11/11/11 - My team's last official day of ministry, ironic that we're on the World Race - going to 11 countries in 11 months.  Actually it just proves that God has a really great sense of humor.

I will now share 11 reasons why this last day of ministry was the longest day ever:

1.  We were told we would be going to another town to do ministry all day.
2. The ministry we would be doing would include manual labor, a children's program, and a church service.
3. Despite knowing this was going to be a long day, I still decided to get up early and go running with Jess.
4. We had to drive slowly through snow flurries to get to our destination.
5. We saw the “manual labor” we would be doing included moving giant piles of trash, sticks, sand, leaves, branches, and rocks to other piles in a very big parking lot. (Remember still snow flurrying at this point)
6. We started the manual labor at 10:30 and didn't take a break until a little after 2.
7. Lunch was not until 2:30, and we had to begin the kid's club at 3.
8. We ran out of things to do with the kids in kid's club at 3:30.
9. We were too cold and tired to take the kids outside so we struggled to make up games to play inside until 4:30.
10. An hour and a half after kid's club ended, the church service started and consisted of the normal preaching, singing, and praying as well as a feet washing ceremony and communion.
11. After church ended at 8:30, we had dinner there.  We had to eat, say our thank yous and goodbyes, and still drive about 45 minutes home.

Beauty.            Youth.             Joy.             Love.             Patience.            Hope.

Meet Verica.

Verica is a 20 year old mother of 5.  Two of the children are her own, one of which is 2 and the other 7 months.  The other three children are her boyfriend's brother and sisters.  Verica lives in a house in a village directly outside the town of Cantemir.  Her house only has one room that has all of the glass in the windows and a door on it.  Only one enclosed room in the entire house.  Her boyfriend is 18 and works in a different village and is not around very often.  When he is around, he's usually drunk or sleeping with other women.  Pastor keeps trying to get the boyfriend to marry Verica, but he is unwilling.  The boyfriend actually runs away when he sees Pastor coming.

Verica grew up in an abusive household.  No wonder she wanted out as soon as possible.  She had a father who left her when she was very young.  She had an alcoholic mother that would lock in her a room for days at a time.  I wonder how old she was when her mother finally kicked her out of the house.  14? 16?  Maybe Verica just ran whenever she felt she could care for herself.  I'm not sure.  I wonder when she met her boyfriend.  She has two children with him and takes care of his siblings as her own children so they must have met many years ago.  She has no one to help her with her boyfriend.  Besides she probably doesn't know any different.  She's never seen what a functional, healthy relationship looks like so why would she know that she deserves better.

The thing that gets me about Verica is there is no “my life is so horrible” syndrome.  She doesn't get down on herself or her circumstances.  Every time you see her she has a bright, beautiful smile on her face.  She's so hungry for God.  She walks her 5 children one hour to church every Sunday.  You can tell she knows there's more, and she wants it.  She'll do whatever it takes to get it.  Jess and I had the opportunity to go visit her in her house with Pastor Boris.  We were able to share our testimonies with her and tell her about the love of Jesus.  She was so grateful and held onto every word as we spoke.  Before we left we asked for any prayer requests, and she said: that she would know more about Jesus and would have a deeper relationship with him, that her boyfriend would come to know Jesus, and that the winter wouldn't be too cold so she could keep her and her children warm.  That's all she asked for.  She didn't ask for us to pray that she would have food and clothes for her and the children. She wants Jesus first and then a little warmth.  She trusts God will provide everything she needs.  He has until this point.

Scenario:  It's Sunday morning.  I have just gotten home from running so I decide I would like to wash off before church.  I go into my room grab all my stuff for showering and head into the bathroom.  I open the bathroom door to see something in the bathtub.  I couldn't really tell what it was so I looked closer.  It was then that I saw a head move.  Startled, I quickly realized that it was a chicken in a bag in the bathtub.  Only his poor little head was sticking out.  And he was still alive.  Just stuck in this bag in the bathroom.  Of course I run out and tell Jess all about the chicken I found in the bathroom.  It supplied laughs for days.  Fast forward to that afternoon.  We got home from church and peak our head into the bathroom to check on the chicken.  He has escaped the bag and is now freely strutting around the bathtub. A little while later we were taking our Sunday afternoon naps, and I wake up to the sound of a death-curdling chicken squawk.  He didn't stand a chance.  Poor chicken :(  He was in our soup the next afternoon. He was very delicious!

I love this month for the fact that we are IN culture.  We are living in Moldovan homes with real life Moldovan families.  We eat traditional Moldovan food all three meals a day.  We are completely immersed in the culture.  We get to see things like where they put the chicken before they kill it.  And we get to hang out with the families at night and do the things that they like to do together.  Its things like this that you don't get to do if you are a tourist.  Its times like this that are the most valued to me on the Race.  It opens up my eyes to what life is really like here.  It makes me aware of things that could easily be missed if I weren't living so closely with them.  It helps me see them the way God sees them and love them the way God loves them.  It also makes it harder to leave them.  But I know eventually this time must come to an end, but I know I will see them all again even if it is just in heaven. 

