No Expectations - Explore Archived World Race Alumni Blogs

Moldova. I had no expectations coming to the small country in eastern Europe (in fact, it is the poorest country in Europe). Maybe itâ€™s because I finally learned after 10 months of going from country to country, that everything I imagined a country to be like… it would be completely different. For example, I thought in Nepal I would be looking out my window to see snow-capped Himalayan mountains with a warm fire crackling beside me in our cozy little house… only to be surprised that this would be the hottest country of the race and we would only have electricity a few hours out of the day (by the way, even though the conditions were rough, this was one of my favorite countries.) When we got to Africa, I was thinking huts, heat, bugs, and crazy church services. While some of those things were true, I found myself having hot showers, American food and cool weather in some of the countries. So, by the time I got to Moldova, month 11, last month of the race… I was ready for anything. Last month in Odessa, my team had our own apartment for the month including a hot shower, a full kitchen and beds for everyone. This month, there is no running water in the house, no bathroom… we have an outhouse behind the house, and one space heater per bedroom that can only be turned on at night when the power is off. Oh, and the coolest part is… we actually have to fetch water from wells. They are on every corner. But donâ€™t worry, we can take hot showers at the church down the road since itâ€™s in the 30’s here. 🙂 I hope it snows! We are all pretty cold, and are looking forward to our trip to the second hand store in Chisnau to buy some more warm clothes. Like I said, no expectations. Even though the living conditions are a little rough, I have already fallen in love with this country… I bet you guessed why…. the people.
We arrived in Straseni on Monday night, woke up on Tuesday and jumped right into ministry. We have a fully booked 3 weeks of visiting schools, working with kids, visiting orphanages, landscaping, working on the construction of a community center, working with the youth of the church, making house visits, and more. I love having a busy schedule this month… finishing the race strong. On the first day, we went to a school and visited 4 classrooms to teach some English and just meet the students and encourage them. I was surprised to see how friendly and warm they were because I was used to the people in Ukraine last month (it took a while for many of them to warm up to you.) The kids had lots of questions about our trip and about America. I had a moment in one of the classrooms that reminded me of how grateful I need to be for what God has blessed me and many Americanâ€™s with. When I was describing my state, North Carolina, I told the kids I liked to visit the beach a lot and their eyes got wide and they started whispering… I realized that none of them had probably ever seen a beach or had even left Moldova. When we asked the students what they wanted to do when they grew up, I think 90% of them said they wanted to leave Moldova. As I sat there answering questions, a thought came to my mind. These students need some encouragement. I was so sad to learn that this country is in such a bad state that all the people want to do is get out, so I decided to give them some perspective on what other people had. Since now I have experienced it first hand, I got to tell them about the children in Thembeni, Swaziland who walk miles a day to get one meal… and itâ€™s the same food every day. I got to tell them of the kids in Asia who only own one outfit and it is usually not in one piece. As they listened to my stories, all I could do was stress that even though they have it rough here, they are still blessed. We also told them that even though many people in America have lots of things and seem to live very comfortably, many people are still not happy. After all, Jesus teaches us in the Bible not to store up your treasures on earth where one day they will be gone. Even though we only had one day with the students, I pray that we made some sort of impact on them.
The next few days we got to hang out with the youth from the local church we are working with. It was nice to have fellowship with them and encourage them with stories from our trip. The other few days this week, we went out to a village called Racea to help the church with the new community center they are building called Elohim. This has been such a cool experience because the boys have been helping by chopping and gathering firewood for the furnace that will heat the whole building eventually, and the girls are working with the kids in the village. Even though the building is still under construction, the kids come and get a hot meal every day and have Bible lessons. It has been really fun and interesting getting to know the kids. It was sort of a big shock to me when I approached a young boy to give him a hug and he ran away from me and then I realized that most of the kids didnâ€™t show me any affection at all. Iâ€™m not in Africa anymore. But thatâ€™s not going to stop me. 🙂 I canâ€™t wait to see what God has in store for me this month through this ministry. On top of this ministry we get to be part of a Tae-kwon-do ministry which is really cool… but thatâ€™s for another blog! Please join me in prayer for this nation and in prayer for the Christians who are here and making an impact in this town every day! This place is already so special to me, and I can see so much hope in the people here!