I quit blogging. I mean not for any particular reason, I just quit. I got tired of blogging about the same thing – “Hey, we’re cleaning. Welcome to life in Romania. Hey, we’re still cleaning. Welcome to life in Romania, again. Oh wait, update: It rained, we didn’t clean, but then the sun came out and we started cleaning again. Welcome to life in … wait for it … ROMANIA!â€�
I mean sure some interesting things have happened, like one day when it was raining we were told that we wouldn’t be able to finish hand scrubbing the carpet squares, so now we were supposed to take wooden objects, brooms, bare hands, whatever and beat the dirt out of the remainder of the carpet squares before putting them back. And we thought hand washing them was absurd. Hand beating hundreds of carpet tiles is even more absurd.
My main project this month has become “Laundry Girlâ€� – I can’t even tell you how much bedding I have washed, hung out on the line to dry, pulled off the line due to rain and/or nighttime, put back on the line, and then finally folded, this month. Too much; however, I am now an expert fitted sheet folder.
Well that’s the exciting life of being a missionary in Romania. It’s not that I haven’t enjoyed it; for the most part it has been a welcome break this month from what was becoming semi-usual in Ukraine. We’ve kept to ourselves most of this month, mainly interacting with our on-site contact, Mihai, and our cook/supervisor Angela, plus living in community with the three teams that are here.
This month has been a month where I can’t really say I have been living the exciting missionary life that you might envision. When I thought of Romania, I thought of gypsy children. I know that’s not all that Romania has to offer but this month, we’ve literally stayed behind the scenes in everything. But sometimes, I’m learning that missionary work is not meant to be boxed into the pretty little box of what you hear about in the newsletters and on movies like, End of the Spear. I mean, yes there is that missionary life, but being a missionary is more than a job, it’s a passion to pursue something for the One who pursues you.
I’ve been wrestling with God recently about the future and what I feel He is leading me to in this next stage in life. I am praying about a potential opportunity that isn’t exactly being a “missionary,� but yet it would still put me in the position to yet again raise support to pursue this possibility. I don’t think anything financial is impossible with God, but the rational side of my brain questions what people will think when it comes to supporting a girl who isn’t traveling the world serving, but rather a girl who would be devoting herself to a stage of development and being discipled in North Carolina (where she’s from), so she can one day return back to the field. Would anyone feel as compelled to support that girl?
I know the Lord calls us to do things that don’t make sense. The World Race didn’t make sense. The fact that I had nearly $3500 raised in 48 hours before my 3 month deadline didn’t make sense. The fact that one anonymous donor gave me $3300 right before my 6 month final deadline didn’t make sense. The fact that I was not called to follow the expected path of school, job, marriage, kids … doesn’t make sense. Have you ever felt so compelled by something that even though it doesn’t make sense, you have to pursue it? Well, welcome to my life. It just doesn’t make sense. So as I continue to pray about where the Lord is leading me after the Race, I ask that you would also pray that the Lord provide clarity and that the Lord would provide doors to open for finances to be raised this summer. As I find more information out about this next step in life, I will update you, but for now I ask that you just pray.
To close, I’m not sure exactly what will be happening in Moldova yet, hopefully we will find out soon; however, I do know that on Wednesday I will officially arrive in MOLDOVA for my FINAL MONTH ON THE RACE! When did Month 11 get here and how did 10 months already pass? Our travel day will yet again be eventful – leaving the castle to go to Arad for a few hours, catching the overnight train from Arad to Bucharest (12 hours), Spending 12 hours in the Bucharest train station, catching another overnight train to Chisinau, Moldova (10ish hours). Note: We will not have sleeper trains, so two nights in regular train seats, perfect … we are going to be some kind of bright eyed and bushy tailed when we get to Moldova, that’s for sure. We will also be gross, because part of the policy here is that we have to do one final round of deep cleaning EVERYTHING right before we leave on Monday, so we will spend the morning getting nasty and sweaty as we clean the castle, then we will eat lunch and be on our way to 48 more hours of unshowered bliss! Perfect. I’m pretty sure I’m going to miss these travel days, though, and I’m excited to see the whole Squad for the first time since leaving the airport in Ukraine.
PS: For all my Future World Race Field Guide followers, I have been a slacker recently, but don’t worry, soon I will be posting the next installment with everything TRAINING CAMP … so stay tuned …
