Not My Eggs

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-14T02:14:00.005+02:00

Liz & Laura and their children. These are all the Esclamado grandbabies.

One day at breakfast. Uncle James is holding sweet baby Ty in one arm--notice that he has Hannah and Catie both in the other! They LOVE baby Ty and were anxious to help Tita Liz change diapars/respond to whatever needs baby Ty had! So funny.

Had a great Thanksgiving in Durham with everyone but Philip, Jen, and Joshua. Unfortunately Philip came down with the swine flu and they couldn't make it. He's fine now. Meanwhile, we enjoyed walks and games in a nearby state park, games and fun at home, a GREAT meal, etc. etc... Elia from Switzerland joined us, and he was delighted to have been a part. I am so glad we could make him welcome.

Taylor Connections

2009-11-20T02:12:00.004+02:00

What a wonderful morning I had today visiting with a TU neighbor from my dorm. Bethany is from the Chicago area, and of course Taylor is in the midwest...her husband is from West Virginia, and they met in the Dominican Republic! So it's a bit random that they landed in Hampton. How sweet to see her again and to meet her 2 precious children, Josiah, 17 months, and Gabriella, 2 months. Gabriella felt right at home in my arms and had a good nap. Josiah wasn't shy, either! What a treat to find that we have some mutual acquaintances from their church and to fellowship about time spent on the mission field. They do hope to return to the DR someday.

In another interesting twist, I've kept in touch with my high school teacher, who referred me to a homeschool support group for some possible work. The lady with whom I spoke has 2 children at Taylor! One is a senior Elementary Education major. It would be interesting to see if people around here are interested in a TU gathering. I know of several folks on the southside, and a few in Richmond, as well.

visiting the kiddos

2009-11-16T22:00:00.004+02:00

I escaped Friday and Saturday of the storm by visiting Durham! Actually, that was already planned, and as it worked out, I had a hot shower to break our days without power. Had a fun time with the kids! David's soccer game was cancelled due to the wet fields, but J&L still got to go to their marriage seminar at church, and while David was with his Lolo and Yaya, I hung out with the girls. Fun times!

First pic: Catie and David are in the playroom watching the ambulance across the street on Saturday morning. There was a fire truck, too! Excitement.

I heard Hannah talk more this time than I've ever heard her before. I knew that pacifier was keeping me out of the loop! So when I got her from her nap, I whisked her out of there without giving it back to her and for awhile David & Catie didn't notice she was without! All of that time, she talked my ear off, danced with me, was such fun. Oh--and when she does have her paci, I'm always joking around with her that I want it, too--so she offers it to me. :)

nor'easter

2009-11-16T21:47:00.002+02:00

Quite a storm this weekend. The nasty weather began on Wednesday and continued through Friday. Here at the house and church, our power went out on Thursday afternoon and stayed off until Sunday morning around 11. Some pictures taken from my windows show you our lakes!

Freebie!

2009-11-14T20:50:00.001+02:00

This year, blogger Freebies 4 Mom is disseminating a great Internet code for 50 free personalized photo cards through the Web site SeeHere.com. You can choose a 4x8 or 5x7 photo card, making the value of this offer close to $40. Shipping is free and you are not required to input a credit card number. To get the free cards, use the code freebies4mom -1109. The code expires on Nov. 30.

Be warned though: The program to design your card is difficult to muddle through, so sit down at the computer knowing you're going to need some patience.

(from dailypress.com)

2009-10-26T15:30:00.002+02:00

Weekend before last, I had a great visit in Durham! Got to see David and Catie play soccer. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics of David. Isn't Catie cute with her headband? And there are some of her buddy Isaac there, too, who plays on the same team.

It was great to go to church with everyone at Sovereign Grace. I am so glad that James & Laura have found a place to fit in!

AND, a really sweet surprise...Saturday night they had a surprise welcome-home party for me! I was clueless to what they were planning and floored by their thoughtfulness in organizing it. Laura's folks and Julia & Walter all came. It was so good to see them all.

Thanksgiving will be in Durham with the whole family, and I'm really looking forward to that.

Joshua Christopher

2009-10-26T03:39:00.004+02:00

Got to meet Joshua Christopher!!! What a cutie. He's a cuddly baby.

Local History

2009-10-25T23:18:00.002+02:00

This is on the corner of Kecoughtan and Ivy Home Rd. Love this area! So much here!

Progress

2009-10-09T13:35:00.002+02:00

Closet is painted! Now John Hudson will be working on it to make me lots of hanging and shelf space. Hopefully that gets done this weekend, and we can move everything back into the closet that belongs there and begin the room. Yesterday Lindsey came with me to buy the first gallon of paint for the room. I went with Sherwin Williams' Jonquil, a light gold, and last night Clay and I brushed it on a segment of wall. I'm really happy with the color.

Over the weekend I met my nephew Joshua Christopher! He is as cute as they come, and today I'll see him some more. Pictures to come when I have my own computer. It's been fun to catch up with the folks at church, with Lindsey, with Jen & Joshua, and I have more to go yet. The job search is on, too. I appreciate any prayers there.

Home Again

2009-10-06T14:25:00.003+02:00

I love Hampton Roads. I know, I'm biased--but it does compare quite favorably to other areas with its abundance of water and beautiful climate. This weekend Mom and Dad came up and Mom and I had a beautiful walk down Ivy Home Road to Sunset Marina. Just across that little bit of water is Hampton University. What a great area!

Howard & Lena Katz were also here this weekend, and it's been a pleasure spending some time with them.

Clay and I started painting the closet to my room yesterday. I hope we'll finish it off today. The room will follow. Yay! :)

Nai

2009-09-24T09:01:00.002+02:00

As my time here draws to a close, I've been saying goodbye to different ones. Some of the youth who have been around for a long time managed to surprise me with a couple of gifts: beautiful white roses, and a Romanian panflute, a nai! I really have an international collection of instruments with this one! It's a traditional folk instrument from around here, and it is one that I didn't think I'd be able to come away with, because I've never found a decent quality one worth playing within my price range--only decorative ones. So they've spoiled me! And I continue to feel spoiled by my Daddy God.

Wrapping Things Up

2009-09-21T09:50:00.002+02:00

I am due to send another newsletter! Overdue even. Today is Clay's last day. Vasile will pick him up at 5:30 tomorrow morning to drive him to the Cluj airport. We will have a 5:00 cookout with some friends this evening, then Clay has a 7:00 meeting with the leaders, and that's it.

The house is looking pretty bare in places as we've emptied out a lot of it already. The office is already stripped down. Yesterday another large piece of furniture and the desktop computer left, and we're waiting on Catalina's mother to find transport to take the TV, the large bed and large wardrobe from one room, and then the bedroom will be empty. I'm so glad that we've been able to get things cleaned out bit by bit ahead of time, and that not everything is completely up to me this last week. We still have a good bit of cleaning out to do--the pantry and kitchen. Though the custom-built kitchen cabinets will remain here (that doesn't usually happen in RO), the contents must be distributed. We've a ways to go yet. Others picking up large furniture/appliances will do so this weekend and on.

Yesterday the church had a cookout in Clay's honor and in mine. I think everyone came--it was a wonderful time. God gave us a gorgeous day for it, and I am coming to realize more and more that I'm really going to miss people! I have been so blessed to have had this opportunity in RO--I even feel so spoiled by my Daddy God. The verse we all know from Psalm 37, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of Your heart," applies here. God has given me a desire of my heart. I've had the chance to be involved in His Kingdom, outside of my own country, and it's been a privilege and a joy to know His kids in other places. Not only that, but He's spoiled me by letting me see a lot of Europe while I've been here.

Though I don't know what is next (being permanently at home or traveling to other places), I trust that the LORD GOD is holding my hand and will lead me in the path of righteousness. I could sing of His faithfulness, and His love, forever.

VBS

2009-09-08T21:34:00.000+02:00

We finished Day 2 of VBS! It's going wonderfully. I won't bother putting up lots of pictures here since they are already online here. Enjoy!

2009-09-01T15:10:00.003+02:00

I promised more wedding pictures! The church was beautiful, and Persida, Krisztina and Catalina were bridesmaids.

Doesn't Lia look great?

Bianca came to Iuli's and worked on 4 of us to get us ready for the wedding. She works as well as a professional. I keep trying to get her to go into this field! Here she's working on Mihaela. Miha and Lau came up from Bucharest for the wedding. It's the last time I'm able to see them before leaving, so it worked out really well that they could come.

Jordan!

Kris and our houseguest, Audrey Tison. What a great pic!

2009-09-01T15:05:00.000+02:00

Pictures from redecorating Lidia & Traian's master bedroom! We painted the ceiling, 3 walls, and wallpapered one wall. Lidia pulled out some different decor when it was all back together. Success, success...

2009-08-30T11:11:00.002+02:00

Last night was Lia's wedding. It all went beautifully, it was a GREAT party, and the couple are happy. More pictures and details to come.

In a few minutes Clay and I are taking a train across the border to Hungary, hanging around for a few hours there, and returning after midnight. This is so I can be legal in Romania for the next few weeks before I leave. We'll be back here by 7 AM tomorrow morning.

Richard & Audrey Tison are here, and they've been a HUGE help. Audrey has been miraculous in the kitchen while I've been running around trying to take care of wedding details. What a sweet lady.

2009-08-25T10:07:00.002+02:00

Church on Sunday went well. There were quite a few guests present. When I'm gone, Julie will be leading with the guitar, but until then, we'll try to combo--her on the guitar, me on the keys, Roberto is new on the bass (middle-schooler who is eager to learn & participate), and we have some good voices. We usually are missing men's voices, though, so Traian was a huge help to us on Sunday.

