This past week I got to join my Romanian friend from LU, Philip Luca, and a short term team from North Carolina on a missions trip to Brasov and Rupea! It was so different being on the other side of things on an overseas missions trip and not having to go very far and actually knowing what's going on.
So on Monday I lugged my massive heavy suitcase and bookbag to the metro, then to the bus, all the way to the airport. It was super hot and my arms were sadly really sore for a couple days after dragging my junk all over the city. Anyways, I got to the airport around 5 or so, met up with Philip and Vali, then waited for the whole team to come in. Their flights were super delayed and they got split up, so they didn't all get there until about 7:30 or so and they were completely exhausted after traveling for 24 hours straight. Then we grabbed some food and loaded on the bus for the 3 hour drive to Rupea where we checked into the Motel Liliana and crashed. Wendy was my roommate for the week and we usually stayed up way too long talking haha.
On Tuesday morning, we walked to Emanuel Church in Rupea, the church that Philip's dad started a while ago but now where Calin is the pastor. We did a mini VBS and enjoyed playing soccer and volleyball, making salvation bracelets, coloring, and teaching them Jesus Loves Me sign language. I absolutely loved that I could actually communicate with the kids, even on the most basic level! This started the "Kristina! Kristina! What is he trying to say to me??" Even the kids caught on and started yelling my name when they could communicate through just hand motions. We ate lunch at the church, which Adrianna, Calin's wife prepared, and then we went to a large orphanage in Rupea. I would say there were about 60 kids and it was crazy! We started with a bunch of organized games, but we ended up just all doing our own thing. This was one of my favorite orphanages just because the kids were instantly my best friends since I could talk with them and play with them. That evening we had a church service and Sarah and Kathy shared their testimony's, the teens shared a skit about sin, and Pastor Sean taught about true worship.
Wednesday we had another day VBS in the morning at the same church. We played a bunch of games and colored and learned that we can help our friends. That afternoon, we went to visit a nearby village and citadel. We had to wait to get into the citadel, and during that time we got to know some of the people from the church better and to have a time to pray over Pastor Calin. The citadel was pretty cool and old, built around 1200, and I loved the view of the countryside from the top. Then we went back to the hotel, ate our usual chicken snitel and potatoes meal, and then loaded on the bus again to head to Brasov for the rest of our trip. We checked into Pensiunea Mony where we stayed the rest of the week. Vali, the guy that worked at the front desk the 1st 3 nights became our friend. Sean stayed up talking with him for literally about 5 hours and he had some awesome God conversations with him. Later in the week, he told Sean that he had never seen the kind of kindness he saw in our group throughout the week, and that every time he talked to me he saw that I had an inexplainable peace. This is what missions is all about... showing Christ's love and peace to everyone we come in contact with, even the guy that gives us our keys at the hotel.
Thursday morning after breakfast, we went to a village on the outskirts of town and visited an orphanage for handicapped children. This was one of the most uncomfortable places, but the most rewarding. We played games and colored pictures and had a skit or 2, but the best part was when Wendy read "You are Special" by Max Lucado. It's a children's book about how it doesn't matter what other think about you, the only thing that matters in spending time with your Creator and learning about Him and what He thinks about you. From our group there was not a dry eye at the end of the story. One little boy named Vali especially touched our hearts. He had been severely burned and lost a arm and a leg because of this accident, but he still was probably the most happy kid there and hopped around to everyone. When Wendy choked up while reading the story, he offered his sleeve for her to wipe her tears. Afterwards, he was talking with me & Bobbie, and I asked him if he knew that God loved him. He said yes, God made every person and He loves all of us because we are special. He also said that he prays to God every day. Here we were wanting to show Vali the love of Christ, and yet we were so much more impacted by the joy seen in his smile, even though he has had a very tough life already at the age of about 8.
That afternoon we explored an old fortified Evangelical church and then headed back into town for a church service at one of the larger Baptist churches in Brasov. We sang a lot of hymns, a couple people from our group sang and shared testimonies (which was way out of the comfort zone of most), and Sean preached his worship message again while Philip translated. After church we walked down to the center of town with the cute old cobblestone roads and the city square. This is the area that truly makes it "Probably The Best City in the World." We got a bunch of fancy desserts and shared them as we sat outside one of the the pastry places.
On Friday we went to another orphanage in Brasov where they had about 10 kids, some with special needs and some without. We played one of the best games ever there, the musical bookbag game! You have to stand in a circle and pass around a bookbag stuffed with all kinds of articles of clothing, and when the music stops, whoever is holding it has to reach in the bag and put on whatever they draw. It was so hilarious when people got the bikini top and bottom, underwear, and lacy girl shirts! We also played dodgeball, colored, and Wendy shared "You are Special" again. That afternoon we grabbed some food at Real, then went to Vali's church in Sanpetru outside the city to potentially do a mini VBS there. We went out in the street and found a bunch of little boys and started playing a game of soccer with them. We didn't have much time, but after we left we gave them some optical illusions with a tract on the back and they loved them. That evening we went back to the big Baptist church in Brasov and helped with the youth group that they're trying to start up again. We sang a bunch of songs, not just hymns this time, and a couple of the teens shared their testimonies. Then Philip taught a short lesson while translating himself...I've never seen that before! He would say a phrase in English looking towards the Americans, then look the other way and translate it into Romanian. It so messed with my brain since I could understand both and they were both coming from the same voice haha. Then we played a bunch of group games like Never Have I Ever and a game where we had to shuffle around on the chairs in a circle and not let the person in the middle sit in the open seat.
