I’ve been really happy to see the response to all of my introspection lately, but I’m sure you’re wondering what we’ve actually been doing in Romania this month. Basically, we’ve been doing outreach with a local church, under the direction of Cristi, the pastor. We teach dance lessons to the girls in our neighborhood, and hang out with the young people at the church. Pretty simple.
Yet our first meeting with the church youth was hilariously complicated. They only asked us three questions:
1. What was your favorite country?
2. What was your most challenging country?
3. What the heck is wrong with you?
We answered the first question (Thailand) and the second question (Uganda) with ease, and all laughed for a while about the third. The wording was a bit of a joke, but they were all genuinely curious as to why we’d left the universal “dream country”. That image of America just won’t get away from us: perfection, freedom, and endless comfort. Why would we leave that? All I could think to say was, “I knew there was more than that. I wanted it.”
The amount of translation required in that conversation was the hilarious part. The 5 of us with 10 Romanians and one Argentinian guy. Whenever he spoke, his local fiancee translated into Romanian, which was in turn translated to English for us. I’m really going to miss this regular jumble of languages.
When our organized discussion ended, the group dissolved into casual conversation. Cristi approached us.
“Girls, I’m about to tell the group some really awful news. I didn’t want you to be unaware, but I don’t want to have to interrupt it with translation, so you should know that one of the gypsy girls, 12 years old, was killed a few days ago. We’re not sure if she was one who came to our activities or not, but it’s obviously going to affect the community. So, I’m going to fill them in, and we can talk about it.”
Just like that, the face of our work changed. We weren’t just in a poor community, we were in a freshly broken one. The parents were scared, and reaching out to Cristi for help. They want better for their kids, somehow. Just days before we started dance classes, some of the moms came to Cristi and asked, “We know you’re a pastor. Can you teach us about the Bible?” And just like that, a little church is planted.
We have known in every community we’ve worked that we won’t be the ones to change it. The locals know the needs better than we can understand in a few short weeks, and their relationships can take permanent root. All we can really do is give them a burst of joy & life, and hope it lingers. That is pretty simple.
-Katie
Yes, my ministry this month is to jam to my favorite songs with 20 little gypsy girls. And to those of you on The Q who are wondering… yes, we taught Sheila. First day. They love it. Here’s a glimpse:
