Wow. Eight months. We just finished our first month in our final continent of the Race. It was incredibly life-giving, spiritually heavy, and full of relationships that showed me new things about the character of God. It makes me so excited to see how the Lord is going to work in the last 80 something days of the Race. Here’s a little overview of what my month looked like this month:
- We started our month moving from a five-member team to a four-member team. One of our teammates moved to another team this month for ministry, so that was a strange adjustment but ended up being so fruitful and a blessing to everyone.
- We moved around a lot. I slept in seven different beds in the past month and packed my bags a lot, and I’m really thankful this allowed me to see so much of the southern part of Romania!
- I got to work in the administrative side of ministry every day – LOTS of planning, emailing, and spreadsheets
- I got to form friendships with our translator (she’s incredible) and a former Racer who’s now a long-term missionary in Romania, and I’m forever grateful.
- I had access to hot water for the majority of the month!!!!! Praise God.
- I got to snuggle a puppy.
- After spending most of the Race asking the Lord to clarify my spiritual gifts, I got a lot guidance and affirmation this month. They are: shepherding, serving, teaching, and administration.
- I started really asking God about life after the Race and am REALLY excited about some dreams He’s giving me to work with Syrian refugees in the near future.
- I got to do ministry with my MOM (!!) and got to see how God has moved her from *having* to do Kingdom work to *wanting* to.
- I heard my mom give a testimony for the first time in my life and that was the best.
- I had the grossest donut I’ve ever had in my life. It was covered in sour cream in black goo.
- Speaking of sour cream, I accidentally fed my entire team sour cream for breakfast for three days instead of yogurt.
- I made friends with a local bakery owner and ate way too many pastries.
- I talked about (and disagreed about) souls and the afterlife with an Eastern Orthodox man and we became BFFs and he told me I have a “golden soul.”
- I sang for a worship service for the first time in four years and wow, how humbling!
- I got to hand out New Testaments, served in an eyeglass ministry, built relationships with locals, spoke in church, hung out with Roma kids, prayed a lot, and laughed a lot
- More spreadsheets. Color coded, of course.
- And finally, we got our final teams of the Race. I’ll tell you all about my new teammates soon- they are six INCREDIBLE women and I can’t wait to learn from them.
That’s a bit of what my month looked like. It was busy and the spiritual atmosphere of Romania is very, very heavy. But while there were hard days, I feel refreshed and excited because I was able to serve in the ways the Lord has blessed and equipped me: through planning, spreadsheets, and relationship building. I grew in my contentment of who God’s made me and how He’s gifted me and I’m just overwhelmed by how blessed I am. Life here in Europe is hard and so, so stunningly beautiful. God is good!
Catch ya when I’m updating you on my new team and BULGARIA!
