8 am: My eyelids lose the battle with the sunshine coming through my window and I wake up. I lay there for a second willing myself to accept that it's time to throw off my sleeping bag and start my day. I finally scoot to the edge of my tippy top bunk (it's three high) and begin the very dangerous process of getting down. I'm not even being dramatic, I swear- I've fallen off that wobbly ladder multiple times.
I make my way down stairs, still half sleeping, for some chocolate muesli and hot tea and get out of the kitchen as soon as possible to get ready and avoid the masses.
9 am: I head out with my team to church. Horse and buggies ride by on the street lined with strange houses and beautiful flowers, as kids call out and the occasional granny stops us to plant a big kiss on our cheeks. At 9:15 we arrive to study Hebrews together and on the mornings when I'm not doing that, I have worship practice.
10 am: Let's get real- the whole squad doesn't get to the church until 10:15, so we sit around the keyboard, finalizing our songs and I try to memorize the lyrics in front of me, because apparently I've gone blind on the Race and can't read the page (and I have a feeling my fake nerd glasses from Thailand won't help).
Finally, the Squad files in and takes their seats and we worship our Father together- the very best part of my day; the part I'll miss most when this all comes to an end. I look out at hands raised and knees bent and listen to all the harmonies in the room and my heart is content.
11 am: Our contact, Raul, leads us in intercession for the church, the community, the country, and the world. Having a contact who dedicates the entire morning to having us do nothing but worship and pray really puts things in perspective. Nothing we do is more powerful or more impactful than prayer- it changes atmospheres and releases the Kingdom on earth. This is a dark country, but God is moving here. Praying for this country is far more helpful than any English lesson we teach or bag of clothes we deliver.
12 pm: It's time for lunch, which means entering the battlefield that is the kitchen. No amount of mental preparation or pep talks will make me any more excited about it, but with an hour to run home, get food and get back to the church, I have no choice but to face the masses. Let me make this clear- I love my Squad…I really do, but 35 people in 1 kitchen kind of just leaves me wanting to hit someone (I know, so unmissionary-like).
I navigate around everyone to get to the fridge and risk my life for the second time of the day, by opening it up. In all seriousness, it's panic inducing and dangerous. You never know if something will fall out and splatter across the floor when you open it (and "ain't nobody got time for dat). If I'm lucky, I'll make my sandwich and get a good 5 minutes in upstairs to eat and destroy my eardrums with music just loud enough to tune everyone out.
1 pm: The after-school program starts and we practice multiplication and addition with the sweet, rambunctious gypsy kids. After snack, we teach them English vocabulary and on good days, we get to go outside and sing The Hokey Pokey (weirdly, their favorite) and either bowl with little red bowling pins and a tennis ball or play hand games.
3 pm: The kids go home and we head off to our second ministry, which changes on the daily. Sometimes, we get to do awesome things like home visits to deliver clothes and shoes to poor families and other days- like today, we get blisters on our fingers from sharpening about a million pencils. The World Race is like a box of chocolates, you never, ever know what ministry you're gonna get.
5 pm: Insanity! I don't know what made me decide to get so motivated, but maybe it has something to do with coming home in 50 days and realizing it's my last chance to shed my bread bod. Seriously, the Race does strange things to your body.
Then, it's off to the shower-literally the only time of the day where I am alone. As Alana said in her blog, "I used to think the same about the toilet – but nope, that’s not the case at all."
7 pm: They say one of the requirements to come on the Race is to be willing to grow and change. Well, besides the fact that I now eat (and enjoy!) vegetables, which is growth enough if you ask me (coming from a girl whose diet consisted mostly of Teddy Grahams and Nutella), I now cook them too! Every 3 nights, Alana and I are in charge of dinner, and I'm cooking things other than nachos- which for me, is a small miracle.
8 pm: We have team time and feedback. Contour drawings of Johnna's face for her birthday, movie nights with popcorn, the question game, and Helene's fried chicken dinner are some of the most memorable from the month so far.
10 pm: When I should go to bed…which usually means I'll be up for another 4 hours practicing guitar, hanging out with people, journaling, drinking my third tenth cup of tea, trying to avoid people all together and failing miserably, or wasting way too much time on wifi (I've been deprived, okay?).
2 am: I finally decide it's time to climb that treacherous ladder again and get some shut eye- before it starts all over in the morning.
Just another day in Draganesti-olt, Romania
Most of these beautiful pictures are from my teammate Bailie. Check out her website at: oldtreephotography.wix.com/bmpphotography
