Last month we were in Romania, HENCE the title of this blog ; p. I'm a dork.
Anyway, it WAS AMAZING! I liked the ministry but I think what really captured my heart by this place was the people. They brought us in and made us feel like family. It really challenged me to think about how I welcome new people around me at home, because honestly, it makes or break an experience.
PHOTO BLOG to sum it up…. starting with a picture of the train I fell off of and got stuck in four feet of snow… my grand entrance… one of a kind.
moving right along… here is where we were-
Last time I was in Romania, I was in Lipova and this time I was more south. When we would tell people where we were staying everyone from the North would ask us, WHY?! Apparently, it is not a popular place to be. Even the train workers would shake their heads at us. It is strange because the repuataion of the people in this area is not good. Where's a better place to start a ministry then, right?! SO our contacts are winning this village over to the Lord. Thanks to Pastor Raul for stepping out in faith 8 years ago and now has an amazing established group of missionaries from Canada, Germany, and Romania.
Task number one: GET WARM! IT WAS FREEZING when we first got there so of course, like World Race style, we found the closest secondhand store…conviently a block away. Thanks God. We picked up some real gems there.
So the quality of this picture is bad, really bad. But I needed to put it in for a few reasons. One, look at my outfit… haha, That cold ain't got nuthin on me!! Two, this box behind me is one the best inventions ever, besdies the microwave. THIS FOLKS is what I liked to call, "The coffee red box, where you don't have to return the coffee."
Ok, so it is a box, and you put 1 lei, .30 cent USD, and choose your poison, and that fresh (yes surprisingly fresh!) espresso and steamed milk come right out in under a minute. IT even comes with foam and a stir stick. Magical right?
ALL except… full of BPA, minor detail in my opinon.
This is not just a once and awhile occurance photo op. In fact, this is the main form of transportation in Draganesti. Gas per gallon was like $9 USD.
Shoot, I'd be taking a house too if that was the case at home.
We did numerous things with Hope Church in Draganesti. It was nice to have freedom to choose. Whether, shoveling a freakishly massive amount of snow, logistics in the office, after school program, cleaning the church, Saturday kids program, kids club throughout the week, visiting widows, evangelism, or teaching english classes. On top of that, we had intercessory prayer every morning at 9 and each day we had a new couple in the ministry who would come and tell us their testimony, it truly made all the different. We were able to fully capture the vision of the ministry.
Here is some eye candy so you have a feel of my month.
This is a Bible Study Marian(thank her for 80% of my photos) and I lead with two of the ministry contacts, in a village called Coteana. We taught them a song and did a lesson on King Solomon.
This was the Saturday kids program Kristen and I were a part of during this month. We worked with a couple from Canada. Michelle, taught them how to cook and did Bible lessons with them. It is beautiful to see the love they see from her. I feel so blessed to have been able to be a part of it.
We worked with a lady named Dorthy, who is also from Canada. Once a month she takes food and supplies to windows in the area, so she invited us to go shopping with her and to their homes. Dorthy was just a joy to be around. I especially found my time precious with her because she reminded me so much of my amazing mama.
This is one of the widows we visited.
Rachel and I taught english class everyday at the church. Pastor Raul was excited to see some people attend that normally would not even set foot in the church. This ministry was really special to me. I can't explain the connection we both got with these guys, despite the language barrier. Many of them bought me flowers and gifts on my birthday, I was so humbled and felt so loved! (one more picture next)
We did many performances during morning and evening church services on Sunday. We did two skits, sang numerous songs, and shared testimonies.
You know, speaking in public is a lot easier when you have time to breath and think between translations.
Carboard testimony night at church. We all wrote a lie we used to believe about ourselves and then on the other side we wrote the truth Christ tells us. It was an amazing moment even for us all to reflect on our past and how God has redeemed us.
So the sad detail about our ministry is that about half of our contact felt week 2 because of a planned trip to the UK for fundraising. Although it was only week two, we were all crushed! SO we decided to honor them with a performance. In case you didn't know the famous youtube video- Numa Numa, is a Romania song, so we choregraphed the song with signs saying 'We will miss you!' and performed it for them with a dessert bar after. They were laughing so hard, so I think it was a success. (Numa video is progess for be on the look out)
This is Marian, his wife Andrea and the cutest child ever, Naomi. Every Sunday the church people would invite us over for lunch. It was a learning process because the first time I went to their house for dinner they served soup, but I didn't realize that the soup was a first course. Oops. Apparently that is how it works in Romania, good to know. We also got to meet Marian's mother, Mama Ana, who taught several of us how to cook Romanian meals such as sarmale(basically cabbage rolls) and ardei (stuffed peppers).
ROADTRIP to Brasov, Romania to see….
DRACULA'S CASTLE.
It was quite the experience, nice hostel, beautiful scenery, and to top it off, an actual car. It was so strange to be riding in something other than a big bus/train/plane/van. I LOVED IT! It made me remember back to when I drove myself around places, ohh the days.
These are some of the pictures on our crazy adventure! I also went to my first IKEA EVER, in Bucharest… it's like a candyland for adults.
LAST PART of this photo blog includes pictures from my Birthday!! (March 1st in case you did not know). It was amazing. I woke up to flowers and a computer right outside my door with a PUSH PLAY note. It was a wonderful video Jamie made me of my team now, Ruach and my old team, Nikao, saying why they love me. I cried. (See video below) OH! That was after Marian made me yummy crepes for breakfast in bed. My team decorated the ENTIRE house (which the house we were living in was an old bus station, so it was impressive). I had my name in huge letters in the kitchen, a beautiful sign that said, "He Delights in You." Beautiful tissue flowers hanging from windows and on the table.I told them my mom would have been so proud because she loves decorating for my birthday. Then all day, I kept getting small gifts and I would come home to cards and more decorations. It was amazing! Jamie also got my birthday dinner recipe from my mom and surprised me with it for dinner! Then Peter made my birthday cake.
P.S. all day on the first of March, men were giving women flowers because March is woman's month so everytime I walked around the town I was getting flowers, I just pretended that it was for my birthday! Here is a picture of me and some politcians that gave me a BIRTHDAY flower…. I wonder how they knew it my birthday?! : p
SORRY this blog was so long but I have had a hard time trying to explain Romania. From a month that I was not very excited about to one of my favorites thus far. It was really hard leaving everyone that last day at the train station with Mihi and Tavi dropping us off, that is for sure. Not to mention it made it physically hard to leave with all my winter clothes… my pack was 10 pounds heavier and I could barely fit through the train doors!
Bonus glimpse of my Birthday Video from my teams and a added extra of my actual Birthday.