Videos of praise and worship are on the church's blog: http://raulvietii.wordpress.com.

Monday I helped Traian & Lidia paint and wallpaper their master bedroom. We finished it all and they're really pleased with the result! I wore myself out, though, including the foot, and slept like a log last night. The foot's generally been doing really well, and I'm not wearing anything protective anymore, but I still feel it at the end of the day if I've used it all day long. And I can't wear heels!

Jordan has gone to Somesu Rece for a few days with a team of workers. They want to complete a few projects up there, and I'm sure they'll get a lot done with 9 guys (2 girls to cook) and 3 whole days. The construction at the church is slow in getting going, so Jordan's been waiting on them, but this is a good project for him meantime.

Lia's wedding is Saturday, and we're preparing with music, etc. Stuart is here and his guests are coming in all week long from England. I believe that he'll only have a handful of people here.

trip to Bulgaria

2009-08-25T09:58:00.002+02:00

Clay, Miodrag and I had a good trip to Bulgaria...15 hours on the train each way with changes in Bucharest, and it was HOT, but it was a very good trip. I was glad to see Michael and Villie and their kids again. It may be the last time I see them. They took us to a very cool castle, the place where the documents for Bulgaria were first signed. Mio and Clay both preached some, and when Mio preached, he did so in Romanian. I translated into English, and Michael translated into Bulgarian. Clay & Mio stayed with Ivancho and Natalca, who are now the pastors of the church, and I stayed with Elenca, whose husband Salim is working in England.

On the way back we very nearly missed our train from Bucharest because our connecting train was so late getting in. BUT, the sleeping cabins we had as far as Bucharest seemed just beautifully first-class! It reminded me of those old romantic movies that are set in those trains that traveled across Europe. I'm sure that our particular car was handed-down from some Western European country, but we really enjoyed the luxury. :)

2009-08-12T22:41:00.001+02:00

Richard & Audrey Tison will not be here until Aug 25, but they'll stay to Sept 8.

We're looking forward to seeing them!

2009-08-12T22:15:00.003+02:00

Today we bought train tickets for Bulgaria. Clay, Mio, and I will leave early Friday morning and arrive in Pavlikeni a little after 6 PM. We'll have to take packed meals. It will be a short visit, as we leave to return late Sunday evening, but it is a good chance to see the church there again and to visit Michael & Villie and their family. I'm really looking forward to it, and I'm really glad to be able to see Michael and Villie and kids before I leave this part of the world, since I don't know when I'll be back.

Iuli will lead worship this weekend since I'll be gone.

August 11 is generally the best night of the year for watching falling stars. Clay is really into this, so we took a crew to Adi's mountain cabin last night in order to be stargazers. Unfortunately, the clouds worked against us, and we didn't see falling stars. But we did have a great time out of the city and hanging out together, being about 15 people in all. It was really fun.

My foot is doing much better. Kris continues to wrap it for me and I am using it to do almost anything. Of course running and jumping is out, but other than this, I am free.

Lidia's had her arm checked today and it's healing OK so far. She is pretty limited, and because of that she's really been bored--is tired of reading, etc. Still she is thankful for God's goodness in that she's not hurt worse than she is.

Lia's wedding is only 2 weeks away, and I am in charge of organizing the music for her ceremony. Thankfully, several others have stepped up to help. There will be 3 pieces in Romanian (all done by others) and we'll have 2 in English. We'll also have at least one at the reception.

Saturday was Ioana & Ionut's wedding. They are from our church. I put some pictures up on facebook. Enjoy!

This Week...

2009-08-06T15:17:00.002+02:00

As soon as I was home from camp, I got into the shower and let the cast on my right leg soften to the point where I could cut it off. It was already a mess, and the cast itself was no longer serving its purpose--the joint between foot and leg was a proper joint, flexibility intact, and of course the sole of the cast was hideously dirty and absent of any...cast. I guess that's what happens when you walk on it. So I got rid of that and feel much better without it. I had another x-ray on Wednesday and it looks the same! Kris says the new bone won't show up until 3 months later, so I'm sure that it's progressing. I was just happy to see that it didn't look any worse. Clay & Jordan came with me and got to see where Kris works. That was fun, and of course different than in the US! They got to see all the equipment and watch as Kris zapped me. :)

Traian & Lidia have been working on the land behind the foundation for almost a year. One year ago that space was just old farmland, and last fall I remember helping to turn that ground over with shovels, by hand, with a whole crew, in order to get it ready to plant grass. Now they have grass and a fairly level, large space, with some beautiful gardening in one corner. It's altogether lovely--yesterday I visited with Lidia out there as the afternoon cooled off. We immensely enjoyed it.

Richard and Audrey Tison will be visiting us for almost a month. They arrive on Tuesday, and we're excited about seeing them. Of course, Clay is here, too, and he's been in the back bedroom, but we have a plan to fit everyone. Richard & Audrey will have the back bedroom and Clay will have the office. We'll move the second blue desk out of there and 2 plastic tubs that we have files in, and in their place a cot will fit perfectly. Lia, Kris, and I will continue in the other bedroom.

Lia has been in England for a week because she had an interview for a supervisory social work position, which is just her field. I haven't yet heard how the interview went but we have high hopes! She'll return tomorrow.

Saturday is Ioana and Ionut's wedding. Sunday night we had a small bridal shower for Ioana, and I think she had a really fun time. Ligia (one of her bridesmaids) organized most of it and did a fantastic job. Though I'll only be at the ceremony and not the reception, I've been asked to help with the guitar for 2 different songs. Fortunately they are both easy!

That's all for now, more to come.

More on Camp

2009-08-06T15:11:00.002+02:00

I am finally sitting down to write some more about the church's youth camp in Cugir last week. Speakers for the week included Florin Dorobant, Mio and Simona Scumpia, and Clay Hudson. Mio and Simona are our pastor and his wife, and Simona was definitely one of the favorites for the week. She certainly has the gift of communication, and it was obvious that she connected with the young people at camp. Mio has always been a great exhorter, and Florin manages to include teaching and preaching in an appealing address. Clay spoke on hearing God's voice, one of my favorite topics, and all in all, the campers were really blessed by all that was shared.

Several young people were saved during the week (as many as 5?), 3 were water baptized, and at least 3 were filled with the Holy Spirit. Several had testimonies at the end of the week about changed attitudes (into positive ones). God had mercy on us!

And a few more...

2009-08-05T23:20:00.001+02:00

Some of the games. Hilarious!

More pics from Youth Camp

2009-08-05T23:18:00.000+02:00

Enjoying the fellowship & games...

Pics from Youth Camp

2009-08-05T22:53:00.001+02:00

Leading worship...lots of enthusiastic worshipers! What a great group to lead.

a bit about youth camp

2009-08-05T09:21:00.003+02:00

We had our church's youth camp last week. It was the 10th year for youth camp but the first year that we held it at a place in Cugir. Cugir is in the district of Alba, but it's about 50 minutes by car from Alba Iulia. Sixty-five campers and leaders came from Alba Iulia, Santimbru, Cugir, Sebes, Deta, San-Mihai German, San Andrei, Sirie, and Sebis. Though it was a small group compared to past years, it turned out well, especially considering the amount of preparation that went into it. Mio and Adi were pretty much on their own as far as most of the organization, and it all worked out. I found out about a week ahead that I was needed for the praise and worship. Originally I didn't even know if I'd be able to attend camp (I had expected to spend that entire week working on my next round of visa papers), but as it turns out, I am not completing them again, and I was free for camp. So with very little preparation even for praise and worship (which was required every morning and evening), we went into that week a little on edge (at least I did). Even so, I felt much less pressure than in past years when I was responsible for so much more of camp. This year only the praise and worship was on my plate. I gathered the vocalists from church and prepped them as best as I could. One of my goals was to use as much original material since we're already saturated with translated worship songs. This we successfully accomplished, and though the campers had to learn the new songs, they did so and by the end of the week really enjoyed them. The original songs that we used were composed by myself and others who I know, plus a couple of folks I don't personally know, and it was a great opportunity to get these songs out.

Our theme for the week was the last part of the verse from Gen 32:26, "I will not let you go until you bless me." This is Jacob's line to the angel (God) that he was wrestling with. And what a blessing he received because of his insistence! My roommate Krisztina and I composed a theme song for camp, and I'll write the words and translation here:

Mă lupt în arena cea mare, (I'm fighting in the great arena)
Suporterii mă-nconjoară (My supporters surround me)
Ca să-nvăţ să lupt cu Cel tare (So I can learn to fight with the Strong One)
Pân' la binecuvântare! (All the way to blessing)

Eu strig: (I cry)
Nu Te voi lăsa (I won't let You go)
Pân' nu mă vei binecuvânta! (Until You bless me)
Doamne, (Lord,)
Nu Te voi lăsa (I won't let You go)
Pân' nu mă vei binecuvânta! (Until You bless me.)

Moise însuşi se-arată (Moses himself shows up)
Şi declară pentru mine: (And he declares for me)
“Dacă Tu nu vii cu noi, (If you don't go with us,)
Cum vom merge fără Tine?” (How can we go without You?)

Doamne, (Lord)
Nu Te voi lăsa (I won't let You go)
Pân' nu mă vei binecuvânta! (Until You bless me)
Doamne, (Lord,)
Nu Te voi lăsa (I won't let You go)
Pân' nu mă vei binecuvânta! (Until You bless me.)

