Hello Everyone
Hello I am doing monthly posts for Romania because I can’t seem to keep up by week
Life Update
When we got new teams we also got new team leads and ours was Lucas. He was not allowed to stay in the same house as the rest of our team in Alba Iulia, so he had to walk 20 min in winter weather every day to our house. We were working with Harmony Church bringing youths into the church from the surrounding areas by building relationships and going with them to church events or events we make. It was not easy to find people who wanted to go to the events, but the ones that came we were quickly able to build relationships with. Our Ministry Host was named Marcel and He was a very kind man, and he along with his youth group coordinator were our main contacts while we were there. We had a helpful and sweet personal connection person for a couple weeks whose name is Raluca. She was a gigantic help with understanding the ministry and culture and was the sweetest woman ever.
What’s God doing in Romania?
We had a more flexible schedule while in Alba Iulia so we were able to take lots of time to pray and draw near to God.
Our typical day started with a team breakfast then went one of two ways, either a 9 am getting a ride to the high-schools or a 10am team Bible study.
On high-school days we would hand out fliers for the next upcoming event (that was usually the English practice on Friday evenings) and try to makes connections with them and invite them to do something fun with you or do a coffee hang out. We would do this on their two breaks they had in the beginning of their day.
On Bible study days we would go through the chapter we were on for whatever book of the Bible we were in (we started in John) and we would read it together then read it through again on our own and use our study Bibles and them come back together and discuss the chapter peice by peice. We would do this at home usually, but on 3 occations we did it at a coffe shop called Meron.
We would then go back home for lunch. And in the afternoons we did meet ups, worked on fence fixing, yard work, planning evengs or hosting events, and we would occationally do team time early if it was going to be a very late night.
Friday and Sunday we had to be at the church at 5pm. Friday was our English practice and Sunday was church.
English practice consisted of us buying snacks, going to the church and setting up, then having meaningful conversations in English with the people who showed up, then we would clean up, lock up and go home to make and eat dinner if we didn’t eat before
Church was just church as usual and we would usually leave after to eat, if we didnt eat, and go to sleep after.
I usually had a hard time sleeping because I was sick the whole month, so I stayed up late very often.
Some notable days/events/meetups/people we met were as follows:
The first days I was in Romania were spent in Craiova. And we had a cultural orientation and got to know the church there because the second half of my time in Romania would be spent there. We handed out fliers for an event the next night. That night I mutually parted ways with a friend back home and I was sad about it so it did affect the way I experienced the time there.
The next Day was Saturday and I spent the first half buying winter clothes and the last half we preped for the youth event at 6. I helped set up for it at 4:30 and it was singing, games, food, a message and dancing. Then I helped take after down the event. It happens every Saturday there. The lights set up there were gorgeous
The third day was Sunday and we traveled like 4 hours to see a Monastery and walked around the citadel in Alba and then our team split to meet our host Marcel and his church Harmony Church. Next we learned where we were staying and left our bags and slept there. I was able to talk to the driver for the driver for the 4 hours and we talked about Romania and what the county is like and it was an answer to prayer to talk to someone about the country so soon after entering the country.
Monday the 13th was visiting Corvins Castle. Our squad me up with us there and I was with Jessie for most of it making up fun stories and being silly as we ran around and then ended with silly pictures with Emma. We said our goodbyes and they went back to Criova and we went back to the Harmony house and settled in. And we started testimonies. Lucas started.
Tuesday was a 10am meeting to introduce us to ministry in Alba Iulia. Raluca had tea with us showed us around the church and area. We made a prayer wall right away and in team time it was Libby sharing her testimony.
Wednesday the 15th we did the normal Bible study morning then asked the Lord to direct us as we went to hand out fliers at the mall and I had a decent conversation with a girl and was super hyped about it. And I got the coolest cotton candy that way.
Thursday was the typical fliers day and and we got to meet Ralucas 20 bunnies and hold the babies right after we handed out fliers.
Friday was same set up but we did our English practice and 5 Ukrainians and 7 Romanians came to that night and we were able to talk and share and start making connections. Lucas shared his testimony. A friend group of 4 volunteered to drive us home and we accepted. It was very sweet.
