Month 2- Greece and Romania
To start. I still have around 1500 to reach my goal of 11,000 by the first of October! This deadline is coming up. Hopefully by reading what I’ve been up to.. You’ll consider supporting my trip in order that I can stay on the field!
So I’m Currently at a hostel in Malawi. I figure it is probably a good time to share a bit from last month in Greece and Romania!
We arrived in Romania for a debrief after the first month. It was a bit of a culture shock to be with the entire squad again for a few days in Bucharest. I had to adjust to being back to everyone and ease back into the extrovert Ryan that I knew existed but I still had to dig up. Albania was like normal life. Doing every day with the family around me, on no set schedule, but the Holy Spirit to guide us. Now we were in Bucharest with all 55 of us. Still though, in this beautiful, historic city, I had the opportunity to sneak away and have time to prepare for All Squad Month.
All squad month was in a small, grey down known as Dragonesti-Olt. We were there for 2 days before going on a Romanian missions trip to Thessaloniki, Greece. For a week.
This week in Greece was a ride. We started with 2.5 days of adventure, to some beautiful beaches. Bittersweet memories as it was combined with some hectic crowdy beach experiences compared to when we rented kayaks and paddles down the 2nd finger of Greece. Blue water, some suds, and great fellowship.
It only set the tone for an absolutely incredible time of “ministry”. We had 3 nights where we just went down to the “white tower” which is by the seaside… and met people on the street or in restaurants. It both felt the least like ministry, and purest form of ministry I have ever experienced. Our interactions with people were the least forced, but the most intentional. Some experiences included:
The first night where God gave me a vision of sitting on a bench and talking to some guy I could relate with. So I found that bench. Sat there. I was shown the guy to talk to.. We could relate with each other when it came to traveling. I just reminded him that Jesus is pursuing Him and wants a relationship with Him.
That night also included a group of friends and I going to eat as it began to pour outside. We met this awesome waiter who we then had excellent conversation with…. He opened up to us about his beliefs in life and Kathryn was able to pour into him and encourage him to be someone who was created to set people free in Greece, as the Holy Spirit told her. The next night we hung out with him again and just enjoyed quality time with this awesome guy.
The final day of ministry included Kathryn, Kirsti, and I at a cafe for a few minutes at about 1:30pm. We were just swinging in there quick, when a friendly man invited us for a drink with him. We joined. Kirsti had to leave for our prayer meeting, but Kathryn and I felt like this relationship was going somewhere with this man, so we stayed. The entire day and night go by… and we are still with this man (and another lady acquaintance of his) until after midnight. God navigated us through this entire day with these people. They told us they could see God in us. We were able to tell them what we live for. They saw the freedom we have from substances. We were able to join them right where they were at in life… on that day/evening. They simply invited us in.. and we were simply available. for hours and hours. It was the most real example of what I think Jesus would have done. We all learned from each other.. and they told us any time we are back in Greece (or Sweden) to get back in touch with us. They wished us the best. I’ll never forget that night and all that happened. I want to live life as an open-invitation. For all to see God living inside of me, and to see that I’m being driven by something greater than myself. I want it to be something that people would just want to be a part of, with me.
So Greece was filled with crystal blue water, rooftops, organic conversations, The Holy Spirit giving us words to say, open hearts, risks, live greek music, city lights next to the Adriatic Sea, and the most beautiful rain and thunderstorms. We were simply living ministry, and stepping into the beautiful story God had written.
Romania ensued. It was honestly difficult to contrast between a happening city of Bucharest… to slower paced Dragonesti-Olt… to awe inspiring Thessaloniki, Greece, and then back to Dragonesti-Olt.
So there we were. In Dragonesti-Olt. In a single missions house living with 55 people. Any personal space, gone. Any time alone, challenging. The 2nd week of August included picking up garbage from the streets, inviting kids to an outreach we had at the stadium with music, sports, and games, Teaching English every morning, handing out New Testaments to unreached villages, and Pouring concrete. This time was good, but a little confusing and hectic at times. Regardless, was great to do tangible things for the community!
The final week of Romania was my favorite. It started with us working with our contact Alecs. We developed a plan for the week. It included a lot of soccer playing and a game night at an american missionarys house. The whole goal was to find some guys between 15-25 to play soccer with, and to go rent a field and play basically every night. Through this it would hopefully build trust between those guys, and Alecs, the long term Romanian youth pastor.
Indeed.. we found some guys. We played soccer basically every night, whether there was pouring rain or whether it was after dusk. The few guys we met on the first night kept playing with us throughout the week. We had a fun game night, and I really feel like the relationship with Alecs was created. The guys felt more comfortable being around the church. These are relationships you could really pray for, as there is much space for God to work in their lives 🙂
I’ll never forget my friend Dennis. The first night we were loaded up in a van full of people on our way to the field. We were all in a hurry.. about to close all the doors. Dennis was a guy who wanted to play, but saw the van full and didnt think there was room for him. My heart went out to him, and as I saw him walking away with a “maybe next time.. but probably never” smile on his face. I knew he needed in this van. I was adamant about him returning from the other side of the street.. and after much yelling and motioning with my arms.. he finally returned. I got a nice seat on the floor, and Dennis crammed who knows where.. and we were headed towards the field for the first night.
Dennis then returned every other night of soccer.. and even brought his nephew along. He ended up being one of my strongest relationships made there in Dragonesti-Olt. I love when God puts people on our hearts.
Love you all. Please pray for our team as we are starting up in Malawi. We all have our own room, bed, toilet, and shower.. which is CRAZY for here. Please pray for our team as we went through a recent team transition which was very difficult for me/us. If you care to hear more about it… go ahead and message me 🙂
