prieten= friend in Romanian

I'm riding through the Moldovan countryside
with small village houses on my left
sun-kissed hills on my right
and a stinging in my heart.

A few days ago we had to say goodbye to the people who poured more into my life than I ever anticipated this month. I knew entering the Race that I would be coming and going to each place just after one month, but I thought it would feel okay to come and go. I thought the process would be easy, and sometimes it is, but this month it's not.

I painted this picture at the beginning of the month of playing with kids, and visiting villages. Instead, there were many mornings where we would sit around until someone came to tell us what to do that day, but there were 9 consistent factors that made my month the best month yet!

At first, I thought these youth that kept coming around were just doing us a favor by hanging out with us, but when we kept seeing them I realized something....we were actually friends. We were living normal life with them and it was so great. Over the course of four weeks we had built a friendship that would forever cling to my heart.

So this is for Catalina, Giku, Ion, Irina, Cornelia, Silviu, Andrei, Veronika, and Vatali. Thank YOU for:

ping pong matches
Adele on the accordian
Romanian/Russian/English lessons
breakdancing
futbol training
Sunday lunches
many cups of coffee and tea
Abduction and The Vow
chocolates and sweet notes
Friday night worship
traditional Moldovan dances
learning the Cupid Shuffle
pancakes
tolerating the volume of 6 American girls
laughing when our words were lost in translation

and simply for your friendship. It was never forced and always refreshing. I don't know if we will ever see each other again in this world, but we will one day see each other again in heaven!



 

Multumesc (mult-a-mesk)= Thank you

Cu placere (ku-pla-chera)= You're welcome

There are always key phrases that are needed to know in each country that we are in, but these phrases by far trump any other phrase we use every day (other than "da," which means "yes"). The reason we need to use these phrases is because I feel like I can't say them enough with the sweet Moldovan people. I have never met such a hospitable people in my entire life.

The other day, our pastor was able to take Sarah, Hannah, and myself to the home of an elderly woman from the church we are working with. We were told that this would only be about a 30 minute visit. She did not know we were coming, but was excited when we showed up at her doorstep.

We were escorted to her living room, had slippers put on our feet, because our shoes were left at the door, and immidiately asked if we would like coffee. We politely replied with a unanimous "da" and got comfortable. As we sat there she began to put together four stools for a little table and brought out a nice cloth to set on top. A few minutes later came our cups of coffee on top of saucers with spoons on the side. Sugar to put in our coffee was the next item to arrive in a beautiful glass dish. I was so excited to drink this cup of coffee and enjoy myself for a few minutes before we headed back to the church. Little did I know that this was just the beginning. Before we knew it there was a plate full of cake and a bowl filled to the brim of chocolate candies in front of us.

We then sat there for the next 2 hours simply enjoying the company. We could not communicate with the elderly woman and our pastor was having a conversation that we didn't want to interrupt, so the three of us began having our own conversation. Then the thought crossed my mind, "How many times would I actually do this at home?" When my friends come over I rarely offer anything to drink. I definitely don't have cake ready to eat. I also don't often have time, or try to make the time, to sit there for two hours while we talk.

I know that this woman did not have much, but she brought out what she did have to give to us. Without wanting any help, without desiring anything in return. She just wanted the company. After our pastor finished his conversation we got up to leave and she then said words that would sting my heart,

"Thank you for coming today. I am so happy because you gave me attention."

Ouch!

I just wantd to scream, "We loved it!" "We love YOU!" "God loves YOU!"

We barely spoke more than 5 sentences in our time together, but she was happy that I had even stepped foot into her house to sit and be in her presence! How often do you clear time out of your day to just sit and be with others? I know that I can't answer that question the way I would want to thinking about my life at home.

I walked away from our time together with a full heart and definitely a full stomach. All this woman wanted were people to sit with her, talk with her, and give love to her. I am so thankful that the Lord allowed me to be a part of her life. She will forever have an impact on mine.

                                  Cristino

          Giving Cristino birthday presents!

                                Landa

                                    Natalie

                                        Brigitta

                    The girls: Cornelia, Katalina, and Iorina

                                           All of our Moldovan friends!

 

These are the people
These are the faces
That I have gotten to know
That I have gotten to love
They all have a name
They all have a story
And I have gotten to be a part of it
Because of YOU
 

It is really hard for me to express the amount of gratitude that I have for YOU. Yes, YOU. You have read my blogs, prayed for me, and maybe even supported me financially on this journey.

And i still need your help!

I have $2,100 still to raise to be fully funded! The final deadline to stay on the World Race is July 1, and it will be here so soon! Plese consider donating and allowing me to continue to be a part of these stories! I love you and appreciate all of YOU more than you will ever know!!

