Romania was a winter wonderland during the time that I was there. It was a record breaking winter where both the low temperature and the snow fall had broken the records in recent history. It was not unusual for the temperature to drop below -20 F, as well as having several feet of snow. We were partnered with a local church in the southern part of Romania. My team and I were lucky enough to have a nice house that kept us warm and dry despite the frigid weather outside.
My main tasks for the month were divided between shoveling snow and helping with office work. The shoveling consisted of moving snow in three general areas, the area around our house, the church, and the mayor office. The reason we shoveled snow around the mayor’s office served 2 purposes, the first being that it was the location the church van was parked, and the second was to help with the lack of respect and favor the church was receiving from the local community.
Besides shoveling snow I also had the task of working with our main contact and pastor of the church in his office. He gave me the assignment of creating folders that contained all of the information that a future World Race team might need for partnering with them as well as creating one for prospective long term missionaries. The reason that this was important was due to the fact that an estimated 99.8% of the people in the area were not Christian. This means that out of the 500,000 people in the area only about 700 were born again.
Although I enjoyed both of the tasks that I had for the month, the main thing that I enjoyed was the people. They were some of the nicest and most genuine people I have had the pleasure of meeting, and they welcomed us like we were family. Some of the men had very similar interests as me, such as football (soccer), video games, and hanging out. Because of the weather I only had the opportunity to play football with them once, but I was able to play the video game FIFA 2012 with them. Also they took us to a few of the larger cities in the area where we could hang out.
I will never forget the time that I spent in Romania and all of the friends that I made while I was there. The people will always be in my heart and in my prayes.
