Romania!

Hello my people!

Long time no talk… I apologize for that!

Between a lot going on and writer’s block, well, pen hasn’t made it to paper and fingers haven’t made it to the keyboard… until now that is!

 

SO,

 

After living on the mountain in Honduras, people on our squad tested positive for Covid. So, our entire squad had to quarantine. We were originally supposed to move to South Africa immediately after Honduras. In fact, a group from our squad who’s quarantine was up first, had gotten in the airport, bags packed (let me tell ya, living out of a backpack like we do, this kind of packing is no small feat), ready to load the plane across the world, three times, and each time something happened so they were not allowed to fly on that particular flight. Crazy, right? Well, it felt much less like spiritual attack from the enemy trying to mess up human-made plans, and much more God’s hand intervening in His very detailed, creative ways, again, on human plans. Our squad as a whole sensed this and there was a peace about not leaving to South Africa as our immediate next country. So, WR leadership had to figure out a plan B ASAP. That plan became living in Romania for 5 weeks!

With the chaos of handling these changes and decisions being made in regards to covid, quarantine, safety, financial decisions, physical and mental health, etc. some of the people on our squad decided to go home and will not be rejoining us at any point for the remainder of the Race. We now have 7 less people on our squad.

 

When we arrived in Craiova, Romania, 12 people on our squad had to quarantine for 14 days. I was a part of this group of 12. This kind of quarantine was thankfully different than our previous, normal quarantine experience where you stay in your room and do not interact with anyone. Since all 12 people were negative, it was a quarantine where the group of us were restricted to the ministry property. I know people will ask, so I will go ahead and am thankful to say, I have not had covid.

 

From quarantining in Honduras after the mountain to immediately quarantining in Albania, I ended up quarantining for a month straight (not including the previous quarantine in Guatemala for precaution before busing to Honduras). The costs of daily food deliveries for every meal added up quickly and was 4x the amount allotted us for our daily food money, so personal money was drained fast, not to mention the extra out-of-pocket covid tests. So, I want to take a moment to thank again anyone who sends me money monthly on Venmo or decided to randomly gift me funds in the last couple months. It has been so helpful for alleviating and offsetting some of the unexpected costs from covid complicating this year of missions.

 

You know what’s really cool? God made us still very useful in our 14 day quarantine at the start of our time in Romania. We spent time in intercession and worship every morning as a group. We heard from the local missionaries and prayed over their specific requests. Then, I GOT TO USE MY BUSINESS DEGREE AND BACKGROUND! WOOOOO!!! (For those that might not know, I graduated with a Marketing degree with an emphasis in sales and an International Business minor and certificate. Part of my work experience was interning as a sales and recruiting fellow at a Dallas recruiting firm that recruits for VC backed startups scaling their sales teams.) I was asked to help with the marketing and fundraising efforts for the missionaries and local church. We served with Hope Church Romania, which is an INCREDIBLE church with dedicated, Biblically sound leadership that emphasizes relational ministry. I, with a couple other Racers, brainstormed new fundraising ideas for the church and individual missionaries, as well as crafted and sent out emails to potential church partnerships! It excites me to think about the long-term effects of our business solutions and ideas to be implemented for the church in Romania! It is an incredible church defeating the odds of loving people through action and introducing them to relationship with Jesus in a region where only .5% of the total population identifies as believers. I know, scary statistics. This is a region where witchcraft is prevalent and the orthodox church doesn’t preach grace.

 

Our main ministry (especially while out of quarantine) was evangelism and building genuine relationships with the locals and inviting them to the “American Night” events we put on for varying age groups at the church during the last week we were there. In addition to this, we served the neighboring Roma communities where gypsies live through giving them food, clothes, and playing with the kids, dancing, singing and teaching the Bible (with Romanian translators… nearly impossible without them). We also did medical ministry and had an eye glass clinic where people came to be fitted for glasses, prayed for, and have a medical exam. My teammate and friend, Krista, was on the prayer team all day and led 3 women to Christ and prayed with them! It was SO beautiful to witness and be a part of! We also went to different neighborhoods and prayed and asked God for wisdom and discernment for where the next missionary should focus efforts to expand the Gospel and reported back to the lead pastor what we discerned. This was a sweet practice to be a part of. The lead pastor says He does it before heading in any new direction. STARTING with prayer, man, that’s where it’s at!! He was wanting to see if what we were sensing form the Lord about each territory/neighborhood (one being the most dangerous in Romania due to violence, theft, drugs, gangs, witchcraft, and the mafia presence) and seeing if it aligned with the direction He sensed from God for each place and what timing is in the Lord’s will for each neighborhood – what an HONOR to be trusted with that level of discernment and honesty! Also, some of our squad helped with the youth group, and I was able to help teach English classes to adults in Romania where we shared parts of our testimonies as part of the learning in class! So practical and powerful!

 

With the 14 day quarantine at the ministry house and it being our shortest timeframe to live in a country yet, PLUS we had an all-squad delayed debrief in Romania… after all this, I had only 2.5 weeks of in-person ministry in Craiova. It flew by. I was already, but now am even more thankful for the extended time periods of living in countries for almost two months at a time on this race as opposed to what the traditional World Race looks like (and what I signed up for: the 11 month mission trip to 11 different countries, living in each country for a month). 

 

Another change that occurred in this time frame is I was asked by WR leadership to Co-lead the Logistics for our squad. So, I transitioned from being a Team Leader (the liaison between ministry hosts and my team, as well as making sure the team gets done what needs to be done), to being Co-Head of Logistics (on a team of two, we vision-cast, plan, communicate and execute land travel between countries and debrief destinations for our squad and leaders, a group of 50+ people). 

 

So, lots has changed. Thank you for reading all of the changes. Thank you even more for your prayers during this time. If there’s anything I’ve learned on this World Race, it’s the power of prayer and the importance of people praying for you and over you at all times! Knowing I have y’alls support, be it financially, prayerfully, and with encouragement, it keeps my heart at an almost-explode state often! Words don’t suffice for my gratitude towards each of you!

 

The scripture I was ultra-meditating on through this season and praying over our squad was 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (Been trying to commit this one to memory – not just to be embedded in my mind, but to be etched on my heart, so I dare you to quiz me when I am home to make sure its stuck for good in me! :)) It says “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”. And, since there is a season for everything, a time for every matter under Heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)… a time to be born, to die, to weep, to laugh, to mourn, to dance, to search, to give up, etc. Then, in each of these seasons, the will of god is to rejoice, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in ALL circumstances… in saying goodbye to friends who chose to go home early, in back-to-back quarantine, in last minute changes from South Africa to Romania, and so on.

 

Thank you for reading! My blog site shows me my word count, and since this blog is at 1,500 words, I am going to save the rest (including a video) for another blog.

 

THANK YOU! Love y’all! 

P.S. For the love of all things holy, someone PLEASE eat some good Tex-Mex for me! It has been 8 months of not having it and that’s just crazy for a Texan. Pray for me! 😉