1. The food that you and your team buys is for the entire team during meals…not just yourself during midnight snack attacks.
2. Nutella is a privilege, not a right. Use it slowly and wisely. You never know when you’ll get it again.
3. Wifi is also a privilege that is not always guaranteed. It’s almost necessary to have a written down game plan for how you’re going to use wifi when it comes around.
4. If you’re not used to walking literally everywhere, the World Race will make sure that you become accustomed to it.
5. You will find any way to pass the time when you have free time. You might play cards, you might play/sing some songs with an instrument, or you might even make a 4-square game outside on the concrete with medical tape and a basketball. Regardless, you will get so incredibly creative that it surprises yourself.
6. On the slight occasion where you get a hot shower, you will hear the choirs of angels singing from Heaven because of how happy it makes you feel.
7. If you’ve never cooked a day in your life before, you’ll learn how to within your first week. Even if it’s just throwing meat and vegetables into a pan and turning on the stove, it still counts. You’ll figure out the rest as you go along.
8. You will be stretched so far out of your comfort zone that it won’t even exist anymore. You will learn to be comfortable with discomfort.
9. You will learn how to communicate without words. Body language, a smile, and a positive attitude are all one universal language. Happiness is something that everyone around the world can enjoy. You just have to learn how to share it with others, even if you can’t understand a word they’re saying.
And lastly but definitely most importantly…
10. The Lord will show up in ways that you could never even imagine. It might be through one of your squadmates, it might be through a little friend that you make during children’s ministry, and it could even be in your own heart. The Lord finds ways to show Himself to you on a daily basis and brings you closer to Him. No matter the circumstances, I’ve continued to feel the Lord’s presence and it’s been an incredible blessing.
To give an update on our ministry here in Romania:
September 19th: We got to spend the morning teaching English to some of the people who work at the church. Their English levels vary, some are highly conversational and some are still a little basic, but we got the opportunity to teach them all. I personally helped one individual with an English presentation. They wanted to be able to present the church’s goals and ministry programs in an English presentation to churches in the United States. I helped them write and practice the presentation for a couple of hours. Later on in the afternoon we helped with a kid’s club. We walked about a mile and a half outside the village that we’re staying in and we met the kids in a dirt street out in the countryside. There were about 12 kids. We sang songs, had a Bible story and a verse, and played games. It lasted for about 45 minutes and it was a lot of fun!
September 20th: We taught English again in the morning for a few hours and then had a lunch break from 11-2pm. We were supposed to do another kid’s club in the afternoon but it ended up pouring down freezing cold rain so we couldn’t meet. We went home for the day and just spent some quality time together.
September 21st: My teammate Connor and I helped work on the storage shed behind the church. Some racers from other World Races had come through before and helped build the shed during their Races. We just laid some finishing touches on the outside. Then we went and did street evangelism for a couple of hours. It was incredible. We had a total of 7 conversations with people on the street. They were all generally in pairs or groups of three. Out of the 7 conversations we had, 4 of them had English speakers and we could share the Gospel directly with the people rather than having to use our translator that was walking with us. It was incredible.
September 22nd: My teammate Abby and I helped a family from England who is here for full-time missions. Abby watched the two little boys (7 and 5 years old) for a few hours while I helped the father with gardening and yard work outside. He shared some of his views with me about the ministry going on here in Romania. He also shared his story of how he came to Romania and how he got involved. It turns out that he came here just for vacation once and then he felt the Lord calling him back but he didn’t know what for. He then met our ministry host and everything fell into place. It just goes to show that you never know when, where, and how God will call you into full-time ministry.
September 23rd: My teammates Lexi and Brooklyn, our leader Mason, and I all helped with a kid’s club in a park outside of the village. We played a LOT of football (or soccer if you’re reading this in America) for about an hour or two. I learned that sports are also a universal language. It doesn’t matter if you’re good or not, you just have to know how to play and the kids will absolutely love it. After football we had a Bible lesson. I’m not quite sure what the lesson was about because it was all in Romanian, but I do know that Jesus was in it because I understood “Isus” (Romanian for “Jesus”) multiple times. After the lesson we went back to playing football for another two hours until it was time to go home and the kids had a blast.
September 24th: This day was our off day so we didn’t have any specifically scheduled ministry. We had a lot of free time and played 4-square for a couple of hours. At 9pm we went to a football field for an hour and a half and played football with the Romanians from the church.
Let me tell you something real quick. You might think you’re a pretty decent footballer when you’re playing against a bunch of middle schoolers and young teenagers from a kid’s club, but once you start playing against full-grown men who have been playing for their entire lives, your opinion about yourself changes a little bit. At that point, you just have to run around really fast and hope you get to kick the ball eventually. It’s all for good fun though. 10/10 experience. Hopefully we can do it again before we leave.
Please continue to pray for us as we minister to the people here in Romania. Pray for their hearts to be open and receiving, pray for the Lord to work in them, and pray for us to have wisdom when sharing the Gospel.
