A Collision of Community and Countries

UKRAINE REFUGEES IN ROMANIA, PART 1

CRAIOVA, ROMANIA AND DOMOGLED-VALEA CERNEI NATIONAL PARK

The World Race is finishing out by serving in Romania helping refugees that are from Ukraine! M Squad is now in its last month, and I will be back in North Carolina by June 30. Isn’t that crazy! This trip has gone by so fast, but God has moved so much. Through the month of June, I am doing a three part series on this blog recounting personal experiences helping refugees from Ukraine. Please continue to pray over them as they journey to Western Europe. Furthermore, we have gotten a lot of people from Odesa (where team Dry Top Ramen and I served at in November / early December (https://bretthaas.theworldrace.org/post/coming-full-circle) . This has hit really close to home for me, but it has also made a sweet connection for ministering to many of the refugee families. God knows what He is doing!

We reached Craiova on May 13, and a couple of days later I found out that my team is helping with the transit home. How exciting is that! After being at the transit home (where refugees stay a few nights before going further into Europe) for a couple of weeks, this is what the run-down is like. We arrive there each afternoon to do laundry, clean the floors, and help make beds. When refugees come in, we help get their documentation and where they are going to arrive next. A lot of this ministry time is fairly relaxed, and we love chatting with those who are staying at the house. We have been served dinner multiple times, which is a special treat.

My team and I befriended one family who is staying at the home for a few weeks to get all necessary paperwork done. They have a couple small children, and very sweet parents. We had many conversations around the dinner table already, and we quickly found out that they are Christian. One of them has an old Bible, and we have looked at Scripture multiple times together. This family has lived in Ukraine and served in a church there. However, they have strong Armenian roots as well. This has caused us to talk about our time in Armenia, which has been very delightful to me.

I have to admit that it felt very weird being back in a “familiar” place on the World Race- especially as we start a new country each month. Yet as we began to serve, I knew down in my spirit that this is where the Lord led us. And He led us towards amazing Christian community as well. A lot of Alumni Racers and other missionaries are here helping with the ministry, along with friends from Hope Church that I met last year. In addition, two separate YWAM teams came for a visit. We loved connecting with them, and one of the teams (from England) helped organize a children’s event. Multiple Ukrainian families (including the one mentioned above) came to the event- filled with balloons, bubbles, dancing, and lots of other crazy stuff!

Ministry in Craiova is intense but also very filling. We have been working a lot to fill up vans for humanitarian aid deliveries into Ukraine. Our squad is also being put to work with admin duties. During our free time, we also take the Ukrainian refugees to the city center to explore Craiova! And Craiova would not be Craiova without lots of Jesus- filled evangelism and Romanian youth ministry. Teams have been regularly reaching out to youth in the city and visiting the marketplace. The Saturday night youth event is one of the highlights of the week, and we have also taken Ukrainians to it as well.

During the second weekend we were there, I went with three Romanian guys out to the mountains to hike. We went to Parcul Na?ional Domogled-Valea Cernei, which is located in western Romania. The drive along the Danube to get there was gorgeous, opening up to beautiful views with Serbia on the opposite side of the river Bank. The hike had us climbing up a gorge to a forested mountain peak. Along the way, we passed through jaw-dropping views, a waterfall with an old mill, and met a shepherd who lives seasonally off the grid. Our group had fresh cheese and gain paste for lunch- a hearty diet for the mountains. God opened the door to have faith conversations also, and it was terrific to get to pour into these three men. Thermal pools at the end of our hike relaxed our bodies and rejuvenated us for the road home.

During the first twelve days of ministry, we served with L Squad. They are an all-girls squad that launched at the same time that we (M Squad) did. This was a sweet blessing from the Lord as we got to build friendships with them and hear about various testimonies from their route. They served in Central America, South America, and Africa before coming here to Romania to serve. I call this time the “handing off the baton”. They were here a few weeks before we arrived, and they showed us the ropes of ministering to the Ukrainians. They were extremely helpful in the transit house with getting our team established to effectively manage it. We had many great evenings of dinner, fun conversations, and getting to talk about the Lord with each other. Right now, they are starting their last World Race month in Greece. Please pray for them, and we will see them again at Final Debrief in Gainesville, GA at the end of June!

Thank you again for praying over this journey, and it’s just about to wrap up. Yet it’s going to go out with a bang as the World Race season closes out. Stay tuned!