Once again I find myself in a new country. In the few weeks since my last blog I have said goodbye to my old team and Romania, and I’ve said hello to a new team and Moldova. There is a lot to be said about team changes and Moldova, but I feel that I did not blog enough about Romania. Much is to be said about the beautiful country that gave me a little slice of home, so in one last blog I will wrap up Romania.
Romania surprised me. I went into the month expecting Romania to be like my experience in Russia ( I worked in an orphanage for a month back in 2007). I was hoping to be working with kids, and expecting living conditions to be very basic. I simply did not know what to do with myself when I arrived to a house (That had an actual bed and hot water!) that was only an hour train ride away from a major city complete with a mall and movie theater! To be honest I also had to adjust to our ministry. I went into the month hoping to work with children. After a month of not really interacting with many locals in Haiti, I was hoping to experience the culture of Romania with Romanians, but I learned that was not what was needed.
My team along with another team worked for a Baptist camp in the small village of Sistarovat. Considering we were working in March when Romania was still thawing, the camp was empty and our job was to prepare it for the summer. The camp property was beautiful but massive and required a lot of up keep. Our ministry that month was to help the sole care keeper of the camp, Mihai with the camp. We spent our days doing yard work, cleaning out a garage, moving piles of wood, cutting wood, picking up sticks, raking and burning grass (because that’s the way the cut the grass in Sistarovat), painting, picking up sticks, and did I mention picking up sticks?
Sistarovat
One of our many piles of sticks (noticed the burned grass in the back)
In all honesty, sometimes the work was boring and I strongly desired to do relational ministry instead, but then God reminded me of the DR. Back in month one while I was in the Dominican Republic I had these pretty big ideas about what ministry would look like. I wanted to serve. I wanted to feel like I was doing something of importance and I wanted to see my completed work. I had to be snapped back into place when our ministry that month was relational. God had to chill me out a bit and inform me that although I couldn’t see my work, I was still doing something of importance. Well fast forward two months and there I was looking at my pile of sticks but desiring to visit with people instead. That was my light bulb moment. The moment when I realized ministry (especially on the race) comes in all forms, but what really matters is the heart.
The month was filled with mostly chores and such, but my desire for relational ministry did not go unheard. About half way into the month we were introduced to a beautiful 91 year old woman named Mariska.On a day where we did not have much work at the camp, Mihai brought some of us over to her house to help with her “gardening.” Little did we know that gardening meant plowing the land with only a shovel like tool. Although the work was strenuous, we were all amazed by Mariska. She was old and small, but she put us all to shame when it came to plowing the land. We were leaving with the promise to come by and finish the next day when she began to cry and speak to us in Romanian. Considering we did not have a translator, we communicated the best we could that we wanted to pray for her. She gladly accepted our prayer and then invited us in for bread and sang us some Romanian hymns. Her sweet spirit and wise eyes spoke to us all. Although we did not understand a word she said, and we exhausted every charades move trying to talk to her, I can honestly say that was my favorite day of the month.
Mariska putting us all to shame.
Sweet Mariska
So there you go. That was Romania. The comforts of home, lots of chocolate, many lessons learned, many sticks collect, and one very sweet old lady.
Also a quick update on my funds, I am now only $3,940 away from my July 1st deadline!!
