(really excited about fall…)
I have an inkling (I like that word) that God is going to teach me a lot here at Debrief this week, so I’m thinking of posting a daily blog from now until the 12th telling you all what He’s up to. I also want to catch you up on some things He’s been doing in my heart lately… so here goes. Some travel info and soon, some God stuff!
First, I obviously got to Romania safely. But it was an interesting ride to say the least.
You know you’re on The World Race when your bus pulls up to a border, and everyone
on the bus thinks it’s Macedonia, but the sign says, “WELCOME TO KOSOVO.”
Oops.
Then, you figure since you’re driving through Kosovo, you’ll hit Serbia next. So the
border is reached, and instead Serbia, you’re entering Macedonia. Check out a
European map to see how much sense that makes (not much, in case you’re wondering.)
Then…
We hit Bulgaria, and are enamored by how much it looks like a mix between Fiddler on the Roof and… Ohio. Really. It’s quite lovely.
FINALLY, we enter Romania, in full blown colorful Autumn (quite a surprise after expecting ugly winter.) So here I sit, in Bucharest, after a day of playing in the leaves and searching for Starbucks.
Welcome to The World Race. 5 countries in 21 hours. Love it.
Not kidding… really REALLY excited about fall.
This is how desperate World Racers are for Starbucks. We left our hostel at 9:30am sharp. Walked around for about a half hour, couldn’t find any Starbucks. Some people gave up, but there were a few of us crazies who kept searching. We walked for another half hour, found a mall, and it did not have Starbucks. So we took a taxi to another mall, and it also did not have Starbucks. The security guard told us “THERE ARE NO STARBUCKS IN ROMANIA.” And I promptly told him he was wrong. Oops, haha. So we got in ANOTHER taxi, went to a third mall, and PRAISE JESUS it was there. We jumped up and down. By the way, we don’t speak any Romanian, so we are now fluent in Starbucks Sign Language. We may or may not have made a video 😉
Fortunately, the taxis cost a grand total of about five bucks, and a latte was about the same. It sounds SO trivial, but sitting in Starbucks with a few of the girls, sipping a mocha coconut latte, journaling, talking about the Lord, and listening to Christmas music was SO refreshing. I got to talk to Kayla and Sam about things like freedom in Christ, being a daughter of God, and balance in lifestyle and ministry. It was so so good.
There’s so much I’m learning about all those things, and I can’t wait to share with you all. The World Race has a Month 4 Debrief, a Month 8 Debrief, and a Final Month 11 Debrief. These are times when we spend time together as teams, they fly out World Race Staff to encourage us, check in on us, process with us, etc. There are speakers, worship times, and rest. On the 12th, we’ll head to Oradea. I believe it’s a 12 hour train ride. Anyway, more blogs to come 🙂 God’s up to some cool stuff!
Really REALLY love Autumn.
The beginning of team debrief 🙂
Team Cherished Flame loves you all 🙂
We’ll keep you updated on what God teaches us this week!
why are you so cute?!?! LOVE YOU!
Amanda is right, you’re adorable. You have that God glow thing going on — you look so happy and healthy — praying for you right now. LorZor:)
I really, really love you girls. What a beautiful blog!!
Look at your first picture: How is it that it’s month five and you are so beautiful and perfectly color-coordinated living out of a back pack? I’m safe and secure in my home and it takes a good 90 minutes to try to look half as good as you do! I concur – it’s the God-glow going on!!! Praying for you!