I've got a SECRET! with Photos

So, I've got a secret and I can't hide it!   Remember me posting about Romania and how I was here Month 6?

 

Well, here it is:

 

I'M BACK IN ROMANIA!  THAT'S RIGHT I CAME AUGUST 27TH FOR 3 MONTHS TO TEACH ENGLISH TO THE MISSIONARIES AND PEOPLE WITHIN THE CHURCH!

 

So, like I just said I am here for 3 months to teach English to the missionaries.  The goal is for them to know 80% of English, so they can translate when there are teams that come that only speak English.  Many of them do not know enough English right now to be able to do this.  I would love to see them learn English and have the vocabulary and sentence structure to do so. 

 

Romania is definitely not the same it was when I was here before.  When I was here before, it was winter.  It was cold, maybe even colder than Wisconsin normally is.  It looked something like this:

 

Now it's completely different.  The streets are beautiful and even in terms of expectations, I expected things to be the same as they were with my team.  I don't know why I expected that, because I am here by myself doing ministry apart from the World Race.  However, I know understand why surrendering expectations is good.  Like you go-with-the-flow on the World Race and frankly, I want my life to be that way.  Thank you World Race for helping me get there!  Community wise, I expected it to be just like the World Race; it's not at all, however don't get me wrong.  The team of missionaries here is amazing!  I love each every one of them.  They are so encouraging and when I'm having a rough day, they are there to lift me up.  What I'm learning is that it's not easy being here.  Some days I feel like I'm bi-polar, because I have crazy high's and then really depressing lows, but I know I'm called here to speak into people. 

 

For the first week of being here, I kept on asking God why I was here.  What seemed like the overarching response was to teach English.  But the more and more I sat with Papa discussing what I'm to do, the more He kept revealing "use your voice."  See when I speak, stuff happens.  I see results not necessarily immediately, but fairly quickly.  So, I could either use my voice to declare praises or focus on where I don't feel good enough, where I'm frustrated and how I don't know if I'm called here long-term.  I know there's a reaction to everything I say.  But the more and more I reflect on what He's done within the last year, the more I see growth with my voice.  So what I am going to do is speak out truth over this place and see lives changed through encouragement.  Not many people here feel encouraged...it's the atmosphere of Romania.  This is not the way God wants it to be.  That's obvious...it's been one of my prayers that people would see the love of Jesus and can't help but attend a service where the church is preaching about the love of God.  Where they feel compelled to come to a Christian church and see it click that they are loved and that they would feel that love for the first time in their lives.  I want to look like a crazy pokeets "repenter" who doesn't care what others have to say.  I want it to be known that I love Jesus so much that I don't allow others to affect my relationship with Christ, only strengthen it.

 

 

These are just some of the really cool people I get to hang out with everyday:

 

I will tell you this is happening.  I'm mocked, I'm rejected and it's hard...however, I know I can't run away from my God and my Savior.  I know that it has been His plan for me to come back for this time to pour in to the people with an undistracted love.  i don't really know what's coming from day to day, but I do know that I'm called here.   So with me saying this, I am in need of support still.  I don't know what your pocketbook looks like right now or what you are currently facing, but I do know that if I don't have the support to stay here, I can't stay here for the full 3 months.  It's been a challenge to not worry about finances, but if God has called me here for 3 months, He's going to provide for it also.  That He is doing and is going to do through you.  So, please spend time in prayer asking the Lord what am I supposed to do.

 

As I've been here, God's been speaking a lot.  I feel like these past two weeks have actually been more like 1 month, because so much has happened.  God is teaching me a lot and revealing to me my calling and what that looks like.  It hurts my heart to see people who are living pretending that they are living for God, yet so distracted by the world's standards.  --Please sit down in prayer and ask the Lord for understanding of what Your call is.  What are you supposed to do for His Kingdom today?  Is it praying about a country in Africa or is it going over to your elderly next door neighbor and blessing her with a home-made cake?  I do not know and that's for God to reveal to you, but if you hear Him tell you something, do it.  Do not run away from His voice-ultimately, you can't.

 

Prayer Requests

1.  Support- *If you are interested in donating, you can either donate online at https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/2Knq4?psid=b8ebd717b89146e09da832b5809b4638&ref=nf

or...message me on this blog with your email address and i will send you the address where I can receive checks.

2.  Open hearts

3.  Open heart of mine to know when to speak and when not to.

 

I am praying for big things here and I ask you for you to partner alongside me in this!

 

One last picture!  This is where I'm staying :) 

So, yeah...this is Real.

Hello everybody! 

We here in Draganesti-Olt are in need of prayer.  Not just now, but always.  Like my last blog said, there are hardly any Christians here and to be a Christian in Olt County is very trying and hard.  However, God never said it would be easy, but well worth it.

Prayer requests:

• Protection-Please pray for protection over the missionaries.  They are physically safe, but they aren't respected the way missionaries are in the Western Christian World.  They are mocked occasionally and rejected quite often.
• PRAY PRAY PRAY that they would see fruit of their labor.  There has been a couple baptisms in the last few weeks and this has brought much encouragement to the missionaries.
• Pray for their outreaches.  That these blind eyes would be caught off guard, as they do not know where else to look but to those who love upon them regardless of their pasts.
• Hope Church-This is where I'm working with.  Hope Church is the largest church of the ministry based in Draganesti-Olt, but there are many church planters on the missions team all throughout the country.  There are many programs with Hope Church and we just need help with workers.  We need people to come and be and the hands and feet of Christ.
• Renewed Strength-I've only been here less than a week and I'm getting tired.  The spiritual atmosphere here is exhausting and it's hitting me already!  I need YOU to pray for strength in my bones to carry out what God has called me here to do.  I know I've been called here for the next 3 months, but there have been moments where I question why I am here.
• Pray that God would give me vision for what to do here and what that looks like
• Pray for my Romanian!  I want to know Romanian so that I can understand and communicate efficiently with those I want to talk to.
• Boldness-The streets here are full of men and it's common in a small village like this to have lots of drunk men.  I'm not afraid of them or my safety, it's just when God gives me something to speak, that I would do that trusting that God will speak to them in their language.  It wouldn't be the first time He has done this with me.
• Support-I still need close to $1000 more to be fully funded for this trip.  Please pray about contributing, as I am called here for these next few months!

Please send me a message as to how I can be praying for you!   --Rachel