Bartimeu putea să vadă (Bartimeus could see)
Când pe Domnul L-a chemat, (When he called on the Lord)
Fiindcă el vedea în Duhul, (Because he could see in the spirit,)
A fost binecuvântat! (He was blessed)

Doamne, (Lord)
Nu Te voi lăsa (I won't let You go)
Pân' nu mă vei binecuvânta! (Until You bless me)
Doamne, (Lord,)
Nu Te voi lăsa (I won't let You go)
Pân' nu mă vei binecuvânta! (Until You bless me.)

Crezând pân' la vindecare (Believing for healing)
Pentru fata ei bolnavă, (For her sick daughter)
“Eşti Domn,” a spus femeia, (You are Lord, said the woman,)
“Peste Neamuri, plin de slavă!” (Of the Gentiles, and full of glory)

Doamne, (Lord)
Nu Te voi lăsa (I won't let You go)
Pân' nu mă vei binecuvânta! (Until You bless me)
Doamne, (Lord,)
Nu Te voi lăsa (I won't let You go)
Pân' nu mă vei binecuvânta! (Until You bless me.)

So that was our theme song and it went over really well. Krisztina wrote almost all of the words for it. She does really well.

More to come, it's time for lunch and then we're off to Sebes, so I'll have to write more later.

Joshua Christopher Alexander

2009-08-05T09:19:00.000+02:00

What a handsome fellow!!!

Yesterday...

2009-08-02T05:54:00.002+02:00

My nephew Joshua was born! I hear he's a blondie and is as cute as ever. Philip and Jen have been prepped for this for a long time now, I know they're excited. I can't wait to see some pictures of him!

Also yesterday we returned from camp in Cugir. More to come.

one more camp...

2009-07-27T07:19:00.001+02:00

Jordan and I are off today for another week of camp. This is the church's youth camp, but the youngest is about 14 and the oldest participant 35 or so...not quite the same! Jordan will be helping with games & activities plus bringing the wood for the wood stove in from the woodshed. I'll be leading praise and worship. We may find that we have some more responsibilities when we get there.

The foot's doing well--I have absolutely no pain and I'm able to hobble around on the cast. The crutches wore me out--I had to give them up.

More to come when we return.

2009-07-22T16:30:00.001+02:00

One other incident at camp that I'll mention: on the first day of adolescent camp, I turned my right foot over a soccer ball. That severely limited my mobility for the rest of camp, but I continued to participate at camp by leading worship, organizing the soccer tourney & the volleyball tourney, and hobbling around as I could. My foot swelled up during the day and was generally much better in the evening. It caused me to take my time, especially on the stairs, but I was thankful that it wasn't worse.

When I got back to Alba Iulia, I went with my roommate Kris, who is an x-ray tech in Sebes, to get the foot x-rayed, and we finally found out why it wasn't healing more quickly--the outside bone of the foot which is connected to my small toe is quite obviously broken on the x-ray. I am so thankful that it wasn't more painful that it was, that I wasn't more limited than I was, etc. God has been so good. So today I ended up with a nice cast. Check out pictures below. :)

Somesu Rece 2009: Life Like in the Movies

2009-07-22T13:21:00.001+02:00

We made it to Budapest and caught a bus into RO. Lia met us in Cluj and we made it back to the house where we crashed at almost 3 AM. The next day we left at 7 AM to head to the camp, which began with the kids on Monday, but where we had a couple of days of preparation and some nice quiet rest. :) Two weeks of camp followed--one with children, another with teens. They were a great 2 weeks. This picture is of the whole teen group and leaders at the end of the second week. Team leaders have colored T-shirts...as you can see, Jordan and I along with one other woman led the blue team.

This year's theme was "Life Like in the Movies," and we spoke about leading roles and what it takes to have one (servanthood). Each team won points for leading in different challenges/games/competitions, and at the end of the week, one team went away with the prize. We had special times of teaching and worship each morning and evening, and we prayed for the campers 3 out of our 5 nights together. Sometimes the campers even prayed for us--that is always powerful.

I helped lead worship, so you see us letting it all hang out in the third picture. In the second, Jordan is slicking down his team's plastic runway for the water relay races. Dish detergent really throws a curve to the participants! The kids loved it.

The fourth picture is our blue team after completing our first challenge of the week. We had to use a sheet, some twine, and whatever else we found in nature to suspend the sheet so that all the team members would fit underneath it. We finally succeeded.

Jordan really did well at camp. He especially enjoyed the kids' week, and he helped with several practical projects: digging out a drain that went to the kitchen and had become backed up, cutting down tree limbs which served as poles to hold up the volleyball net, putting up the basketball hoop, etc. The kids enjoyed interacting with him, too.

off to Budapest

2009-07-02T12:44:00.004+02:00

Make sure you read below to find out why these photos are just so flattering! ;)

Yesterday Jordan and I departed for Budapest but had a hiccup--we got stuck at JFK for 24 hours! Still there now--we're fine, though a bit short on sleep. Our flight from Norfolk left about 4 hours late because of bad weather in NY and the backup of flights over the course of the entire day. We missed making our connection by 10-15 minutes, but they put us on the same flight the following day (today) and I was able to get in touch with Kris, my roommate who got the bus tickets for us, and she successfully got them changed to the following day. The good side to all of this is that our baggage should come with us. If we'd made our original connection, our baggage surely would have remained in NY, and that would have been as much as a hassle or more--just trying to recover it. I did that once before, too.

So other than not much sleep, we're fine. And of course, a little lighter from spending some cash at these airport restaurants. :| But it's not too bad.

If you read my most recent newsletter, sent a couple of days ago, you know that I am moving back to the States on September 30, so these 3 months are the last hurrah, in a sense. My cousin Jordan is with me for these 3 months, and it's going to be a GREAT time! We have 2 weeks of children's/adolescents' camps right away, then a one-week break, and then another week of youth camp. In that time, I also must complete my visa papers again. In August I have 2 weddings to attend, including that of my roommate Lia, and possibly one in September. Also in September is VBS with OAC. I am excited about all of these things, about wrapping up my time in Romania, and about introducing Jordan to everyone there and showing him the place I've been living and working for the past 6 years. It will be a great 3 months.

Daniel's Graduation Weekend

2009-06-04T20:40:00.005+02:00

2009-05-14T06:57:00.000+02:00

Easter!

2009-04-15T23:23:00.003+02:00

I had a wonderful Easter and week preceding Easter in Durham, NC, where James & family live.

For Easter weekend, Mom drove up and Jen & Philip drove down, so it was a full and fun weekend with lots of festivities: David's soccer scrimmage, a neighborhood Easter egg hunt, a play date in which everyone colored Easter eggs, church on Sunday morning and Easter dinner with friends and family after that, plus a walk at Duke Gardens. And that was just Friday to Sunday!

I also had a full and exciting week preceding Easter with the family, and time to play with and become reacquainted with David, Catie, and Hannah. They are GREAT!

in the US

2009-04-10T20:24:00.002+02:00

My trip back was easy enough, as well as the first few days of readjustment. Jetlag didn't get to me the first 2 nights (I must have been too tired to wake up in the middle of the night!) but the next 2 nights it did. After that all was well!

This week I'm with James & Laura, David, Catie & Hannah Grace. David & Catie remembered me, but Hannah has been getting to know me this week, which is fun. She took D & C's cue, though, and decided to trust me. At 16 months, this girl does much more than D or C did at that age--it must be the result of trying to keep up with them! She walks and kicks a ball, says phrases and even "I want to get down" quite distinctly, climbs stairs and goes down playground slides (not the small versions). She eats with a spoon and drinks from a straw. And, she is easygoing, agreeable, and mellow, living up to her name (meaning gracious). What a girl!

On Monday evening I went with James & David to soccer practice. It was a little bit chaotic (as things are with preschoolers) but I thought James did a great job of running drills and getting the kids to do the exercises. The girls actually did pretty well, but the funniest part of it all was when the boys would return from a run and pile on top of each other and just...stay there. Tomorrow David has a scrimmage.

We ate dinner at Elmo's last night. Elmo's is a local diner which apparently is quite well-known (Rachel Ray was there for a visit). We enjoyed it and the kids did pretty well, too. Thumbs up for family places. This morning Laura had a playdate scheduled with 2 of her friends and their small children, so they all came here for fun and lunch. It worked out really well, even with all of the kids. They had each other to play with and entertained themselves pretty well, so the moms could have their fellowship, too. We colored Easter eggs and went to the park and ate lunch together. I enjoyed seeing Ginger & Julia both. I am thankful that God has given J & L good friends and a support network here.

Como la Brisa

2009-03-29T23:21:00.001+02:00

Love this song....Persida got us to listen to it when we visited her for her birthday just before leaving for Barcelona. Then, at the church that we visited there the first Sunday, they sang this! Great piece.

2009-03-28T16:09:00.002+02:00

In case anyone's been trying to call me on the magic jack system (Arizona number)...I should tell you that you won't catch me there at the moment because it's with Deanna. Deanna left for a break at home on Monday. Hang on to the number, though, because you should be able to reach me on it in the future. I'll let you know when.

I'm packing and getting ready for my return, which begins with an 8-hour bus ride on Tuesday evening (20:00 here). Thankfully, the bus will get me in Alba Iulia. The downside? I have about 10 hours of waiting time in the Budapest airport...at least they have wifi, and I hope to sleep some! Then I'll fly to JFK and on to Norfolk.

Here I'm wrapping up loose ends. This week I had the last two music lessons as well as the last English session with Nico's students in Sebes. Tomorrow is the last Sunday I'm leading worship, and others will take over after that. And then there's the cleaning and sorting and organizing that must come... :p but of course I still have a couple of days for that. So ready to be back!

2009-03-25T10:27:00.003+02:00

For all you gardeners out there, this post has some info on a couple of great deals.