Saturday the 18th was a Bible Study at Merons, then the High Schools and then Raluca invited us over to see her 20 bunnies and hold the babies again. We met her parents and tried homemade berry syrups in sparkling water as a “soda” and it was really nice to get to know her better and experience Romanian hospitality. They are very friendly and giving once you make friends. Then we had a game night at the church and the 4 friends we made came and we all played games together. It was so much fun and a good relationship builder.
Sunday was a Bible study day and we did an exercise of thankfulness of all Gkd has done in our lives called 10,000 reason and it was wonderful to write out so many things God has blessed me with that I was thankful for. At 6pm was church and it was a special service with a small orchestra playing in the front and they gave us headsets to translate the sermon to us in. It was a cool night.
Monday the 20th was adventure day! And I went to the new mall with everyone to do a double feature movie watching thing. We watched The Balad of Snakes and Songbirds then I got a small peanutbutter gelato then watched the movie The Marvels. We ended trying the chicken Shwarma wrap from KFC, braiding Lucas’ hair and watching 2 episodes of a TV show with a couple people.
Tuesday was my Sabbath. I woke up late, ate pancakes then went to the mall. I sat in the food court, ate specialty cotton candy and watched an hour of a lecture about paleontology and the flood, walked home and finished the last hour on the couch then ate pizza, watched the Hunger games movie with my team and went to bed.
Wednesday was a Bible study day. It was also a major planning, shopping, reaching out and starting to prep for Thanksgiving the next day day. We decompressed watching the Hunger Games 2nd movie together before bed. We started backing today to prep.
Thursday was Thanksgiving and all the friends we made, all the people from English practice and and some members from the church were invited so we had to make A LOT of food and prayed for multiplication of food and God sure did multiply our food. We did Bible Study then I made 4 Turkey breasts and the mashed potatoes. A lot of the invited people made it, including a dude Lucas had made friends with just the day before who was driving his Bolt. Some people played some games after food. And a couple couldn’t people couldnt find the house and had to raincheck us. We had a great time overall and had food left over for the next few days.
Friday the 24th was a High School day. That was the day I met M and A! We invited them to the English practice night. We had a group meet up with some of our past connections for luch then it was English practice. M and A both came and I got to talk to A and Kiley, Libby and Emily talked to M. It was such wonderful and intriguing conversations. Me and Kelsey got their contact info so we could meet up more!
Saturday was a Bible study day then we helped make a bit of a fence and do some yard work at the house. I accidentally joined a coffee hangout with Kiley, Kelsey, Lucas, and 2 of the Romanians and they took us to their favorite pizza shop to buy team dinner. At team time I did my testimony for the team.
Sunday the 26th was a late Bible study day for the team and we did it at a coffee shop in town. (They had great hot chocolate!) And as always we had a great discussion. And I left contemplating in what ways I had been relying on my own strength. That night was a very late night because all of us sensed spiritual warfare and we stayed up praying. We all got on our spiritual armor and prayed. I started in the living room with everyone and prayed against any evil spirits I saw in my visions as I prayed, and all were wearing masks so I prayed against deception. One was wearing colorful jewel encrusted gold armor that got cut (probably by an angel) to reveal bones and it connected the next moring to the reports from our team in Craiova fighting a spiritual attack that night because they accepted “magic” colorful jewel bracelets from a woman and then had horrible sleep paralysis that night. They got rid of the bracelets the next day. Most my team was up until 4am praying for the other teams and Romania as a whole. Our house was so saturated in prayer, anointed, and protected by God that we were fine the whole time.
Monday the 27th we talked to the team in Criova that afternoon after we slept in late because the late night. Me and Kelsey had our first hangout with M and A at the restaurant above the mall at 6pm. So lunch and Bible study we preped and planned to go. M and A gave us presents when we met up and we were able to talk about family and spirtially background over hot chocolate for about 2 hours
Tuesday the 28th was adventure day! We went to a salt mine! It was crazy cool and had a little lake in it, some old mechanics, and an echo chamber. It was so fun to spend the day with everyone exploring the place. Then we stopped at a Hungarian village and met an adorable dog.
Wednesday the 29th was a High school day. We had a fun team time that day and got even closer as a team. And we saw a dope church that day too. The second pick is of our yard 😁
Thursday the 30th Shared testimonies with our Hosts and reevaluated what we were doing there to make sure we would be affective for the last weeks. We took a team picture. Then me and Kelsey met up with a girl we met with named Anda and we went out to get hot chocolate and we were able to talk about our stories and encourage her. She was so sweet and invited us to the church event she had the next day and we were hoping to go (though it did not work out). English Practice was moved to that night because Friday was a holiday. No one showed but we were not surprised. We were there when a woman setting up the church had a HUGE migraine and we were able to give her Tylenol and we prayed for her a couple times too. She did improve after a while and we went home.