Saturday was our sightseeing day and we had a ton of fun seeing the highlights of Bran and Brasov. We had to catch the bus to Bran at 9am, but we were running a little late, and when Philip saw our bus driving past, he literally took off sprinting to catch the bus! Then all 14 of us started running after him, laughing and panting and flailing, and we succeeding in stopping the bus and all getting on! After about a 30 min bus ride, we got to Bran and took the tour of the Castle which is made famous in the book "Dracula." It was my 2nd time there but I loved seeing the views once again. We spent a while shopping at all the booths for souvenirs, then got on the bus to head back into the city. In Brasov, we walked around the city center again, checked out the shops and the Black Church, and then went up the mountain on cable cars! The cable cars were sweet and so was the view from right next to the Brasov sign that resembles the Hollywood sign on the mountain. We then headed to a restaurant close to our hotel where everyone got to experience some real traditional food such as mici, mamaliga, pork, and even wild boar.
We attended Vali's church in Sanpetru on Sunday where we sang some songs, Elizabeth and I shared testimonies (I only got a little red!), and Sean preached his sermon on worship for the 3rd time. After church we went to Vali's house where he cooked us a meat feast on the grill. We spent the afternoon just chilling and hanging out in his garden area and it was wonderful. Oh, also, Sean got pooped on by a bird flying overhead and it was hilarious. We heard the loud smack on his bald head before we even realized what happened and then he poured hand sanitizer all over his head. We back to Vali's church for the evening service, where we did a couple different hymns, and Philip and Vali each shared a short sermon. Then we went back to the hotel, where Vali showed us a slide show of the camps that New Generations Impact has done, and we discussed how we might be able to be involved in a camp in the future. We debriefed about the week and each shared what we loved about it.
Monday morning the bus left at 8 am to head to Bucharest for their flights home. It was hard to say goodbye to all my new friends, but thankfully they don't live too far from me in the States! Then me & Philip went down to the city square to wait for David Graef to pick me up for camp for the next 2 weeks!
I absolutely loved this week of ministry! I formed great relationships with the team (Lauren, Wendy, Sarah, Bobbie, James, Randall, Kathy, Chelsea, Autumn, Elizabeth, Caitlin, Sean, and Philip) and I had numerous opportunities to have good conversations with them throughout the week, especially traveling everywhere by bus, taxi and walking. They encouraged me so much and I am so grateful for them taking me in and loving me like they did. I loved going to the orphanages and at least for a short time, loving on and talking with the kids. I became a little more confident in my Romanian, and got to talk with all the kids a lot, let alone translating for everyone. It really was such a blessing for me to see the fruits of all of my hard work in Romanian lessons and just the knowledge I've gained since living here! It was also great to be able to support and encourage Vali, and see all that he does with NGI and how much he has truly become a father figure to so many children, and I hope that we can work with him again in the future!
8.17.2011
8.08.2011
London, England
This week I got to add London & Oxford to the list of places I've visited in Europe... I'm so spoiled... I know. But I've gotta take advantage of the opportunities of a lifetime and the fact that I don't have to buy a plane ticket over the Atlantic to see these places! It all began when Kristie had the idea of us girls going on a trip for her birthday since we had a break from camp. And London was chosen pretty much because it has Chipotle. And Krispy Kreme. Oh Kristie... she's been out of America for too long and sometimes you just need a taste of home.