Barcelona was a wonderful treat. While we were enjoying our beautiful spring weather there, we had news that it was snowing in Alba Iulia! Wow...good time to be away!

And when I returned, I found out that my brother & sis are having a boy!!!!! Philip and Jen are due in August, and to their great excitement, they will have a son. I won't be able to meet him this trip home, but hopefully I will the next trip.

On the schedule today: English lessons with Nico's students in Sebes, music lesson with Cili at the house here, adolescent club at the foundation. Deanna left for Idaho early Monday morning, so we're 3 in the house again.

We painted the living room in July, as it was time for a change of color, but also as the back wall of the room has so much moisture in it that paint jobs quickly fall apart on that wall. We knew it wouldn't be long before it happened again (the source of the moisture might be a leak in the next-door neighbor's bathroom pipes, since their house shares this wall with ours) since we can't really do anything at this point about the moisture. The couch is on that wall, and thankfully that covers the worst of the problem. But it still bothers me, and as I think of solutions, the easiest I've come up with so far is to hang curtains to cover that entire wall...and in Barcelona I found some that would work. We just need a simple curtain rod and the 4 almost sheer beige panels would do the trick. I won't bother till later in the year, since right now the wall is still bearable...but it's a good option for us. We currently have a long mirror on that wall, and that will have to come down, but...it'll be better with the curtains, I think.

Espana part V

2009-03-23T22:25:00.004+02:00

Espana part IV

2009-03-23T22:23:00.000+02:00

Espana part III

2009-03-23T22:18:00.001+02:00

Espana part II

2009-03-23T21:18:00.003+02:00

At the Mediterranean! WooHoo! Los Palmeros in Castelldefels, and in Barcelona itself. We also went to the zoo and got to see the very cool dolphins perform. Amazing.

Espana part I

2009-03-23T20:52:00.003+02:00

Friday evening we arrived at the airpot in Barcelona, where Dani picked us up. He drove us to his and Miki's home in Berga, about 2 hours away (northwest) and we spent the weekend with them. Though Miki was working, Dani was free to show us around and it was fun to see a few things. These pictures are of the couple of days spent with them. We saw Andorra, Montserrat, and their town. Dani's parents had us for a nice meal on Saturday, and Dani & Miki absolutely spoiled us! What a great time.

Zimbabwe News

2009-03-10T08:50:00.003+02:00

I'm so sad to read of Mrs. Tsvangirai's death in Zimbabwe, after a tragic car accident (at least, her husband, Zimbabwe's new Prime Minister, is calling it an accident). What a devastating blow for the new PM and the MDC, as well as Zimbabweans who yet hope for change in their country. One wonders how change could possibly occur, with the immense challenges facing the new unity government. Do pray for the precious folks in Zimbabwe and for healing!

March 8

2009-03-09T12:00:00.003+02:00

Yesterday was International Women's Day, and the Romanians take this quite seriously! Yay! We received tulips at church and carnations at a special service for ladies in the evening, hosted by another local church. What a nice treat!

Ciprian & Alexandra were at church on Sunday. They have been living in England but returned for a 2-week visit. We've invited them to eat with us tomorrow evening. They brought me some good black tea from England, too--yummy.

Ligia and Emil came to eat with us after church. Emil recently worked on our washing machine's cable, repairing it, and he also repaired Deanna's microwave. He doesn't know what he did, but it works! We're so thankful.

The 2 weekends of selling on the streets to raise money for the foundation (for a children's camp this summer) have gone, and tonight we're eating pizza together at the foundation. Should be good.

On Friday we depart for Barcelona--really looking forward to that!

Tonight's Teen Club

2009-03-04T22:12:00.001+02:00

We had a good meeting tonight. In the first pic you see Adelina and me...I'm not sure what she was indicating, :), she's a fun girl! We continued with the theme "Confronting Your Giants" as we continued learning from David's life. Tonight I talked on the Amnon and Tamar episode. There's so much to learn from each chapter that we cover! What a great group of teens, so receptive and joyful and free, too. You see a bit of worship here, and the last pic is of the musical chairs game that was a last-minute idea of Traian's. Went over well, though!

This afternoon I had a short music lesson with Cili, who wants to learn to play the guitar for herself and to lead her children's group at church. I began a few weeks ago with Maria and Daniela, sisters from Cili's church, and they wanted to be able to do the same...we have begun with the basics and tried to emphasize just the practical parts, and it's OK so far. I've never really done this before, so we'll see how it goes. Maria and Daniela will come again tomorrow morning.

I also had another English session in Sebes at the high school with Nico and her students. There's a good group of students there, too, and I enjoy working with them.

Because we'll be selling items again this weekend, we need to create quite a few more cards and things, so I've offered to help tomorrow and Friday afternoon. Oh--Cip and Alex are in the country from England for a couple of weeks! Lidia has written another puppet piece for the next round of tours, and Cip will be helping with the voices (among others) as they record the sound. Traian asked me tonight if I want to help with a woman's voice on one of the songs...just a silly song, but really fun for the kids. So we might work on that tomorrow, as well.

2009-03-04T22:05:00.002+02:00

Over the weekend I spent time on the street helping to sell wares for OAC, the organization that I work with for the adolescent club. The sales went really well, and one of the 3 camps that they have during the summer will be completely funded by these sales. We'll continue again this weekend. Here you see Andrei (from the club) and me, trying to keep warm.

2009-02-27T09:42:00.006+02:00

One of our fuses blew yesterday. We have a really old fuse box (the pic is just an example of the type of fuses we have) and I'm intimidated to do anything with it, but Deanna & Kris aren't! When it blew, Deanna got in there and messed around a bit, until one fuse started sparking. It had a thumbtack in it as an improvised solution, which is a little scary. She took that fuse out altogether and most of our power was out.

Kris called Emil, who said he'd be by after work to see about it. He forgot. When Kris got home, she messed with it some more, and by taking a fuse from one place and putting it in another, it seemed as if all functioned again. We couldn't figure out what wasn't working, but it was OK.

About an hour later, Nelutu (Varinia's husband) knocked on our door to ask if he could check the fuses, since their electricity had been out for about an hour. We had taken out the fuse for their house. I had no idea that we were so connected to them in the wiring. But thankfully, he just fetched a fuse and it was resolved.

Our washing machine started the problem. The cord was spliced and it about started a fire yesterday. Kris re-spliced the cord and when she plugged it back in, things blew. So hopefully Emil will be by tonight to tell us about the washing machine.

I'll be selling OAC's wares from 11:00 to 15:00, and it's a cold day. Our house is base for those who are selling in downtown--their spot is about 500m away from the house. We'll have tea and hot soup for the workers so that can have occasional breaks and warm up. Traian thought of this--he is a great team leader and takes care of the team.

Last night's adolescent club meeting

2009-02-26T22:50:00.003+02:00

The Wednesday teen club meeting is held at the foundation. This is the largest room, used for meetings and all kinds of general things. We consistently have about 10 kids for this meeting, but sometimes there are as many as 20--when you add in the leaders, the place is packed out! We had a really good discussion last night, led by Lidia, on David and the episode with Bathsheba. These kids are great--responsive, involved, open to the gospel, though the majority of them are from unchurched families. One of the girls, Bianca, heard last year (or the year before) at this club meeting that God says living together and not being married is a sin. She went home and told her parents this (who were not married), and she kept on them about it until they did actually get married. Amazing! I lead worship on Wednesday nights, and it's fun because this group is just learning to enter in.

In the pic of me with the guitar near someone you see Adelina sitting by me. She has attached herself to me, somewhat, and is always a source of laughs. We have a wonderful time.

2009-02-24T23:29:00.002+02:00

The magic jack phone system was down for awhile but I believe it's up and running again, so hopefully I'll be calling some of you soon! Looking forward to that.

After learning to use wordpress for the church's blog, I recommended it to Lidia & Traian for some publicity for what they're doing. Lidia was interested and I walked her through setting things up, and she wants me to help her get things further along. I know that it will give the foundation wonderful exposure. It's a bit time-consuming to learn how to do all of that, but it's so worth it. And I'm really impressed with the flexibility within wordpress. I don't know how to use most of it yet, but...it looks good!

Tonight Roxana shared at group meeting. I asked her on Sunday if she'd like to do so, and she was glad to get something prepared. For her first time, I thought she did phenomenally well. It's nice that Tuesday evenings are a relaxed, nonthreatening atmosphere for people to begin sharing what God's been teaching them. She talked about faith--and she really did a great job. Roxana is 17--she and her good friend Liana were the youngest ones here for group tonight.

Arthur and Danuta came a half hour early so that we could practice a bit for Sunday. Arthur currently plays the bass guitar (he alternates with Olimpiu on the bass, in fact) for worship but he also is coming along on the acoustic, and a while back I asked him to put together a set of songs and practice them in order to lead one Sunday. This Sunday is his day, and though he's still a beginner, there's nothing like experience to propel you to practice and learn! I'll be supporting on the keyboard, Danuta and Liana will sing, Mitel will play the electric and Olimpiu the bass. Roxana will play her viola and sing. We'll rehearse with everyone on Saturday evening and see how it goes on Sunday.

The following Sunday will be the last Sunday that I lead worship before I have 2 weekends away in Barcelona. The set:

Dumnezeu e taria mea (Our God is an Awesome God)
Bateti din palme (Psalm 47)
Stiu de acum (Psalm 20)
Tu esti Cel
Celui ce sade (To Him Who Sits on the Throne)
Agnus Dei
One more....

