I am in Romania!! We left Nigeria on June 1 at night, took a red-eye to Madrid, Spain, and a few hours later, we are in Bucharest, Romania! Just going through Madrid airport, I felt like I was back into civilization. (Airports in Africa are like bus stations in my opinion.) Bathrooms w/o water/roaches everywhere, toilet paper, faucets that work, etc. Clean floors, ample lighting, a/c, order rather than chaos… I can go on and on. We’re staying in Cash Shalom, which is an incredible place. This by far is the nicest place I’ve been in since the start of world race. Tomorrow my team, along with Brad’s new team, will head to our ministry for the month where we will be working with Gypsies (sp?). More to come later. Internet is much better here, and we should have free wifi where we’re staying, so I’ll be updating more.
As we drove into the city, I felt more and more appreciative of EVERYTHING back home: paved roads, traffic lanes, good public transit, clean streets, even just seeing good infastructure made me homesick. I felt that it was a practice run for when I do get to go home in 3 months time.
I am happy to have left Africa for a lot of reasons, but I did have a memorable experience. I met several amazing individuals who inspired me, challenged me, and def left an impression on my heart. I got to see some of the worst living conditions, very diff ways to have church/prayer/worship service, a 4+hour service, and ate all types of foods. But now I’m where sweating is a choice, and not a default!
Just to recap some things from the month in Nigeria:
-We have constant supervision. We’re locked in our own
house—house arrest.
house—house arrest.
-I have to decide whether to wear scrubs and long sleeve to
limit flea/mosquito bites and keep the door open for air flow, or sleep in my
boxers with the door closed but get bit all night. Pick your poison.
limit flea/mosquito bites and keep the door open for air flow, or sleep in my
boxers with the door closed but get bit all night. Pick your poison.
-I haven’t been able to go for runs, or do any real work out.
-At one point during the prayer meeting, ppl pair up, hold
hands and walk and down the sanctuary, praying (most of them in tongues) for
various things.
hands and walk and down the sanctuary, praying (most of them in tongues) for
various things.
-On our first day here, Obama wasn’t tied up (he was
supposed to be) and came at me and Tyson. He wasn’t hostile and let me even pet
him. They wanted to tie him up, but he wasn’t willing, so I reached for his
collar. Obama snapped his neck and put his teeth around my arm, but didn’t
bite. On separate occasions Obama did the same thing on Tyson, and even lunged
at Kelsi. But he didn’t bite any of us, he just didn’t want to be tied up.
supposed to be) and came at me and Tyson. He wasn’t hostile and let me even pet
him. They wanted to tie him up, but he wasn’t willing, so I reached for his
collar. Obama snapped his neck and put his teeth around my arm, but didn’t
bite. On separate occasions Obama did the same thing on Tyson, and even lunged
at Kelsi. But he didn’t bite any of us, he just didn’t want to be tied up.
-On another day, we forgot to close the back door to the
house. While we were out, the dog(s) had gone inside and made a mess of things.
He chewed up things, peed in some places and even pooped on Jory’s bed! Nasty.
house. While we were out, the dog(s) had gone inside and made a mess of things.
He chewed up things, peed in some places and even pooped on Jory’s bed! Nasty.
-The thing that was supposed to protect us caused us the
most grief thus far.
most grief thus far.
-Word Alive Church broadcasts its services and also hosts a 4-min morning radio show. We all took turns speaking for 2-3 minutes for each week.
-Ministry recap: village visits, hospital visit, prison visit to preach to prisoners, taught Sunday school, led Bible studies on Tuesdays, went to all of their church services/meetings,