So we woke up crazy early Tuesday morning, headed to the ghetto cheap airport of Bucharest, and got in line to check in. But when we went to hand them our passports, Kristie didn't have hers. It was just horrific and she was about to cry. Me and Jenny just stood there and didn't know what to do. But praise God there was another flight out only an hour & a half after ours! So me and Jenny got on our plane, while Kristie got a taxi home, tore the apartment apart looking for her passport, which she left on the scanner after copying it, and then hurried back to the airport to buy another plane ticket. Now if you don't know Kristie, you don't know why this was such a huge deal... She's the designated emailer, texter, and caller to remind everyone to not forget their passports every time we leave the country. She's always on the ball about it. And as we were walking out of our apartment, I even asked all of them, just joking around with Kristie since that's usually her line. And then she forgot her phone and realized when we were in the taxi, so she even was back at the apartment before we made it to the airport. Ioneven know, but it was not a fun experience. And sorry Kristie, but I just had to throw that story in there because I'm sure it will NEVER happen again. :]
This was not the end of our traveling adventures/mistakes. We got to the train station, but there was nothing on the ticket telling you what platform to go to, and there was no one to ask, so we pretty much just got on the train that the most people were waiting for. And it took us into the city, just not to the train station right next to our hostel, so they made us pay for another train ticket & gave us a "fare warning." Which was pretty much a little paper saying we were bad because we weren't on the train our ticket was for. We found it pretty amusing that they had to give us that piece of paper when we clearly would have liked to have gotten on the right train. Anyways, we then easily found our hostel, which was right next to the train station and metro ("The Tube"), checked in and then set out on our 1st adventure... Chipotle, of course. I mean that was our goal in going to London apparently haha. My burrito was yummy, but Kristie says it wasn't as good as in the States, which I wouldn't know since we only have a Moe's in the burg. Then we walked around, went in T.K. Maxx, the European version named after me, checked out Harrods, the massive super expensive mall/department store, then headed to the main center where we could check out Big Ben, the London Eye, & the Houses of Parliament. I got some daylight pics, then we chilled on a bench until the sun went down to get the sweet night shots. I love Kristie and Jenny for letting me have my one request of going to get night pics of the city. :]
The next morning we set out for Krispy Kreme, our #2 reason for going to London! It was just as delicious as I remember, although like 4 times the price than in the States. If you've never lived outside of America for any length of time, you don't know how little tastes of home can make you so happy! After our breakfast of champions, we went to Buckingham Palace, where we caught the changing of the guard. It's apparently a big deal and the guards on horses controlling the crowds and the guards in red suits and the huge hairy hats were pretty entertaining. The queen was in the Palace when we were there because the flag was flying! We then took a stroll along the park to Trafalgar Square, Downing Street where the Prime Minister lives, and then went to Westminster Abbey. We walked on a lot of famous dead peoples' graves, such as Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill, David Livingston, Charles Darwin (why the heck was he buried there?), Isaac Newton, Jane Austen, and a million kings and queens. It was also pretty cool that we were walking in the place where almost all the royal coronations and weddings have taken place. And speaking of royal weddings, the city was still obsessed with William & Kate's wedding in April, and there was an exhibit in Westminster Abbey and souvenirs with their wedding picture everywhere. After this, we got on a boat and rode down the river to the Tower Bridge! I've always wanted to ride the boats places, and with our London Passes it was "free!" We then took the tour of the Tower Bridge and got to walk across the top of it which was pretty legit. We then tried to go to dinner at the original Hard Rock Cafe, but after we walked forever to find it and saw the huge line, we decided to find somewhere we could eat sooner since we were pretty hungry. We ended up eating at some bar and grill kind of place where we watched American ESPN and I ate fish and chips and drank free tap water! Then we headed back to the hostel to crash. Speaking of the hostel, it was my 1st experience and it was an over-all good one. There were 2 girls, Claire from Ireland and a girl from Canada, who had internships and stayed in our room the whole time we were there. We stayed in an all girls hostel on the 4th floor, and the only thing I can really complain about is the fact that it was super hot most nights with no A/C and that it was pretty loud all night long, but I was so tired it didn't really matter!
The next morning we took a train out to Windsor Castle, the official royal weekend home of the Queen. It was a very luxurious castle, of course, and I'm sure it would have been a lot prettier from the outside if it wasn't raining the whole time. But I feel like we got the full London experience on our day of rain, clouds, and umbrellas! We then met a friend of Kristie's in the city, and while they caught up over coffee, Jenny and I set out on our own adventure. We went to St. Paul's Cathedral, and I climbed all 568 stairs to the very top! My legs were dying but the pictures were worth it! I've decided that my favorite part of seeing the big cities is getting to go to the top of some tall building and taking pictures from the aerial view. It just puts the whole city in perspective too. Then we rode one of the double decker red buses to the London Tower, which is where they keep the crown jewels which we got to see on display. Then we met up with Kristie, walked around forever again to find someplace to eat, then finally ate at an Italian restaurant that probably had better Italian food than the stuff we had in Rome. Then, once again, Kristie and Jenny let me go downtown to get some night pics of the London Bridge and the Tower Bridge which was pretty much gorgeous.
On Friday, we took a bus to Oxford to meet up with Jenny's friend Kendall, who is a missionary in England. He showed us around the quaint city and took us to an awesome Portuguese restaurant where they had yummy chicken and free refill on drinks (this just is unheard of in Europe)! We saw a bunch of the colleges, St. Mary's church where John Wesley preached, Oxford Press, and the Eagle and Child restaurant where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien hung out weekly and wrote their books. We also saw a tiny Baptist church that Kendall helps at and ran into some of his friends there. We walked along this river and it was so pretty and peaceful and quiet, and then we sat in a little shop and drank coffee before we headed back to the city on the bus again. When we got back we hit up the little grocery store for cherry coke & cool ranch doritos for our random meal of things we can't get in Romania.