After that I'll have one more Sunday here and then I'll be off for my trip home! Sooo looking forward to that!

shopping :D

2009-02-24T23:18:00.003+02:00

My routine for shopping is a little different here than it is at home. In the shops here I rarely find clothes that fit me; if they do they're exorbitantly expensive and not particularly good quality. If I want quality clothes I look in the multitude of second-hand stores in the city. They import their things from western Europe. The only problem is, most of those stores are tiny and crammed full of things, which means lots and lots of items are folded on the shelves, and it takes a tremendous amount of patience to go through the piles until you find something that suits you. My patience is quickly drained and I hardly go! But lately I've been in desperate need for some more jeans, and when I asked some friends where I should look for them (which second hand shops), Lidia jumped at the chance to go with me. I was happy to look for stuff with her, since she finds something anywhere she goes--has the knack! And I joked with her that her anointing for finding good stuff would rub off on me.

As it turns out, I didn't do anything but follow Lidia to all the good shops. She knows them all, and more than that, she can eye a good item while it's still on the shelf or on its hangar. She can judge the size pretty well, too. I just tried on the things that she pulled out and that I liked--and for under $11, by the end of the day I had 2 pairs of jeans and about 5 tops.

In the past, I've just done most of my clothes shopping when I get home--I stop at the outlets, find good sales, etc. God has always worked it out so that my needs are taken care of. Now I see another way in which He's taking care of me. Love it!

A Day in the Snow

2009-02-22T21:22:00.002+02:00

It snowed all week but the sun came out on Saturday--it was the perfect day for sledding! We went to Petresti, Lia's home, to hang out with Lia and her sisters and to play like little kids--it was the best!

2009-02-19T22:31:00.001+02:00

Tonight we had a good meeting in Santimbru. I haven't held the meeting in some time, but it went OK. We talked about Daniel and the switch from his upper-class family to a servant of the Chaldeans; what that meant for his psyche and his amazing faithfulness to God; how God rewarded him for that and used him to influence history. Present tonight were Vasile & Lenuta, Olimpiu, Lenuta Micoi, Manu, Bianca, Iosif, Mitel, Kris & Sabina. Andrei and Sergiu showed up at the end, too.

I don't know what's up with Iosif lately but he's having his moods again. God, thank You for protecting our kids and for healing them of all the stuff that burdens them. Thank You for Your mercy on us.

And I had a really nice time talking with Lenuta afterwards. We haven't had a chance to chat in a while, either, and it was good to catch up. She is precious--I think that she and Vasile are some of the people I'll miss the most.

Traian & Lidia recruited me to help paint the basement of the foundation, so we're doing that tomorrow starting at 10 AM. Thankfully, it's the basement, so I don't expect that it has to be perfect. It would be nice if the weather warms up a bit for us. It's been snowing all week! Beautiful white all around.

We don't have youth meeting tomorrow night because another local church will use our building this weekend for a course they're having. And the worship team from Santimbru will lead on Sunday--I have a pretty free weekend! That will be so nice.

something to read...

2009-02-16T12:56:00.002+02:00

The NY Times has an interesting article on Romania and its migrant culture. I thought it pretty accurate.

Thanks to Sandy Muller for the tip!

More snow!

2009-02-13T17:11:00.002+02:00

Wednesday and Thursday of this week it snowed pretty much all day long, and now we have slush and snow outside everywhere. After some beautiful spring weather, it was quite a surprise to get snow again.

In other news, Deanna's important paper for her visa came from Bucharest yesterday, and Mrs. Muntean brought it to us last night. We went to the police station today and dropped that off, so she's set for a year! Praise God! It's a huge answer to prayer. Thank You all for praying.

I am as excited as ever to be coming home soon. Looking forward to seeing you all!

2009-02-11T20:53:00.002+02:00

Arthur shared with us at last night's meeting concerning his recent ordeal with kidney stones and what God taught him through that. He was in bed in pain for a couple of weeks, and of course he had all sorts of tests done, and finally it was determined that he did have kidney stones. Not only was he in pain, but he couldn't urinate for several days, and of course he was feeling generally miserable.

Last Saturday, Arthur took several hours to read the book The Most Powerful Prayer on Earth by Peter Horrobin. Specifically, that prayer is, "Father, forgive them..." and the book gives its readers an explanation of physical ailments often being linked to spiritual ones, specifically unforgiveness. Arthur took the advice of the author and systematically listed people who had hurt him, thus leaving him with any unforgiveness in his heart. Then he prayed, giving each person to God and choosing to forgive each one.

This process began last Saturday. He started feeling better THE SAME DAY! Yes! It has been gradually improving since then, but there was noticeable difference on the same day that he began.

Our God is awesome!

2009-02-11T00:08:00.001+02:00

I keep falling in love with Him
Over and over and
Over and over again
I keep falling in love with Him
Over and over and
Over and over again
He gets sweeter and sweeter as the days go by
O what a love between my Lord and I
I keep falling in love with Him
Over and over and
Over and over again

another brag post...

2009-02-08T01:48:00.002+02:00

After I posted about Roxana a bit ago, I remembered another incident worth mentioning, this time about Olimpiu. Olimpiu is almost 17, and for a few months he's been exclusive with a Christian girl. They don't see each other particularly often, but of course they keep in touch by phone and with text messages.

Olimpiu carried on a text message conversation with this girl but inadvertently sent a message intended for her to his father's cell number. He told me about it, and the contents were something to the effect of:

You shouldn't think that I don't like you because I didn't want to hold your hand. In fact, I really like you, but I don't want to start something that could get us into trouble down the road.

WOW! Another pride moment........ :D

a little personal victory

2009-02-06T14:51:00.001+02:00

Deanna and I prayed together today. We're making this a weekly habit, usually on Thursdays, but since we missed it yesterday...

And I am sooo pumped that, finally, there was a thought that I identified as from the Holy Spirit. I've had these thoughts for a very long time but they're so fleeting that I hardly pay any attention to them...they're so easily dismissed! But I am excited now--this is a good beginning. I need to practice hearing God more and more. Deanna has been wonderful in helping us all move forward in this.

I had been getting a stressed and worked up about camp this summer. Mio and Simona want to have camp again and I haven't been at all into the idea...all the stress and poor management of past camps comes easily to my mind. But as we listened to some worship (Best of Heather Clark), the words of one song impressed me. "Jesus, You're my answer. I look up into the eyes of grace." And I saw a figure whose eyes I looked up and into, with grace flowing from His eyes and covering the whole week of camp--it was as if Jesus said, "Why are you worrying so much about this? Can't I pour my grace out on you all?"

Isn't that cool?????????????? It's just the sort of thing I'd imagine that Jesus would say, which is why I'd always doubt myself. Gonna keep practicing, though, and I know this whisper will get stronger and stronger, and thus more easily identifiable. Thank You, God!

bragging on my kids :)

2009-02-02T15:12:00.002+02:00

Yesterday as I chatted with Roxana (of whom I wrote in the most recent newsletter), I asked her what her plans were for this week of vacation. (They are between semesters this week.) She said that she'd be reading her Bible more and a manual (some kind of textbook) that she found at home, which has caught her interest. It's probably from her dad's Bible school days. She told me how interesting this manual was and how many new tidbits it brought to her attention concerning the things that she was reading in the Bible...she went on about this for a couple of moments.

Gosh they make me proud!

Fireproof (the movie)

2009-02-01T22:54:00.003+02:00

This morning at church Lidia told us that the local baptist church was showing Fireproof as the second part of their evening service, and she invited us to go. After hearing so much about this movie, how could we refuse? And we weren't disappointed. Great movie, GREAT message, everyone loved it.

Tomorrow a friend, Maria, is coming for a little guitar lesson. We'll see how it goes--I already warned her that I'm pretty much self-taught and don't have much to offer, but she just wants to learn to strum chords anyway.

Have a great week!

trip home

2009-01-29T22:56:00.002+02:00

My itinerary is April 1 to July 1, so a nice fat 3-month stateside visit is coming up. It will be soooo nice.

Tentatively, I am planning to be in VA in April and further south (NC/GA) after that.

Philip & Jen: Would love to visit your church with you one Sunday.
James & Laura: Must catch some music action at your house and be woken up by your early risers beating a drum... :)
Mom & Dad: Is the sunroom cleaned out?
Aunt Candy and crew: beach, BEACH!
Linz: Make us some plans!
LLO: When do you get back from Greece?
Nathan: When is the next worship nite @ Grace?
Sarah & Mary: Can you visit your parents sometime in there? Let me know!!!
Karin: would love to see you guys!

Looking forward to seeing you all.

2009-01-25T23:19:00.002+02:00

Yesterday was not an especially cold day, nor was last night an especially cold night. But I was chilled and could not get warmed up to go to sleep. Finally I got up, put another blanket on the bed, again turned on our little space heater and also changed my socks, then went to bed and slept wonderfully. I hope it goes better tonight!

new stateside phone number

2009-01-20T16:35:00.003+02:00

The latest greatest news is that my roommate Deanna has a stateside phone number based out of Arizona and she is willing to share! It's called magicjack and it has to be plugged into my computer's USB port to work, but it's just like calling a number in the States and for me I can call in the US and Canada for free! WooHOO!

So if you want the number e-mail me. We don't leave it plugged in all the time (the computer has to be online), but if you give me a heads up I can plug it in or we could set up a phone date and I can call you. Yay!

2009-01-19T22:47:00.002+02:00

I've a bit of a headache tonight but certainly it will pass with rest. Lidia and Traian are gone this week (England) but we're keeping in better touch than usual through text and instant messages...so funny. Lia let me know about a phone service at sunagratis.ro so I may be using that pretty soon to call people in the states! WooHOO! I can use it from my cell, not just from my computer, so it's really convenient. Will keep you updated. :D

from a friend...

