Archive for June 2008

afterthoughts

i will post my after romania thoughts later and photos...when i am feeling less sleepy.

Update #9: Friday, June 27

During our time of team training at CBU, we were able to watch a
documentary on the street kids of Bucharest. It was a difficult film to watch... we were all really moved by it. Tonight we were on our way home from our last dinner here and as we were crossing the street, I
noticed this girl in front of me. She looked very familiar even though I was able to tell that she was a  street kid. As we got closer she walked up to a couple women and started begging. When they sent her
away I saw her face and I recognized her! She was the young girl from the documentary! I know it sounds completely crazy but when Michelle and Ashley noticed her without me saying a word, that was enough
confirmation for me. It was so insane seeing her on the street and knowing she is still there. We were not sure what to make of it but we know we will be praying for her...  we wake up at 3 in the morning so good night and see you soon. Pray for our journey home!

Update #8: Friday, June 27

It is now Friday and we will be leaving for the airport tomorrow morning at 5 am. I can't believe our three weeks here have gone by so quickly and that in just a few hours we will be sitting on a plane that will be heading to the States.  his past week has been great. Monday we experienced something special her in Bucharest... the Hard Rock Cafe. It was a really great time getting to see the Family that went up to camp with us before they left. And the place was amazing! On Tuesday we were able to go back to the same orphanage we have been going to. The kids were so excited to see us and we were excited to see them as well! We made beaded bracelets that day and that was an adventure but in the end, they all had neat bracelets to call their own. The boys told the story of Jonah and the big fish and believe it or not, they actually acted the story out... it was wonderful!

After the orphanage, we went to the lake. When we got there we were greeting by bathing gypsies and seriously it was the funniest thing. We all looked into the water and saw that it looked terribly green... very green. Shareen, Jeni, and Dave did what the rest of us decided not to do... they went in! And had a really
great time... and no, they did not get sick:) This same day Michelle discovered that maybe what I have been saying all along had some truth to it. I told her she had an accent, perhaps an Arkansas one and well,
she found her accent:) We had dinner at Noemi and Scott's house that night and it was a really wonderful treat... they are the couple that helped us get into the orphanage because that is their ministry here. Wednesday we all woke up bright and early for a day of travels. We left at around 7:30 and went to Pelis, Sinaia, and Brasov. We went to castles and to a fortress and took ultra amazing photos with the CBU
banner:) We got home at around 1:30 in the am so it did not take long for us to enter dream land:)
Yesterday, we went to the orphanage for the last time. We made photo frames with the kids, had snacks, and spent the rest of our time there  playing and chatting with them. It was a difficult day for us because
we have been able to built relationships with the kids and to have to leave and say goodbye was not necessarily the easiest thing. Ashley and I were able to meet this really neat girl. Her name in Ana and she
is 15 years old. She has the one of the most beautiful spirits. Saying goodbye to her was a difficult task for both of us. We loved on her the best we were able and she received it with all her might. She said
she would write letters and I told her I would be waiting:) I don't think Ashley and I will ever forget her. This is only one example of the relationships we were able to build in the orphanage. We went to a
Bible Study last night and Freda and Floyd's house... they are two of  the greatest people I have ever known... I met them a few years ago and I was looking forward to getting to spend time with them this
year. Anywho, the study was amazing. We sand songs, listened to  testimonies, Alyssa, Aura, and Dave shared, and prayed. We even met a man from Norway, Inge is his name, who cam to Romania a couple years ago and has been serving in an orphanage since! How amazing is our God and how he moves in the hearts of His people.


Today we will be playing the clean up game for most of the day and packing, of course. We are going to have dinner with all those we met during our time her and old friends as well and I know it will be
delightful. We will probably go to bed at a decent hour considering we will be waking up at 5 and from there, everything will probably go one million miles per hour! We have had a beautiful experience here and will remember it always but we are looking forward to seeing all your faces:)

Update #7: Monday, June 23

Everyone is amazing! We had an interesting weekend due to the fact
that it did not go as planned:) But the Lord was still able to accomplish great things. We spent Saturday at the park playing with the neighborhood kids and we all had a blast! Sunday, we were able to experience another Romanian church and it was terrific. We were asked to share a few songs and testimonies so we did. The church is in the building process so I think meeting there was a new church experience for all of us but a good one. Sunday evening, we went to a house church and we sang and shared testimonies there as well. The house church experience was amazing!

Yesterday, we went to see the burial place of Chausescu and his wife and that was neat. We were not allowed to take photos but I think we will all remember it well. Today we will be going back to the
orphanage and we are all REALLY excited. We are going to make bracelets and share a story and after, it will be soccer time:) We still have the occasional sickness, that has really been our biggest battle here, but no one is allowing it to become a handicap. God has been really good. It is crazy to think that we will be leaving here on Saturday. 

Update #6: Friday, June 20

So we are back in Bucharest after a VERY exciting week of camping in the Carpathian Mountains, yes indeed, the Carpathian Mountains. We were able to go up with one of our host families to prepare a camp for the orphans that will be going up in two weeks. The camp was everything we all never expected. NO, we did not really have any expectations but if we would have, they would not have matched up with the camp. We had a four-hour drive and one bumpy road that led the way and once we finally stopped, we crossed the creek and headed for the cabin. Girls were upstairs and boys were down...the upstairs section reminded me of a few scenes from Seven Brides For Seven Brothers,so we decided a photo was definitely a must.

During our first day we experienced something new to all of us...Japanese Hornets... they were HUGE and this my friends is not an exaggeration. Those crazy things kept us up all night the first night with their buzzing... just the idea that we were sharing a cabin with them made us unhappy campers... it was the funniest night of my life.

