The Narrow Gate

Romania 2011 Day 10: The Final Countdown

2011-07-29T16:44:00.006-05:00

Romania 2011 Day 10: The Final Countdown

Well here it is the last day in Romania. This was, as expected, an emotional day. It was the sadness of knowing we are leaving dear friends but also anticipation and

excitement of seeing our families and friends in America again. The last few days were tiring days but very rewarding. The only disappointment from VBS was not being able to do the weather balloon trick in Varfuri. And so we rectified that this morning. A small group went back over today and about 20 kids turned up to see Savannah get in the balloon. We were in the same hall that VBS had been in and when the balloon popped it was, by far, the most impressive bang we had had all week. It really did sound like a bomb had gone off. Also the wave from the rush of wind was pretty impressive as well.bang we had had all week. It really did sound like a bomb had gone off. Also the wave from the rush of wind was prettyimpressive as well.

After this we returned to Pucioasa and went through the routine of packing and loading vans. Gradually we were edging closer to the goodbyes. All loaded up we went to the church to have pizza with our Romanian friends and as always they would not us leave without providing us with personalized gifts. Again out of the little they have they gave so much. It was great to see the reactions of Oana and Emma as we gave the laptops for college. The tears were plentiful (form the ladies and Don). For the person who gave me a donation to use in Romania I had waited until the last day so I could see where the greatest need was and it came down to Marian needing his car fixed desperately. The money went a long way to allowing him to get his only means of transport back working. He sends his heartfelt thanks.

At about 2:30 p.m. we set off for Bucharest. As always the driving provided for some fun. In Romania the traffic lights are on the side of the road not overhead. In Targoviste Don went through a traffic light and then I saw cars coming across the road and realized it had changed to a red light. I had to break a little firmly. Russ had the 2 second delay and ended up having to put his brakes on rather abruptly. Izzy has recovered from the seat belt bruise but it at least we didn’t crash 2 rental cars. Halfway to Bucharest we came up on a big red truck which Don proceeded

to overtake. As I came up on the truck I saw the blue lights flashing and saw the word “Pomperi” on the side of the truck. I was already committed and so continued to overtake the fire truck. Yes we had just overtaken a fire truck on the way to put out a fire. I am not sure which was more troubling, the policeman on the side of the road who I thought for sure was going to pull us over, or the fact that we had overtaken a fire truck because it was going so slowly. I guess if your house is on fire the firemen go just to tell you how your house burned down to the ground because there is no way they could get there soon enough.

When we got into Bucharest Don, Russ and I decided to have some with everyone and pretend we were lost. Russ had asked Oana to get him to a certain road and when he thought we were there he took over leading. The problem was that we weren’t on that road. I recognized where we were and saw us miss our turn. Russ finally realized we were not in the right place and so

we pulled over. You know when you are asking a toothless street cleaner where to go you are desperate. Surprisingly he got us back on track. It was then that Don took over and then relinquished the lead to me. I recognized where we were but took the wrong exit off a roundabout. Now it was my turn to pull over and ask for directions. I think I picked the most technically armed incapable person in Bucharest. He had every technology gadget including two GP units, phones etc. but somehow failed to get any of them to work. The best he could do was tell me to go left. He did invite me to sit in his car as he spent 20 minutes showing me how he couldn’t use all of these gadgets. I also shared a couple of cigarettes with him. I didn’t smoke one but felt privileged to spend my time with his second hand smoke.

We did go to the end of the road and take a left and then as we got to the end of that road and looked and saw a monument that I recognized and knew where I was. Russ was behind me and also saw the monument and recognized where we were. The problem was that it was two different places and so I went one way and Russ went the other. Don was torn whether to follow me or Russ. Let’s just say that 2 minutes later I was at the hotel and had unpacked and checked in and gone back out on the streets in the car to find the other 2 vans and then returned to the hotel. It was about then 30 minutes later that the two vans turned up behind a taxi

Of course Don, Russ and I had staged the whole thing so everyone thought we were lost. And if you believe that I have a house for you to buy in Jersey City.

This year we stayed at the hotel for dinner and it was definitely the right decision. The food was good and the entertainment was tremendous. This came from the stupidity of the table bolstered by the group singing at the restaurant. It is the same group that has been there every year we have been to Romania and every year the lead singer’s pants seem to get gaudier and

gaudier. I am not sure whether he thinks he looks good but we were not the ones to tell him he didn’t.

We need him to be that way for years to come. He also seemed to speak English with a lisp which really got uncomfortable when he tried to say “I have a special song for you and it came out “I have a special thong for you”. Sue really had a bad visual image of this error. In general the Romanian songs are lively but lively soon becomes outright annoying especially when you play the same thong, I mean song, for 20 minutes. Don ended up paying the singer to pick something else.

