*Since we don’t have wifi all the time, I’m writing blogs on my laptop and posting them whenever I can, so most of the blogs I write will be from things that have happened a few days before I post them!
Today was our second full day (8/12/19) in Romania (the first was spent in an orientation where we learned some basic Romanian phrases, about the culture, and what we’ll be doing in this country for the next three months!) and our FIRST day doing ministry together!
We did ministry all afternoon and split up into two groups — evangelism and children’s ministry. I’m kind of uncomfortable with the street evangelism that one of the groups was doing just because I don’t have much experience in it and I’m AwKwArD. I definitely want to do more evangelism in the future, but I’m so thankful for the experience I had in children’s ministry today!
I LOOoooOoOoOoVE working with kids! I’ve done a lot of volunteering and tutoring with kids in the past and have really enjoyed it! But I’m always nervous before doing things with kids. But I always ask myself questions like, “What if they don’t like me?” But I realized that those anxieties don’t come from the Lord, and I have the authority to tell them to leave. So that’s just what I did on the way to the Roma villages!
The Roma are an ethnic group that doesn’t have a specific place they call home; their heritage is nomadic. Typically, the Roma people are either really poor or really rich. Our ministry is focused toward the less fortunate Roma people. They also speak a different language than Romanian, called Roma.
As we were driving to our first Roma village, I prayed that God would let me move in one child’s life. I told God I didn’t care if I was the one that all the kids ran to or not, I just wanted to be able to touch one child and show them the love of God!
While we pulled into the village, children immediately ran up and chased our car as we drove in. It was amazing to feel so loved and welcomed immediately! When we got out of the car, the kids were all high five-ing and hugging us and ahhh they’re just so gosh darn cute! I was so caught off guard by how excited all the kids were to see us, but in a good way 🙂 It was difficult to communicate with them because they all spoke a Roma language that we weren’t super familiar with, but the Lord still moved!
One of the girls specifically spent a lot of time with me. She always wanted to be held, so she was either on my side or on my back. This girl didn’t talk a lot, but I could tell she was just soaking in the love and attention that I was able to give her! After I put her down and all the kids played a game, she headed inside and I was able to hang out with another little girl! She also just wanted to be held and loved, so I gave her a piggy-back ride for most of the time we were together. She was SO CUTE because I would bounce her on my back and sing little tunes, and she would join me! I know it sounds small, but for two people that don’t speak the same language, this was an incredible way for us to bond!
The Lord really showed me how having joy doesn’t have anything to do with what your life is like — even though these people were living in shacks, they were full of life, energy, and joy like nothing I had ever seen! It’s easy to get caught up in little inconveniences in our lives, like not going to the restaurant that we want or finding out our favorite shirt we wanted to wear today is in the laundry, but true JOY comes from the LORD! Happiness comes and goes, JOY STAYS!
I really hope this post encourages you to seek joy in the LORD & not in earthly things!
Romans 15:13 “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
ok that’s all for now. i love you all
God is good!
Maddie Chase
email: [email protected]
phone: (919)257-7360
insta: itsmaddiee23
facebook: Maddie Chase
maddiechase.theworldrace.org
