Mirel Bakos is a roundish, tough but
lovable 38 year old construction worker who 
lives in the gypsy town
of Viile Tecii, Romania (8 hours northwest by bus of the capital
city, Bucharest). He has been our host with the most the past two
weeks, cooking for us and finding construction work for us to do. It
seems like his English level is growing daily and whenever a video
camera comes out, he yells “I love America!”. This is his first
time hosting a World Race team and to be honest, I was a little
nervous when I heard that he did not speak any English and sad not to
be with other host families where multiple teams were staying. Yet,
being at this house, on the far end of town, just with team Luminous
and Mirel and Carmen has been such a blessing! I should know that
God’s got things covered by now, eh!?!
Something fascinating and endearing
about this town of 500 is that everyone is somehow related to each
other. Mirel lives with Carmen, the youngest sister of the pastors
wife of the church we’ve been going to. From photos in his house,
a translator here and there and his broken English I’ve come to
understand that Mirel is waiting for enough money to file for the
divorce with Carmen’s previous husband before he marries her. She
was not treated well at all in her previous marriage. Mirel is a
breathe of fresh air for her, he’s a good man and loves her a lot.
Actually, these days, since Carmen is down the road at the “main”
house helping four World Race teams to be fed daily, we hardly see
him at all.
I’ve enjoyed sharing this tiny house
with team Luminous (though we fit 15 World Racers in their living
room to play Catch Phrase and Apples to Apples on my
birthday!), drawing water from the well, attempting to talk about
faith and politics in extremely broken English, playing cards and
chess with Mirel, tip-toeing past a snuggling Carmen and Mirel on the
pull-out couch at night to use the outhouse, making my own grape
juice from the sweet, red grapes in the great, vine-canopy in front
of his house, going for walks and early morning Bible studies on the
rolling hills here and just living life in Romania.
Thank you all for making it a very
special 31st birthday here in Romania. From my teams
breakfast burritos, the encouraging notes from H-squad, a picnic with
my lady, countless Facebook messages, a tonne of chocolate bars,
dessert crepes and the cards (with money 🙂 )I got at debrief in Brasov, Romania… I
gained my African-lost weight back, had fun and felt extremely loved.
