I never thought I was going to get to that point on the race where I just wanted to be home. Yes, in previous months there were moments where I wanted to be home with my family, moments where I wished I could just fly home for a week and then come back on the race, but this was the first time where I just wanted to be done with the race. I was tired of moving around, tired of living out of a backpack. However, even though month 9 was hard, it was also a month where God spoke to me and taught me a lot.
My team was the “mobile” team, meaning Thursday through Sunday we drove and stayed the night at a nearby village called Lisa, and during the rest of the week we lived in Draganesti with the whole squad. My team and I did a lot of traveling this month (a lot of time in the car). So right off the bat that was a challenge for me. I was doing even more traveling within the month, changing living situations every couple of days. Also, it made building strong relationships with people a lot harder (so I thought).
Our ministry this month was a whole list of things. In the mornings we prayed for the people of Romania, for the missionaries in Romania, for healing, for kid’s programs, etc. Some days we would run the kid’s programs (teaching a Bible story, singing songs, and playing games). We did a lot of house visits, encouraging and praying with other missionaries and other believers in the community, and we also did a lot of prayer walks around the villages.
I think the hardest ministry we did was the prayer walks and talking to people on the streets. Most people in Romania are Orthodox. They believe that there is a good deeds list they have to do in order for God to love them. Also, many of them have never read the Bible or even own a Bible, so the truth that they know comes from a priest or from beliefs that have been passed down from generation to generation. So this made things difficult.
Many people we talked to on our prayer walks were Orthodox and they really didn’t want anything to do with what we had to say to them. They believed that they knew God and Jesus. They believed that they had to do these “religious” practices in order to be saved or for God to love them…but their answers to our questions made it obvious that they did not know the Truth that is in the Bible.
One day we went on a prayer walk, and an older lady was sitting on her bench, right outside of her gate. We walked up to her and started talking to her and asking her about God. She didn’t really want to talk about God because she believed she knew God. She thought there were certain things she had to do in order to be blessed by God. She thought that if she didn’t do certain things that God would get angry with her and would make bad things happen. She didn’t have a personal relationship with God. And in that moment I was getting angry and frustrated. I was angry with Satan for being so deceiving, and my heart was breaking because she believed these lies. In that moment, I started praying to God. I was telling God how frustrated I was. I was asking Him why does she believe these lies….even after we are telling her the Truth? Why does she not want to listen? Why does she not understand? And right after I was done talking to God, He spoke back to me through one of my teammates.
Our translator was telling us how she didn’t want to listen, and my teammate Megan reassured him that it was okay. She said, “It’s okay, little steps at a time, we’re planting a seed right now.” And right then, all of my frustration went away, and I was reminded of what I read in the Bible a few hours prior to this prayer walk.
I was reading 1 Corinthians chapter 3, about the Divisions in the Church. The people of Corinth were distracted and got caught up on who the best Christian leader was. Some people thought they should only follow Paul and his teachings. Others thought that Apollos’ teachings were better and thought they should follow him. But the people of Corinth were missing it. Paul and Apollos were working together to advance God’s Kingdom and they wanted the Corinthians to establish a united church.
“For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, “’ I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men? What after all is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe –as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.”
-1 Corinthians 3:3-7
This is what we were doing in Romania. We were planting many seeds, and God taught me that I have to trust that He will bring other people along to water those seeds, but He ultimately reminded me that He is the only one who grows those seeds. I cannot save people, only God saves. It is simply my job to tell and share of what I know is True.
It’s funny how quickly we forget things. I read that passage in the Bible literally hours before I went on that prayer walk, and it was definitely a “DUH” moment when God spoke to me through my teammate. But that’s how awesome God is. He is so so patient with us, and he knows the perfect time to reveal things to us. This is why He is the one that makes things grow…because He is the one in control and the one who knows what is best for us.
From that day on I had a different perspective doing ministry in Romania. The month started out feeling like I wasn’t doing very much or being much of help to anyone. However, by the end of the month God showed me how even the little things count. He showed me how even though I was traveling a lot within the month, my team still impacted a lot of families and a lot of people in the different villages, by coming along side of them and praying with them and helping them with whatever they needed help with. God revealed this to me every time we said our final goodbyes to the people we visited all month. They held onto us, prayed for us, and thanked us through their tears. THE LITTLEST THINGS MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
Many seeds have been planted in Romania, and I am so thankful for the people we have met.
Pray with me that God will continue to grow those seeds.
