Possibly my last week in the city :[

      This week has been kind of bittersweet.  I'm so excited that camp is finally here (we leave Saturday morning!), but this could also be my last few days in the city I've called home for the past 6+ months.  I've tried not to keep thinking "This might be the last time..." but at the same time prepare myself & do all the "last" things.  It also could very well not be my last week in the city, depending on whether I am staying a couple more weeks after camp and going on the missions trip to Turkey with AO, but that is still not determined yet. But o sa vedem!


     I do know that one part of my life will be finished after this week... my language lessons! I've pretty much completed the textbook, have lots of Bible reading & a whole novel (Rascumparare or Redemption by Karen Kingsbury) now under my belt, and "know" all that I can before camp!  Now I am in no way fluent or all that amazing at the language, but I'm so glad I won't be completely in the dark at camp & will know what's actually going!  And hopefully the right words will come out of my mouth so I don't sound like an idiot! I'm not going to miss the homework (which I never really had too much of anyways), but I am going to miss Delia, my language teacher, so much!  She is such a sweetheart and has become a good friend.  She's probably the person that has spent the most one-on-one time with me here and she pretty much know's everything that's been going on in my life because she makes me tell her all about it in Romanian!  I have learned so much from her, not just vocab and grammar, but also about the culture, the people, the traditions, the history, the mindset of the Romanian people.  Although she's telling me about all of this from person experience, I still sometimes forget that she's not like half American or something!  I will miss our 2 or 3 Starbucks dates a week, but I know that she's one that will be easy to keep in touch with due to the fact that she's always on Facebook on her phone. :]

      I also may have gone to the baby hospital for the last time this week, but I really don't like to think about it & I'm planning on trying to go at least one more time before I leave.  I absolutely love being able to help love on those babies, and to be there enough that they probably recognize me.  Sweating like crazy in that sauna, changing dirty diapers, and having a sore back after lifting all of those chubby babies is always so worth it.  Although they've been abandoned by their parents and are stuck in a horribly corrupt system, I'm glad to know that because of my help and the help of my friends Sarah and Corny, they will be loved and cared for for the 1st couple years of their lives.  

This is Alexa who is 4 months old but because her mom was a druggie she's about the size of a 1 month old!

      I also had a 1st/last experience/adventure to the water park this week!  Long story short, it took me & Jenny about 2.5 hours to get there, when with a car it would have taken us 20 mins max.  We took the tram, then waited on a parked but for 20 mins, then rode the bus for what seemed like an hour, then we got off 3 stops too early so we had to walk a mile or so in the hot afternoon sun... needless to say, it was such a relief to FINALLY get there!  The park was super fun & had a "lazy" river with no current, a pool, and a big tower with a ton of water slide off of it.  Our favorite was these 2 slides that you rode on a tube & went super fast & twisty and I swear we rode it at least 30+ times in a row!  It was totally worth the $5 to have a day in the sunshine & ride some sweet slides! :]

Check out the sunflower fields!

      So my schedule for the next 2 months is: camp with alfAOmega & Cer Deschis; camp in Ukraine; London with Kristie & Jenny for 5 days; Brasov with Philip Luca and a team from the States; 3 more weeks of camp; then (as of now) I fly back on September 6th! It's going to fly by so fast & then I will be home!  Thinking about leaving so soon is also very bittersweet.  I'm getting so excited to see all of my family and friends at home again, but it's going to be one of the hardest times of my life having to say goodbye to my friends & my life here and not know when or if I will ever get to see them again.  Then after I get home, figuring out what's next and trying to find a job and all that fun stuff.  But God will be right there with me to get me through & to guide me!  

      So I don't really know how much I will be able to update for the next 2 months, so this may also be my last blog for a while.  Please be praying for me & our team as we head into a crazy busy couple of weeks.  Pray that we will draw on Christ for our strength, that things will go smoothly, that we will all stay safe and healthy, that everyone who comes to our camps or works at our camps will have an opportunity to come face to face with God, and that those who are not saved will accept Christ as their personal Savior.  Multumesc & la revedere for now! :]

Another Wedding, Kristie's birthday, & Bon Jovi!

      So this past week was pretty typical, until the weekend...  I went to the baby hospital, had 2 language lessons, and of course a bunch of good times just living with Jenny & Kristie.  Friday was Vera and Simon's wedding!  I let myself sleep in a little later that day to prepare for the long hours of dancing and partying until the wee hours of the morning.  I started getting ready around 3, thinking I could just take my time since we probably weren't leaving until around 6 for the wedding at 7.  But as I was in the middle of curling my hair, Tom called & said they would be there in 5  mins to pick me up because the wedding started at 5.  I freaked out and told him I'd just have to take a taxi because I couldn't just stop in the middle of curling my hair!  So I finished up as fast as I could, threw on some makeup & my dress, and started walking down to Muncii to find a taxi.  As I was walking, Tom called me again & told me that the wedding was pushed back an hour, and I was so happy I didn't have to miss the ceremony!  I showed up with plenty of time, and found out that her wedding color was the same bright blue as my dress, so I conveniently matched!   The ceremony was short but so sweet, and then we went outside to take some pictures.  At the reception, there was a buffet with like 5 kinds of meats and potatoes and rice and fruit, which was really good & so much smarter than having a 5 course sit down meal!  There were 2 bands composted to alfAOmega people, and for part of the time, we pretty much had a worship concert & sang Jesus songs... super misto!  The rest of the time we danced to normal dance music along with a couple Romanian songs, and I learned another new traditional couples' dance.  It was great fun but thankfully it started ending around 2 something, not 5 something like the last one!  So I got home around 3 am, which wasn't too bad!

