As our time in Romania continues, we’ve been able to work hard in multiple areas. Our days have been fairly full of ministry, which I’ve really enjoyed. Each day, we have two hour meetings of worship and prayer, two of the disciplines that God has been stretching me in. I led a half hour session of worship for our squad and felt prompted to share afterward. I typically don’t like speaking in front of large groups, but God encouraged me to do so. I talked about how I have felt a calling on my life to worship through music for many years.
Throughout the last year, however, I have turned away from putting my whole heart into worship. I used to sing and play music frequently with a friend back home, so worship didn’t feel the same without her. God revealed to me how the object of my worship is Him, so it’s not necessary for my friend to be alongside me. It was harder than I expected to volunteer to lead a worship session, but my squad was incredibly kind in encouraging me and praying for me to walk forward in boldness into His calling.
I have also been able to grow in prayer through these meetings. Raul is very intentional about his prayer requests. He directs someone from the squad to write them on a whiteboard under the categories of people, projects, and partners on local, regional, and international levels. Sometimes we all pray at the same time, sometimes in small groups, and sometimes one person prays. While telling us the prayer requests, he explains each intricate situation and teaches us about the culture. This method has really renewed my interest and desire in prayer, which had been lacking throughout the Race.
To my delight, I’ve been able to work administratively during the week. I managed Facebook posts about the ministry and prayer requests. I got to research information for Christian, mission-minded colleges so we could contact them for hiring an intern here. I worked with Raul’s son, Sammy, to edit two Biblical essays for a class he’s taking. For the city of Craiova, our team created and distributed a survey to find out if the area would be a good place to start a Bible study. We also typed and printed our testimonies, handing them out to passerby.
We led multiple kids clubs, shared at church, sang worship, handed out Bibles, and participated in a day of fasting to fight the prevalent spiritual warfare. We moved and organized piles of wood, which was somewhat like a life-size Jenga and Tetris game. It was fun, but I had to fight through comments in the realm of “this is not women’s work” and “that’s too heavy” and “let me get that instead”. Not my favorite sentiment, but sometimes I just have to swallow, breathe, and hum happy things in my head to get through. Some of the happy things that help me to survive are playing with our neighbor’s two-month-old daughter, two dogs, and eight puppies.
I would love to have prayerful support for safety in the Istanbul airport as we pass through there soon, peace in Ethiopia as we head there during a difficult time, and security in my post-Race plans. <3