I love you my Moldovan family!

I didn't get a picture of the first chicken in the bathtub.  But the next weekend we had the same experience except there was a chicken and a goose in a bag together in the bathtub.  At least they had each other for their last moments together.

U squad came together a few days before ministry was to start in Moldova to meet up with the A-stounding, A-mazing, A-stonishing A squad.  A squad is fresh on the field squad that launched in September.  They spent the first month in Romania and were in the middle of their second month in Moldova.  They took time out of ministry to come spend a few days with us at a hostel.  What a blessing it was! 

A squad makes for the 27^th squad to launch.  They already made it through the alphabet once and so they had to restart back at A to start sending out their next batch of Racers.  I see this A squad as the next, greater generation of the Race.  They are starting fresh, at the beginning.  So we took this opportunity to pour everything we had to give them.  We are giving them everything we have so they can pick up where we left off and take it to the next level. 

We were starting our last month and they were in the middle of their second.  They were still fresh and excited about every second.  We were all tired and ready for some rest.  We were exactly what each other needed.  We poured out our knowledge and wisdom of things we've encountered and learned on the Race.  They poured some of their fresh energy into us so that we could finish this last month strong.  One night we had a U squad - A squad worship night.  It was INSANE!!  I can tell from that night of worship that A squad is already farther than we were in month 2.  They are going to take everything one step further for the Kingdom as they are on the field.  I am SO excited for them!  I am SO excited to see everything God is going to do to change nations through them!  It was like we were passing the baton and recognizing our time is coming to an end, but we're leaving it in more than capable hands.  I know that A squad is going to rock these nations for the Kingdom.  And they are going deeper and farther than U squad could ever go.  I'm praying for you A squad!  You are all Absolutely Awesome!

This month was the biggest mystery we've had on the Race so far.  Usually we know at least where we're going, our contact's name, and kind of what we're doing about a week before we get to the new country.  This was not the case this month.  We knew our contact and where we were going about one hour before leaving for our ministry site.

We came a few days early to Moldova to hang out with the fresh and exciting and wonderful A Squad.  We got to take them out to eat, prophesy and pray for them, and have some amazing worship with them.  Then Monday they left to return to their ministry sites in Moldova, and we met for our orientation.  At that orientation we learned that we would be coming down to Cantimer, and we would be working with a Pastor Boris.  That's about all we knew.  Then we were dismissed and had about 5 minutes to pack up our bags and leave.

Cantimer was only a few hours from where we were in the capital by bus.  We arrived and met Pastor Boris.  He immediately took us to a Sister Maria's house to eat lunch (it's like 2:30 in the afternoon at this point).  After a quick eat and run lunch we went to Pastor Boris's church, which he is in the middle of building.  We sat inside of a freezing building with no heat and chatted about ourselves and about Moldova.  Still during those 4 hours we didn't learn anything we would be doing for the month.  We do learn that we will be splitting up and living in 3 different houses.  And that we will be eating all three meals at Sister Maria's house.  So we head back to Sister Maria's house for dinner, and me and Jess unpack our bags because this is where we're going to be living for the month.

We learn that breakfast will be at 9 am so we wake up accordingly, still no idea what we're doing when we start ministry the next day.  We wake up and are ready at 9 am for breakfast to find out that we're doing manual labor that morning then preaching at some other village that evening.  That's pretty much how it's been since.  We just wait until the morning to find out what we're doing that day.  The one constant is doing construction on the church every morning for 4 hours then we have lunch then we could possibly do a kid's program, do more construction, or go to another village to preach.  Let's just say after 10 months of practice we're pretty good at being prepared for anything.  And that's exactly what we need this month.   Be prepared for anything.

It's going to be so weird to go home and have a schedule. Crazy.

This month we were a traveling attraction.  The attraction was English Club.  We made an appearance in a little town near Russia and in the big city of Odessa on the coast of the Black Sea.  We spent at least a week in each place and did English clubs for the neighborhood and also for children in their schools.

So you may be wondering…what is an English club?  No worries, I'm here to tell you.

The first and most exciting part of English Club is inviting people.  They won't come unless they know it's happening.  And even better we get to broadcast that native speakers are teaching it.  I think that's the best part.  We basically roam the streets and stick fliers in people's faces.  Most of them refuse us by completely ignoring you and walking by you, yelling at you in Russian because you're obviously an unwanted specimen, or sticking out their hand and staying in perfectly clear English “No thank you, I don't speak English.”  Yes this process is a real confidence builder.  But there were a few kind souls that felt sorry enough for us to take the flier, and even some of those that took the flier actually showed up!  I would say that is success!

The club was actually a real blast!  The subjects we covered were travel, seasons, traditions, schools in the U.S., fashion, and leisure time.  We would play games, have presentations, and have small group discussions.  I would say overall every club went very well.  We made lots of new friends that loved meeting real life Americans (I know we're very fascinating-especially with our interesting wardrobe choices).  I proved what a fool I was in almost every club.  My favorite was when we dressed me up in lots of different clothing on top of each other for me to do the fashion dash (see photo below).  It helped them practice colors and articles of clothing, and I got to look like an idiot.  Definitely a win-win situation. 

