Craiova, Romania Part 3: Adventures and Heart Colors

“And why do you worry about your clothing? Look at all the beautiful flowers of the field. They don’t work or toil, and yet Solomon in all his splendor was robed in beauty like one of these!”-Matthew 6:28-29

Now, for the sightseeing fun and a little bit more of the growth fun! After being quarantined for three weeks, the last week probably being the hardest (and the most fulfilling), the first thing I did fresh out of quarantine?  Get in a car for 4 hours to go to a castle! Let me tell you, the drive itself was worth it; especially only seeing the inside of our mission house and the inside of our hosts’ very nice yard. There were HUGE mountains, covered with green and different pops of color from wildflowers, complete with sparking little rivers flowing from out of nowhere. The winding roads reminded me of home, especially the back roads, along with the cute little towns nestled in the mountain. When we finally got to Hunedoara, Romania, right outside of Transylvania (yes, you heard that right), we stopped at this adorable restaurant and had authentic Romanian food! I had Mamaliga (Polenta) covered in cheese and sour cream, Mici and some pork (Pomana Porcului). They definitely don’t do small potions, as most of Europe does, but it was absolutely delicious and the polenta was very filling in itself.

We met up with some people who had stayed in another local village overnight and went up to the castle. The pictures following this post will not do it justice because it was absolutely stunning! Many of my fellow squad-mates, myself included, kept saying that it looked like Hogwarts (and it honestly did, there was even a bridge with a creek beneath it). It took at least an hour, maybe closer to two to even get to every crevice of the castle. Myself and Bailee found the tallest tower entrance, thinking that we couldn’t go in it (since there was a lot of construction still being done around it and to the castle itself), but we had a local Romanian youth who came along with us translate a sign that read “Proceed with caution”, so that’s what we did! There were many stairs that we had to climb, leading to an absolutely stunning view of Hunedoara! The castle was very cold, especially in the individual rooms, and we even got to see replicas of the common clothing and living spaces of a typical day in the castle.

Once we left the castle, we took a group photo of all who came, and then we wandered through a cute market, finding some snacks for the drive home to at least hold us over until we got back to the mall halfway through the route for dinner. I had KFC for the first time out of the USA, and they have a quesadilla option in KFC’s overseas! That’s amazing! Speaking of though, McDonalds in Romania is WONDEROUS! Their burgers actually look like the pictures, and they have all these new burgers that I’ve never tried before. They even had cucumbers on some of the sandwiches instead of pickles! Our McDonalds was put to shame, and I ordered McDonalds here more than I ever do back home. Also, McDonalds in Romania has cheesecake, and their McFlurry machines have always been up and working each and every time I ordered them as opposed to almost never getting them at home. Anyways, the castle was a lot of fun, and if offered such a beautiful sight that wasn’t inside of a car or inside of the same (beautiful) house for 21-24 days straight.

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”-1 Peter 3:3-4

Also, we got to have a few actual team meetings that we had been severely lacking for the first month. The last one we had in Romania took place in this cute coffee shop (Coffee Story). There, we got to do check-ins, highs and lows, and we got to talk about the color of our hearts. Basically, it’s how we view our heart at the current moment, and to explain what the color means/represents. Mine was a marbled heart (black and white marble), with teal blue mixed into the fold and little flecks of gold floating about. The black represents the darker parts, the places where I need growth, where I needed to repent of and learn how to trust and love others, and also let them love and trust me more-so. The golden flecks are the good things I’ve already worked through; basically, I want my heart to be all the colors still, minus the black, at some point and they are all swirling around each other, waiting for God to do His work (that He will do once I let him in, since He is a gentleman). The teal represents my calm and collected spirit because that is a part of who I am, and I want more of that, almost like a balance of gold, teal and white. Lastly, the white is purity. My purity is redeemed in Jesus’ name, and it will grow to cover just a bit more of my heart than even the teal or the gold.

I encourage you to seek out how you see your heart right now, and maybe how you want your heart to look like in your growth with Jesus. I feel that the colors could transform, maybe another color will try to take over for the teal when I feel different emotions, but I hope that when I see God at the end of the life He has planned for me, that I can confidently say that my heart looks like that or that it’s pure white. I believe that checking your heart color is a good way to make sure you’re keeping up in accountability with God’s standards, or at least that you are trying to be more like Him. God is creating us, day-by-day, to keep stepping into the women or men that we are supposed to be; whether that be through trials and tribulations that are huge obstacles, or little rocks that we were holding and didn’t realize (tiny flaws we see in ourselves that aren’t flaws but are actually strengths). Remember, God made us all in unique ways and we hurt Him more than we hurt ourselves when we talk bad about ourselves.

“Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”-Proverbs 31:30