Praise God for the Mold

Last time I wrote I was still in Alba Iulia, Romania, and since then I have moved two times. First, to Craiova, Romania, and just two days ago we arrived in Albania.  So, let me catch you up on what my life has been like the past month. In Alba Iulia, we wrapped up by introducing our new Romanian friends to the pastor and youth pastor at Harmony church by inviting them all over to our house for a discussion/Q&Q type thing. Then, we took a 7-hour train ride to rejoin with the rest of our squad in Craiova. Ministry in Craiova can best be described as “Flexible”. Most of the time we didn’t even know what we would be doing for ministry that afternoon let alone tomorrow or next week and that is ok. Our days were always filled and they always looked different. Some days we did prayer walks around the stadium that holds the International Wiccan Conference every year, or the University. Some days we handed out gifts in the city center to anyone passing by. We even learned a Christmas Carol in Romanian and sang it on the streets. One of my favorite things we got to do was handing out shoebox gifts to local Roma communities. I have grown up packing Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes and even processing them to be sent out, but it has been my dream to get to hand them out to children, and God allowed that dream to come true!

Before I move on I want to briefly talk about the Roma people. In Romania there are two main people groups, the Romanians and the Roma and the Roma are the outcasts of society. Because they are not accepted in society they are living in extreme poverty and typically have no education. The stereotype of the Roma is that they are dirty, they are thieves, and they are dangerous and because of those things the Romanians avoid them at all costs and exclude them from society.  In ways, these things are true. They are dirty because they do not have proper shelter, water, or electricity. They do steal because they do not have access to enough food or money and if they don’t steal they or their children will starve. Sometimes they are dangerous because they constantly live in survival mode. It is the Romanians vs. the Roma and it has created a huge divide. Pray for unity in Romania. Pray both sides will see each other in the way God sees them. Pray that the churches here see God’s vision of how to begin the process of reconciliation between the two groups. Pray that the Roma people find Jesus and pray the Romanian people find Jesus too. It breaks my heart to have seen the sweet faces of the children living in Roma communities and know the majority of the country doesn’t want to help them and doesn’t see how much they are loved by God. Even still, I praise God that I got to love them as Jesus’ hands and feet for a few minutes.

Being in Craiova taught me a lot about what it looks like to live in community. Well, to be honest, my whole World Race experience has been teaching me about this, but we were forced to get really close in Craiova. Literally and figuratively. All 25 of us lived in the mission house together along with the pastor, his wife, and 5 other people around our age who are working with the church. If you were counting, that means there were 32 of us altogether. Oh, and we all shared 1 kitchen and 16 of us shared one bathroom. But here’s the thing. It wasn’t as bad as you might think. Did we have to shower a little less than desired and wait a little longer for the bathroom?Yes. Did we have to get creative in the kitchen? Yes, but it allowed us to grow with each other and learn from each other. Because of the close proximity, I was able to pour into relationships that I haven’t had the opportunity to pour into yet on the race. It allowed me to be vulnerable with more of my squad and for them to be vulnerable with me. It also allowed us to do Christmas together as a big family. Thanks to our amazing squad leaders we all had stockings and we all filled each other’s stockings full of gifts to open on Christmas morning. We also were able to have homemade Christmas breakfast and Christmas dinner thanks to our kind parents who donated money to the cause. I am so thankful for how god has allowed this squad to be so unified and to truly live in community with each other. I feel like I get to live out Acts 2 every day and the longer I live it out, the more I love it. God created us to need each other and to support each other and to grow each other.

      One unfortunate reality of living in community and having deep relationships is it makes saying goodbye a little harder. Ok, a lot harder. After spending an entire month all together a couple of days ago we had to part ways and travel to our separate cities in Albania. Travel day was a wild 15 hours of sleeping, or at least trying, on the bus and every few hours stopping at customs to cross the border into a new country. My passport is a little more full after crossing through 4 countries. Bulgaria, Serbia, North Macedonia, and then finally arriving in Albania. My team is stationed in Durrës. A city on the Adriatic Sea. We were so excited to get to our Airbnb apartment which was just a 10-minute walk from the beach. As we got settled and started unpacking, we noticed some of the drawers in the kitchen were dirty. It probably wasn’t mold right? Then we rearranged some furniture and noticed some stuff on the wall. Definitely mold. Then we discovered more mold on the walls of the other bedroom. Oh and the dirty drawers, definitely mold too, along with some matching mold under the sink and the back of some other cabinets. Not the ideal situation. We called our host and told her we did not feel safe staying there and eventually got our refund from Airbnb.

After re-packing my backpack our lovely ministry host came to pick us up and take us to the new apartment they helped us find. Not only did he help us pack up our luggage but he bought us pizza and coke, helped unload our packs, and made sure we had everything we needed to settle into our new apartment. Truly a servant of God. And praise God for the mold in that other apartment because this new apartment is 10x better. There are 5 beds, one for each of us, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a full kitchen with no mold and a dining room table, a living room with couches and a TV, and the best part is the two balconies. We are living in luxury on the 6^th floor and have a beautiful view of the city with the mountains in the background. We are no longer a 10 minute walk from the beach, but we are right where God wants us. He loves to bless his children in the little things and I am expectantly hopeful for what He has for us in this city, but also in this apartment.

            Yesterday, my team and I had our orientation with our hosts. They walked us all around the city showing us good markets and stores and where the church meets. On our walk we also got to see some Roman ruins of a market where Paul likely would have preached. What?! How cool is that? We also got to see the Adriatic sea and take some fun pictures before stopping at a coffee shop to chat about what ministry will look like. God blessed us again through our host who bought us tea and coffee and a bunch of sweet treats to try. We learned that ministry will consist of being discipled by our hosts with workshops on how to evangelize and more specifically how to evangelize to Muslim people. We will also get to build relationships at the churches life groups every week as well as at church on Sundays. The rest of our time will be spent building relationships with people we meet by being tourists in the city as well as making new partnerships with local churches. After the hosts blessed us yet again by making dinner for us at their house where we got to meet their kids. I am so excited for the next 40 days of ministry and to learn everything I can from our hosts and from Albania.

           Prayer is so powerful. I am learning it is even more powerful than I had realized even. So, for my prayer warriors I want to ask you to keep my team and I in your prayers. Pray for Albania and for Durrës that peoples hearts would be softened and open to hearing the gospel. Pray that God would give us opportunities to share and to highlight the people we should share with. Pray for health among the squad and my team.

            I also wanted to thank everyone who has donated to me in order for me to even be here. I am now 100% funded! Praise the Lord! Because of your donations you are a part of this journey and the rewards of this mission right alongside me!