It’s crazy that another month has come and gone. We have already conquered two months on the Race; two down and nine to go! Sometimes it feels like the days pass by slowly, but really the time is flying by. I could not have imagined time going this quickly!
As we prepare to leave Romania tomorrow for Albania, I’d love to reflect some on the month, especially as I was horrible about posting blogs this month.
This month was “all squad” month, which means all thirty-six of us plus our two squad leaders lived in one house. The foyer area always crowded with shoes, clothes hanging to dry everywhere you walk, bunk beds to sleep in, and a kitchen table that only fits about half the squad. There is always someone to talk to and to hang out with. Someone is nearly always playing guitar or a card game of some sort. Basically you live with thirty-seven brothers and sisters, and it is fantastic.
Draganesti is a small community, a mix of Romanian and Roma (the proper name for gypsies as gypsy is a derogatory term) people. Often, you’ll have kids follow you down the street wanting to give you a high five or begging for food. The general feel in the town is depressing and spiritually hard. There is witchcraft in the area and witch doctors are common. Many of us have struggled with sleep, anything from nightmares to waking up regularly to just never feeling rested. For me, I’ve only slept through the night once in three weeks.
There is one evangelical church, Hope Church, with ministries underneath that. Each team worked with a different ministry. Additionally, our team was split into two groups. Kim, Louise, and I worked with Tavi and Nico. Their main ministry is in a village called Maruntei about fifteen minutes outside of Draganesti,. We did a mix of things for ministry – office work like creating a website (hopeformaruntei.wordpress.com) and sending emails, we attended kids club on Tuesdays, and we attended bible study on Wednesdays.
This month has been a learning process for me in some tough subjects. Blogs will follow sometime in the next month or so about what I’m learning. It’s been hard, but it’s been so good to already see so much change in myself in just two months.
Next month will be a tad different. It’s “manistry” month so all the men will be on one team together. This leaves the women to be on a mix of teams. Kim, Abbie, and I will be joining Mallory, Leighton, Jamie, and Meggie to form Team Christmas. We will be in Elbasan working with YWAM; it appears that we will be doing quite a bit of children’s ministry with a mix of other things. We’ll find out more when we sit down with our hosts!
So here’s to one more quick day in Romania of packing and cleaning before a nearly twenty hour overnight bus ride to Albania and new adventures in month three!
