Moldova has been interesting. The weathers been perfect, the food is downright delicious, the non stop hospitality is almost to good to be true and our ministry is full of new adventurous/delicious opportunities… However, I’ve managed to have some unfortunate events occur while visiting.
I chopped my middle finger up with a small axe, Got attacked by aggressive honey bees and got a nasty cold our last 10 days in Moldova.
It all began Friday morning, September 5th.
We were working in a small village outside of Falesti helping with the construction of a new church. I’d never done construction before in my life but I gave it all I had.
Vasili the pastor in charge was gracious towards us. Yet, EXTREMELY PICKY about how he wanted things done. It was frustrating at times, but the team never quit. Instead we gave it our all and did the best damn job we could do and learned from our mistakes.
Thankfully I had a great teammate (Rebecca) jump right in. She slowed down the bleeding, helped me remain calm and shed grace on my pride. Reminding me that we all do stupid things sometimes. Around 45 minutes later of agonizing pain, Vasili returned and poured “propolis” on my wound. It completely stopped the bleeding and helped numb the pain. THE STUFF IS INCREDIBLE!
Later that night I was laying in bed thinking about the excruciating pain I was feeling. I also couldn’t stop replaying that image of the axe slicing my finger open. So I reached for my the ibuprofen bottle, sure enough it was EMPTY. I needed something to ease the pain so I got up and started asking around to see if anyone had any pain relievers. A few minutes later Rhakeem yells “Ryan come here.” I immediately thought “he has some medicine for my finger!” However, the medicine he had was THE LAST THING I wanted. I walked into the room and Rhakeem gave me 4 simple words, “You don’t need ibuprofen!” He then went on to explain a something he’s noticed in the midst of getting to know me…
Too often I look for the EASY route during difficult situations.
I immediately felt convicted! It wasn’t about the stupid ibuprofen, it was far deeper than that. Most of my life I’ve looked for an easier route instead of the BEST. I guess you could call that CHEATING. Instead of embracing hard things and growing from them, I wimp out a lot. For instance if someone needs something done, I volunteer for the one that’s fastest, least stinky, least sweaty and easiest to learn. However, a man of Integrity would step right in and do the job NOBODY wants to do. I also believe this lesson applies to relational situations. Let’s say I really disliked someone (for instance my teammates). I could easily remove myself from the room and plug my headphones in… OR stay in the same room, sit next to them and completely look past all the things I dislike about them and have a conversation. Christ was NEVER a man of Low expectations or Low motivations. He did HARD THINGS everyday even unto death. When He was being crucified, he didn’t say “Hey God, can you give me some pain killers before I get murdered?” It’s our duty as a followers of Christ to DO HARD HARD THINGS! Thankfully, the grace of God enables us to push forward in difficult circumstances for His glory. The next day I was back out there working as hard as anybody. I wasn’t going to let a minor injury keep me From fulfilling God’s work… I helped build that church!
In summary I’ve learned that the HARD way is the BEST way in the end. Don’t take shortcuts, allow God to develop you through difficult situations… No matter how much things may suck! For it grows the faith in you.
Give thanks in all things,
Ryan
(my cut)
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(Tree we chopped down)
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(The church we were building)
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(The Team destroying the old building)
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(Vasili, One of the coolest men I’ve ever met)
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