I woke up at like 5:30 am the next morning, went to the train station, and was once again confused about what train to get on. After asking a couple unhelpful people, I found out I had to take the metro to another station and get on the train to the airport there. So it all went smoothly and I had plenty of time to spare and then I slept the entire 3 hour flight back to Bucharest. I made the journey alone because Jenny & Kristie headed to Dublin for the next couple of days.
So that's what I did... now here's my random thoughts about this trip. It was pretty refreshing being in an English speaking country again, even though I could barely understand their funny accents. We imitated/made fun of them a lot and even spoke Romanian to each other in a British accent which was quite entertaining. It felt like the America of Europe, with such a diverse people group and so many different languages. It was funny how I freaked out whenever I heard Romanian and said "AH! I can understand them!" as if I wasn't in an English speaking country. Another thought... although I've now gotten to visit Paris, Rome, and London, I still would rather live in Bucharest. I have to admit I'm a little biased, but I would hate living in such a tourist city and a place where the pound is worth twice as much as the dollar, but the prices are still the same. Let me tell you, everything was ridiculously expensive and I spent a lot of money on this trip, but I keep telling myself that it was an opportunity of a lifetime and that it was still way cheaper than if I had to buy a plane ticket across the ocean! Another thing that's awesome about living in Bucharest/Europe... all these amazing places are a cheap 3 hour max flight away! So I've definitely taken advantage of that! Anywho, it was an amazing adventure with some amazing friends! The end. :]
So we woke up crazy early Tuesday morning, headed to the ghetto cheap airport of Bucharest, and got in line to check in. But when we went to hand them our passports, Kristie didn't have hers. It was just horrific and she was about to cry. Me and Jenny just stood there and didn't know what to do. But praise God there was another flight out only an hour & a half after ours! So me and Jenny got on our plane, while Kristie got a taxi home, tore the apartment apart looking for her passport, which she left on the scanner after copying it, and then hurried back to the airport to buy another plane ticket. Now if you don't know Kristie, you don't know why this was such a huge deal... She's the designated emailer, texter, and caller to remind everyone to not forget their passports every time we leave the country. She's always on the ball about it. And as we were walking out of our apartment, I even asked all of them, just joking around with Kristie since that's usually her line. And then she forgot her phone and realized when we were in the taxi, so she even was back at the apartment before we made it to the airport. Ioneven know, but it was not a fun experience. And sorry Kristie, but I just had to throw that story in there because I'm sure it will NEVER happen again. :]
This was not the end of our traveling adventures/mistakes. We got to the train station, but there was nothing on the ticket telling you what platform to go to, and there was no one to ask, so we pretty much just got on the train that the most people were waiting for. And it took us into the city, just not to the train station right next to our hostel, so they made us pay for another train ticket & gave us a "fare warning." Which was pretty much a little paper saying we were bad because we weren't on the train our ticket was for. We found it pretty amusing that they had to give us that piece of paper when we clearly would have liked to have gotten on the right train. Anyways, we then easily found our hostel, which was right next to the train station and metro ("The Tube"), checked in and then set out on our 1st adventure... Chipotle, of course. I mean that was our goal in going to London apparently haha. My burrito was yummy, but Kristie says it wasn't as good as in the States, which I wouldn't know since we only have a Moe's in the burg. Then we walked around, went in T.K. Maxx, the European version named after me, checked out Harrods, the massive super expensive mall/department store, then headed to the main center where we could check out Big Ben, the London Eye, & the Houses of Parliament. I got some daylight pics, then we chilled on a bench until the sun went down to get the sweet night shots. I love Kristie and Jenny for letting me have my one request of going to get night pics of the city. :]
The next morning we set out for Krispy Kreme, our #2 reason for going to London! It was just as delicious as I remember, although like 4 times the price than in the States. If you've never lived outside of America for any length of time, you don't know how little tastes of home can make you so happy! After our breakfast of champions, we went to Buckingham Palace, where we caught the changing of the guard. It's apparently a big deal and the guards on horses controlling the crowds and the guards in red suits and the huge hairy hats were pretty entertaining. The queen was in the Palace when we were there because the flag was flying! We then took a stroll along the park to Trafalgar Square, Downing Street where the Prime Minister lives, and then went to Westminster Abbey. We walked on a lot of famous dead peoples' graves, such as Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill, David Livingston, Charles Darwin (why the heck was he buried there?), Isaac Newton, Jane Austen, and a million kings and queens. It was also pretty cool that we were walking in the place where almost all the royal coronations and weddings have taken place. And speaking of royal weddings, the city was still obsessed with William & Kate's wedding in April, and there was an exhibit in Westminster Abbey and souvenirs with their wedding picture everywhere. After this, we got on a boat and rode down the river to the Tower Bridge! I've always wanted to ride the boats places, and with our London Passes it was "free!" We then took the tour of the Tower Bridge and got to walk across the top of it which was pretty legit. We then tried to go to dinner at the original Hard Rock Cafe, but after we walked forever to find it and saw the huge line, we decided to find somewhere we could eat sooner since we were pretty hungry. We ended up eating at some bar and grill kind of place where we watched American ESPN and I ate fish and chips and drank free tap water! Then we headed back to the hostel to crash. Speaking of the hostel, it was my 1st experience and it was an over-all good one. There were 2 girls, Claire from Ireland and a girl from Canada, who had internships and stayed in our room the whole time we were there. We stayed in an all girls hostel on the 4th floor, and the only thing I can really complain about is the fact that it was super hot most nights with no A/C and that it was pretty loud all night long, but I was so tired it didn't really matter!