Comfortable beds? Yes please.
An abundance of space? Uh huh.
Huge grocery store? Sure.
Free wifi? Absolutely.
Warm showers? Of course.
Feeling like you're back home? Sweet...wait....

As I said in my last blog life here in Romania (or as we adopted the name, "Romerica") was not what I expected. We went from living in tents and eating what we were served to having access to pretty much whatever we wanted. It was glorious...but only for a little while.

If you told me that I would be experiencing a month like this on the Race, then I probably would have laughed at you and sweetly told you that that is simply not what I was signing up for. I was signing up to be uncomfortable, not comfortable. I was signing up to be stretched and challenged, not distracted by the things of home. But the Lord knows what we need and I did need this month.

When I walked into our wonderful house at Caminul Felix I was instantly smacked with comfort, and I was ready to be comfortable again. It was so drastically different from Haiti and I thought to myself "it doesn't get much better than this," but about two weeks and a few Criminal Minds episodes later I realized that I had barely spent any time with the Lord. Sure, I had my morning 15 minutes before we began ministry, worship time every Thursday, and my Hillsong playlist to fall asleep to, but that was it. I was desperate to hear from Him and was wondering why I couldn't. Then, I realized it was because I had dissolved back into life at home just as easily as salt dissolves into water. I was hit with the wonderment that if I were to leave the Race today, would my life look different? Would I relentlessly pursue the Lord? Would I reach out to the "least of these" in my everyday life, or just go about pursuing my selfish desires?

I had a lot of time to process going in and out of sleep on my 10 hour train ride to Brasov for our mini debrief. As I was talking with Austin, one of the other team leaders, I realized how easy life was this month, but how hard this easy life was.

When we arrived to Brasov we hiked a mountain with some of the squad. I was easily the most out of shape, but made it to the top with the sweet encouragement of Holli and Sarah. As we overlooked the city of Brasov and I got to catch my breath again, I began to pray and thank God for His beautiful creation. Ben began to play his guitar and we began worshipping.

It was so good


My squadmate Sam sitting on top of the mountain

It was like I was drinking from a never ending fountain and I couldn't get enough. Then, the Lord brought this verse to my mind and heart:

"As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God" Psalm 42:1

Oh, how my soul was thirsty for the Lord, and I was finally tasting of His goodness again. I felt alive and free.

None of the things that I listed at the begining are bad. They are all really great actually. Life back at home is wonderful, but I want my life to look different. I was to share the love of Christ to others and I am going to have to fight to do that sometimes. I'm going to have to give up the easy life daily. But I am up for it.

Bring on the fight.

Bring on the battle.

Because beyond the battle is the beautiful pursuit of a beautiful God.

Life here in Romanina is not what I expected, but then again I am not sure what I expected out of this month. I didn't even know where exactly Romania was when I applied for the Race. As much as we are told not to have expectations, there are always expectations made in my mind about what ministry will be like. Yet again, God trumps my expectations and has made this month so much more that I thought it would be.

We are working with Caminul Felix, an amazing ministry that focuses on there being a father and mother to raise orphan children up in a family. Our contacts have been with this ministry 20 years and have 21, yes I typed that right, children. They got their first 16 within the first week of them becoming parents. There are two villages here in Oradea and there are 16 houses total and each house has a family with anywhere from 8-16 children.

The unique thing is that these children will be their children forever. They don't rotate children in and out as they get older. They may not all share blood, but they are all family. They have weddings and birthdays and our contacts are even are welcoming the first few grandchildren into their family. Many of these children come from places where their parents simply couldn't take care of them for various reasons, and some of these children even come from hospitals where their parents dropped them off, abandoned them. It has been hard for me to say that we are working with orphans this month because the amazing thing is these children are in families.

I am so thankful for a family that has loved me, supported me, and walked through life with me for the past 23 years. I have loved every birthday, Christmas, family vacation and every other memory that we have made. They have instilled values and so many great things that have truly helped me in becoming who I am today. It fills me with joy knowing that these children who were orphaned for whatever reason will get to experience similar things that I experienced growing up!

Adoption has always stirred something deep inside my heart. I don't know why, but as God has been teaching me more about His heart for adoption, my heart has been stirring more and more. I am learning how to walk in my identity as a daughter of God. Here is a glimpse of a few truths God has been welding into my heart.

Jesus speaking, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whover abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:4-5

I need Jesus.

When Jesus was talking about the promise of sending the Holy Spirit he says, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:8

God has a family.

"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." Galatians 4:4-7

I am His daughter.

"And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty." 2 Corinthians 6:18

This is my identity.

This is the truth I am walking in.

And it's beautiful.

Here is the rundown of our "travel day" to Romania:

We wake up at 6 a.m. and board a bus at 9 a.m. to leave Haiti. When I say board a bus, I mean a 35 passenger bus with 45 people, 45 packs, and 45+ daypacks and purses. Now that is community!