Tomorrow we get up at 4:30 a.m. in 4 hours to leave the hotel by 5:30 a.m. The majority of the team will be America in the evening. Savannah and I will stay in London for a few days.

1 Peter 2:9 - But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light

Romania 2011 Day 9: VBS Ends

2011-07-28T16:22:00.005-05:00

Romania 2011 Day 9

Have you ever just sat down and wondered where the time went? I know it is like that a lot of Sundays at Harvest when Lance preaches. I know it takes a few minutes to wake back up again but the time went really quickly :-) The reality set in today that it was our last full day in Pucioasa and for most of the team in two days they will back at home.

Thursday really started no differently than the last couple - devotion, breakfast, and then off to VBS. This morning we did take some time for us to share some of the highlights of our time in Romania. I think most people echoed very similar or at least connected thoughts. The feeling of family with the Romanians, the embarrassment of complaining while we have so much whereas they praise God and smile through their lack of physical possessions and the hardships they go through. It is a genuine feeling of love we have for each other.

All trip Sue has been making sure we are fed and watered and it is such a blessing to not have to think about it. I am sure it has been a thankless job with its fair share of strife but she has done it with a smile and without fail the meals have been delicious. Tomorrow morning she will have a break from organizing food as we are all fending for ourselves.

For the final day of VBS the number of children was about the same although in Varfuri there were a few new kids and the team ended up giving these kids the T-Shirts off their own backs because they had run out.

After lunch back in Pucioasa we were on the road to Vulcana Bai once again (yet another game of live Frogger). The kids in Vulcana Bai are so polite and respectful and they love to join in. When we got to Sister Avi’s home, where the VBS is held, there were about 20 kids already there sitting calmly on a bench. In Pucioasa it is like herding cats the children are so unruly. I did not see this anywhere else but several of the kids in Vulcana had memorized the VBS verse (Matthew 6:21) and they had only had one afternoon to do so.

Tonight we had probably the most emotional time we have had on the trip. Don and others we crying like babies. Russ almost broke a tear but knew when he should start to wrap up. Thankfully I have the English “stiff upper lip”. It was good to hear others on the team share their thoughts from the trip.

A couple of years ago a tradition was started in that at the mid-week service I did a trick for the church. Today was no different but I was really praying I didn’t have to do any fire-eating. I am constantly burping up gas i.e. Romanian gas for cars, and I did not want to add fuel to the fire.

After the service we spent a couple of hours saying good byes and just discussing the relationships we have between the churches and us. It was hard to stop this time because we know tomorrow will be even tougher on the emotions. Dinner was again provided and then it was off to Vienna for relaxation. I think the waitress there will miss us as well. At one point Don and Damien wanted to try the Way of the Master approach on the waitress. With Nicu translating, the questioning started and almost instantaneously the owner decided to put on some very loud and very annoying Romanian music.

It is now just after 1 a.m. and I still have to start packing. We will leave just after lunch tomorrow and another blog will hit the presses some time tomorrow night.

Matthew 6:21 - for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Romania 2011 Day 8: Fight through the tired (and the food overload)

2011-07-27T17:05:00.004-05:00

Romania 2011 Day 8

It is 12:30 at night and I am just settling down to to the blog. This one may be a little shorter than the prior days but I will try to hit the highlights.

The day started out as usual with devotions and breakfast (everyone being present and awake this morning). The teams set off for their VBS locations. Varfuri held steady at about 30 kids. Fieni and Pucioasa continued to add new kids with Fieni hitting 45 and Pucioasa almost 60. The only real issue today was that some additions in Pucioasa were some unruly boys. Tomorrow Russ and I will step in as enforcers. I might finally get to use my blow dart on a live target instead of a balloon.

After lunch we were all invited to different houses for lunch. One of the problems we have is that often the Romanians arrange for us to go to lunch but they don’t tell us how to get there. Russ and the Varfuri team were supposed to come over to Fieni for lunch with Florin but no-one told Russ where Florin lives. I was also having lunch with Florin but I was with him after VBS. I tried to suggest to them that Russ didn’t know where Florin lived but they insisted he did. Russ headed to the church in Fieni, waited 15 minutes and then figuring they had been uninvited

headed back to Pucioasa. Then they got the call asking why they weren’t at Florin’s house. After another journey back to Fieni everything was finally sorted out.

Today and tomorrow we are doing afternoon VBS in Vulcana Bai. Last year when my family and I did Vulcana Bai we were up the hillside in a field. This year when another team are doing it they built a special shelter right by the house. I am not saying anything but this persecution I am going through is really not called for. Today there were about 30 kids in Vulcana Bai.

