in a variety of ministries in the community I was in the office hearing about those people but not connecting with them. But don’t get me wrong I really did like working with Raul, but I do know I am not cut out for an office job (good thing I went to school for something different).
There are two very memorable conversations that I had with Raul that really challenged me and got me thinking. The first was actually more of a comment made just in causal conversation where Raul told me I was “too humble sometimes”. That really made me think, I realized I really am too humble sometimes, even though those are two words I wouldn’t have ever put together before. I realized that it is okay to think well of yourself and have pride in what God is doing in your life and has done, as long as it doesn’t cross over into being prideful. Kind of a hard line to draw but one I am working on. Sometimes it is just hard for me to realize that I do bring a lot of value to the people around me.
The second thing that Raul did that made a huge impact on me happened the second to last day of ministry. I was sitting in the sanctuary trying to work on translating charts into Romanian from English, when Raul walked in with a blank cards in his hand. He handed one to me and one to the girl I was working with. He said write a thank you card for yourself and make sure you write what I would write, and then I will sign it. (I had spent the month writing e-mails for him in English, he would give me the main points in the e-mail and I would have to compose the e-mail, making it correct grammar wise and keeping it in a manner and tone that Raul would use while talking to people, quite a challenge). I was kind of shocked, because I figured Patty and I would have to write each others thank you cards, not the ones for ourselves. But the more I thought about it the more I realized there was a huge lesson for me in writing the thank you, I would have to dig deep and think about what I did in the ministry for Raul and how much it actually meant to the church, and having to give it to him meant that it really did have to be what he would say (Raul is a very straight forward person). I think that card was one of the bigger challenges I have had to face and that I may encounter for some time. But I am happy to say that I was able to write it, and I think the content of the card means more than it would have if he would have written it himself.
While in Draganesti, the team and I were able to do a little sight seeing and exploring. We went to a town up north (6 hours by car), where we visited a few famous monestaries and spent the day exploring an old Roman fort. We saw the Carpathian mountains, and ate AMAZING cabbage rolls at Raul’s parents house. We also went to the castle ruins for one of the castles of Vlad the Impalor, who through some gruesome events because the man that the story of Dracula is based off of. We even traveled to the Danube River and were able to look across the river and see Bulgaria.
Overall, it was a hard but very rewarding and memorable month.
Brasov, Romania – Debrief:
We ended our month in Brasov, with our month four debrief. Debrief is a sort of mini vacation for racers, where we are able to have a few days off of ministry to rest and be filled back up by our coaches, squad mates and squad leaders. Debrief was filled with a lot of good meals with friends, long conversations, a little para gliding and some really hard changes. Like I mentioned in my last update team changes occur at the end of month four, which was expected for some teams. Team Reckless Pursuit on the other hand was taken by complete surprise by what would happen. Thursday night the Squad Leaders pulled our team leaders aside and handed them a small piece of paper with their teams written on them… Team leaders came back out to the rest of us and started to read off the names of their team members… Team Favoured = No Changes, Team Anew = No Changes, Team Luminous = No Changes, Team Reckless Pursuit = Now that’s a different story…. Justin read our names:
Nick, Mary, Chelsey, Katrina, Alyssa, Eric…… Our jaws dropped, we were all shocked and wondering Where was Julie? Why didn’t Justin read her name? For reasons we don’t know and for reasons we will never understand fully Julie was moved to a different team with no warnings to any of us, and Eric was moved from his old team to ours.
The only was I can think to describe this change is bittersweet. We were super excited to have Eric join our team, he is a great man of God and a wonderful addition to our team, but to do this we had to lose a very valuable person, who we all miss dearly. We all had a hard time with this change, and in reality are still mourning our team change. Because for the last four months the seven of us were a family, we did life together 24/7, and had overcome so much. Julie is now being the blessing she was to our team to her new team. Each and every one of us looks forward to seeing what God does in her life because of the team change and in our lives because with new people come new challenges to overcome.
Our team dynamics have changed, and our personalities come out in different ways now, because ones persons influence has a huge impact on the people that they are around. My new team and I, three guys and four girls are now in the process of growing together as a new team and getting to know each other all over again. We are currently search and discussing our new name which I will inform you all of as soon as we decided.
Odessa, Ukraine:
So now I am in month five of the World Race, serving in Odessa, Ukraine. My team and I are living in a small 2 bedroom apartment close to one of the universities and a 10-15 minute walk from the beach of the Black Sea. Odessa is the third largest city in the Ukraine and the population speaks mainly Russian. We learned today that the city is known for its large population of university students, especially for their international students. Who are all people that we will be working with this month. We are partnered with Intervarsity, this month. A ministry that focuses on college students. We will be doing a variety of things, from helping to teach English, learning Russian with the Russian club, having movie nights, going out to dinner with students, playing sports, and participating in Bible studies and so much more.
Our main focus will be building relationships with those around us (Mainly non-Christian students, many from the Middle East and India, however there is one Ecuadorian student who I will be communicating with in Spanish, because he doesn’t know English).
I am really excited to see what God does this month in the lives of the people here in Odessa and in my new team. Please keep us in your prayers.
Katrina