The next morning we took a train out to Windsor Castle, the official royal weekend home of the Queen. It was a very luxurious castle, of course, and I'm sure it would have been a lot prettier from the outside if it wasn't raining the whole time. But I feel like we got the full London experience on our day of rain, clouds, and umbrellas! We then met a friend of Kristie's in the city, and while they caught up over coffee, Jenny and I set out on our own adventure. We went to St. Paul's Cathedral, and I climbed all 568 stairs to the very top! My legs were dying but the pictures were worth it! I've decided that my favorite part of seeing the big cities is getting to go to the top of some tall building and taking pictures from the aerial view. It just puts the whole city in perspective too. Then we rode one of the double decker red buses to the London Tower, which is where they keep the crown jewels which we got to see on display. Then we met up with Kristie, walked around forever again to find someplace to eat, then finally ate at an Italian restaurant that probably had better Italian food than the stuff we had in Rome. Then, once again, Kristie and Jenny let me go downtown to get some night pics of the London Bridge and the Tower Bridge which was pretty much gorgeous.
On Friday, we took a bus to Oxford to meet up with Jenny's friend Kendall, who is a missionary in England. He showed us around the quaint city and took us to an awesome Portuguese restaurant where they had yummy chicken and free refill on drinks (this just is unheard of in Europe)! We saw a bunch of the colleges, St. Mary's church where John Wesley preached, Oxford Press, and the Eagle and Child restaurant where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien hung out weekly and wrote their books. We also saw a tiny Baptist church that Kendall helps at and ran into some of his friends there. We walked along this river and it was so pretty and peaceful and quiet, and then we sat in a little shop and drank coffee before we headed back to the city on the bus again. When we got back we hit up the little grocery store for cherry coke & cool ranch doritos for our random meal of things we can't get in Romania.
I woke up at like 5:30 am the next morning, went to the train station, and was once again confused about what train to get on. After asking a couple unhelpful people, I found out I had to take the metro to another station and get on the train to the airport there. So it all went smoothly and I had plenty of time to spare and then I slept the entire 3 hour flight back to Bucharest. I made the journey alone because Jenny & Kristie headed to Dublin for the next couple of days.
So that's what I did... now here's my random thoughts about this trip. It was pretty refreshing being in an English speaking country again, even though I could barely understand their funny accents. We imitated/made fun of them a lot and even spoke Romanian to each other in a British accent which was quite entertaining. It felt like the America of Europe, with such a diverse people group and so many different languages. It was funny how I freaked out whenever I heard Romanian and said "AH! I can understand them!" as if I wasn't in an English speaking country. Another thought... although I've now gotten to visit Paris, Rome, and London, I still would rather live in Bucharest. I have to admit I'm a little biased, but I would hate living in such a tourist city and a place where the pound is worth twice as much as the dollar, but the prices are still the same. Let me tell you, everything was ridiculously expensive and I spent a lot of money on this trip, but I keep telling myself that it was an opportunity of a lifetime and that it was still way cheaper than if I had to buy a plane ticket across the ocean! Another thing that's awesome about living in Bucharest/Europe... all these amazing places are a cheap 3 hour max flight away! So I've definitely taken advantage of that! Anywho, it was an amazing adventure with some amazing friends! The end. :]
8.01.2011
Tabără în România și Ucraina
So we just finished our 1st two weeks of camp for the summer! I'm going to try not to write a book about each, and I'll let the pics (all 3,000 of them) show you what it was like if I ever get through them!
Our 1st week of camp was at Lunca Bradului with alfAOmega and Cer Deschis churches. First of all, the campground at Lunca is absolutely gorgeous and in this small valley up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. It just made me so happy to see the stars, walk barefoot in grass, take pictures of all the wildflowers, and that the only noise I fell asleep to every night was the sound of the river that ran through camp. We piled in Hillary and headed up Saturday morning, got there that evening, then had all day Sunday to rest, chill and get ready for the campers to come Monday at lunch time.
