Happy New Year! Here’s a quick update from life overseas as a missionary gal in Romania… soon to be Albania! A glimpse into a few stories and some of the many pictures I got to capture recently on the field!
In case you have no idea what I’ve been up to for the past two months, I’ll fill you in real quick! Here’s a look at what life as a missionary on The World Race has looked like for me in my current location: Craiova, Romania!
First of all, meet our ministry host! We are currently partnering alongside a local family here in Craiova who pastor Hope Church. Each week they make room for children’s and youth ministry, english classes, Bible studies, discipleship, and Sunday services open to the community. They also pour into young adults through a program called E2E (Equipped to Equip) equipping believers who desire to be short or long term missionaries.
As for where I come in… first off let’s talk, youth! Most of our first month in Romania was centered around youth. Each day we would have an opportunity to pass out flyers in the city inviting youth and young adults to a weekly event called Echo. Echo includes a time of games, worship, fellowship, and short testimony or Bible teaching. During our daily time on the streets our hope was to make new friends and learn about their culture, family, and beliefs. I got to meet some really sweet friends while doing this, it has been a blessing to get to know them and I will miss them very much.
Another weekly event I got to help out at was English class! Each week myself and another member on my squad would prepare an English lesson, game or activity, and Bible lesson for our students (adults). Since December is the season of Christmas, we spent the month reading a section of the story of Jesus’ birth each week and learning the song “Joy to the World” in English. Our last English class was topped off learning a skit to perform at church the next Sunday of the nativity scene. While it was fun getting to know my students each week, one of my teammates and I had a special opportunity to learn more about one of them more intentionally. It was beautiful to see how similar our stories were to one another. We got to hang out at coffee shops, get dinner together, and go to the national park! It was fun getting to know her and adventure with her.
Something fun to spice it up… coffee! You may already know but I don’t really like coffee (unless it’s fake and contains mostly sugar). On some days we would go out and venture to coffee shops for some time alone or to just hang out and chat. After about a month of being here I was told a local coffee shop, had really great tea. I love tea! After going there with a friend, I fell in love with their tea and it soon became my top spot to chill. The coffee shop was a sweet place to be during the holidays, Christmas music played in the background, it was decorated beautifully, and after making it a norm in my routine, the baristas soon became my friends. I really enjoyed getting to know two of the baristas, it was one of my favorite things to just pop by and say hi and grab a cup of tea. One day I even got to venture with them to another coffee shop to sit down and have deeper conversations with them, share my heart out with them, and just sit and laugh for a few hours. It was such a good time, these friends will be dearly missed. They made Romania a sweet and special place!
Outside of our weekly routine, December was also filled with shoe box ministry! If you’re familiar with Operation Christmas Child in the United States, it’s a similar concept where we receive donated shoe boxes filled with some necessities and treats for children. The hope is that by blessing the child with a shoe box they will see the ultimate gift of Jesus. Each time we met up to deliver these boxes we would sing some carols, share a short Gospel story, and pray with the kids. We also had hundreds of games, Bibles, calendars, devotionals, and other related things that we passed out on the streets during the month of December as we Christmas caroled. It was sweet to get to spread a little of the Christmas story with locals each day/night.
There’s so many more stories to tell but to keep this blog quick and sweet the last will be told through some photos and short captions! Thanks for taking the time to hear about how life in Romania is going for me! On January 7th my squad and I will load up on a bus bright and early for a 20 hour travel “day” to Albania! I’m excited for what is next to come!
Here’s a few more pictures and captions from sweet moments in Romania.❤️
Christmas caroling at one of the locations we did shoe box ministry and out on the streets! Our squad even learned one song entirely in Romanian!
One of our sweet Romanian friends we met out and about one day! One of the times we hung out we even got to ride the Ferris wheel! It was fun.
Christmas Day with my squad! Opened stockings, exchanged Secret Santa gifts, and got to eat homemade breakfast and dinner together.
Got to call my family and my Grandma on Christmas Day! Thankful for this moment since our days are usually very busy and the time difference makes availability hard.
Elora and I (worship coordinators for our squad) got to put together a nonstop 12 hour event of prayer and worship! This was something we had been hoping and praying to do since getting to Romania.
The stadium! For 7 days straight we prayer walked around this stadium 7 times each day. Equivalent to about 3.5 miles. Ask me more about this, God did some incredible things!
Unfortunately my physical health had not been the best in Romania. I saw a doctor after a couple weeks of mild symptoms that worsened, got meds, was diagnosed with a sinus infection that led to bronchitis, saw an ENT, got more meds, had some stomach issues, and experienced two intense migraines. I’m doing great as I write this today though! PTL!
We spent New Years Eve hanging out with the youth from 7pm until almost 3am. It was a long night but it was fun to have the squad together! These pics are from where thousands crowded on the streets to watch fireworks and a concert!
Oh! And my squad made a War Room in our house! This is where we go to pray intentionally for our family/friends back home, our local ministry/country, the nations, our squad, our future, and to celebrate the victories and praise God for what He has done!
Last but not least, the last couple weeks have been surprisingly sunny with clearer skies! I have LOVED this. I am a little obsessed with how amazing Gods creation is in the work of the skies!!
That’s all for now though! Happy New Years to you and your family! In just a few days I will be packed up again and off to the third country of my journey on The World Race! Time is flying by! Would love to hear from you! If you have questions about my journey, about different ways God has been moving, or what you would love to hear about in another blog let me know!
Love y’all!!
Ashley💕
ps- I have not had my US SIM card in my phone so if you have tried to reach me there I won’t know. Send me a message on here, Instagram, Facebook, or WhatsApp to stay in touch!
