Update From Romania!

Salut din Romania!!!!

(Hello from Romania!!!)

Hi friends! We have been in Craiova, Romania for a month already! Time is literally FLYING! We already say goodbye to this place a week from today! Things have been very fast paced and busy here so I haven’t had a chance to update y’all on what we’ve been doing yet so here it goes!!

This month we are partnered with Hope Church here in Craiova and we have had to opportunity to join in ministry with them in many different capacities. Craiova is a very spiritually heavy and dark place. We were warned of this coming into it but it’s one of those things that you can’t really understand until you’re here in the midst of it all. It’s hard, very hard. This is a place that feels hopeless and that hopelessness is evident in all the people we meet. Romania was still under communism thirty-ish years ago so people, especially the older generations, operate out of a state of distrust and coldness. It has been very eye-opening and heart breaking being here. It’s hard not to feel hopeless yourself some days. I have never experienced a place with a climate or culture quite like this one. That is why it is so critical to bring the truth of the gospel here, to light up a dark place with a light that never burns out or fades. You become so aware of how people are suffering in vastly different ways depending on the place that they were born into and how we all need the same savior, Jesus, to bring us into life that is abundant and joyful despite our struggles or circumstances here on earth.

Our main ministry focus here has been on the youth of Craiova. This generation didn’t grow up in communism like there parents did so they tend to be a little more open and receptive to us. Our first week here we had the chance to help with a basketball camp that a team from Indiana was here putting on in partnership with Hope Church. (Y’all know I LOVED that!) The goal was to build connections and trust with the youth in the area through sport. Showing them that we care about the things they love just as much as we care about them coming to Christ. A lot of what we have had the opportunity to do since that first week is to meet and build relationships with the youth in the community. We do a lot of one on one’s with them, just going out for coffee and chatting about life. The goal is to get to know these kids, to make them feel as seen and as loved as they truly are. Ultimately we want to share the gospel and show them the way to Jesus, of course, but we are working to build trust with them first. We also have youth group on Saturday’s which is a big deal at the church. We kind of act like a bridge to connect the youth with the church so they can continue being pursued and loved on even after we leave. It has been so fun getting to meet so many different people and really sweet to see how open they are with us. They love getting to know us and showing us around their home. It has been a unique ministry with these youth for sure.

Aside from youth ministry, we do all other sorts of ministry as well. There are always moving parts and something to be done, never a dull moment these days. We have had opportunities to evangelize around town in the evenings. Sometimes that looks like handing out devotional books and a goody, sometimes it looks like going to the park and introducing yourself to strangers, having a conversation, and seeing where the Lord leads. We have had some really cool encounters and met some awesome people. We often do a lot of admin type work in the mornings along with an intentional time set aside for intercession which is probably my favorite thing ever. Prayer is powerful. We do several food bank runs throughout the week, where we pick up food and then distribute it to people in need or within the church. We do kids club and english club on Saturday’s. There have been a few days where we visited Roma (gypsy) communities and loved on them and their kiddos. Last week we took a day trip to Bulgaria, which is only about an hour and a half drive away from here, to evangelize around town. We had the neatest conversation there with a young woman who was so open to Christ and took a really big next step in her faith, praise God! We also had the opportunity to go to another town in Romania to meet and love on young girls who had been trafficked. We got to go to the zoo with them and really just share hope and joy with them, something that I can only imagine seems far off right now. That one really tugged on my heart strings but I’m thankful for the experience and that the girls are safe and in a home that loves them and cares for them now. Please pray for Craiova and for Hope Church. This place desperately needs the Lord to come in and light this place up!!!

In full transparency, this past month or so has been very hard for me. Easily the hardest on the race (haha I think that’s an oxymoron ;). I guess a mixture of stepping into a role that requires me to carry a lot heavier load, the heaviness that is Craiova, plain discomfort, and the Lord really coming in hard with some refinement tactics, I am exhausted and weary. The first couple weeks we were here I was over it all. I wanted out and fast. Romania has been the most uncomfortable place physically and mentally so far and a lack of comfort tends to reveal a lot of things. It was especially hard stepping into this place coming off of Guatemala which is such a polar opposite to here and I loved so much. Naturally I wanted the comfort back. I wanted to escape what felt like a dark cold prison like… now. And the longer we’ve been here, the harder it’s gotten. I’m perpetually exhausted. But I am also keenly aware of what the Lord is doing in my own heart as well as what He is trying to do in this place. It is hard to feel too bad for myself when everywhere I look people are suffering here, and suffering without a peace or a hope or a love or a joy that I know in Jesus. It is also exciting to be able to see so clearly what the Lord is trying to prune and grow in me. Romania has been a season of really leaning into trusting the Lord more and submitting to His will. Even more so it has been a season of growing in endurance and discipline. It would be so, SO easy to tap out, coast through the rest of the time and move on like it didn’t happen but I refuse. By the grace of God I keep showing up each day for Him, for the people around me, and for myself. And some days showing up is quite literally all I can do but I am there and living a life on mission for Christ is way too important to quit on. Even in the midst of a really hard time, it is encouraging to see the Lord moving and to feel His grace and love even in the middle of some blunt discipline. Even though this has been one of the toughest months so far, I think it will also be one of the most impactful because the lessons I’m learning here are critical to moving forward in and for Christ.

A week from today we are headed to Albania for a week of debrief and a month serving and doing ministry in our 4th country! The halfway point of the race came and went so fast. I think we only have a little over four months left on the field…. INSANE! The itch to be home comes on strong pretty often these days but I’m really stoked for the last leg of this thing. The Lord is on the move all over the world and we get the chance to be a part of it! Thanks God! I am so thankful for where I am at and for the people I get to do it with and meet along the way.

If you would, please pray for Craiova and for Hope Church. Pray that Heaven would break through and radically change this place. I want Craiova to be a wild testimony to the Lord’s goodness and power! Pray for Hope Church, that they would continue doing this good work and would receive all the wisdom and resources they need to usher in the love of Christ to Craiova and the surrounding areas. Also if you could pray for rest and endurance for our team that would be appreciated and that we could finish our last week here strong and present and in tune with the Holy Spirit. Man, God is cool! Sometimes a little reflection is all you need to shift your perspective and see where He is at in something!

I love you all and now more than ever I am so thankful for all the love and support from y’all back home! I miss y’all and can’t wait to give all my people a stupid big bear hug but for now I am happy to be here and living the life I am living!

Jesús te Ama

xoxo, tay <3