I think the song “Days Go By” should be renamed “Months Go By,” because I can’t believe I’m already done with month 5 of the race and Romania is now behind us. Our month in Romania may sound like it was dull or repetitive, but I actually loved it. It’s said a picture’s worth a thousand words, so here are 100000 words for you to check out. If they aren’t enough, I gave you 500 more words below to wow you.
Ministry
Like it has been mentioned, ministry this month has been digging trenches. 3 trenches, each 80 cm deep. I actually enjoyed the digging, even if it got a little repetitive, and it felt good to actually finish them all. I think the best part of ministry this month was hanging out with our team of trench diggers, hereby known as Ditch Diggers United (DDU). Every morning our team of 4-6 diggers were faithfully outside, rocking construction vests, and ready to work. It was a fun group, and I really enjoyed getting to know some people from the other teams here.
Community
I think the highlight of this month was living in community with 3 teams here. Yeah, it could have gotten crazy, but I enjoyed getting to know people from other teams and really pouring into a larger group of W squad. It’s exciting because now I have 20-something good friends on the squad as opposed to my team plus a few others. It was fun to laugh with them, grow with them, and just be together so much.
One of the teams that was here was Cherished Flame, which is an all girls team. They are an awesome group of girls, and it’s not fair that they have to do the race without any guys (the world is a little sketchy), so we loved on them a lot this month. They even made me an honorary brother to their team! I’ve never been so honored in my life.
Fun
Recreation this month looked different in the fact that I only left the farm twice the entire month, and once was to visit the dump. The other was to chill at a hot springs, which was incredible. When you’re stuck in the arctic for a month, getting to swim in a hot pool is like heaven. For fun at the house, we would watch a ton of movies on a big screen, play lots of cards, and hang out in our living room full of couches. It was super chill, but I loved it. I could read for a while, hang out with people for a while, watch some Modern Family, and then play cards.
My favorite day in Oradea was actually the day that 14 people went to Budapest and 7 of us stayed behind. The girls made it an “honor Nick” day, but it was so much more than that. Yes, I got breakfast in bed and great back massage, but we also all got to chill in a now-quiet house, eat leftovers, make brownies, watch Christmas movies, and relax in our sleeping bags. It’s hard to describe, but it was a great day.
I’m not doing Oradea justice, here’s Romania by the numbers!
Number of squadmates in Noble House: 20 (22 when leaders were here)
Number of seats at the dinner table: 26
Number of ditches dug: 3
Depth and length of each ditch: 80cm by 20+ feet
Number of games of hide and seek outside: 2
Number of NOLA dinners: 3, and they were great!
Number of people in one sleeping bag: 2
Number of WR church services: 3
Number of letters written for the ladies by the men: 64
Number of pancake batches made with vinegar: 1 (my b)
Number of new close friends on the squad: 12
Coldest temperature experienced: 15 degrees
Max number of people doing Insanity at one time: 10
Distance to get milk: 400 yards (through a farm)
Distance to grocery store: 2 miles on foot (through corn fields)