2009-01-19T13:55:00.001+02:00

Dear Friends,

I'm writing to let you know about a terrible piece of legislation called "The Freedom of Choice Act" (FOCA).

FOCA would establish the right to abortion as a fundamental right (like the right to free speech) and wipe away every restriction on abortion nationwide.

It will eradicate state and federal abortion laws that the majority of Americans support and prevent states from enacting similar protective measures in the future.

Please read the expert analysis by Americans United for Life (AUL) and sign the Fight FOCA petition at:
http://www.FightFOCA.com

Thank you!

Salvador sings Mountain

2009-01-19T01:31:00.002+02:00

Si tuvieras fe como grano de mostaza
Eso lo dice el Senor

Tu le dirias a la montana
Muevete, muevete
Esa montana se movera, se movera, se movera

Roughly:

If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to the mountain, "Move" and it will!

On Tuesday

2009-01-19T01:08:00.006+02:00

we celebrated my 30th birthday. We have home group on Tuesdays anyway, so we just had a few extras and cake, etc. Maria from church made me a beautiful cake, and it was yummy, too!
Robert, me, Adela

Danuta & Arthur (they're engaged)

This one's for you, Durham fam!

around the house--our little dining table in the kitchen

I got to talk to the family, too, which was a big treat! Shout out to my sis who got the kids to say, after asking how old I am now, "Whooooooa!"

And on Thursday when we went to Santimbru for the mtg, Lenuta had made another cake, so yummy, and we celebrated again with everyone there. Very nice! I saw Olimpiu's new bass guitar on Thursday, which he is soo excited about, as he should be. On Sunday he joined us for praise & worship, as did Mitel on his electric guitar, Roxana on the viola, and Lorena.

Saturday night--I mean, early Sunday morning Lidia, Traian and Dave had to be at the Cluj airport to fly to London, so I took them in Lia's car. Loredana came, too, as she won't be seeing Dave again until he returns in May. Lidia and Traian will just be gone a week. I'll pick them up on Monday. While they're gone, we'll be covering for them at the club meetings.

So that shot my night and though I did make it to church, I crashed afterwards and woke up in the evening. I'll have to reset now, somehow.

Have a great week!

2009-01-12T21:21:00.002+02:00

My laptop's been much more efficient lately...it's because I cleaned a bunch of stuff off of it! A few months ago my roommate Deanna's laptop had some problems and she backed up the bulk of her stuff on my laptop. Of course, pictures and videos add up, as do audio files when we record at church every Sunday. So things were getting rather full...

Ryan is back--I picked him up on Saturday--and with him came some goods from home, including 2 large thumb drives. Onto those I loaded Deanna's stuff until she can get it back on her computer/burn it to DVDs. Then I burned all of last year's pictures and films onto another DVD for myself, as well as the church's audio files onto another. Then I defragmented...what a difference!

I am so thankful for technology. It makes life easier.

2009-01-12T10:06:00.002+02:00

Periodically my computer's desktop gets new wallpaper, usually with the new photos Laura puts on her blog of the nephew & nieces. This is the latest change: Hannah, 1 year old, Christmas morning (it looks like she just woke up), with her gift from Uncle Philip and Aunt Jen--Sadie dog! Isn't she cute?

And speaking of family, I am pleased to report that it's going to increase again! Philip and Jen are expecting their first, and we're all sooo excited for them! It will be fun to get to know their little one and to see what kind of personality he/she will have. It's fascinating to me that such little people still exhibit distinct personalities, and so soon!

Another tidbit...Krisztina and I have been invited to go to Barcelona for 10 days in March, with Traian & Lidia, some good friends of ours. Wizzair is a wonderful discount european airline--gotta take advantage of it while it lasts! I've never been to Barcelona, or to Spain, for that matter, but I look forward to seeing it and experiencing another new place...that's one of my favorite things to do!

And another thought/resolution for 2009, though it's a bit late...I'd like to be more articulate. Basically, I'd like to be able to verbally communicate my thoughts to people without stumbling over my words and without losing myself when people interrupt me.

This week the club meetings at the foundation begin again. Saturday night (early Sunday morning) I'll be driving Traian & Lidia to the airport in Cluj, becauase they're spending a week or so in England. In their absence we'll hold the fort down.

Everyone have a great week.

COLD!

2009-01-06T00:55:00.003+02:00

Temperatures have not risen above freezing for the past week, and the lock on our front door has been frozen the last 2 mornings when we've tried to go out (the trick is a hairdryer! works every time). The temperature yesterday morning at 9:30 AM was zero Fahrenheit. I am more thankful than ever for a warm house! The lake in Sebeş is frozen, and I'd love to get out there with some folks and hit a ball around with a broom! Kris and I have been using our little space heater in our bedroom every night, which helps soooo much.

Tomorrow Deanna and I are going to pray together again. The girls did it with us one Tuesday in December, but it seems so hard to get everyone together now, so it'll just be us, and I'm looking forward to it. Deanna is a great encouragement to me.

The holidays are over and things should be getting into a routine again shortly. I've been helping Deanna with visa papers--that should be getting wrapped up in another couple of weeks. Will let you know!

New Year Fun

2009-01-04T22:17:00.002+02:00

Happy New Year! We spent the night leading into 2009 at the church with a feast and lots of games, and the day afterwards Kris and I took the train to Cluj-Napoca and joined some friends in the nearby mountains. It was a wonderful 3 days. As you can see here, there was snow up there and the river had frozen over except for a fourth of it, and we played on it and sledded down the hills, plus had many games indoors, too. I enjoyed the time so much.

Reflecting on 2008, I am thankful for so many things: learning to recognize God's voice more (something I've been requesting for a few years!), Deanna's coming (which is related to #1), the opportunity to travel to Zimbabwe and meet Butch & Connie there. I have some regrets, too, but listing the things I'm thankful for helps me to focus on those. Now, in 2009, I'm asking for clear direction for the future, healed relationships where there's been brokenness, and the JOY of the Lord. I know He will come through!

Happy New Year to you all!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T11:17:00.003+02:00

Happy New Year, everyone!

I hear it's been warm in Hampton Roads...how nice! Here the temperatures have not risen above freezing for a couple of days. We still hang out the laundry (no dryer--too much for the electricity bill) and it just freezes stiff on the line; no biggie, we bring it in and iron it and/or hang on over the radiators. It has snowed but there's not much besides ice on the ground. It's times like this when I am thankful for a heated house!

How did you ring in the New Year? This event is almost as big as Christmas around here, and though we didn't plan an out-of-town trip with the youth, we did meet with the whole church for a night of food and crazy fun. I believe about 50 people turned out, which meant a pretty packed house for us. Besides food prep, we tried to think of some games/activities for the evening, and Kris and and I (with help from Deanna, as well) put in a bunch of hours preparing a Bible trivia game along the format of Jeopardy. It was pretty fun, though a few obnoxious folks in the audience made things a bit difficult for us. Here are some of the questions...take a shot and see how you do!

From the category Paul's Life:

1. What was Paul's Hebrew name (before God changed it to Paul)?
2. In what context did God change Paul's name?
3. Where was Paul from?
4. From what tribe was Paul?
5. Paul survived a shipwreck on the way to Rome. Where did the ship run aground?

From the category Personals:

1. SF seeks SM, a real man of the earth, who will help me live up to my name of Life Producer.
2. F seeks husband's attendant for a fun night in bed. Hubby never has to know.
3. SF with weak eyes seeks strong, clever man.
4. SF seeks father of my late husband to impregnate me.
5. SF seeks a widower and a father of nations.
These are some of the easier questions, let's see how you do on those and then I'll give you the more serious categories... :D

today @ church

2008-12-28T19:00:00.005+02:00

Worship went alright today. I felt better prepared technically, but it seems that when we're more prepared technically, it's not quite as anointed. I suppose I'm still depending on myself too much.

Arthur was on the bass, me on the acoustic. Catalina, Sabina, and Danuta helped with their voices--Danuta always does a nice job harmonizing. We sang (in Romanian):

Everyday
God is Good, All the Time
Your Name is Holy (Hungry Album)
Great in Power
You Deserve the Glory
Glasul imi ridic acum -- my own
What a Friend I've Found
You Are My Strength When I Am Weak
Mighty One of Israel

I have enjoyed talking to my family these last few days, for Christmas and the days following. Everyone is doing well and some especially so. =)

This evening I reorganized our tupperware cabinet...it was getting pretty sad, and I was getting frustrated every time I had to use tupperware, not finding any lids that matched, etc. So now things are looking better. Aah.

Lia's got her boyfriend in from England, Stuart, and he'll be here another week yet. Over 2 weeks in all. He's from Bristol.

Christmas was good, I worked on some carols with the youth that they sang for the Christmas Day program at church. You can see a couple of clips here. We had a meal together after the program. Since then I've been able to relax a bit, because things have been low-key...so glad for that! Usually for New Year's we plan some big to-do, but we'll just meet at the church this year for lots of food and games and all-night stuff...it's a lock-in with the entire church! Except we won't be locked in. People are so into New Year's...

That reminds me of a Christian comedian that I heard lately from a series called Thou Shalt Laugh. "Who ever invented the lock-in? 'Let's get a bunch of hormonal teenagers all together--at night. And let's put them in the church and lock all the doors. And let's turn all the lights out.' Maybe someone will end up pregnant!" Random laugh for the day.

