A Day In The Life (Ministry Edition)

“Quarantine!?” The kind man at customs matched my confusion over the slip of paper I was given at the airport declaring that I would need to quarantine for the first couple of weeks of my time in Romania. He looked back and forth between my passport and a list of something I couldn’t see inside his booth. He got up and walked over to another customs officer speaking to him in Romanian. I had no idea what they were saying but I was hoping they would override the quarantine slip and tell me I was fine. 

That was my expectation because I was told before flying to Romania that there were no restrictions in Romania regarding covid. I was excited to finally jump into a ministry that resembles the pre-covid norms. Yet, when we got to the airport in Bucharest, we were guided over to a table of medical professionals who asked us a series of questions about covid… “are you vaccinated?” “Have you had the disease in the past 6 months?” “Do you have proof of recovering from the virus?” If I had known that simply having a picture of my positive test from last month in edition to my most recent negative test would keep me from a mandatory quarantine, I would have been prepared with it. 

I wasn’t. My expectation was that I wouldn’t need it. My expectation was that clearing customs would be as simple as handing over my passport and getting it stamped. My expectation was that I wouldn’t even need to provide a negative covid test to get into the country. My expectations went completely unmet. The next few days were a string of unmet expectations. 

Our incredible host (Raul) also had the expectation that a quarantine was not necessary. We all came from “green” countries meaning we should have been fine to jump straight into ministry. He decided we would send an email to the government with lots of our information and be fine to not be in quarantine. That email was responded with the police showing up at our house and the government telling us that our claims weren’t valid and we would need to adhere to the quarantine. 

So, rather than taking our adventure and sabbath days to get used to the city and rest before starting ministry today (Monday), we were stuck in the house only allowed to leave for food that we would bring straight back to the house. We were told it would probably only be for a couple of days. Raul was working hard to get us out of this quarantine. I expected to be cleared and be able to start ministry today.

Late last night we got a message saying the quarantine situation still had not be resolved and we would be staying at the house to do ministry. In the morning we did prayer and intercession and it was a wonderful time. We worshipped with our hosts wife, his son and his sons classmate from seminary. We prayed over the ministry we are partnering with and all the projects they have. We prayed over the city and the country. We prayed over our hosts family and we prayed over each other. 

After our morning ministry and lunch time break, I had been told that because I found my proof of recovering from covid I would be able to go to the church for afternoon ministry with the group that doesn’t have to quarantine. A minute before we were supposed to leave for the church, I was informed that the plan changed yet again. I hadn’t yet emailed my proof of recovery to the government so I still was not released from quarantine. Therefore, I would be staying at the house for afternoon ministry. 

If the events of the past 4 days in Romania doesn’t sum up what a typical day on the World Race looks like then I don’t know what does. The past 4 days have been defined by unmet expectations. More importantly, the past 4 days have been defined by God showing up and bringing good things out of unmet expectations. On the World Race, you never really know what a day will look like. You can have a plan that covers every hour of the day and when the day is over you will realize it looked entirely different than what you planned. 

You’ll realize that when the Bible tells us we can’t plan what we will do for a year because only God knows what tomorrow may even hold, it’s 100% truth (James 4:13-14). You will realize that nobody can change God’s plans and He works all things together for good. THAT is a day in the life on the World Race; trusting God and following wherever He leads (especially when it’s different than you own plan) 

Blessings, 

Kaci 

P.S. Romania is beautiful and I can’t wait to be out of quarantine and in the city!