We arrived in Targu Mures on the 11th, and leave in less than a week.
Where does the time go?!
Here's a breakdown of our ministry here.
Almost every day we start between like 9-11 (time varies) and have worship and prayer for a little over an hour in the house. There are 11 of us, and we have four guitars; we're basically the Von Trapps. I'm trying to find a djembe, but have had no luck thus far. I've got my fingers crossed for finding one in Africa, but that means I have to wait until the New Year, and will be drumming on my journal until then. Which totally works, by the way.
Monday – we have been going into Targu Mures (TM) and walking around the city. We talk with people, we pray over the city/country, etc and we meet with the pastor that we're working with (Pastor Zhombor), and are there for at least the entire afternoon.
[Here's a picture of the Orthodox church in the City Center and of the beautiful, colorful buildings that we find everywhere]
Tuesday – we have off from ministry, but these days have been just as busy. One of the things that my team wants to do is see the country and experience the culture, so we spent two of our Tuesdays going and being tourists in nearby places. It has been incredible, and spending time together as a team has been great.
Wednesday – village day. We leave the house between 1-3 and go to the gypsy and Hungarian outlier villages. We play with the gypsy kids and pray over people. The kids are absolutely ridiculous. They are super cute, but you can tell that they don't get a lot of attention. They're kind of on their own, which is heartbreaking. They also will attack/play with you. I get so dizzy from spinning these little girls around, but they enjoy it, and as long as I don’t fall down, it’s all good. We've talked to families, Pastor Z translates for us, we play songs and walk a ton. We tend to be gone all evening and don't come home until after the buses are done running, which means we've walked a ton in the dark on the highway. We have learned, however, to bring our headlamps with us.
Thursday – we go into TM. We walk like a mile or something through some corn fields to get to the bus station and wait for usually half an hour to catch a bus. They're usually ridiculously packed, and we often find buses that normally one extra person would fit onto, and somehow cram 11 of us onto it. The poor people who were already on that bus usually laugh or snicker, but hey, we have to get to the city too! We actually hitchhiked once and a guy with a van picked all of us up. That was a fail though, because he dropped us off like 2 miles away from normal, and we walked for HOURS that day. We spend the afternoon in mini groups, praying at parks, going to the nearby hospital, or talking to people at the university in town.
Friday – We have a free morning to do a quiet time by ourselves rather than corporately. We go into TM and walk around the city center, which is a "park." By park, they actually mean there are some trees and benches in a ton of concrete. It's not that big, but there are roses; it's definitely not the same as an American "park." We invite people to the Summer Terrace, which is this really sweet outdoor restaurant/bar. We rotate in shifts between 5-8 to be there with the pastor or wander around and pray/invite. We've spent time after that in the city in teams and have taken taxis back because the bus stops running at 8:30.
Saturday – We go into TM in the afternoon, and church is at 6:00, but we meet with the pastor at 5:00 to pray for the service. A few of us give testimonies, or as Z calls them "a word for the congregation. We do worship, and he talks and someone translates into English for us. It runs like 2+ hours. We have Sunday free, so we go out on the town to have team time.
Sunday – free, day of relaxation to the max. We get to sleep in, and have a quiet, peaceful day out at our house in the village. It's rejuvenating after a busy week of ministry, and I love being able to soak in the Lord's presence and reflect.
