Y’all, welcome to part two of my blog series in Romania. Currently, I’m no longer in Craiova because we just took an 18 hour bus drive from Bucharest, Romania -> Bulgaria -> Northern Macedonia -> Durres, Albania, BUT I’m still going to post one more from Romania after this one. Any ways, going out and doing ministry as a squad for the last week and a half has been absolutely amazing! We planned to do ministry all month (though, we did ministry within the walls of our mission house so we did technically do ministry all month), and honestly, I can tell that the atmosphere of Craiova has changed significantly compared to the first day there. We managed to squish in a youth event, a culture event for Muslims and a Women’s event. Let me tell you, the Holy Spirit MOVED; not only in the people we served and got to love on, but He moved in us! Because of just one month of doing this journey, God has given me a vision of what I’m supposed to do as a ministry to serve Him, and He has definitely finalized the idea for long-term missions within me. The only thing I have yet to really see in regards to the ministry vision is the “where”; Romania could be a good place, and I do know that I’m going back there at some point, but I don’t know if it’s supposed to be the whole vision or to help someone else with their own vision, to get them up and running, or if it’s to start up my own.
“Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen.”-Hebrews 11:1
I want to say at least 30 youth showed up for the event on Thursday (9/10/21), most of which were university students from different countries; they include: Romania, Turkey, Israel and one from Greece. At the culture event for Muslims (9/11/21), there were at least 20 there, and they were very informative about some of the culture from Albania (our next country/where I am as I write this). And finally, at the women’s event (9/12/21), there were also at least 20 women that showed up; we offered manicures, pedicures, massages (done by yours truly and my team leader) and a fantastic dinner made by some people on my squad. It was such a sweet thing to really love on people, to really show them God’s love through our actions and by being examples. Speaking of which, the majority of the men on my squad played soccer (futbol) with some of the men that came during the first two events while us ladies were hosting the women’s event. Also, on the evening of my second free day, I got to play, laugh, and teach Roma kids about Jesus alongside some of my squad-mates.
Most of all though, I was really psyched to be with my whole team again! We all moved back into our original(ish) rooms, the healthy people who managed to not get COVID moved back in, our mission hosts moved back into their house (major shout-out to Raul, Ana, Jonathon and Sammy for letting us basically take over their house to quarantine) and it was all super sweet to be reunited with everyone, getting to really enjoy our first all squad month for a little while at least. That whole week was filled with laughter, tears (many different emotions), hugs, one-on-one meet-ups, morning coffee runs, sightseeing when we weren’t doing ministry and SO much more. We even got to see a car rally, which was basically a race that closed off a lot of streets, making the walk back and forth to the church a lot easier. Y’all, I even got my first tattoo! Overall though, I honestly think that starting off in quarantine was better than going 6 months, or even 3 months into the journey and having to quarantine just within our teams and not as a whole squad. It really helped us to bond with all of our squad-mates since you never know what team you could be in once team changes happen. I love my current team (Amadea), but I think every person on the squad could say that they could be in a team with nearly any combination of people. Will we butt heads? Yes. Will we get on each others’ nerves? Absolutely, it’s already happened a couple times I’m sure. BUT, we’re doing it all for the glory of God, seeking ways to grow His Kingdom.
“Let the inner movement of your heart always be to love one another, and never play the role of an actor wearing a mask. Despise evil and embrace everything that is good and virtuous.”-Romans 12:9
Finally, I felt that I should share the rough idea of the ministry vision that I feel God has given me. It’s a combination of three things: horses, coffee and women’s ministry (specifically, retreats). Now, let me go into a bit more detail about each thing, and maybe you guys can help me form ideas of what He may be having me do/connect some dots that I’ve missed. The first topic: horse ministry. I grew up with a love for animals, but as I grew older, I realized that I specifically loved horses the most. Because of that, I did end up owning my own horse but because she was older than we thought, I didn’t really get to ride her much. That’s when my mom put me into an organization called Eagles’ Wings, where they adopted out horses for learning how to take care of them, ride them, horse whisper, trail ride and even swim them! The joy of riding a horse is nothing that I can truly describe; you just kind of have to experience it to truly know.
The second topic: coffee. Coffee has always been a love of mine, starting at a young age and never truly going away, causing me to want to work at Starbucks (which I did when I was old enough for a lot longer than I thought I would). Coffee relaxes me, and it gives me a calm mindset when I read His Word so that I can truly meditate on it, to truly get into the presence of God. Coffee shop ministry was also what Raul had wanted me to specifically pray for, whether that means I go back to Romania for the whole vision, or just to help grow the existing coffee shop ministers. The last topic: women’s ministry/retreats. Before training camp this past July, I had the privilege of attending a retreat called The Shattered Hearts retreat with a group of women that I absolutely adore. They have such a gift of creating a loving atmosphere, a place to feel vulnerable and know that you are loved beyond compare, that God created His women to be amazing world changers, on fire for Him! I would really love to create a relaxing oasis of sorts, maybe featuring horses? It sounds like he may be calling me to do a retreat, but to maybe extend it into something for youth as well, which I also have a passion for (I love and miss you LifeLike).
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'”-Jeremiah 29:11
Whatever the reason, God is clearly showing me a rough outline of what my long term ministry could look like, but for now, I am looking forward to seeing what He will continue to do in me as well as my squad-mates and team-mates. We have such a generous, amazing, kind Heavenly Father, one that none of us deserve, yet we have him because He wants us, He desires us! I have difficulty believing that from time-to-time, as I’m sure we all do, but it’s wonderful to know that it is indeed true! There will be one more blog posted soon; my guess, I’d probably say it’ll either be tomorrow (depending on the schedule for the day) or the next day, so keep an eye out!
This is so exciting Taylor! You have only been on the mission field a little over a month and you know 3 components of your mission. That you already know you want to be a long term missionary is fantastic! I feel certain that God will help you define it and re-define it and tweak the vision until it is crafted into exactly what He wants for you. And, isn’t that the best, really? When he does that it is usually so specifically tailored to our strengths, gifts, and desires, and the outcome is we feel so fulfilled in our life’s work. Congratulations Taylor. Also, thanks for sharing what He has shown you thus far!