It’s easy to live life by yourself. You don’t have to rely on anyone and no one relies on you. No one can disappoint you because you don’t expect anything from anyone. You live your life and let others live their life. It’s quiet. It’s secluded. It’s safe… But is it?
For most of my life I’ve lived as a single unit among my family, friends, and roommates. I’ve wanted community in the past but because I didn’t want to get hurt, I slowly backed away from anything real in relationships. I knew not to invest too much of myself into anyone because nothing lasts forever, including people. The scary thing is, I didn’t even realize this was happening. However, one good thing about the World Race is that you’re basically forced to live in community with others.
These past few months have challenged me to stop living as a single unit and start seeking deeper relationships with the people around me and, most importantly, my team. And this month, I get to test these new waters with my team in Ocnita, Moldova!
The family we are blessed to stay with are the pastors of the local House of Prayer (church) and are living out Christ’s love to the people of this area. Andrei and Larisa are truly invested in the lives of their church members, and all 19 World Race teams they’ve hosted over the past several years. This is a family who knows how to love through serving, leading, and simply being a friend to everyone they meet. Just take one ride with Andrei through town and the horn barely takes a break from sounding a friendly hello accompanied by a wave to his friends and neighbors in the area.
Nestled in their cozy home, I am learning a lot of what it means to love like Christ loves and let go of who I think I am (or should be) in order to follow where God is leading. No running water is teaching me to be more intentional during my day since it takes more than 10 minutes for a quick “shower.” Hand washing my clothes has become a relaxing part of my day. And getting accustomed to an outhouse squatty potty is helping me realize I don’t need the things I thought were necessary, not even my identity. All I truly need is God.
While we are here, our team is helping the family throughout the day, serving at Kid’s Club in the evenings, and many more fun adventures to come. Every day looks a little different and we are so excited to be here! Here are some pictures so far…
(During one of Andrei’s crazy car rides)
(My favorite nook at the Moldova Home)
The next two pics are stolen from my teammate Lara 🙂
God continues to amaze me each day and I’m so thankful to be at this place, at this time, following Him on this crazy journey. If you’d like to help me reach my next goal of $11,000 so I can continue on the World Race, please click “support me.”