2008-12-24T02:00:00.002+02:00

It's Christmas Eve Eve and it snowed today! Actually, it hailed first, then turned into snow, and stuck a beautiful white on the ground before it turned into rain. Now just about all of the slush is gone, but there's enough on the roads to be icy. Nothing compared to what I'm hearing concerning the US storms, though. I'm thankful for that. Though I'd hoped for a white Christmas, we probably won't get one. I'll have to wait a few more weeks yet. It actually snowed in November while I was in Africa, enjoying 90-degree weather...yes, it was loooovely. Not sorry at all to have shortened my winter experience this year. ;)

We decorated the church tonight instead of having group, and it looks beautiful. I'm thankful that a good number of people showed up to help, which made it easy. I've prepared with the youth for their Christmas concert, as much as we've had time for, so we'll just have to see how it goes. On Christmas Day the church meets at 1:00 PM for a program and meal together, and that's when the group will sing. Tomorrow night we'll all go caroling, which is a huge tradition around here. It used to wear me out when we'd carol for 4 nights in a row from the time it was dark to 4 AM, but lately we've only been doing it for 1 or 2 nights, which is much easier to take. And if I am living different traditions here than at home, I cannot think of a better one than caroling! Last year, though I was at home in GA for Christmas, I coerced my good-natured parents and cousin to carol, as well! We went up and down our street and the neighbors loved it. We have a lot of older neighbors on that street, and few carol anymore in the States, so it was a treat.

On a different note...I have one friendship that is particularly demanding. In fact, I've never known a friendship to be this demanding, and sometimes I wonder if it's like a marriage, in the following respects:

You know the person better now than at the beginning. Had you known the person this well at the beginning, you may not have ever entered into the relationship.
Since you did, you are committed...obviously, more so in a marriage than in a simple friendship, but still, it stinks to walk out on a friend.
You hate to give up on something you've got so much invested in!
You wonder if leaving may save your own sanity but destroy the other person.

God sanctifies His people largely through relationships, and for most of them that comes down to family relationships. But for those who are single, He manages to do it alternatively, of course. =)

Christmas!

2008-12-22T21:28:00.006+02:00

Merry Christmas, everyone! We got our little tree up and some decorations too. It looks really Christmasy, especially in the living room and kitchen. So fun!

I've been getting ready for a little Christmas concert with the youth here, so Friday night everyone came over here for rehearsal and we sang and sang and sang. Pictures from the evening are below, and you can even see a couple of short clips. I'm being my intense choir director self--the kids laugh at me for this! But it's so fun and really enjoyable.

in the last couple of weeks...

2008-12-09T23:52:00.004+02:00

I know I am due for a few Africa posts (and I'm gonna get there!), but meanwhile I should update you on the last couple of weeks since I've been back in RO. Sunday we had a wonderful time decorating the house and putting up a Christmas tree. Deanna, Lia, Kris and I all participated, and it was the first thing we'd all been able to do together in quite a while! There are a few pictures of our afternoon here.

And for the 2 Sundays that I've been back, we've had Sunday worship again, of course. There is one picture here of my first Sunday back. Leading the worship used to really bother me--I'm not a proficient guitarist and felt generally unqualified to do it. But now I've gotten over myself and don't care if I'm qualified or not--God's got to make things happen anyway! We're definitely lacking in technical expertise, but we love to worship the Lord. There are a few videos at the church's blog. Feel free to check them out at http://raulvietii.wordpress.com. It's all in Romanian but I'm sure you can figure out how to see the videos.

My youngest niece made me laugh today with her booty dance! She's one year old. Check it out at James & Laura's blog.

Only 2 weeks till Christmas. We've been preparing some carols, and though I knew our kids could sing, they blew me away at rehearsal this evening with an astounding rendition of O Come All Ye Faithful (English & Romanian). I am so pumped to sing with them for Christmas! (Who knew that getting people together to sing would be such a thrill?)

Now that I've updated you on the latest, I'll hopefully be able to get some Africa news on here.

2008-12-08T12:51:00.002+02:00

November 30 was my first Sunday back from Africa, and I shared with the church a bit about my trip. Someone videoed it so you can listen if you like. The video's rather shaky, but you should get an idea.

2008-11-03T22:23:00.002+02:00

Tomorrow I am headed out...

Traian & Lidia will take me to the train station in Vintu de jos at noon. My train leaves at 13:00, and at 20:25 I arrive in Bucuresti. A friend there is being sooo helpful by picking me up at the train station, giving me a place to sleep, and taking me to the airport (we leave at 3 AM). Then I have the itinerary you see posted on my old blog.

I am so excited and can't wait to see what God's going to teach me. I'm not quite sure what to expect, but I hope to be useful. Thank you so much for all your prayers and I look forward to relating all the details to you!

2008-10-31T10:47:00.002+02:00

Last night we found out some sad news concerning a pastor from the south of the country who we've worked with often and extensively. His fall from grace has left us all in shock, mostly, and almost disbelief concerning the things that have transpired. Last night a fellow shell-shocked person said to me, "I'll never be surprised by anything again." Perhaps we should be surprised only by God's grace, which picks up and dusts off the least of us.

The pressure on pastors is incredible. I could say so for anyone in ministry, and actually for anyone who is a danger to the kingdom of darkness, but especially on pastors, it seems, as they take so many with them when they fall. Their shortcomings, especially major ones, are hurtful to their congregations just like a betrayal would be, since people follow pastors as their spiritual leader and trust their pastors to lead them in righteousness. Perhaps this demonstrates some of the unhealthy expectations we've learned to put upon pastors, since they rarely have a safe place to confess and repent if something starts to creep in. Pretty soon, a small sin snowballs while the pastor's trying to keep it quiet (who could accept a pastor with a problem?) and things blow up. Sad, but it happens again, and again, and again. Something is wrong with this picture.

2008-10-29T22:15:00.002+02:00

Today Kris came with me to Sebes where a nice lady gave me the 3 vaccinations I wanted before my trip next week:

Tetanus (can't remember the last time I had that)
Hepatitis B, second shot (first was 1996 before China)
Typhoid Fever

These are all dad's recommendations, besides getting current with Tetanus, of course. Didn't feel a thing then but now the arm where I got pricked for Tetanus is pretty achy, though that's to be expected.

When I was at Taylor I used to donate blood and sell my plasma, so I got used to the needles. Not really a problem. But I may have a couple of down days coming up as my body fights infection.

Friday night instead of youth meeting we're having prayer and worship, kind of coordinating with GFC's Burn session. (btw, Nathan, I'd love to follow you guys online with that--what's the address?) Hopefully we'll get a good turnout, not just the youth. Miodrag wants to watch Transformations at the beginning to get motivated...that's a video that documents some of the amazing things God did in South America 10+ years ago when people started praying. Whole cities turned to God, and bars and jails started shutting down. Wild! Love it! My plan for the evening is to set up all the instruments and get out the flags, making things available for people to worship with whatever they want to use (instruments by instrumentalists, of course), because we've found that worship powerfully sets us up for intercession. We'll start at 7:00 and go till we wear out.

Movie Night

2008-10-26T05:58:00.003+02:00

This weekend Sabina and Ligia were both home from college, Sabina quite unexpectedly so, so we had a fun movie night last night with the crowd. Anyone seen August Rush? Really interesting. Kris and Lorena are below, to their right you see Adela, Ligia, Sabina, and Roxana.

Day 1 in Budapest

2008-10-25T10:20:00.003+02:00

Deanna needed to cross the border this week, so we took off to visit Allen & Katy Lake in Budapest. They were so kind to have us, and we enjoyed visiting with them. We also took advantage of the time to visit the city, and after a 9-hour bus ride there on Tuesday, we enjoyed walking along the Danube as the light faded. This bridge is the famous Chain Bridge just south of the Parliament building and the Buda Castle.

Deanna had no problem coming back into Romania, which is what we prayed for! God is so faithful.

Day 2 in Budapest, part 1

2008-10-25T10:02:00.004+02:00

1-4. Fun pics of the area, our attempts at being artsy. Don't laugh!
5. Royal Palace of the first king of Hungary (Stephen)

Day 2 in Budapest, part 2

2008-10-24T21:25:00.009+02:00

1&2 The famous Chain Bridge.
3. Parliament Building on the Danube.
4. In front of the Fisherman's Bastion, castle district.
5. From the steps of St. Stephen's Basilica. Not far from Hero Square.

Day 3 in Budapest

2008-10-24T17:19:00.004+02:00

On Thursday Deanna and I said our goodbyes to our hosts and took off for some more exploring before catching our evening bus back to Romania. Here you see that we enjoyed a local park in its beauty, with all the changing leaves of fall. We also took in the Vajdahunyad Castle, which Mom and I got to see while she was here. But this time we went into the museum, because it was FREE on October 23, the day that the Hungarians celebrate the '56 Revolution. You can look up more about that online if it interests you--pretty incredible stuff.

On the road again...

2008-10-20T17:02:00.003+02:00

Tomorrow morning Deanna and I are off to Budapest. She must cross the border and be gone a couple of days, so I'm going with her on this quick jaunt. We'll take advantage of the time to explore some, so we'll have our cameras, and I should have some pics to show you when we return on Friday. We'll be staying with the Lakes again--God bless them! They have helped me out on so many occasions.

I'm checking the weather in Budapest to see about clothes, and I think it'll be pretty tame except for Thursday evening, when we ride the bus back here--less than 40 degrees. Of course there's heat on the bus, but I usually get cold anyway, so...the big winter coat is in.

2008-10-17T17:03:00.001+02:00

And that is a GO for Zimbabwe...I'm on! Can't wait!

2008-10-17T15:31:00.004+02:00

Autumn is here and we've been having the weather to match the season. The leaves are changing, and in the middle of every day we have about 3 hours of gorgeous weather before things return to the standard cool-enough-for-a-coat-outside weather.

Next week Deanna and I are headed to Budapest. The Lakes are kind enough to have us for 2 nights and Deanna's 90 days are up, so she needs to cross the border.