Friday the 1st was their national unification of the country day. They had a military parade that we attended with people, military vehicles and military aircrafts. There were vendors and food and performances and it was a super cool time. We tried to meet up with people but struggled with scheduling.
Saturday the 2nd we went to the High schools that day and that was the day of the big youth church event. M and the driver C and his friend came to it and listened to the message on Jesus’ love and both really enjoyed it.
Sunday the 3rd Libbys birthday! We had made desserts and M, A and another friend of ours came over to try them and share their own homemade bread treats with us. It was so fun and M and A played Catan for a couple hours with us after eating. We went out to dinner with Raluca to a cool sushi spot and then I Bolted home. I was able to make a quick chocolate cake and get it in the fridge to cool a bit as everyone got home for team time. Then we ate cake together.
Monday the 4th Sabbath and it was another day of rest, cotton candy and lectures at the mall. It was really nice to just rest and spend time delighting in the amazing ways God has worked over all the time since creation.
Tuesday the 5th Emily’s birthday we ate lunch at Marcels and were able to hear his and his wifes testimonies and be encouraged. And they had two cute dogs they let us play with for a while as well. Then for Emily’s birthday dinner we did pasta and drinks at a nice restaurant and chatted about what we accomplished in our time and what we were looking forward too in our transitioning.
Wednesday the 6th was a Bible study day. Amanda had dream based spiritual warfare that day and we were able to pray extra with and for her.
Thursday the 7th was a Bible study day. We prayed for the new church building being built with a host (Z). My team had bough Bibles to two people and took time today to highlight and write notes for them in them. One for one of the four: B. The other for M. We went out to two coffee dhangouts that day, one with N and P who were Christians living in Alba and we were able to encourage them in their faith. They were very sweet girls and we decided to ice skate with them the next day. And then the other hangout was with M and A and As boyfriend. Kiley came too to that one and brought the Bible. M loved her gift! Then A and her bf came and we talked and then discussed Christianity and their beliefs and had a great conversation. We gave M some extra resources to work with and then we said goodbye. I love those girls very much and I am going to miss them 💕 I am happy they can keep in touch. I will be praying for them.
Friday the 8th we did Bible study in the morning and Kiley, Kelsey and me went ice skating with N and P and had a wonderful time togetherlaughing and talking and even getting sung a Romanian Christmas carol. Our last English practice was that night and the guy C bought two new friends to it and we had a really good time conversing with them. It was sad to think we would only see them once.
Saturday the 9th we met up with the coffee shop (Meron) owners for lunch around 11. They were wonderful God loving people and they were so very kind to us. I loved hearing their stories. They invited us to there church the next day and we figured out how to make it work. We had Alpha (a youth group event) at our house that night and the 4 friends and M all came! It was so night to see so many people there. There was many questions asked and we talked about Jesus there and invited everyone to the next one dispite us not being able to make it. We said our sad and loved filled goodbyes and watched them go. We cleaned up and hoped they would keep going the next week.
Sunday the 10th we went to church at the church of the person whose coffee shop we always would hang out at. Raluca gave us personally prayed for sticker selections as a parting gift and it was so sweet. We were leaving for Craiova that day. They had a driver come pick us up with all our stuff. We got to talk at their church, but had to leave early to catch our train and they were kind enough to drive us to the station. We got snacks and I spent most of the 7 hour trip napping. Then a driver got us once we got into Craiova and took us to the mission house where the rest of the squad was staying. We ate out for dinner, unpacked and slept.
Mountain shot
Craiova 
Monday the 11th we had adventure day and went to Therme in Bucharest. It was about a 3 hour 30 minute drive to it, but it was worth it because it was so much fun. The place was beautiful and it had pools, outdoor pools, mineral pools, saunas, steamrooms, waterslides and more! We spent 4 ish hours there before stopping at McDonald’s and driving home again. On the drives I sat upfront and got to know our ministry host and their wife. They are very funny, wonderful people. As a cool note, I tried a small, fried, whole fish with Ana his wife and it was not that bad.