When we left Vulcana Bai we were transported from this world into the world of video games. Driving out of Vulcana Bai was like playing Frogger. There were kids from VBS, cows, calves, wagons, bikes, dogs, and other cars all over the road. It took some concentration and driving skill to miss all contact and survive in tact (except for the 2 VBS kids but they should get

better). Then it was on to level 2 with a death defying series of potholes. Tomorrow I will try level 3 as I go back. Here I do the same thing but a lot faster.

As if lunch at a Romanian house wasn't enough to fill any normal human being up for a few days, we then headed off to other people’s houses for dinner. The amount of food they place in front of us is ridiculous. I know I don’t want to be rude and so I eat everything and today I also seemed to be the garbage can as I finished off Savannah and Oana’s leftovers.

Tonight we did our wind down get together at Nicu’s house. Even after the sugar rush of ice cream the team was tired tonight. To the point where personal information was being divulged probably beyond what they would have if they had not been sleep deprived. Someone let us know a nickname that only their father had called them and no-one else knew. The nickname was “Catfish” but I will let this person give the meaning behind it because Don didn’t want it to be blogged :-)

Okay I have to finish now. I have already typed in on two occasions rows of the same letter “k” an “r” because I am falling asleep at the computer.

One final day of VBS to go.

Isaiah 40:31 - Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary

Romania 2011 Day 7: Romanienglish Has Set In

2011-07-26T16:29:00.006-05:00

Romania 2011 Day 7

Day 2 of VBS. With lessons learned from Day One and now with the prospect of good weather the team awoke early for devotion, breakfast and eager to get on the road to VBS. Well that is everyone except for the Ayoubi sisters who slept in a little. I must admit they did a great job of getting ready in about 10 mins flat. But then the panic set in as they couldn’t find the room key. Having ransacked the room they asked me to go and ask Kayla if she accidently picked up the key when she had left the night before. I drove over to the church but Kayla had no clue where it could be when I asked her and so it was back to the hotel to ransack the room once more. Still no key. The only option was to leave the room open but take all valuables with us. When we got to the church, Hannah asked Kayla if she had the key and Kayla proceeded to take it out of her bag. Sometimes having an English accent kills you or maybe Kayla was just enjoying watching me drive back and forth.

Pucioasa grew to 42 kids today and matched the kid count at Fieni. When the team got to Fieni at 9:30 a.m. there were 15 kids already at the church singing songs with Marian. He said they had been there since 8:30 a.m. even though it did not start until 10 a.m.. Both Pucioasa and Fieni had great days except for the minor argument Michelle and Izzy had in the middle of one of the skits because Izzy thought Michelle had gone wrong but Michelle knew she was right. Luckily the kids just thought it was part of the story with an angel and a shepherd arguing. We just explained we were using the Message version of the Bible. In Varfuri they also grew to 30 kids and now armed with the plan of hamming it up got the kids to really interact today and they all had a great time.

The good news for VBS is that Don found a leaf blower and so we were able to do the weather

balloon trick and I got to pick up some gas for the fire eating. Unfortunately the area was out of premium grade gas and so I had to use low grade gas. Apparently my request for gas companies to come out with new flavors did not get taken up and instead of cherry bubblegum I was back to low grade gasoline taste which I have been burping up ever since.

Russ and Don also got started on the building project but when you also have to taxi everyone everywhere, both our team and the Romanians, the work was constantly halted. This is the one area we have significantly under estimated for the last two years. There really is a need for a building team to be solely dedicated to building.

After VBS it was regrouping in Pucioasa for lunch before heading over to an old people’s home to hand out quilts. The ladies and gentlemen in the home absolutely loved the quilts and you could tell thoroughly enjoyed having us visit and sing songs. These are the kind of experiences that make Mission trips so rewarding.

Tomorrow we will be doing an afternoon VBS in Vulcana Bai and so we also went over to Vulcana Bai today to hand out flyers for theVBS. At one house there were two chihuahua-sized dogs in the garden.

Savannah accidentally pushed the gate and it opened and the two dogs ran out. Kayla let out a scream that sounded as if she was being mauled by two dogs that were Pitbull Rottweiler mixes. It was quite a sight to see Kayla running away screaming with two tiny dogs looking at her from their drive way.

Tonight we split up as a team again. One part of the team went to the second and last

night of the women’s conference. The other part of the team went to have a BBQ at the church. The women’s conference had 40 women turn up tonight and was again received so well by the Romanian ladies. The men on the other hand ate a pretty much all meat BBQ and then spent a bunch of time shooting balloons with a blow dart gun. Florin was like a kid a Christmas as he set up different targets including a moving target. The thing was that he was a great shot and was hitting everything.