So my role at camp is the photographer (which believe it or not, I'm sort of getting tired of taking pictures), and then pretty much whatever else needs to get done. This includes gathering firewood and building/starting the fires for the city folks, setting up games and activities, cleaning and washing dishes, and rearranging the main room for chapel. But my favorite "job" at camp is encouraging the counselors. Every morning an hour before breakfast, we have a meeting with all the counselors, to pray with them and to hear about what God's doing and how we can be praying for them and the counselors. The 1st week, God laid Ana & Anna, who were co-counselors, on my heart. They are both good friends of mine, and I knew this was going to be a very important week for them because they had 3 unsaved girls in their group. So I claimed this cabin for the week, to write notes and encourage Ana & Anna, to specifically ask them throughout the day how they were and about their campers, and to pray like crazy. And I did. God's always working on me and my prayer life, and I feel like at different points He's teaching me how to pray in different ways. This time was mainly that these girls who had already heard the truth and were involved in church would come face to face with God and choose to follow Him wholeheartedly. God answered one of my prayers that I had been praying for a couple weeks, that I would get the opportunity to talk with one specific girl one-on-one. After a chapel that went on forever on Thursday night because we just didn't want to stop singing, I pulled her aside and asked if we could talk somewhere. We bundled up and sat on the balcony in my room and talked for almost 2 hours about God and our lives. She's such a deep thinker and has read half of the Bible just this summer, and she does have faith, but she's still holding back and hasn't completely trusted in God. She's so close, and I believe one day soon she will give her life to Christ, but right now she told me that she can't say she knows 100% that she would go to heaven. Please be praying for her, and the others that were at camp, who are open but still haven't taken the step to completely trust God and give their life to Him.
Here's what a "usual" program for camp looks like: counselor's meeting way too early, breakfast, group devotional time, big game, lunch, free time, challenge activities (zip line, high ropes course, climbing wall, paintball, & team building), dinner, singing, chapel, night game, then lights out at midnight. The food was amazing at Lunca, and I think I ate a loaf of bread a day because it was served at every meal. The devo times were super important times with just their cabin when they studied a small passage on the theme for the day and had to ask/answer questions about it. We had all kinds of fun activities, including a ton of water games, a hunt for the Americans hiding at night, bucket ball, a volleyball, basketball, & soccer tournament, and a skit night when it rained. The challenge activities are awesome and it was cool to see all of the campers push themselves and face some of their fears. Tom was the speaker at chapel and he did an awesome job portraying the gospel. My favorite night was when the power went out because of a storm, and in the dark and the rain God provided a perfect and powerful atmosphere for His gospel to be shared. A couple people got saved this week, and for sure everyone was challenged to take a deeper look at who God is and their personal relationship with Him.
So that's the "brief" recap of the 1st week of camp... now to camp in Ukraine!
Saturday morning we got back in Hillary and drove just over the border to Cernauti, Ukraine for our 2nd week of camp. We had camp at the same conference center/church that we went to in March for the youth conference and worked with Sandu and Pavel again. We didn't have the resources for activities we did at Lunca, but we used the one small field a lot, and somehow everyone mostly stayed clean even though about 30 girls shared the same one shower. Saturday night, a team from the States arrived to help with camp for the week. I loved working with and getting to know Sarah, Rebecca, Josiah, Aaron, Bob & Carla for the week! Sunday was a day of rest and shopping to prepare for the campers coming the next morning. The campers this week were mainly in the 14-16 age group and they came from villages all around Cernauti. This part of Ukraine used to be part of Romania, so thus most all of them still speak Romanian at home. I was really hoping that this week of camp would be great for my speaking to improve, but I really didn't have as many opportunities to just hang out with the campers this week, and also I could barely understand what they were saying! They had a super thick accent, which I think is equivalent to the New Yorker accent in English, and it was so hard even for the Romanians to know what they were saying half of the time. They loved this clapping game called "Peter, Peter, Paul, Paul" (except I can't even try to type how they pronounced it), and when I played they kept picking on me because I kept messing up because I couldn't understand when they were calling out my number! So this was the inside joke with me for the week and whenever a couple of them would see me they'd say "șase, șase, șapte, șapte" because those were my 2 numbers I kept screwing up.
The program was similar to the 1st week, but starting an hour earlier. We had a shorter chapel after breakfast too, along with the normal one in the evening. We had a lot more big team games between the 2 teams, Maximum and Aventura, like scalps with the panty hose on their heads, water games, an obstacle course, bucket ball, code breaker, underground church, and a photo scavenger hunt. With the younger age group, it was different feel and reminded me of going to Word of Life camp all those years in middle school and high school.
While I didn't have any "assigned" counselors this week, God laid on my heart a specific camper. It may have also helped that she has lived in the States for the past 11 years so it was a whole lot easier to talk to her, and that she has an awesome name that happens to be the same as mine, even with a "K." She is 16 and got saved near the beginning of the week! After that she kind of latched on to some of us Americans, and I got a lot of chances to just encourage her and help prepare her for how her life is going to change when she gets back to America at the end of the summer. It's always exciting to see God change a life, and she is one that I definitely want to keep in touch with! There were also a good couple of kids that got saved, and during the testimony time at the end, it was evident to see that God had revealed Himself to a lot of the kids that week. We're praying for a revival in the church in this area to come from these teens, because most all of the churches are super legalistic still and are pushing their teens away, not reaching out to them.
