So many people think that the World Race was an odd way for me to spend my first year out of college, and so many others did not understand what I was going to be doing. Truth was I didn’t know what I was going to be doing, just a rough idea of where I was going, and who I was going with. We were instructed to walk into this year without any expectations, and many of you think, no problem! Honestly it’s not that easy, but it’s getting much easier as we have no idea where we will be for the following month; where we will be living, if we’ll have internet, what we will be doing on a daily basis, what our ministry is, and if we will be able to shower. Constantly living in this mentality has been fun, and team RADIANT got a big spoonful this month!
A Squad met in Bucharest, Romania to travel together to Moldova via train. This was quite the adventure… We barely made it to the train before we departed and were then standing in the hallways waiting for the proper room assignments, with our 60 some pounds of weight on our bodies. We would walk from car to car trying to obey the harsh train employee’s instructions. We were crossing the Romania/Moldovan border at 3:30am and had our room door thrown open and lights turned on to a large man speaking in Moldovian. My room then woke up 5 minutes before we needed to get everything off the train, and yes, getting 60 pounds worth of packs on is no easy task, especially when you are in a closet sized room with three other people and their packs. We exited in a frenzy and then our Moldovan adventure began. We enjoyed another hostel and the next morning we were sent off by the main contact that paired us with our team contacts. Andre and his translator, Peter, picked us up and team RADIANT was off to their second month of ministry!
The country side was gorgeous, and perfectly matched the images God gave me a few days earlier of what to expect in Moldova after I asked Him. Rolling hills covered in trees and little villages (so reassuring and awesome…) We are driving and singing worship songs, enjoying simple sarcastic humor that Peter is already feeding us – basically loving life. Through a few different conversations about what this month will look like and what we will be doing, Peter mentions something about going to a different country. With a slight language barrier, and the fear that we will over step our new relationship’s boundaries by asking numerous questions, we exchange glances of question and smile. Remember, no expectations. Peter then shares that we are going to a place that no one really knows about, because it’s not on a map. It has its own king, and currency. “Welcome to the Matrix”, he says. We all laugh, but have no idea if he is serious. He was. 100%. I am staying in Transnistria which is a smaller republic/country within Moldova. There are border crossings we need to go through, they use a different currency, and there is legitimately a king. Hilarious. Transnistria wants to be a part of Russia, whereas the rest of Moldova wants to be a part of Romania, and neither Russia nor Romania will accept them. Transnistria has more of the communist mindset and refuses to be like the rest of Moldova.
Yup – this is where I will be staying for my second month! Andre, our contact here, is the pastor of a small 25 member church in a town that fortunately has no Orthodox churches. He is struggling with the traditional and fearful mindset of this entre culture, and we are here to continue with his evangelism and fellowship with the locals to show them that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
I am super excited for all that this month is going to reveal to my team, to these locals, to our contacts, and to myself individually. Thank you all for the patience with the lack of internet on my part… more updates will be coming when they come! Love you and miss you!