English club in the school.


English club in the church.


Fashion Dash


Playing Ninja in English club.

It's not quite official because I haven't seen a doctor to confirm the diagnosis, but I am pretty confident that I have it.  I am a sufferer of the “Grass is Greener on the Other Side” syndrome.  It's an unfortunate disease that leads to much unhappiness and dissatisfaction.

I think I've had it my whole life, but it's just now occurring to me that I've always struggled with it.  You see I'm never really satisfied in my circumstances.  There's always something better coming up, and when I get to that point then things will be perfect.  Well things are never perfect when I get there.  I actually look back and think of how good I had it before I got there.

For example, before the Race I couldn't wait for the Race to come because things were going to be so great once the Race was here.  I was going to change, I was going to grow, and I was going to overcome all of my troubles and strongholds.  Then after a few months on the Race, I wanted to be home again because if I was just home then I would have my family and friends and everything would be perfect.  It's sad to think that when I actually get home how much I'm going to miss being on the Race.  Yes I've changed on the Race, but it hasn't been easy in the slightest bit.  Every change came out of me kicking and screaming, rejecting what God was trying to do until I finally had to give in and let Him have His way in me.  And guess what?!  I haven't magically become this perfect person either.  I still struggle with a lot of stuff.  Stuff I'm going to have to deal with when I get home and possibly for the rest of my life.

So why do I do this to myself?  Why can't I just be happy with the circumstances God has me in for that season?

Every season is different.  Every season is there for a reason for me to grow and change.  This season in the Race probably brought a lot of change more quickly because of our circumstances, but there still is always change going on even in an ordinary day.  What I've been realizing this month that life isn't about my job.  It's not about being a missionary or working a full time job behind a computer.  It's about serving God even in the most mundane tasks and ordinary days.  It's about choosing to look for the opportunities God is constantly placing in front of you and actually doing what He wants you to do in those circumstances.  It's all about serving God in every situation and being content even when it's not the most glamorous.  Things don't just magically get better from a change of scenery.  They magically get better when you make the decision to not live for yourself or your future and make the most of every opportunity.  Look around-they're everywhere.

This Monday we ventured out to the middle of nowhere, Ukraine to go to a drug and rehab center started by our contacts.  The day started with a bumpy hour and a half public bus ride to the sticks of Ukraine.  We then walked about 15 minutes down these dirt and gravel roads to a house that serves as the rehab center.  It was like stepping back into the ‘50s.  They used out houses, coal burning furnaces, and wells.  They all laughed at us while we were all fascinated with all the new things we were discovering.

We walked down the road to another house that was just purchased to be another rehab center.  It still had stuff in it from its previous owner.  There were pictures, old post cards from the Soviet Union, an old motorcycle with attached side car, records, and other really cool things.  Over an archway there were grapes growing that the men picked for us.  They were so delicious!  Some of the best grapes I've ever had.  We ended up staying at the new place to do some manual labor.  We pulled out big dead plants in this big field.  We spent a few hours pulling them out and putting them in big piles.  Then we set the piles on fire.  Yes this month we started the fires instead of putting the fires out.  It was funny because we were having trouble keeping the fire going so that everything would burn.  Oh yeah and we found lots of ladybugs in our dead plant removing, and we found out that the Russian word for ladybug translates to God's cow dung.  I found that quite hilarious and fascinating at the same time. 

After working for a good 4 hours we walked back to the original rehab center and warmed up in the kitchen while a big meal was prepared for us.  Shortly after we got to partake in this huge, delicious meal.  It was just what we needed after working all day so hard.  The best part came after dinner.  The men at the rehab center came up with this brilliant idea and made it happen.  They built a sauna on the property.  Yes a sauna in the middle of nowhere Ukraine where there isn't even indoor plumbing.  Basically this sauna house thing consisted of three rooms.  The first one was where you got undressed and ready to go into the sauna.  The third room was the sauna.  It was heated by a wood burning stove.  The second room contained a big bathtub with cold water that you mixed hot water from the sauna room with to make warm water to wash off all your sweat and toxins that you sweated out.  After eating, me and Jess spent some time in the sauna.  It was 72 degrees Celsius.  It was relaxing and magnificent.  Definitely a once and a lifetime experience to get to go to a sauna in the middle of nowhere Ukraine.

After our wonderfully sauna time, we went back to the main house where we had sweets and tea.  We then just hung out for a long time.  It really felt like Thanksgiving with family.  Lots of food and just relaxing enjoying each other's company.  Andrew met a buddy that played guitar also and they had a jam session.  Seriously one of the most epic jam sessions ever.  It was like two music prodigies found each other and it was beautiful to all of us.  We ended up back at home around 10 pm so it made for a long day.  But a day I will never forget and one of my favorites on the Race so far.