Sometimes there is so much going on in your mind you feel like you might explode words and thoughts all over the place. Covering loved ones with funny stories, terribly sad moments, or exciting revelations. So as I sit in the midst of my world turned upside down, I wish I had written more blogs within these last two weeks.
I fell in love with Nicaragua. The people there will always hold a special place in my heart. My team had our best month, falling more and more in love with one another. Goodbyes were full of tears as we boarded the bus and said farewell. Then we arrived in Costa Rica and I had another set of goodbyes to give. Team ISHA had ran it's season and was no longer needed. So I had a new team and now a new country.
During the layover in New York, I only wanted to go home. I don't know what came over me. Maybe it was putting my feet on American soil. Maybe it was realizing I was so close to home. Maybe it was sleep deprivation. Maybe it was just lack of coping with all the change. Maybe it was because I no longer felt like a part of my old team, yet our new team had not been solidified yet. I was adrift. Feeling as if I had no home. But as I sat in JFK, I didn't feel like I was on the race and I didn't feel like I was at home.
However, I boarded the plane to Warsaw, Poland and tried to sleep. Then after a long layover in Poland we boarded a plane to Romania. As soon as we landed I felt it. I felt at home. We pulled up to a church and I felt home.
The next day when I woke up at three in the afternoon, my feeling of home solidified itself. Love between my new team flourished. The love of the family of the Romanians flooded into my spirit. We looked around the church we were staying and found none other than clown suits and puppets. Of course we proceeded to make a video with the puppets and walk around as clowns flooded with joy.
Joy was in this place, where joy was practically not allowed; especially for Christians. A country where merely 20 measly years have passed since Communism ruled the country. Where Cristy, our contact, watched his dad be held at gunpoint while he refused to rebuke his faith in Christ. Where Christians were taken to a prison to be tortured into conforming to Communism. Where people didn't wear colors, but only gray.
But that's not what I felt. I felt joy. Unspeakable joy. Why? Because God has no intention of having this country continue to walk in bondage to the past. He has something new. Something grandeur.
This is a country where a smile is truly cherished. Cristy spoke such beautiful truth as he was telling about the past. He said, "That's why a smile, a hug, is so beautiful." Tears welled in my eyes as he said this. I wanted to cherish moments like those as they were meant to be intended. Being here I feel it. When I pass a stone-faced stranger in the street, I smile. I smile and I see part of their heart soften. I feel the importance of it.
I know this blog post wasn't super in depth and lots of simple statements but there will be plenty more posts. Pray for the people of Romania, for the continuing softening of their hearts by our loving Father!