It is easy to say that the camp experience was out of the comfort zone for every person on the team,but every individual served whole heartedly and we were all able to put ourselves aside in order to really enjoy our time there. We used the outhouse, we fetched water every day, we ate/prepared food by the campfire, dried our wet clothes by the campfire, washed dishes by the campfire, and worshipped by the campfire. It was the most incredible week. We also had what the boys liked to call, "shrimp water". Now, I am pretty sure they were not shrimp and just in case you were wondering, we did NOT drink that water.

Our first full day there was the busiest. We sanded and mowed mountain grass... I experienced stinging nettle for the first time in my life... not once or twice, but three times! And well, lets just say it was quite unpleasant. I ran to the creek like I have never run before.

The following day the team continued sanding tables and benches and everything else that needed sanding. That night Ashley, Jeni, and myself decided we were ready for the next step of the camp life. We found ourselves a tent, pitched it, and moved all of our belongings inside. We camped out seriously for our last three days of camp.

We all experienced wonderful fellowship with our Lord during our time there. Dave said he was learning to not only do things for God, but to do things with God, and when we were up there, there was truly a sense that all the work we were doing was with our Lord. We were serving our fellow brothers and sisters with our Father guiding every step. It was a growing experience and a definite blessing for all of us.

After a week of no showering along with many other fun things, we were all ready to come back to the city... but on our way across the creek everyone said they would really miss the place. We all experienced something pretty terrific.

Tomorrow, we will begin VBS and it will be AMAZING. Continue to keep us in your prayers. We are still not all better yet, but we are all in good spirits which is brilliant!

Update #4: Saturday, June 14

We are all doing well. Today started off a bit rough with one of the students not feeling too well, but by the time dinner came around, all was well! So let me go back just a tad bit to yesterday's events.

Yesterday we went back to the orphanage to hang out with the kids and we all had a blast! The guys are really connecting with the boys from the orphanage through sports, especially soccer. It is just wonderful to see them so involved with and committed to the kids. The ladies are also breaking ground with the kids. The little ones just love them!!! We had an opportunity to plan out our events for tomorrow...we will be sharing a Bible story with the kids and doing tons of other great activities. Keep tomorrow in your thoughts!

Last night we bid Aura farewell as she will be in Hungary for a week. We will miss her. Back to today being rough, well... Aura called to let us know her train ride was miserable due to the same sickness we have all been fighting... but the Lord really took care of both her and the sick student. He was able to heal both bodies. We do not know if it will continue, the sickness that is, but we are confident that the Lord will keep his hand over us.

We went on a city scavenger hunt with one of our host families today and we had a blast...my favorite part was probably having to get 250 kg of ground beef....not really....but what an amazing time we had! I was NOT allowed to speak Romanian or translate for my group, so it was a bit tough but the students all did a great job!!!
We will be leaving for camp on Sunday! We will write before we leave!
Ciao.

Update #3: Thursday, June 12

Everyone is doing well. We'll send one more update before we head up to camp. Had another GREAT day at the orphanage today, and found out we can share stories there on Saturday, so we're pumped for that. 

ciao.

Update #3: Thursday, June 12

Everyone is doing well. We'll send one more update before we head up to camp. Had another GREAT day at the orphanage today, and found out we can share stories there on Saturday, so we're pumped for that. 

ciao.

Update #2: Wednesday, June 11

Our 2 days here so far have been amazing! As Roxi previously sent, we had great travels here, and have done very well traveling in the city as well. We rode the subway for the first time today, that was cool. It was also very special to our team, because the stop we got on at is the exact place where a documentary we watched during training was filmed. Pretty neat!

We got to spend time at the orphanage yesterday, and we will get to do so again tomorrow and Saturday. As soon as we arrived there, the children were running out to us, taking us by the hands, and soaking up the attention we were more than willing to give. Loving them and playing with them was our main way of communicating, though we had more than enough people around to translate for us. We are very blessed. We are all anxious to return to the children there. We had a great time playing sports (basketball, catch, soccer, American football) and we hope to do more with them as the days go by. On Saturday we will have about 4 hours to spend with them, so our hopes are up to build even more relationships.

Today we spent time with our field worker's family. We met at their house, split up in groups to prayer walk and invite neighborhood kids over for play & a BBQ. We had about 12 kids show up, and they LOVED waterballoons!! We played sports with them as well. A wonderful opportunity presented itself and we were able to share some stories with the local children. We had a felt board, so Luke told the story of Jesus making fishers of men, while Aura (Roxi's sister) translated. The kids liked it. We had more time, so Dave decided to read the story of the crucifixion from a Romanian Bible!!! He did GREAT! A little boy helped him to pronounce some of the words he did not know, and the other children did the story board for us - very interactive. After, we discussed about the resurrection, and they were able to tell Aura that Jesus rose on the 3rd day.

Our days are long, because we still haven't fully adjusted to the time change, please pray for rest. Also, health has been getting to some of us. We're not sure if it's food, heat, lack of sleep, or a combination of all of the above - but please pray for the few under the weather to have Jesus' healing hand on them & that we'd all be back to our normal selves.

It's bedtime for us...Noapte buna (Good Night) 

by Jeni

Update #1: Monday, June 9 -

I just wanted to let you know that we all made it to Romania in amazing shape. We had no problems checking in, no problems with luggage, no problems period! Thank you so much for your prayers and please continue to pray for us. We will be heading to the orphanage tomorrow morning! Love you guys!

Romania...

so, i am home:) i did blog during my time in romania but it was for the team blog so i thought i would repost them here for you to read...so you can see what it was like...and after i do that i will post my final thoughts and photos will come very soon as well:)