Chadyr-Lunga, Moldova: Current Location and country number 2 on the list of 11.
The power behind a simple act of kindness has the capability to leave lasting foot prints of love on the hearts of many. Mother Teresa once said that we cannot all do great things but we can all do small things with GREAT love. My fellow teammate Daniella Romo has exemplified this, this past week.
This month we are living with a pastor, his six children and his beautiful wife. Day in and day out the mother of this home creates an atmosphere of love and compassion through self-sacrifice. She is the cohesive ingredient that holds this family together. She toils for hours in the kitchen creating homemade meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She accomplishes all of the tasks that need to be done in the home and on the farm. She is a rock of strength and a beacon of hope for her family. She nurtures and invests in each child. The list of positive qualities this woman embodies would be extensive and words would not do her justice. To my teammate Daniella, gifting our host mother with a bouquet of yellow flowers, a simple yet affectionate gesture, seemed the most appropriate way to honor this woman for her heart.
On our journey home to deliver the gift we bought for our mother, Daniella took notice of the downtrodden women that loitered the streets of Chadyr-Lunga. Her heart was overcome with the desire to give a token of joy to each woman she saw, in the hope of brightening their day. A flower was picked and handed to nearly 10 different women. Many of the people in this town suffer from oppression, hopelessness and depression, however, in the moments those women received a flower, their spirits radiated joy and freedom.
We live in a world that is hungry both spiritually and materially. We are people hungry for love, for hope, for peace, for food, for resources and for restoration. It is easy to serve the poor but it is a challenge to serve those within our own homes. We must be instruments of change so that we can pour out genuine love to our neighbors, to the poor, and most of all to our family members.
I can’t tell you Her name or Her age or what makes Her happy or where she came from or anything she said to me for that matter. In fact I could count more things that made us different than similar. The truth is I was mesmerized and somewhat infatuated with the beauty and love that radiated from the spirit of the little Romanian girl I met.
It was our first Saturday in Romania and our first time meeting the orphans that live on the farm we are staying on. Most of these children come from broken homes and lifestyles, yet through all their struggles manage to appear joyful and content.
Naturally, I carried out my typical routine of engaging the children in games such as soccer, jump rope, tag, duck duck goose, etc. From the moment the Romanian girl and I met, we instantaneously bonded. We played to the point of exhaustion. I could see in her eyes that she was not done with me yet, so we galloped over to the jungle gym where we played cat and mouse, chasing one another up and down the swing set.
As I frantically tried to get up the wood ramp, which leads to the fort, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my hand. When I looked down I saw a long skinny splinter underneath the surface of my hand. I stopped playing in order to try and ease my discomfort by digging out the splinter.
My little friend immediately ran to my side to see what had drained my energetic spirit. Once she assessed the situation she grabbed my hand from me and went to town pushing, and peeling away my skin to retrieve the foreign object that had made itself a home in my tender hand. I fidgeted in pain but she pressed on. My hand started to bleed the deeper she pried away my skin, but that didn’t seem to phase her. Her compassion for me was a blanket of comfort.
The picture I had painted of the day earlier that morning ended up looking a little different. I thought I would bring joy, comfort, and love to orphans that had nothing but a broken past; that I would take care of those starving for affection and hope.
In reality the only person taken care of that day was ME. Both my hand and heart were touched by this young girl. I learned that love has no limits. Love is a universal language, spoken and understood regardless of cultural or personal differences. She loved and cared for me with all her heart, even though her heart was in pieces.
The travel plans I depicted in my previous blog couldn’t be farther from accurate. I am in utter shock at the adventures I have had thus far. Uncertainty has become the only constant in the reality I now live in.
My journey to Romania began at 3:45 am Friday, September 9th. A bus picked us up in the early hours of the morning and delivered us to the train station, where we then traveled to the Atlanta Airport for our 9:00am flight to New York City.
Our flight into JFK was a success, however the news of our 8 hour layover brought a wave of discomfort and aggravation. We wandered aimlessly throughout the airport in hopes to help pass the time, but it seemed as though time was stuck, like on a broken clock.
At 9:15pm I observed from a far as people began boarding the plane to Poland, it reminded me much of how cows are herded into a cattle car, for there was a sense of uneasiness and chaos. I had just hung up the phone with my mom and the only thought on my mind was to RUN as FAR and as FAST from gate 83 as humanly possible.
The message to run was never delivered to my feet, so forward I went on to the plane. The 9 hour flight to Poland was exceptionally boring, I would like to note that I gave up my aisle seat to a fellow team member in exchange for a very luxurious and comfortable middle seat, where I was sandwiched between two people (sarcasm).
Once we arrived to Poland we were notified that we had missed our connecting flight to Romania so once again we had another layover, this time only 6 hours. We were rerouted to Munich, Germany, where we sprinted to catch our flight to Romania.
I thought once we had to touched ground in Romania our travel plans would come to a close but that was not in the stars for us. We continued to travel via train and bus for another 20 hours.
In total we spent over 3 days traveling with little sleep and no showers, you can imagine how we felt and smelt!
Although our itinerary was very hectic I had the opportunity to enjoy good conversations with new friends and more importantly was able to observe the diversity of people and cultures we encountered in our travels.
Thus far I can say Romania is filled with beautiful and exquisite faces but it is apparent that history has left its mark on this country. The cities are in poor conditions and the people are cold and emotionless. Poverty is rampant among the people in this nation! There is much to learn from this culture and I intended to soak up all the information I can like a sponge.
How do you measure the life of a woman or man?
In laughter and strife?
In truth learned?
In successes and failures?
The reality is that life cannot be simplified to a method of measurement, for it is a journey; and it is our feet that carry us and our hearts that guide us. Can my ordinary size 8 shoes reveal where I have been? Or where I am going? At 3:45am my feet will take their first steps out of who I was and step into who I am going to become! T
he travel itinerary:
4:45 am train to Atlanta
9:00am flight to NYC
6:00 pm flight to Poland... To be continued when I find out more info.
"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."
Nervous? A little. Excited? Quite. Anxious? Definitely.
Talking and dreaming now confronts the hard reality of going and doing.
Am I ready? Can I do it? With the help and grace of God I will leave the safe and secure, and go where there is need and despair.
So on an adventure I will go. September 6th rapidly approaches and the realities of the world wait to be confronted.
Moldova Romania Nepal India Tanzania Uganda Rwanda Thailand Cambodia Challange: Asia
Malaysia
I want to be an advocate for positive, tangible change in this world. My fellow world racers and I will be serving in various communities around the world to bring hope and transformation.
As I prepare to embark on this journey for the next year of my life, I have come to realize that courage, faith, determination, and love are the key ingredients for success!