Tuesday the 12 I started ministry in Craiova!
What’s it like in Romania?
The people: The people of Romania tend to be a little closed off to strangers, especially the older generation who lived through the time of communism, but once you get to know someone, they are very warm, friendly, and giving people. The people here will judge you by your clothes ESPECIALLY by your shoes. If you don’t have nice clothes and nice clean shoes don’t expect people to take stuff from you or stop to talk to you and even occationally they won’t even make eye contact. The younger generation cares less about shoes than the older, but dispite what they say, they still care a lot about looks. In Criova I have had people look me up and down before answering me as to if they speak English or not.
Alba is a little quieter and kinder with the people treating you nicer overall and I was glad to start my journey there.
The younger people often speak Romanian, so I hardly had to use google translate.
The people here also like to give big picture ideas and plans and then you are expected to ask questions to fill in the blanks before you take the plans to execute them.
The clothing: Everyone has nice clothes if they can afford it and are very fashionable. I only saw people dressed traditionally on Dec 1st, their country’s unification day, when they were dancing cultural dances on stage. But every region has its own style that is just for them (similar to scottish kilts) so you can know the region by the traditional dress.
The weather: It has all four seasons and we are here for the winter so it is very cold (like 40°) and everyone is in their winter gear here. Lots of fashionable coats and trench coats. It has not snowed yet.
Other: You CANNOT sit on the ground ever. And if you were to LAY on the ground 😱☠️. They have many superstitions as to the bad that can come of being on the ground, but they also see the ground as fithy and disgusting. (I played on the ground at the train station day 1 after our travel days and a stranger came over to try to check on me, save me and move me off the floor lol)
Along those lines you CANNOT put your shoes up on anything because they are dirty (dispite the fact they keep them ridiculously clean for looks)
Pedestrians have the right away on cross walks always and cars will break hard to make sure they don’t get close because it is non-disputably their fault if they hit someone.
There are a few stray cats around and no stray dogs in the Romanian communities, but in Roma communities the opposite is true.
Fundraising Update
At this point I was around 75% fundraised and there was always some progress in giving which is so sweet. Big news for the next post…
Spiritual Update
The weather was bad and so I was fighting to be in a good headspace. I had struggled a lot with mood, but God and my team was supportive through it. We did Bible study almost every day and that was so helpful. We prayed so much that I felt like our house and life’s were very fortified in the Lord and that was wonderful. It was a lot of hard times in my mental headspace, but God was drawing near to me as I drew near to Him and He got me through it. It was a lot of spiritual attacks while we were there, but we as a team leaned into our prayer life and some team members did a lot of spiritual warfare and intersection on our squads behalf. I had my first restful Sabbath when I started going alone to the mall and watching lectures about Bible history, so that was really cool to learn about myself.
Prayers
Pray for Harmony church and that they are able to reach the younger generations, so that they can be encouraged to have a relationship with Jesus.
Pray that their new church building gets funded and built. That it happens in a timely manner
Pray for the Hosts Marcel and Z. Pray for peace, joy, and for Gods favor over their personal lives, ministry work and the people they reach
Please be praying for the 4 friends. B is seeking the Lord and finding him in super cool was and for the other 3 pray for God encounters and for B to continue to share, as she learns, with her friends.
Be praying for A and her bf. She is very spiritually knowledgeable. Pray she can see the truth of who Jesus is and that He pours His love on her. And for her BF pray his eyes are opened to who Jesus really was.
Be praying for M. She is such a sweet and outgoing girl. Pray that God continues to reveal His truth to her as she is reading the Bible through for the first time! Pray God draws near to her as she draws near to Him and that Her family is reached through her.
Pray for M’s family to move past tradition and religion, and find a relationship with God that changes their lives.
Pray for Anda that she continues to grow in the Lord and that He brings a way for her to step into her love of missionary work.
Pray for N and P and that God gives them boldness to share their faith with the people and sends them people to encourage them further. Also pray for healthy future relationships for both of them and direction for their futures.
Pray for our team as we grow in God and transition location.
And pray for everyone reading this. For God to bless, protect and uplift them.
Answered Prayers
I would have asked for physical healing at this point in time.
Thank you
Thank you so much for patience and love as I am getting these stories to you. You are all so kind and sweet in your support of me. I am not even halfway through the race and I have done so much. Thank you for helping me get here and supporting me here. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the race will bring.