So camp has been amazing so far... there has been some spiritual warfare, but God's definitely God the upper hand in that battle & is changing lives! In 2 weeks we start another session of camp for 3 weeks in a row & I can't wait!
Kristie, Jenny, & I are leaving for London tomorrow... no big deal... it hasn't quite hit me yet! I still can't believe that a country girl like me will have hit up Paris, Rome, AND London by the time I get home. And speaking of home... I will be back in a month!! There wasn't enough room for me to go on the missions trip to Turkey with my church, so I will be coming home on my original flight on September 6th! Of course I have mixed feelings about this... I'm planning on skipping the last week of camp to have a week or so in the city to pack and say goodbye to everyone, but it will still be super hard and emotional for me. But, I'm also getting pretty anxious to get home and be with my family and friends again! So everyone at home... plan on having a party soon after I get back! :]
Our 1st week of camp was at Lunca Bradului with alfAOmega and Cer Deschis churches. First of all, the campground at Lunca is absolutely gorgeous and in this small valley up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. It just made me so happy to see the stars, walk barefoot in grass, take pictures of all the wildflowers, and that the only noise I fell asleep to every night was the sound of the river that ran through camp. We piled in Hillary and headed up Saturday morning, got there that evening, then had all day Sunday to rest, chill and get ready for the campers to come Monday at lunch time.
So my role at camp is the photographer (which believe it or not, I'm sort of getting tired of taking pictures), and then pretty much whatever else needs to get done. This includes gathering firewood and building/starting the fires for the city folks, setting up games and activities, cleaning and washing dishes, and rearranging the main room for chapel. But my favorite "job" at camp is encouraging the counselors. Every morning an hour before breakfast, we have a meeting with all the counselors, to pray with them and to hear about what God's doing and how we can be praying for them and the counselors. The 1st week, God laid Ana & Anna, who were co-counselors, on my heart. They are both good friends of mine, and I knew this was going to be a very important week for them because they had 3 unsaved girls in their group. So I claimed this cabin for the week, to write notes and encourage Ana & Anna, to specifically ask them throughout the day how they were and about their campers, and to pray like crazy. And I did. God's always working on me and my prayer life, and I feel like at different points He's teaching me how to pray in different ways. This time was mainly that these girls who had already heard the truth and were involved in church would come face to face with God and choose to follow Him wholeheartedly. God answered one of my prayers that I had been praying for a couple weeks, that I would get the opportunity to talk with one specific girl one-on-one. After a chapel that went on forever on Thursday night because we just didn't want to stop singing, I pulled her aside and asked if we could talk somewhere. We bundled up and sat on the balcony in my room and talked for almost 2 hours about God and our lives. She's such a deep thinker and has read half of the Bible just this summer, and she does have faith, but she's still holding back and hasn't completely trusted in God. She's so close, and I believe one day soon she will give her life to Christ, but right now she told me that she can't say she knows 100% that she would go to heaven. Please be praying for her, and the others that were at camp, who are open but still haven't taken the step to completely trust God and give their life to Him.
Here's what a "usual" program for camp looks like: counselor's meeting way too early, breakfast, group devotional time, big game, lunch, free time, challenge activities (zip line, high ropes course, climbing wall, paintball, & team building), dinner, singing, chapel, night game, then lights out at midnight. The food was amazing at Lunca, and I think I ate a loaf of bread a day because it was served at every meal. The devo times were super important times with just their cabin when they studied a small passage on the theme for the day and had to ask/answer questions about it. We had all kinds of fun activities, including a ton of water games, a hunt for the Americans hiding at night, bucket ball, a volleyball, basketball, & soccer tournament, and a skit night when it rained. The challenge activities are awesome and it was cool to see all of the campers push themselves and face some of their fears. Tom was the speaker at chapel and he did an awesome job portraying the gospel. My favorite night was when the power went out because of a storm, and in the dark and the rain God provided a perfect and powerful atmosphere for His gospel to be shared. A couple people got saved this week, and for sure everyone was challenged to take a deeper look at who God is and their personal relationship with Him.
So that's the "brief" recap of the 1st week of camp... now to camp in Ukraine!
