Life in Romania

Life in Romania

I know I have shared a few small glimpses of life and ministry here in Romania but I wanted to give you the chance to see the whole picture of life here.

We have been in Romania for a little over two weeks now. We have found rhythm and routine amidst there also being some constantly changing factors.

We are living as 18 women in a 2 bedroom apartment style space, with one shared bathroom and one shared kitchen. Soon, we will also be sharing the kitchen with another 30 World Racers that will be joining us for our last two weeks here. You can bet that coordinating showers, bathroom breaks and teeth brushing has been difficult but we are making things work. There are a number of us who chose to acquire a gym membership for our one month stay. This is great because it opens up a lot of time and space at the homestead for everyone there to get in and out of the bathroom as needed, while we, nearly the other half, get more space by taking advantage of the gym showers and locker room to get ready each morning after our workout. Yes, more than half of us wake up early to get a workout in and to get our bodies ready for the day.

I love the routine of reading my Bible with coffee in hand from the comfort of my bed, then prepping lunch and heading out the door to go to the gym. We walk, we walk everywhere, including to the gym! Then we shower and head to the church for 9am. From 9-10 we pray and worship Tuesday through Saturday, these are our ministry days. From here we have a teaching with Paster Raul and then jump online for some social media outreach, that’s why you’ve seen so much from us lately! For the rest of the time before lunch we are typically prepping for our afternoons where we hit the ground running and really get to it. This means we usually sort donations, collect supplies to distribute to the temporary Ukrainian housing locations, or hit the streets to hand out evangelism packets. We have a two hour lunch break and then ministry again from 2pm-7pm nightly. During this section of time we visit our Ukrainian friends, pack convoys headed to the Ukraine, unpack food and supply trucks that bring in donations, minister to the Roma communities and to the youth of Craiova. At 7 we head to the grocery store to collect any last minute groceries for dinner or the following day before walking 15 more minutes home, cooking dinner, eating and climbing into bed!

Wow! I’m tired just thinking about all of the activities we are involved with here! It’s incredible how much good we can fill our schedules with. The amount of miles I have already put on my new sneakers (because my boots just aren’t appropriate for city living, or at least that’s what the locals insinuated) is uncountable. Yes, sometimes we buy coffee and pastries from the street windows or the cutsie coffee shops we pass by on the way to the church, but we really can’t help it and we’re pretty sure our bodies need it. Lol! We’re really just out here trying to lend a helping hand and the coffee helps us do that at times. 

I’m in awe by the architecture. It really is everything you dream of in Europe. I’m in awe of the shopping opportunities. I’m really trying to only buy the essentials. I’m in awe of the good food, the pastries and the prevalence of coffee shops. I just can’t help but go into one a couple times a week. Most importantly, I’m in awe of the people of Hope Church. They work hard for the Kingdom of God, for their ministry, and for people who just need a little boost. Their ability to cast vision and make a tangible and explainable impact really has me captivated. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here and to live out the phrase “life is ministry and ministry is life”. I am looking forward to two more weeks here and all that God has in store for us to do and to experience. 

One final ministry location to come… Where do you think it will be?

P.S. if you are interested in donating to this ministry or my coffee shop stops please feel free to Venmo me @savannakandiko with your desired purpose in the comments.