I have been on the World Race for 10 days now. Ten days packed full of plane rides, airports, busses that short out every few miles, car rides that have you holding your breath hoping you make it to your destination alive, and ministry. Lots of different types of ministry. I plan on writing a blog later that describes in full detail what we have done, but this one is about something general that occurs here in Romania.
Romanian Soul Care. The people here are beautiful. Their souls are so real, honest and raw. They don't hide things. When they are feeling sad, they show it. When they are filled with joy, they show it. They thank you from the bottom of their hearts and hug you will all they have. Compared to life in America, it is definitely a simple style here. After just ten days on the race I already know I will never forget the specific moments that affected me to my soul. There was the hour I spent walking around a Romanian village with Andrea (my beautiful Romanian friend). We were walking to each house seeing which children would be coming to Children's Ministry that day. The simplicity of it blew my mind. We walked to every house, stood at the gate, and simply yelled their name. If they came to the gate yay! If they didn't, we moved on. When they were home the parents often welcomed us inside where we sat in the yard among chickens and dogs and flies eating home-made cheese. Some invited us into their homes with no electricity and no running water where we sat on their couches and they gave us pop (or as all you southerners so often remind me; SODA) to drink. There usually weren't T.V.'s…and families were often just sitting in the house or yard together, talking.
Wait….What?
I cannot recall a time in my life when I simply walked into someone's house and every member of the family was crowded together in one room simply enjoying each other's company and conversation. Maybe at Christmas, but often not even then. They know how to love and they know how to live.
I will also never forget the time I walked around that same village with a 14 year old Romanian girl who did not speak English. We were passing out pamphlets about the story of Jesus to anyone we came across. However it was a moment that I'm pretty sure redefined my life. We could not remotely speak each other's language so we started pointing to things and saying them to each other. By the end we had said a lot of words that were never understood, but had laughed many laughs that were clearly understood between the two of us. Speaking with words is the language of the body, but laughter is the language of the soul.
The past few days of ministry have been hard, but great. We have been walking around villages with translators trying our best to speak to people about the Lord. We have worked in clinics helping with health care and giving out free eye glasses. We have worked in children's ministries working with kids, reading bible stories and playing what is apparently a universal game of "rasca, rasca, gusca." a.k.a. duck, duck, goose. We have stood in front of church congregations and shared our testimonies and sang praises to Jesus in languages we don't understand.
Simplicity is bliss. I have so many things at home. Objects, items, favorite places, jobs, things to do. Yet here, where I have nothing but Jesus and a backpack…my soul feels right again.
Jesus. Laughter. Love. Touch. Time. Simplicity.
Romanian Soul Care.