With the Graef & Tataru families

My adopted fam

"Pimpin it"

She's next to get married!!

Singing Jesus music... loved it!

Everyone praising God together!

Vera & Simon

The 2nd AO band

More circle dances!

The gals :]

      Saturday was Kristie's 26th birthday! We had planned on surprising her & going to the beach for the day, but she doesn't do well with surprises so we ended up telling her our plan.  But she's been pretty super busy with camp stuff lately, so she just asked for a day to do nothing & relax.  So that's what we did!  Jenny & I made pancakes and eggs for brunch, and then we literally laid around all day and watched a movie.  We actually showered around 5 or so, then along with Jess, headed to the Hard Rock Cafe to get legit American burgers at Kristie's request.  When we got home, we ate the cake Jenny made (and didn't burn!)  which was a white cake mix from a box (from America because those are just starting to exist here) with 2 containers of Funfetti icing.  Yum!  

Blue pancakes for brunch

My roomies are pretty much awesome

Hard Rock Cafe

La Multi Ani!

      Yesterday, was church at alfAOmega, which is always great, but since it was so stinking hot inside, it was difficult to stay focused on the pastor and translating.  They have AC, but for some reason they decide to open the doors and windows and have 2 tiny fans running instead.  Ioneven know.  I helped with welcome and stood by the door saying "bine ati venit" & giving candy to everyone who came.  In the afternoon, I dominated reading my book in Romanian and I think I read about 4 chapters!  My goal for the week is to finish the last 6 chapters of the book, which I could knock out in like an hour in English, but it takes me way longer in Romanian.  I've gotten kind of lazy at looking up the words I don't know, and I just read without using google translate and just try to figure out the new words along the way.  


      Then at about 10 pm last night, Jenny and I set out on an adventure... Bon Jovi was having a concert in front of the People's Palace, and we wanted to check it out/stalk Bon Jovi.  We followed the sound of "Livin on a Prayer" as we sang it walking down the street until we found the massive crowd of over 50,000 people.  We wanted to see how close we could get, so we just kept walking through the crowd until we got to the bleachers where we climbed a couple steps to get a better view.  We caught the last 10 min or so, where he sang some awful slow song and then ended with "Twist and Shout"...random.  Then they took a bow, didn't even say "bye" or any closing statements, and then it was just over.  It was ok with me & Jenny though because we weren't really there for the music, just to say we've been to a Bon Jovi concert in Romania & take pictures.  Well Jenny actually wanted a picture of Bon Jovi with Gravy, and she made a sign that said "Dear Bon Jovi, Will you take a picture with my pig?"  So after the concert, we decided to get our creeperness on, and we walked to the Marriott hotel, which is super fancy so we figured he might be staying there and we would have a better chance of spotting him & getting a picture there.  Unfortunately, he didn't show, but we had fun exploring the hotel, going up the elevator, and checking out the Louis Vitton & Rolex stores inside.  We started the long walk back, caught a taxi at Unirii, & arrived home at about 1 am.  (Mom, we were safe & there were crowds of people everywhere, don't worry!)  So yeah, #782 of our list is checked off: seeing Bon Jovi in concert in Romania.  I mean it wasn't really on our list, but it's a fun one to add & tell the stories of our adventure! :]

Love that she's always up for an adventure too!

The concert was right in front of the People's Palace

Can you see me??

The Marriott Hotel where we were stalking

     

VBS, Gals, & 4th of July

      Last week we had an awesome 5 day VBS with one of the biggest Baptist Churches in Romania, Sfanta Treime (Holy Trinity)!  We met everyday at the Gradina Botanica (Botanical Gardens), except for Thursday when we met at the church because of rain.  Although we had some issues like not being able to be on the grass and it pretty much rained on and off everyday except Monday, the Lord found us a large dirt spot under a bunch of trees that was perfect.  And although we thought the rain might keep a lot of kids from coming, the day that it was the wettest and we had them all outfitted with blue trashbags, we had one of our biggest days!  We usually had anywhere from about 10-20 kids each day from age 4 to 9.  It was a fun age group and we all enjoyed getting to be a kid again and playing with them.  Our theme was Super Eroii (Super Heroes) and the kids absolutely loved it!  They got to decorate a cape the 1st day and then wear it the rest of the week.  I wonder how many other kids like Wayne Postema are still wearing their capes everyday haha.  We had skits and guest superheros to participate in games named Adevarul (Truth) aka Boing, Boloboc (umm a level, like that you use in construction) the mute aka David, and the villan Minciunila (Lies) aka Felix.  They did an awesome job playing their roles and also teaching valuable lessons to the kids like Jesus loves them, they should share, and they should obey their parents.  The Gospel story was visited everyday, but ironically Felix the villan was the one who shared the Gospel on the last day.  The kids were so smart and could repeat to you what they'd learned, and we pray that through VBS they will have a better understanding of God and make the choice to accept Christ as soon as they can fully understand it.  


