On our eighth month for our eighth country, my world race squad and I have been placed in the beautiful land of ROMANIA – that used to be part of Transylvania. We have been scattered to different cities, but my team and I had the privilege to serve in Pestere alongside Roy and Melania who founded the ministry called Apa Vie- translated to “Living Water” in English. Roy has pretty much been like a grandpa to me the 20 days we were with him. He is so encouraging to each one of us, and has shared his gratitude and words of affirmations every single day. He’s given wise advice, taught us new lessons, and has been so vulnerable with his amazing life story. Melania has a compassionate heart and is an amazing host with all the ways she made sure we were comfortable. She too shared life stories and her stories has shared her character of mercy for others. Roy is originally from New York who at 59 thought his life was falling, but little did he know that God had big plans for him in Romania. He has an inspiring story of how he moved from his hometown to be on the other side of the world. It’s where he ended up buying property on what many would think “on a whim,” but he felt God telling him to buy it even if it sounded crazy since he didn’t know why. But he now uses this property to make a big impact on the lives of many who uses this space to hold conferences, trainings, and meetings with churches and even government officials on many different topics based on whatever the communities need: sermons, retreats, trainings, summer camps, VBS and more! Together, he and his wife, administrate, coordinate and plan future events- as well as take care of the property and make space for new people to stay there. For example, this summer, they are hosting 80 children to do a summer camp for a church. That’s a lot, and they don’t have that kind of space for them…yet. That’s where we came in:
My team and I got to learn new skills, hone in on the skills we do know and serve in any capacity we can with our time in Apa Vie. For example, my teammates, Ré and Rocky, constructed a dormitory building with indoor beds, and it looks great! I’m so proud of them! Whereas, Brooklynn has been hard at work organizing and cleaning tool sheds and storage rooms- which looks amazing! Lastly, Praise and I have painted the dorm building, the outhouses, an indoor bathroom, the stairs of the inside of a tiny home and the floor where carpet will cover the green. We may not get to see the children enjoy and use the finished products, but it’s cool to be a part of the process of preparing for their future time here where they will learn about God, hope and love. It’s like planting the seeds in the soil, and with time and care, the plant will bear fruit later. I’m so grateful for this experience.
Before vs. After
This was the first time I have done manual labor on the race, and I had to ask our host,“
Can you share, how was having a world race team helpful to the ministry?”
This is what he said:
“Yes
#1. The fact that 6 lovely Christian ladies represented World Race – AND Apa Vie Ministries brings greater respect and credibility to the whole work of our ministry in Romania and Beyond!
#2. The whole team came behind us in the need to prepare for the influx of campers that brought us closer to be able to accommodate the expected crowd in 3 ways (at least)
-Construction and preparing the pavilion to accommodate at least 35 campers.
-Helping prepare the “bathroom facilities” for use and protecting the building materials with a coat of protective paint
-Helping organize the tools and equipment used to maintain and construct facilities.
-Encourage the missionaries (Melania and me) by providing help and encouragement.
The kind of help you have provided is just not available at this time and even if it were, it would NOT be sufficient.
Those we have used have left for Germany to work there for several months.
Another group are occupied until July. Too late for us! Others we have used are possibly responsible for missing tools and equipment, and of course you have also saved us money with the labor costs. It has been wonderful!
It was a great pleasure to have you here.
In his words with the capitalized letters: LOVE JOY and PEACE be to you through HIM all of your life … (and do NOT let some lover-boy minimize that!) Grandpa speaking!
Apa Vie Ministries,
Missionaries Bishop Roy and Melania Olsen
Romania and Beyond www.apavie.org”
When I reflect on my time with them, I will always remember how they have been so hospitable, encouraging, intentional and considerate. Roy’s melodic singing and joyful spirit will always be remembered as he sings “Tomorrow, tomorrow, I’ll love you tomorrow!”
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5 senses of Romania
This town is more of a ‘countryside’ than a city. My 5 senses were all heightened with goodness this month. Here is a breakdown:
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My sight was overflowed with luscious green fields, hills, valleys, and mountains. Different shades of green leaves of different trees are forested on hills and mountains as well as open fields of green grass. I swear, the scenery often looks like something you’d see in a movie or in a picture as a screensaver or background for your iPhone or Mac. I always thought those pictures were very filtered, but now I know they actually exist! It was beautiful!
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The smells of nature, dew from the rain, paint during ministry, saw dust from construction and the aroma of food being cooked in the kitchen lingered in the air at different times throughout the weeks.
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The sounds of our “neighbors” making noises- the sheep baaing, the stray dogs barking outside and the family dog barking, birds chirping, Roy driving his tractor, nail gun and hammers banging rang in my ears.
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The tastes of authentic delicious Romanian dishes we had every meal since we had a chef cook for us brought life to our taste buds. We had eggplant salad dip with bread, meatball soup, Romanian cheeses and sausages and a lot of antipasto. We also had Sarmale- which is ground pork and rice, wrapped and cooked in cabbage leaves and my favorite dessert- homemade DONUTS! There’s actually a lot more dishes too long to list, but those are the main ones.
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The feelings of touch through the paint brush, hammers, water getting in my shoes from the rain, cold coming through my jackets as it rained a lot this past month and the sunlight gently brushing against my face gave hope after stormy days. 🙂
We have also been to a few churches taking turns sharing our testimony on how God has changed our lives, and I have even done a 3 minute sermon on the difference between Belief and Faith. You can watch it on my Facebook or Instagram.
Overall, the first 2 and half weeks has been hard, different than most months, but good because we had the pleasure of meeting and knowing Roy and Melania.
The last two weeks of Romania has been different involving some of our parents visiting to do ministry with us in a different city of Romania. Those whose parents were unable to come, like mine, still did ministry with a different church. Stay tuned for that experience in my next blog!
Until then, Ethiopia is next!
Thank you for reading this. ??