Saturday morning we got back in Hillary and drove just over the border to Cernauti, Ukraine for our 2nd week of camp. We had camp at the same conference center/church that we went to in March for the youth conference and worked with Sandu and Pavel again. We didn't have the resources for activities we did at Lunca, but we used the one small field a lot, and somehow everyone mostly stayed clean even though about 30 girls shared the same one shower. Saturday night, a team from the States arrived to help with camp for the week. I loved working with and getting to know Sarah, Rebecca, Josiah, Aaron, Bob & Carla for the week! Sunday was a day of rest and shopping to prepare for the campers coming the next morning. The campers this week were mainly in the 14-16 age group and they came from villages all around Cernauti. This part of Ukraine used to be part of Romania, so thus most all of them still speak Romanian at home. I was really hoping that this week of camp would be great for my speaking to improve, but I really didn't have as many opportunities to just hang out with the campers this week, and also I could barely understand what they were saying! They had a super thick accent, which I think is equivalent to the New Yorker accent in English, and it was so hard even for the Romanians to know what they were saying half of the time. They loved this clapping game called "Peter, Peter, Paul, Paul" (except I can't even try to type how they pronounced it), and when I played they kept picking on me because I kept messing up because I couldn't understand when they were calling out my number! So this was the inside joke with me for the week and whenever a couple of them would see me they'd say "șase, șase, șapte, șapte" because those were my 2 numbers I kept screwing up.
The program was similar to the 1st week, but starting an hour earlier. We had a shorter chapel after breakfast too, along with the normal one in the evening. We had a lot more big team games between the 2 teams, Maximum and Aventura, like scalps with the panty hose on their heads, water games, an obstacle course, bucket ball, code breaker, underground church, and a photo scavenger hunt. With the younger age group, it was different feel and reminded me of going to Word of Life camp all those years in middle school and high school.
While I didn't have any "assigned" counselors this week, God laid on my heart a specific camper. It may have also helped that she has lived in the States for the past 11 years so it was a whole lot easier to talk to her, and that she has an awesome name that happens to be the same as mine, even with a "K." She is 16 and got saved near the beginning of the week! After that she kind of latched on to some of us Americans, and I got a lot of chances to just encourage her and help prepare her for how her life is going to change when she gets back to America at the end of the summer. It's always exciting to see God change a life, and she is one that I definitely want to keep in touch with! There were also a good couple of kids that got saved, and during the testimony time at the end, it was evident to see that God had revealed Himself to a lot of the kids that week. We're praying for a revival in the church in this area to come from these teens, because most all of the churches are super legalistic still and are pushing their teens away, not reaching out to them.
So camp has been amazing so far... there has been some spiritual warfare, but God's definitely God the upper hand in that battle & is changing lives! In 2 weeks we start another session of camp for 3 weeks in a row & I can't wait!
Kristie, Jenny, & I are leaving for London tomorrow... no big deal... it hasn't quite hit me yet! I still can't believe that a country girl like me will have hit up Paris, Rome, AND London by the time I get home. And speaking of home... I will be back in a month!! There wasn't enough room for me to go on the missions trip to Turkey with my church, so I will be coming home on my original flight on September 6th! Of course I have mixed feelings about this... I'm planning on skipping the last week of camp to have a week or so in the city to pack and say goodbye to everyone, but it will still be super hard and emotional for me. But, I'm also getting pretty anxious to get home and be with my family and friends again! So everyone at home... plan on having a party soon after I get back! :]
7.15.2011
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.
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! :]
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!
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.
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| 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! :]
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| 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! :]
7.11.2011
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!
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!
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! :]
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| With the Graef & Tataru families |
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| My adopted fam |
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| "Pimpin it" |
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| She's next to get married!! |
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| Singing Jesus music... loved it! |
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| Everyone praising God together! |
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| Vera & Simon |
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| The 2nd AO band |
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| More circle dances! |
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| 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!
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| Blue pancakes for brunch |
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| My roomies are pretty much awesome |
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| Hard Rock Cafe |
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| 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! :]
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| Love that she's always up for an adventure too! |
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| The concert was right in front of the People's Palace |
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| Can you see me?? |
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| The Marriott Hotel where we were stalking |
7.04.2011
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. :]
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! :]
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. :[
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!
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!
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. :]
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| All the superheroes & the helpers |
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| Who doesn't love parachutes! |
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| "We are soprheroes!" |
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| Making their capes/nametags for the week |
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| Boloboc, Adevarul, & Minciunila |
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| The smurfs |
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| Super Eroii Zborati! |
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| With the cat & spiderman |
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| "I had a friend who was a moose" |
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| I have superhero boots too! |
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| Our great actors |
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| 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! :]
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| 1st we had no hot water... then we got this... |
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| 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. :[
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| "She needs wide open spaces" |
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| Who doesn't love jumping pictures? |
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| Photoshoot with my gorgeous friends! |
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| The whole gang :] |
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| Gorgeous sunset |
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| Playing a game about Vera & Simon's relationship |
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| 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!
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| Training meeting with AO & Cer Deschis |
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| Superhero skit about cleaning up |
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| Mmm my 1st grilled anything in 6th months |
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| Almost American |
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| The ABWE Romania South team |
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| We pretty much dominated a giant half of a watermelon |
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| Tom took a little nap |
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| Aunt Gela teaching Rose how to knit |
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| Scary boys |
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| Gangsta girls |
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| Watching National Treasure projected on the side of the building! |
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