Ahh I am just loving Romania! The fresh air, the land, the peace that just surrounds this place!
This month Jory, Weston and I are traveling together to each of our teams that are spread through the country of Romania. So far we have visited two teams in the past 2 weeks and have 2 to go with a final stop in Brasov for Debrief. We started in Bucharest, the capital of Romania with Bill and Melina’s teams at Casa Shalom. There we were greeted by Becky their contact and completely blessed with comfy beds, great food and even a trampoline! We jumped into the action with both teams! Whether it was painting, cleaning, blowing up balloons, going to church, hanging out and playing cards with the girls or washing dishes we were all over the place! We had an awesome time making cornbread one night (not by the recipe might I add) in their incredible state of the art kitchen – loved it! Casa Shalom was paradise in the city, but this country girl was ready to get out of the city and back home where she belonged. . .out with the cows and green grass!
Our next stop was out to Viile Tecci in Northern Romania (where we are now) to join Brad and Kelsi’s team. Ah melt my heart this place is absolutely beautiful! The rolling hills and the greener than green fields speckled with cows, sheep, and wild pigs. Horse and buggies driven by the gypsy men and their sons packed with families or workers. It is a breath of fresh air to be out here in nature, on the farm with the gypsies! Yep we are loving and living with amazing gypsys and I am falling more and more in love with them each day. Its hard to believe that a group of people could be so disliked and so looked down upon.
We are living at Pastor Sandu’s house who we so lovingly call Tata (father in Romanian) with his wife and three sons, BUT it doesn’t stop there… everyday like clockwork we are joined by his two other daughters, their husbands, their children, his brother and their family and numerous other family and friends. Family is a pretty big deal here and they love on each other with full force! Its sad to think that I would probably get so sick of my family if they were in my hair everyday. . .but now I see it as a blessing, especially seeing how much they love each other. We have gotten to be a part of many activities since we have been here such as taking walks, playing in the lake, shoveling gravel and sand, pouring cement for a pig house, worshipping and preaching at church services, trips to the flea market, watching the World Cup, playing with the kids and eating TONS of amazing home cooked Romanian food! Stuffed cabbage rolls tonight. . . traditional meal. . . OHH WOW! Tomorrow we will be joining the teams to go into the city of Bistrita to do some painting at a church – Romanian style!
Jory, Weston and I will head out Tuesday for our next destination with Matthew and Bethany’s teams. More to come so keep checking back…
For fun I want to leave you with a video that Sydnee Mela made! It’s awesome and totally captures life up here in Viile Tecci!
