After a few final days of crazy travel, team Shemah has finally arrived in Șiștarovăț, a quaint and sleepy small town in western Romania.
Our layover in Poland was delightful – the weather was perfect, sunny with just a touch of fall on its way. We walked around the “old city” in Warsaw, and marveled at the enchanting architecture.
My favorite part of that day – the 10th anniversary of 9/11/01 – was meeting Magdalena, an elderly Polish woman and fellow believer in Jesus. It all started when I asked for a picture of her with her bicycle. After the click of my camera, she struggled tearfully in broken English to tell me that she was sorry about 9/11, and that she was praying for America. I apologized for the tragedies Poland had seen at the hands of Hitler and Stalin. She remarked that no one was safe anymore, with tragedy everywhere, and I felt the Spirit prompting me to gently remind her that our hope is in God (Psalm 43:5). We ended up having a long conversation about how the youth in Europe have lost their passion for the Lord. Magdalena shared that she was encouraged to see us as young people abandoning our home to pursue God’s will, and that she prays daily that the youth of Europe will be awakened, since so many have become disillusioned with God. Somewhere along the way, she remarked that she wished her English was as good as her Spanish. We quickly switched languages, and it made my heart happy to be able to converse in a language I love, especially in such an unexpected place. Before it was time to go, she warmly thanked me and told me that she had been lonely that day and wishing for someone to talk to.
Post-Poland, we hopped a short flight from Warsaw to Bucharest, Romania. After a long layover in Bucharest (we explored that city as well), we boarded a train for the most interesting and hellish train ride of my life. Stay tuned for more on that in a future post.
Finally, after 113 hours of travel and less than 15 hours of sleep, we finally made it “home” for the month! ȘiÈ™tarovăț means “six springs” in Serbian, so they have named the nearby Christian summer camp “The Seventh Spring.” It’s absolutely beautiful – mountains surround us, the weather has been perfect (we love leaving our windows open), and it’s quiet enough to hear nature sing. Our main responsibility this month is to improve the camp facilities. There’s ample time to enjoy the slower pace of life here.
Our current project is restoring the outside of a log cabin where long-term missionaries will live. Years of wind, rain, and pollution have battered the walls into a corroded dull grey, paint chipping.
With bristle brushes and sandpaper we attack the wood, using a power sander when desperate (electricity is expensive here). Layers fall off and by the end of the day we are covered in a fine layer of sawdust. In some places, the pure, golden, gleaming color of wood is beginning to shine through. It’s a tedious but ultimately gratifying process.
There are many hours to contemplate the spiritual parallels … how, for us, as with the wood, life and abuse add protective layers, which are only eradicated through a long and painful process. How God, as the ultimate restorer, uses many tools to accomplish just the result he has in mind. How, if we allow ourselves to submit to this restorative process, we end up reflecting the beauty of our truest selves, a reflection of Christ himself.
During these first days of the World Race, we find joy in serving through manual labor and in all the spiritual principles it brings to mind. We find joy in living with roommates, friends – those that are our new family. We find laughter in our failed attempts to blend with the local culture. We find joy most of all in seeing God move in a totally different place than what have we known.
I’m reminded of a song by Mae – “We’re So Far Away.”