We arrive at the Port au Prince airport at 11 a.m. and we board our plane after about 5 delays at 7 p.m. that night. We arrive in JFK at 11 p.m. and we literally run to make our connection at 11:55 p.m. Experiencing America again for 30 minutes was nice.

We get to Istanbul, Turkey at 4:15 p.m and board our final plane about 15 minutes after we get to the airport.

We landed in Bucharest, Romania at 6:30 p.m. and got on a bus (without our big packs, they did not make it with us) which takes us to a train station.

We board a train at 10:45 p.m. and take a 9 hour train ride to Timisora, Romania. We had a 4 hour layover there and got to explore the town, which was awesome!

My awesome team in Timisora!

My Smith Station girl, Abby! Love her!


Wearing Chacos with socks in this cold weather. i am NOT above it!

Then we board our final train to Oradea at 12:45 p.m. and arrived in Oradea at 5:15 p.m.

So, 50 hours later....and this is what we walk into:

The front part of the house

Our HUGE living room

The long dining room table

The girls' bedroom

Another view...

Talk about Paradise! Stay tuned for the next blog about what our orphanage ministry looks like this month!

*All pictures courtesy of Abby Steverson

Let me tell you a little bit about what life in like here in Haiti:

We are working with Mission of Hope International and we are living on their property this month. I am living in my tent and the ocean is about 20 feet away, so I get to hear the waves at night. I am eating my weight in carbs. We have either rice and beans, spaghetti, or chicken noodle soup for our meals. There is an abundance of bread (which helps me continue to eat my weight in carbs). There is an endless supply of mangos and coconut that fall from the trees. Our ministry is with Mission of Hope helping them build a school. We are also working with Be Like Brit (an orphanage that is being built in memory of a girl who died in the earthquake). Our days start at 6:30 and we get home around 4 every day. I have internet once a week. I wash my clothes by hand. I am living with 44 other people. Church is vibrant. Everyone is your Zami (Creole for friend). The people are kind. We are blessed.

Going from last month to this month has been a culture shock in and of itself. Last month we went from house to house drinking coffee and building relationships. This month we are doing manual labor and working with our hands constantly. I thought this would be a nice change because I would get to see "results", but honestly it has been hard. I realize now how much I not only need the Lord for spiritual strength, but also for physical strength. It amazes me daily that God teaches me so much no matter what my life looks like this year.

A few Sundays ago we loaded up the bus and headed off for Sunday night church. I was pretty excited because as much as I love worshiping on Sunday mornings, I knew that Sunday night worship was going to be in English (because we were leading it). We arrived, sat down and started worshiping the Lord. Hatians and Americans. Creole and English. Worshiping the same God. I was amazed, but this wasn't even the best part. We got to the last song of the night, The Revelation Song. This is one of my favorites and I was excited to sing it. I thought we might even introduce a new song to all of the Haitians there. So we started singing:

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
Holy, Holy is He
Sing a new song to Him who sits on
Heaven's mercy seat

I was caught up in the awesomeness of God and then came the chorus:

Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You

I have sung this song a hundred times at home, but you see, this time was different. When we hit the chorus I heard a loud group of beautiful Haitian girls singing behind me. In Creole. To the same God that I was singing to.

I was in awe.

All I could do was listen and smile because my God is good. Because He hears me, and he heard them. He heard all of us worshiping Him in unity, spirit, and truth.

"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit- just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, on God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."----Ephesians 4:1-6

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I am still $3,500 away from being fully funded! If you feel led to give just click the "Support Me" tab on the left side of this page.

It's not about me.

That simple, yet complex sentence sums up what God taught me this month. This race is NOT about me. Ministry is NOT about me. Loving others for the cause of Christ is NOT about me.

This month has come and gone. When we first arrived here it felt like we had known this place. Like we had been here for so long, but now we are saying goodbye almost faster than we said hello.

God is Sovereign.

Yet another simple, complex sentence. I had a harder time fully grasping the meaning of this sentence. I didn't always see the reason for why we were doing ministry where we were doing it at, but that isn't for me to understand. At times I would get frustrated because I couldn't see the immediate fruit of our labor here, but it's not for me to see. Not this month. God had a purpose in everything I stepped into.

He had a purpose for me sitting with Cristino, praying for him, loving on him, telling him how much his Creator loves him.

He had a purpose for me getting to know Landa, a sweet store owner in Mohados who loves the Lord and knows his goodness in her life.

He had a purpose for my team and I playing with the kids in Mohados. We didn't always realize His purpose there, but if nothing else we played with them and loved on them and got to tell them about the greatest love of all.

