Here in Draganesti, things are not like anywhere else I’ve been so far on the Race. There are horses pulling buggies everywhere, the people are trapped in witchcraft, its freezing cold!, I’m living with another team in a huge house (well huge for the World Race), and our ministries are the most diverse I’ve experienced so far.
Our ministries this month include (but are definitely not limited to):
- Building a church
- Gardening
- Cleaning chicken and pigeon coups (they have racing pigeons!!)
- Teaching English
- After School Program
- Children/Youth program on Saturdays
- Sending emails for the pastor
- Creating Facebook pages in order to connect with the youth in the community
- Sending emails to churches, Christian colleges, and mission organizations asking if they would like to send teams here
- Attending a women’s Bible Study on Thursday nights
- Attending a prayer meeting on Friday nights
- Worship night on Thursday’s
The ministry I am involved in this month is Logistics. This is the ministry at the church office with the pastor answering his emails, sending emails to churches and such, and connecting with the youth through Facebook. My first day of logistics ministry involved sitting in the small church office with my own computer typing up emails for the pastor and posting videos on a Facebook page to spark conversation with the youth in the community. At first this seemed really tedious and I wondered if we would ever get anything accomplished for Christ in this little office. I wasn’t building a church- obvious ways of spreading the Gospel there. I wasn’t helping clean up a yard, or a home, or a barn- serving those in need. I wasn’t in a Bible study- building up the Body, very needed work. No I was sending emails and chatting on Facebook. But then it hit me, I am sending out emails that would take this man hours to write because he would have to translate them, which as everyone knows never comes out right – serving someone in need. I was connecting with the kids in the community to invite them to events we put on in order to share the Gospel with them – obvious way of spreading the Gospel. And I was sending emails to churches, schools, and organizations spreading the word about this place that is trapped in witchcraft so that they can come and share Jesus with them too – definitely helping the Kingdom there!
So then God showed me that this isn’t just what I do on the World Race, this is something that people do everyday, everywhere. People help their neighbors in their yards to rake up leaves, they tell people in their churches about ways to get involved in their communities with the youth to keep them out of trouble and hopefully connected to the Lord, people work in offices where they are the only Christian and they share their lives with the people they work with. This month is so diverse, and at first I didn’t think I was making much of an impact, but God showed me that the things I am learning this month are the most practical for when I get home.
The most important thing the World Race has taught me is to bring the Kingdom to what I’m doing. Whether cooking and cleaning, using my computer, going to a Bible study, praying for healing, or hugging little orphans, God’s Kingdom will come. So while I might just be a receptionist/personal assistant this month, I am doing it for the Kingdom and committing everything I do to the Lord so that His Good News can be proclaimed, whether directly through me or through someone else I come into contact with while I work in this little office in Draganesti, Romania!