      But VBS was a huge success and of course a ton of fun, and I will let the pictures tell you the rest of the story. :] 

All the superheroes & the helpers

Who doesn't love parachutes!

"We are soprheroes!"

Making their capes/nametags for the week

Boloboc, Adevarul, & Minciunila

The smurfs

Super Eroii Zborati!

With the cat & spiderman

"I had a friend who was a moose"

I have superhero boots too!

Our great actors

Praying after the Gospel was given

      Also in all the craziness of VBS, I had to pack all my things (which I seriously don't know how I got all this stuff here, especially when my parents took home a huge suitcase full of my winter stuff!), clean my entire apartment, and move out of what has been my home for the past 6 months!  I miss my ghetto apartment and living alone sometimes, but it's a lot more fun living with 2 of my friends, Kristie and Jenny, in their sweet big apartment with an elevator!  They graciously made room for me in the office, and I have a pretty spacious set up with a mattress on the floor and all of my suitcases and junk shoved in a corner.  I'll be living with them for the next 2 weeks until camp, and then on the random days between camps and traveling.  But we'll all be seeing a lot of each other for the next 2 months with camp and our girls vacation to LONDON the 1st week in August, which we just officially bought our tickets for!  :]

1st we had no hot water... then we got this...

My set up in the office for the remainder of my time here

      On Saturday, we had a "bachelorette" party for Vera who is getting married this Friday!  She lives about 20 minutes outside of the city, and I literally felt like I was driving to Goode!  I think God really knew I needed a break from the city, even just for a couple hours, to see the fields of sunflowers, an actual house not connected to anything else, sunshine, and big open field, a gorgeous sunset, and the stars at night!  Living in the city has been exciting and great and all, but I truly am a country girl at heart and that little taste of home was definitely a gift from God!  Anyways, before the party part, we had a teaching/discussion time about the book "Every Young Woman's Battle" lead by Iulia and Daria with most all the girls from Alfa Omega.  We talked about it for at least 2.5 hours and it was so great to see the girls so open discussing things that I don't think are as openly taught or spoken about here.  I actually understood almost everything that was said, and focusing on listening is getting easier and easier!  Although when it was my turn to share, I spoke mostly in English because it's very difficult to express feelings and emotions in Romanian... and because I'm still not confident enough to speak in front of a big group in English let alone Romanian!  But after the study/discussion, we ate some food, hung out outside in the sunshine, took a ton of fun jumping pics and pics in the field with the sunset in the background, then played a game with questions about Vera and Simon's relationship. It was once again great girl time and I'm so thankfully to have such an amazing group around me.  I've built some great friendships and I hate the thought of having to say goodbye to them in only 2 months, not knowing when or if I will see them again. :[

"She needs wide open spaces"  

Who doesn't love jumping pictures?

Photoshoot with my gorgeous friends!

The whole gang :]

Gorgeous sunset

Playing a game about Vera & Simon's relationship

Simon & Vera = <3

      Yesterday I helped with the design/decorating at church, and the girls love that I'm tall enough and not scared to climb to the top of the ladder to hang stuff haha.  Church was great as usual; Soterius is a great teacher and I love listening to him preach in Romanian because he enunciates well and I can even hear all the little things when he speaks.  After church, Jenny, Jess, and I went to the mall, got to McDonald's, then headed back to church for the camp training meeting with Alfa Omega and Cer Deschis.  Once again, I followed almost everything that was being taught and discussed!  I'm so excited for our 1st camp with this gang in less than 2 weeks and I can't wait to see how God is going to use all of us to help bring their friends and family to know Him!  Before we went home we stopped by the Postema's where Kristie and the kids put on a skit they prepared for us!  They were all superheroes of course & Kristie was a great villan who talked with a Russian/German accent/lisp!  They even had a song about cleaning up and then showed their mom their extra clean room!  

Training meeting with AO & Cer Deschis

Superhero skit about cleaning up

       Annd it's the first 4th of July I've ever spent out of the country!  So although we didn't have huge fireworks or time to go buy some illegal sparklers and firecrackers, we did have an awesome cookout with our American team on the roof of the Postema's building!  We even watched National Treasure on the projector on the side of the building! 

Mmm my 1st grilled anything in 6th months

Almost American

The ABWE Romania South team

We pretty much dominated a giant half of a watermelon

Tom took a little nap

Aunt Gela teaching Rose how to knit

Scary boys

Gangsta girls

Watching National Treasure projected on the side of the building!