If last week was about being fluid in ministry, this week was about just working hard and building relationships. Our time at the Jubilee girl’s home has consisted of 2 tasks. The first is simply spending time with the girls, getting to know them, letting them get to know us, and love on them the best we can. While this is a fun process, it can also be quite draining as some of the girls love constant attention and others are much more challenging to connect with. Often times getting out the guitar or ukulele brings them together and we sing various Christian songs. Some times its teaching them how to play volleyball or playing soccer with them. A couple days ago, I suggested that we try reading them a Bible story, and it went over well… thanks to our wonderful 12 yr old translator, Maria… who is one of the kids who grew up at Casa Shalom that I’ve befriended. picture of Maria ->
On that subject, one of the great things about having some of the kids learn English and be translators, is that they are exposed to sermons, testimonies, Bible stories, etc in a way they might not otherwise be if they didn’t have to translate. It seems that this has instilled in them a spiritual maturity that kids their age might not otherwise have. But don’t worry, they’re still kids in every sense of the word.
Kindness of a stranger: Heres a cool side story… on the way to the JFK airport from Newark NJ, there was a nice lady on our shuttle bus who we struck up a conversation. My friend and I told her about our 11 month missions and how our first ministry is at this girls home. She felt compelled and was kind enough to reach into her wallet and give me some money to spend on the girls. Well, my team and I were talking this week about how nice it would be if we had some fun activities to do with the girls… such as sidewalk chalk, painting, face-painting, and other games… but we are grossly over budget here and have no extra money to spend on supplies. At that time, I remember the money this kind stranger gave me and now we were able to go to the Romania version of Wal-Mart and get some great supplies to help with ministry next week!
The other way my team is serving the Jubilee home is by helping them renovate a guest house that has been vacant for the last few years. The idea here, as I understand it, is that for other mission teams to come and serve at Jubilee in the future, they would need to have a place to stay, just as our team is living at Casa Shalom’s dormitories. In essence, we are helping lay the foundation for future ministry to take place at Jubilee. This is backbreaking work, but my team has been more then up for the challenge. We were faced with such tasks as hacking down weeds 3-4 feet tall with a large scythe (tool the grim reaper carries) and some hoes. There was also some painting, scraping paint off floors, and other indoor jobs. Just about every other day this week, we worked either at the girl’s home or the guest house. More pictures are posted on facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=3405961&v=photos
Sermon update from last week: Well, from the feedback I received, it couldn’t have gone better with 1 days notice and preparation. The message seemed to speak to our team as much as it did the congregation; I spoke on how God gives us sometimes seemingly crazy answers that usually don’t make any logical sense at the time, but we must respond in faith. It was a little tricky at first getting used to having a translator, but after a bit we got in to a pretty good flow. There are also pictures on facebook of this experience. Its quite humbling to see how draining it is to prepare and give a sermon. I think of my pastors back home, and even moreso in San Diego who do 5 services on Sunday! New respect for those guys, for sure!
Less official business: Mosquito net for my face has been working at night, but somehow those buggers are finding other opportunities to get me on my arms and legs. Though its much better than having one smack dab in the middle of my forehead. The food has been excellent at Casa Shalom. I’m always impressed and very full at the end of every dinner. My favorite so far has been stuffed peppers filled with meat and some veggies…similar to a chile releno, and also this vegetable soup with spare ribs in them. Its hard for me to write this at the moment as we are fasting for the weekend as a team.
Weather has been bi-polar… actually, kind of like Hawaii. Its sunny warm, and a bit humid on some days, but then thunder storms and momentary rain will come and go. Definitely had some liquid sunshine the other day.
Ok, thats about all for now. Love hearing from you guys, drop me a note on the blog, facebook, or email.
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On that subject, one of the great things about having some of the kids learn English and be translators, is that they are exposed to sermons, testimonies, Bible stories, etc in a way they might not otherwise be if they didn’t have to translate. It seems that this has instilled in them a spiritual maturity that kids their age might not otherwise have. But don’t worry, they’re still kids in every sense of the word.
There was also some painting, scraping paint off floors, and other indoor jobs. Just about every other day this week, we worked either at the girl’s home or the guest house. More pictures are posted on facebook. 
