Hey guys, I’m getting settled into Romania! We left Ukraine the 3rd of September and had about 23 hours of train rides and waiting to get to Brasov, Romania where we had debrief. The whole squad met up and our wonderful coaches and mentor was there as well. We went over how last month was, and what to expect for month 2 and 3. We rested, ate some delicious crepes and gelato, we opened some vulnerable parts of our hearts to the whole squad which was amazing, had a talent show and dance party, some of us even hiked up to the Brasov sign (I wanted to die halfway through but somehow kept pushing on, and the view was so worth it.) We also met up with another WR squad that was also having debrief nearby. We invited them over for a worship night and oh my goodness it was so good. Shout out to E squad! They are in Zambia right now, finishing their last few months on the Race. We left Brasov on the 8th and headed to our ministry location, Dragonesti. [Pronounced Dragonesh] In the Romanian language if there is an i at the end of a word it is silent. I keep wanting to pull up Ukrainian words over here, but that won’t help me at all.
The views from the sign!
Hunter took the chance and climbed up the sign.
[The city of Brasov]
It’s all squad month, so that means 26 World Racers and our 3 squad leaders are sharing one home and doing ministry together. I still have my team of 6 girls but we usually break apart and do different ministry this month. It’s also a good time to connect with the rest of the Racers on the squad. I’m used to having a lot of family around, especially during the holidays, but that’s usually a one week span at the max. Sometimes it gets chaotic, especially when it’s lunchtime and everyone is trying to make food. The trick is, wait 45 minutes and go do laundry or something and by then everyone is done and you have the kitchen to yourself basically. Also 22 girls and 2 showers takes patience and perfect timing.
[We also stopped by Dracula’s castle on our way to our new home.]
[Hunter, Caitlyn, and I had 15 minutes and 2 lei to kill. We bought Brie a tiny spoon.]
Let’s jump back a couple months before the Race, when I was in the States I had a dream that my squad had a layover in Greece on our way over to Europe. It was super cool, beautiful water and amazing town.
The last night of debrief we had 2 options for our adventure day this month: visit the Black Sea… or Greece. Easiest choice I’ve ever made. Who could pass up Greece?? Our host said, “You give me good ministry, I give you good tourism.” We were not dissapointed. Our squad minus the leaders camped out at the beach in Greece for a couple days before ministry. The weather was perfect, the water crystal clear yet super salty. I even went cliff jumping! It was so awesome! It took some rock climbing and hiking to get to the perfect spots, but it was so worth it. I never thought I’d be hiking some rocks in Greece in my swimsuit just to find a place to cliff jump. How crazy good is God?? How crazy is that sentence??
God gives amazing gifts just because.
[I’ll try to upload a video of the cliff jumping soon]
On the Race you have to expect the unexpected, like when all of the sudden a van breaks down somewhere in Bulgaria on our way home from Greece. Our hosts take time to figure out the situation, in the end we have a van waiting for us at the Romanian border, but we still have to get over there. 4 hours away. We pile in our 8 passenger van which has now turned into a 12 passenger van and personal space is not a thing anymore. You have 4 people on 3 seats and someone laying across their laps for more room. But without complaints we made it all the way home safely. Our day just wasn’t exciting enough, I guess.
So that’s pretty much all that’s happened so far. We have a bunch of different ministries and a variety of choices for ministry. I’m really hoping I’ll be able to do some healthcare ministry because that’s the very core of my passion for the world. I can’t give you specific information on what we’ll be doing every day or even this whole month because we don’t even know ourselves. I will keep you updated as best I can regarding ministry though. Our house has super iffy Wi-Fi most of the time which makes blogging harder than normal. So far I have helped clean the social house, did office work for the ministry, picked up trash along the streets, played soccer with the children. We are working with Raul and Hope church here doing whatever he comes up with.
[Hope Church]
[Josh, Matt, and Regan clearing out the yard]
[Laney, Summer, and Carson sorting interviews]
[Yard work can be fun ;)]
Please keep praying for this city and the ministry/missionaries here. Dragonesti is a spiritually dark place and we keep fighting for the light. Our host said that “Dragonesti was nicknamed ‘the graveyard of pastors and missionaries.'” The main thing I remember Raul talking about was the witches and gypsies here, and just the overall moral depravity here. Pray for the established church and the churches around being built, that the pastors and missionaries have strength and endurance to keep fighting for the faith and reaching the lost, and pray they recieve much needed peace and rest. Pray that God will bless them aboundantly for obeying His call out here. Pretty much our whole squad agreed that they feel weird being here, and that the air feels heavy and they don’t feel safe walking outside. We did a prayer walk thoughout the house and prayed that Jesus’ presence would be in every room of the house, and that God would send down His angels to form a barrier around our home. Romania might be a hard month, but we know Who is on our side.
One thing that I wasn’t expecting God to do, or was anything I was searching for, was that I became more comfortable without wearing make up. I brought enough with me to last 11 months, and back in the states I wore it most of the time. It was our 2nd week in Ukraine and since my make up was melting off because it was so hot, I decided to just wear maskcara one morning, and I felt pretty in my own skin. I wore a full face of makeup on our trip to Budapest and I didn’t love it like I used to. So every day now I just wear maskcara to brighten my eyes and I feel comfortable. I really appreciate the way God made me, and so I put down half my stash on the free table this month because I didn’t need it.
The Race is wild… and it’s only month 2.
