Romania Recap and Life Updates

It’s been two months since standing in Romania and I haven’t had a chance to catch my breath since returning. I finally found a window of time to sit down and reflect on my trip with you and share how my heart was affected by working with refugees just a few hours from the Ukrainian border. 

First of all, if you haven’t seen the Netflix documentary Winter On Fire and care to know more about Ukraine’s recent history with Russia (2014), I highly recommend you find time this week to do that. 

At the point of me writing this, there have been 7.4 million refugees who have fled the country, and another 7.7 million internally displaced. My time in Romania—although only a week long—was more refreshing for my soul than I ever realized. Before moving forward I just want to thank everyone who donated to my trip. I severely underestimated the cost, so literally every single donation made a difference and enabled me to be able to do this. I’m serious when I say this would not have been possible without you and I am so grateful that you continue to send me over and over again. 

I cried in pure joy the first day we arrived because God surprised me with an alumni World Race team, with one of whom I actually knew from my time on World Race America. I cried because of how much I missed mission community life. It’s incomparable to any other way of life and it’s where I fully come alive and honestly thrive. 

For the week I was there, no new bus loads of Ukrainians came through. However, we did work with many Ukrainian families who had temporarily settled in Cluj, expecting to return to their homeland as soon as the war ends. I heard stories from families who have relatives back at home, fighting in combat. One man’s sister; another woman’s husband; a girl’s older brother and father. They showed me pictures of their relatives and pictures of their bombed houses. 

One beautiful thing about the organization I partnered with, A Jesus Mission, is how intimate the founders are involved in the entire process. Pierce and Jordan, along with their wives, were involved with every step in onboarding new volunteers. Diana sat us down and gave us a brief outline of working with people with fresh trauma, what to expect and how to respond. I was extremely grateful how they wanted to steward well the hearts of those in their care, and making sure every volunteer would be equipped to do the same. 

One of my highlights was the daily kids ministry. The most impactful part being the artwork drawn by the kids. Art therapy for kids is a vital avenue to address trauma and it was evident these kids were willing to address their pain. Drawings of swords, houses on fire, dead family members…but also hearts with flags representing Romania and Ukraine. It was truly something that deserves a spot in a museum one day. The other highlight was taking three of the girls to the mall to buy them all new outfits. They came in with nearly the same clothes everyday and we wanted them to feel new. They girls absolutely loved trying on clothes and having the dignity to pick out what they liked and felt like was their style. In google translate, one of the girls wrote us in Russian that this was her favorite/best day since leaving Ukraine. Oh my heart!

So many of the volunteers gave away their talents and gifts to serve the refugee community. One woman bought professional salon scissors to give all the families haircuts. One afternoon she spend two hours on her feet cutting over 11 people’s hair. Others learned how to drive stick shift on giant cargo vans just to deliver supplies into Ukraine days later.

Which brings me to the most impactful part of my entire trip. And that was the willingness of the other volunteers. Some of these drivers were as young as 20/21 years old. Specifically, we sent off two of the guys staying in our mission house and greeted them when they returned four days later. Before they left I remember one sharing Matthew 16:25 that “whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Some of them made calls back home just in case the worse case scenario happened. They were counting the cost of following Jesus. When they got back we sat down, hearing stories of how they stopped only twice in 10 hours of driving because it’s very dangerous to pull over the side of the (already destroyed) roads. Many of the fields have hidden bombs and they saw signs everywhere cautioning live minefields. When they arrived at their destination north of Kyiv to drop off food, they were greeted by the locals with “thank you for not being afraid to come into our country” with tears in their eyes. 

I had such a wrestling in me. 

As much as I know my family would hate the idea, I actually had a fire lit inside me.

Send Me! I’m willing, I want to go.

I knew my time there was too short to be able to have the opportunity. But if I were there longer… would I? I think I would. And that’s a scary thought. How far am I willing to go for those God calls me to? To go to the places many won’t… where the laborer are few but the harvest is plenty. Where the donations are plenty but the deliverers are few. What’s the point in donating if it never reaches them? Behind every donation are hands delivering, be it few. 

The entire reason I’m here in Barcelona to study is to see where I fit into the big picture of refugee work. There are so many angles one can take on this issue: policy, immigration, processing systems, NGO work, language and cultural integration, the list goes on and on. All I know is I want to make a macro impact and I feel more and more drawn to the frontlines. I’m still not sure what that looks like. But it seems clearer after my trip to Romania. 

Which leads me to my last updates. 

The reason it’s taken me this long to write is because I am absolutely slammed between studies and working. With the two I am easily occupied 6 full days a week, while somehow squeezing in time to lead a bible study group and be involved with the young adults at my church. The Lord is opening up some exciting opportunities for me to lead in new ways this Fall with coordinating/leading teachings as well as outreach.

The Lord had declared this my season of abundant ministry and I am so eager to watch that unfold. Most notably, ministry has come about in hosting a handful of Christian missionary girls who come through Barcelona to work with the YWAM base. I am good friends with the hospitality coordinator because I lived with her my first month moving here. So she coordinated with me to host…and now we’ve had our back room booked from April through July! This has brought me so much life and joy in ways I truly cannot explain. So may strangers have hosted me around the world to have a safe and stable place amidst a foreign country. Now I get to do the same for others, and have even found opportunities to disciple these younger girls in their early/mid twenties. I have been incredibly blessed by each and every one of them, and I thank God for my time with them.

I have just over one week left until I submit my final papers for the second semester. I don’t think I ever realized how much I would be sacrificing to pursue school, especially in regards to free time. My prayer request would be for my peace of mind and to trust the Lord in every single aspect of my life, especially finances. I can honestly say this has been the most mentally stressful season ever. I am super grateful for the life-long friendships I’ve made here, and to be in a position where I feel the most spiritually and emotionally healthy in my entire life. I’ve been to a wedding and a baby shower in just the 9 months that I’ve been here! But school, work and very minimal free time has sucked the life out of me in many regards. The three months summer break will be a much anticipated reset for me before starting again in the fall. 

Thank you again for your support, prayers, love and encouragement. I appreciate, once again, your desire to follow my journey and intercede on my behalf. Please let me know how I can be praying for you as well <3

-Erica

 

P.S. Here are some pictures of my time in Romania 

 

^ The drivers into Ukraine during our week there

 

^ Mall shopping with two Ukrainian sisters

 

^ Checkout for clothes the girls picked out

 

^ Bulk supply shopping to fill up the vans going into Ukraine

 

^ One of the four vans to bring the kids back after the daily program

 

^ Haircuts from one of our wonderful volunteers

 

^ Easter celebration, face painting with the kids

 

> Photos of kids drawings representing their pain and experiences leaving Ukraine