Relationships > Stuff

If you think back on your life, what has meant the most to you? Has it been that awesome Christmas present when you were 12? Or was it that time your mom finally gave in and bought you that thing at the store you had been wanting forever? When I look back on my life I can't remember what I got for Christmas when I was 12. That thing my mom finally got me is probably collecting dust in the attic.

BUT...

I do remember when I was learning to drive, how my dad and I would drive in and out of each cul-de-sac for hours in my neighborhood, just talking.

I do remember the summers spent with my family in the Black Hills. My brother and I could have spent all day tubing down the creek outside my grandparent's cabin.

I do remember the multiple nights spent with Jessica, Liz, JennR, Kendal, and Mrs. Ashley when I was in high school talking about anything and everything for hours on end.

I do remember how it was impossible to cook dinner with Lindsay and Melissa without music and dancing in our kitchen.

So this is for the time that I got to spend with Cristino, Landa, The Mohados Kids, Maura, Mayi, Connie, Betsy, Thomas, Horlyn, Amilka, Anna Karen, Marisol, Miguel, and Kristen. I pray that the Lord will forever puts us into each other's hearts and minds so that we can look back on our short, yet amazing time spent together.

What's in store for me next month you ask?

Well, sleeping on a beach in Haiti...with my entire squad...can't wait to see what God does.

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I am still $3,600 away from being fully funded. If you would like to give click on the Support Me tab on the left side! I can't thank you enough for your continued support throughout this journey.

"But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed."

Isaiah 53:5

I want you to meet Christino. He is 11 years old. He is sweet. He is gentle. He is strong. His smile lights up a room. His voice is faint. He walks with a limp. His grip is weak. His eyes carry so much weight. His heart need hope. His body needs healing.

When I first met Christino I was overwhelmed. I had to fight back tears, and for the first time I knew what it was like to be broken for others. I hate to say that it took meeting Christino for this to happen, but it did.

When our entire team met Christino, I think God shaved a Christino-shaped hole into all of our hearts. We desperately want to see Christino healed. We want to see him run and play and laugh and be able to be a boy. We don't want him to be bogged down with this undiagnosed disease. So we started praying. And praying. And praying. We prayed with faith. We prayed expecting. But Christino hasn't been healed. He still walks with a limp. His eyes are still heavy. His voice is still faint. And I became discouraged.

But discouragement is not from God.
 

Hope and life and joy and peace are from God.

I know God can heal Christino, but in the midst of this deep desire to see him physically healed, I forgot about his heart. I desire for his heart to be healed. I desire to see Christino know the love of his Creator. I desire for him to hear me say to him a thousand times "JESUS LOVES YOU!" because Jesus loves him so much! I desire to see hope and joy instead of burden and despair in his eyes. I desire for Christino to know the truth of Isaiah 53:5. I desire to see God's will be done and for His name to be glorified.

I won't stop praying for him. I will declare truth over him, even if he can't understand me. That's all my weak little self can do. God will do the rest.

We arrived in San Juan, Dominican Republic 5 days ago after a 17 hour travel day and it feels like we have been here for 5 years. There has been so much packed into such little time, but I am finally getting some time to reflect and process.

Sounds of roosters crowings, motorcycles zooming by, and loud music has become a part of my everyday life. I get to sleep on a mattress in a beautiful house and I even have a washing machine this month. Trust me, this is luxury!

This month my team and I are working with a ministry called Domincan Rising. We spend Sundays and Thursdays in a beautiful little mountain town, Cativo. It's about an hour drive away from San Juan on a bumpy dirt road, but I don't mind because I love the scenery that surrounds me. On Mondays and Tuesdays my team and I travel to a little village, Mohados. We had planned to do house visits and simply pray with people, but as we saw how the kids reacted to the Americanos showing up, we have been able to set aside a few hours to do a VBS with them. On Wednesdays we are working with our conact, Miguel, working on his farm and evenutally we will get to roast coffee beans (which I am super excited about!)

I have always struggled with going on mission trips and not getting to see a direct effect of the ministry that I am able to take part in, but as God always does, he teaches me admist the struggle. We are not painting a church, building a school, or getting our hands dirty in hard labor (yet), but we are building relationships, getting to pour into the missionaries here, making children smile and laugh, and lifting people's spirits with our prayers.

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10

This verse is taking root in my heart and I believe that God will be exalted no matter what our ministry looks like any month.

I believe God is exalted when we are playing with the children. (even though we have extremely broken spanish)

I believe God is exalted when we are pouring into the missionaries here.

I believe God is exalted when we get to pray for these precious people.

I still have to keep telling myself that I am not coming home on Saturday, that I am here for another 10 1/2 months, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I will be posting pictures as I can. I have not had the opportunity to take them just yet, but there will be pictures coming within the next few weeks!

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I am still $3,800 away from being fully funded. If you feel led, click the Support Me tab on the left side of this page to give!