As our time in Viile Tecii draws to an end, I have found it even harder to choose into ministry. During the day we have a lot of downtime that we can use as we want. So far I had not volunteered to go on house visit. But as the time here gets shorter and shorter and God continues to speak to me about dying to self, I decided to go.
Brittany, Emily, Sydney and I all heaed out mid aftenoon-ish to visit a few homes the girls had been to before. We had no translator and so we decided to wing it and see what God wanted to do.
First we arrived at Maria’s house. Maria is a little old lady, very sweet and gentle. We sat down to just be with her because we don’t know how to speak Romanian. There was a young girl with her, and through a lot of sign language (and eventually figuring out the girl spoke Spanish) we were able to understand that she was raised by Maria. They were neighbors and all 9 of the kids were raised by Maria. Her story is a bit sad as a year ago she was in some sort of accident that left her without a pinky finger, pain in her shoulder and broke her foot/ankle/leg. We prayed for her and left.
On our way home we stopped at what the girls call the Easter Bunny House. When I arrived, I saw why. The house is painted in pastel pink and purple. It also has a table with easter eggs all over it. Elizabeth came out (from a nap) and spoke to us for a bit before offering us some plums. Brittany quikly offered to be the one in the true as I was strategically placed beneath the branches. As she shoock the tree, I was pummeled by plums (it wasn’t too bad). We then had to quickly pick them all up and Elizabeth laughed.
We spent a good time there and after a little bit she asked us to help her dig up her potatoes. My dad use to say that I had never had to work hard a day in my life or had to expeerience manual labor. But so far in Romania I have. She gave me a hoe (which I have learned to use in weeding out Sandu’s house and the Abi’s church) and told me to start looking. It was soo much fun!! Like a little treasure hunt and the prize was potatoes! Between Emily, Brittany and I we dug up two rows of potatoes. I have to say the whole idea of a garden is starting to grow on me 🙂
The whole experience really spoke to me even more on dying to self. The first time I got to learn to hoe, I was not very happy. I didn’t understand what I was doing, the purpose of it. I had not satisfaction when I finished. But the second time I felt like there was a purpose and I didn’t mind it as much. You put all of yourself into it. With the sun beating on you and sweat running into your eyes. You lick your lips and you taste salt but seeing the glow and happiness in Elizabeth’s eyes when it was over was worth it.
I learned what it meant to truly help the widow and respect your elders. To serve and expect nothing back. To give all of you into serving until your tired and you ache just a little bit. And it felt good. Thank you Jesus for teaching me this lesson. For putting me to work in some little village in the middle of nowhere Romania. To learn to be Christ like in all situations of life.