Also, I am hoping to go to Zimbabwe in November with Butch & Connie McKenzie. Things seem to be falling into place last minute, a little unexpectedly, but I am thrilled. Do pray for this opportunity.

Also, with this fall weather, I start thinking about Christmas again. I'm trying to put together some kind of a simple musical program for church--simple being the key word if I'm going to be gone during the month of November!

And Raul of Draganesti called me again this morning concerning going down there for a month. He's pretty convinced that they want me; I told him that I've been praying about it and it hasn't been heavy on my heart; and that I'd probably be gone in Zimbabwe in November. So he asked about after that...I responded that I'd be here preparing for Christmas here. But I told him to keep praying that God would speak to me, too, and that I'd keep my options open for the future. We'll see what happens.

A Pleasant Sunday

2008-10-12T21:02:00.003+02:00

It's been a really nice Sunday. Church went well, I had a relaxing afternoon, and as we visited the baptist church for their evening service, we were surprised to find that it was a baptismal service, 2 of the baptizees (new word?) being girls we have worked with in the kids' ministry. It was a pleasure to be present for this special event.

My afternoon was so nice because I spent it reading/watching blogs. Yay for pictures, videos, and news from home! Loved it all.

Worship this morning went well, considering how difficult things have been with our sound system lately. The church is used to it, I suppose, and worship anyway. If I had to choose, I'd take a worshiping church over a well-functioning (well-manned?) sound system, so I'm counting my blessings! A couple of people shared testimonies and then Ionut Dura of the local Pentecostal church preached. It was great--he always has a wonderful message. After the message we worshiped some more--it was like having praise and worship again.

After church Kris & I stayed to chat with Simona a bit. We're hoping to be able to meet with an old friend, Heidi, in a couple of weeks, before she returns to the States. Some of our kids are going to visit friends in Bucharest this coming up weekend. Also, I may be headed to Budapest with Deanna next week. We'll see what works out.

!

2008-10-10T23:40:00.004+02:00

We watched A Mighty Heart tonight--first time for me. Amazing, and quite well-done, I thought. Deanna, Lidia, and Kris all watched, too, and it was a nice change from the chick-flick routine, as we love chick-flicks around here. But it was eye-opening, as well.

Tonight someone preached at the youth meeting and I had a really hard time listening...partly my own fault but also partly a really bad presentation style. Does anyone else have trouble getting something out of a sermon when the preacher yells at you the whole time?

Worship rehearsal is tomorrow and the team for Sunday is: Arthur, Adela, Roxana, Lorena, and me. We have a lack of male voices! But we work with what we've got. And our list for Sunday is:

Tu esti Cel ce existi din vesnicii (composed in Romanian)
Binecuvantat (Blessed Be Your Name)
Bunatatea Ta (composed in Romanian)
Unde-i Duhul Domnului e libertate (Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom)
Asculta, Doamne, lauda mea (translated from English but I don't know the song in Eng)
Ingenunchiat astept (Humble King)
Raul clipoceste (translated from English but again...don't know it in English)

And we may do one more, Before the World Began from Hillsongs. We'll see how things go. I'm having trouble lately getting people to show up for rehearsal. I suppose everyone's pretty busy.

2008-10-10T12:30:00.003+02:00

Sometimes I get requests for a taste of real Romanian music, but I hardly have anything to show you...and finally I do!

Traditional Romanian music is popular among those in their 50s and above, and sometimes among those isolated in the different villages. But there is a type of music called Manele which is popular among the gypsies, and the example of music I have for you is a Christian melody composed and sung by Mitel's uncle. It's in this Manele style but with Christian words, and it's quite interesting. Check it out here.

2008-10-08T19:52:00.002+02:00

Thankfully we've had a couple of days that haven't been so cold yesterday and today. They've still been rather wet, but at least they haven't been so cold!

I had English again yesterday with Nico in Sebes. More students came this time, about 10, and they (most of them) were eager to learn and to do the exercises I'd prepared. They're fun to work with when they're eager! I'll be seeing them every Tuesday from about 2:00-3:30, after they've finished their other classes.

In the last week or so we figured out that we had a mouse or a rat in our pantry (which also has the staircase to the attic plus a staircase down into the basement). We tried poison, etc. to catch him, and once it started smelling like a dead animal, Deanna went down into the basement and searched it out...she found a dead rat! We are so thankful to be rid of that.

Since the dollar has been so high lately (Can anyone explain that to me? Why is the dollar so strong when our markets are in the disaster zone?), I drew out a bunch of money from the bank. I always use my ATM card here, that's how I get funds, and you'd be surprised at how much difference it makes for the dollar to be a little bit stronger. So I'm taking advantage of it right now. :)

Today is Wednesday, and for the first time, I attended the adolescents' weekly meeting at the foundation (where Traian & Lidia work). I was so impressed! Last year I attended our kids' club in Santimbru on Wednesdays. That is still going on, but I am not going. Instead, Traian & Lidia recruited me to lead the worship at this meeting, because someone needed to do it and Traian couldn't any longer. But when I saw what they have going on there, I was so excited. This is the age range that I imagined I'd be working with when I first came to RO. They are upper-middle/lower-high school kids, and I was amazed that they warmed up to me right away, that they sang during the worship time without having to be coaxed into it, that they joyfully used the little hand instruments I brought along, that they listened and eagerly participated in the lesson (I Sam 17). It was great, and I'm so glad to be a part of this.

Also I hadn't done hefty grocery shopping in a while, so this morning I did...3 trips out or so. Walking, I can only carry so many bags of groceries at a time, so I make several trips. I have to get stuff from different places anyway, so it's not a big deal. The only thing I couldn't find was a bag of charcoal, as in for a summer barbecue...I guess because it's not summer anymore! But we want it for the house, because it is reputed to soak up the moisture. We definitely have a moisture problem in our house.

I'm still trying to get my old journals put on the computer--it's taking me quite some time. I'm still trying to figure out if I should go south for a month. And I am continually enjoying the good resources Deanna brought with her. Today I watched a sermon on Forgiveness by John Arnott. It was INCREDIBLE. And yes, I need to forgive some more.

That's all for now! Love all of your updates, keep them coming!

pics from VBS

2008-10-03T22:25:00.003+02:00

1. Wild West Players (skit each evening)
2. In all, we had over 160 participants.
3. Costel in his getup
4. Station activities
5. Enjoying the wild west theme

more from Blaj

2008-10-03T22:16:00.003+02:00

1. Celebrating a win
2. Leading songs
3. Worshiping together
4. Handing out the goodies--end of the week
5. Gettin' dirty

We had over 100 kids in each village, which means that nearly all of the children in each village attended.

pics from 2 day camps near Blaj

2008-10-03T22:06:00.003+02:00

1. Registration--every day
2. Challenged to be different!
3. Hearing the Bible story and watching the funny skits
4. Traian gives directions for the games
5. Go team go!

finally-pics of our painted living room

2008-10-02T10:58:00.002+02:00

The lighting is weak; we have one small window in this living room, and the green doesn't show up like it is. But you get an idea. Also the place is messy...oops! :)

Continuation of the last post...

2008-09-28T22:35:00.002+02:00

This afternoon, Deanna, Krisztina and I delivered a wedding gift for our neighbor, Varinia (the dentist). She and Nelutu were married at the end of August, and she delighted in showing us all of her pictures from the day. Corina, her sister (my age) was home from Cluj for the weekend, as well, and we got to see some of her wedding pictures from May, as well. Corina and Varinia are the only 2 daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Muntean, our landlords, so it's been a busy summer for them. Mr. Muntean was also diagnosed with cancer in March or April, and he continually weakens. Keep praying for him!

Though we were invited to both daughters' weddings, we didn't attend either reception because that would have necessitated a large cash gift, as is the custom here. Many couples pay their wedding bills and buy a car/put a down payment on a home with their wedding money, so that should give you an idea. But we did attend the ceremony for Varinia, and it was fun to see her pictures as well as Corina's today.

This evening after returning from a local church service we had a brief visit from Alexe & Veronica, along with their oldest, Miriam! They are our church's missionaries in the south of the country. It was a nice surprise. Currently their big project in Draganesti is constructing the church building. The most surprising is that I had a phone call from Raul, Alexe's older brother, a little later this evening; Raul is the head of the whole project in the south. He leads a team of about 12 people, I believe. Raul proposed that I go to Draganesti for a month to work with them; specifically, to work with the high school youth in that city, as well as in the city of Corabia (about an hour away by car). He didn't give me a lot of details except: one day off a week, I would be involved in other evangelism projects with them, as well (distributing New Testaments in surrounding villages, for example), and that I could use whatever methods I want in making contacts for them with (I believe) unchurched youth.

I'd not consider myself strong in evangelizing the unchurched. I also wonder what kind of daily schedule they keep--I have a hunch that it's busy and I wonder if I'd survive! Of course there are many more questions to be asked and details to be clarified before I'd make a decision...but I am going to pray about it.

And it is, actually, pretty attractive, if only for the chance to get away from here for a month. Isn't that terrible? I rather think that I could survive any situation for at least a month, especially if it would mean isolation from the folks here. It's like my heart can't heal because I'm still in the same place and still exposed to the same elements. So this could be a help.

And Raul said that of course, they'd welcome me for longer, but at least for a month I could try it...

Last but not least, I had a wonderful conversation with Sabina on the phone tonight. She's already in Arad, at her sister's, and she'll be moving into the dorm in the next few days. Her train trip was uneventful. There was a matter of the heart that I needed to discuss with her, and I'm so thankful that in a measure, there's some resolution. God is so good.