Due to the fact that I have been failing so miserably at blogging these past 8 months, I have decided to try something a little different. For the entire month of May, I am going to be writing a series called “A Month In The Life of A Racer”. Basically, this will be a daily journal entry describing what my day entailed. Some days may be shorter than others, some days may contain pictures (if the internet will allow), and some days I may just not have time. But I thought I would start pushing myself harder to blog, so, without further ado, here is what today looked like!
May 1, 2019
We woke up to rain clanking on the tin roof above our heads. Pestere is one hour ahead of Serbia so we technically had to get up an hour earlier than usual. Roy, our ministry host, called us downstairs for breakfast so we all jumped out of bed, threw whatever clothes were around us on and ran downstairs. Melaniea, Roy’s wife, had breakfast set out around the big circular table that takes up most of the room. This morning, we had eggplant salad on toast with fresh tomato, cucumbers, and red bell peppers. We also had hard boiled eggs, summer sausage, and cheese for extra protein. Let’s just say, Romania is taking the cake for the best food so far on the race.
After breakfast, Roy wanted to show us the property, so we all threw on our warmest gear and went for a walk through the puddles. The property is absolutely beautiful and his vision for it is truly inspiring. They own about 4.5 acres of land and are trying to build a safe place for kids to come during the summer and go to camp. As of right now, they have enough space for about 40 kids, but their goal is 80 or more.
Our main job while being here is to help prepare the property for those 80 students who are coming in July. So! After the tour was done, we met John, extremely talented carpenter from NY, out back to help him build the floor of one of the dorms. At this point in time, our shoes were completely soaked (because of the non-stop rain) and John taught us how to Saran wrap our feet and then put our shoes on so that our socks wouldn’t get wet. Yes, you heard me…SARAN WRAP OUR FEET. I guess you learn something new every day am I right?
Anyways, after our feet were safely packaged, we began bringing him 2X4’s and plywood. He was so much fun to work with and was extremely gracious as some of us learned how to use a nail gun and hand saw.
We took lunch around 1:00 and by that time we were almost finished with the floor! Although it may not be to his regular standards back in the States, we were helping John do an amazing job with what we had. Lunch was delicious soup and chicken wings! We sat around and had a good conversation while we tried to warm up. It was hard to go back out into the cold with soaking wet shoes, but at least our socks were dry!
With good music and sunflower seeds aplenty, we finished the last pieces of the floor. And guess what?! God even gave us a few minutes of beautiful sunshine.
