See that floor? Yeah. We built that.
Last month, God had me leave behind expectation. Expectations for him. Expectations for our ministry. Expectations for myself. He wanted all of it. So I laid it down. It’s only Day One of our Month 8 ministry here in Pestere, Romania, and already I’m blown away by how God is using our open and willing hands. In this month, we will be working with Apa Vie Ministries. Roy and Melania Olsen run a children’s camp during the summer and need some things built to allow them to boost the number of kids they can get into their facility from forty to EIGHTY. This will likely be one of the shorter ministry opportunities (given that we leave early to go to the Parent Vision Trip and Debrief in the latter weeks of the month), so we really aren’t wasting any time here. We are more secluded location-wise than I think any of our team have been on the Race so far, which I honestly couldn’t be happier about.
But, seriously… Day ONE and we’ve already built the sub-floor for a kids camp dorm. That’s HUGE. We just kinda threw ourselves into it. We had been told that we would get an opportunity to work with a master carpenter who would be working to fix up the grounds but I really didn’t expect day one to be so much so fast. Yet, here we are. I couldn’t think of a more tangibly and visibly productive first day. Oh, and we built it while it was cold and rainy and we saranwrapped our socks onto our feet to keep out the mud and cold water as we lugged 2x4s from one end of the compound to the other. One minute we are getting the tour of the place and the next we are hands-on. Ugh, I just love it when I get my hands dirty and get to see the results. What a day. Still, it didn’t end there because we were supposed to be going to a “gypsy” church in the evening (after the 9:30am to 4pm work day). Those plans were canceled and, instead, replaced with a new one. We met a new friend and she took one of my teammates and I to meet with some kids in the nearest city. We ended up sharing our testimonies and answering their questions about our experiences on the World Race. We were even invited back because of the need for influence in the lives of the youth in the area. It was all so beautiful.
Please be praying for us (and our physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental health). And, not only for us, but for this ministry and all the children who will eventually pass through the dorms we are working on.