Now if I give you these two scenarios:

Put on a skirt and go and meet with all women and after, go and look at wedding dresses, or
Have a meat BBQ and shoot balloons with blow darts with all the men.

Which scenario do you think Savannah would choose to go to? Yep - Savannah was at the BBQ arm wrestling the pastors and other Romanian men. That’s my girl!

After the women’s conference I helped Nicu drop off a lady in Varfuri and on the way home Nicu wanted to show me some different neighborhoods. In one section there were a bunch of kids who were playing in the street that Nicu wanted to come to the VBS. Luckily I had my bag of tricks in the car and so for about 20 minutes we did a bit of street ministry. One of the mothers who was rather stand offish at the start was having a hard time explaining how the tricks were done and even resorted to smiling after one.

The end of the day led us back to Vienna to unwind. It might have been because there was no rain today but the bugs came out tonight with a vengeance. Instead of Whack a Mole we were playing Whack a Bug. After about 30 minutes there were hundreds of dead bugs on our table. I think the waitress was a little embarrassed by all of the bugs and so she came and brushed them all into one pile and then proceeded to just brush them into Damien’s lap. I think she was just trying to clear the table but it was kind of humorous to see her just brush them at Damien and continued to do so even when he stood up. Well it was humorous for all of us except Damien.

One of the common occurrences at about this time in the Missions trip is that you start speaking English like a Romanian. “I go shop now, yes” “How you say ...” etc. Sue already has the traces of her New Jersey accent and now she is adding Romanian English or Romanienglish as we like to call it to her repertoire as the bugs “dovebomb” into her drink. The other thing that happens is that a Romanian will translate a Romanian phrase into English but the translation doesn’t quite work out. Someone from our church had sent a gift for Marian and his wife Simona. When I gave the gift to him he asked me to tell the person that he would pray that this person “would see the face of God”. Now there are two alternatives to this. First, it was a phrase that translated badly or second Marian wasn’t very impressed with the gift and he wanted the person to die and so he prayed that the person would see God’s face which in the Old Testament says would take that person’s life. Let’s just hope it was the first of these options.

Little by little you can see people feeling the affects of tiredness so please pray for continued strength and vitality as we finish up the last two days of VBS.

Matthew 18: 3-4 "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Romania 2011 Day 6: VBS Begins

2011-07-25T16:30:00.007-05:00

Romania 2011

Day 6

It is hard to believe we only have 3 more days left in Pucioasa (and it’s hard to believe I have been spelling it wrong all week). This morning we woke up again to rain, however, this morning it wasn’t as welcome as yesterday. Rain meant that fewer children would come to the VBS’s and for Varfuri (also spelled wrong in earlier blogs) having to be outside meant it would be very muddy. Nevertheless I think everyone was excited to start working with the kids.

Prior to the trip Don had prepared a 10 day devotional on Good to Great in God’s Eyes. We began that this morning. I am not saying Don fits too easily into the Romanian way of life but it does seem to be a recurring theme of change. I am beginning to

wonder how much of the change is Nicu and how much is Don. When Don wasn’t here last year I wonder if he was calling Nicu every day to orchestrate the changes. Anyway ... after a time of devotion and breakfast we loaded up the two teams for Fieni and Varfuri and VBS was under way.

Varfuri - despite Hannah and Daniella (one of our translators) being late an immediate blessing was had in Varfuri as the mayor of the town let us use the town hall for VBS. Now if you took a nice hall in America, something like our gym at Harvest and shrunk it down to about a third of the size, smashed some of the windows, chipped the paint (a lot) and added a stray dog you will

have an idea of what the town hall looked like. But we were inside and I do not understand why last year they made us do VBS on the outside of the town hall. They probably they did not trust Hunter with all of his hair. By the time we started we had 21 kids and one Mum. As we went through the skits and games the Mum had more fun than anyone but the kids left with a balloon animal in their hands and a smile on their face. The stray puppy dog did not fair quite so well. In the middle of Dimitri Says (the Romanian version of Simon Says), I was running on the spot and the puppy decided to walk over to me and under my foot. I quickly added “Dimitri says

‘stamp on a puppy and make him yelp’” but I am not sure the fact I was joking translated very well and a couple of the more competitive boys definitely were making a move to come and stamp on the puppy. I am glad to say that 240 lbs coming down on a puppy didn’t seem to have a long-term affect.

Pucioasa - here the rain did have a little more of an affect but still 25 kids came along. Katie did such a good of disguising herself as one of the characters with a hat, mustache and glasses that one of the Romanian youth who walked in a little late was asking who the new person was. Probably the most touching story was one of the Mum’s who sat just outside the room all day and listened. Gretchen and a few others tried to have her come in and listen in the room or talk to her but she just sat,

listened and said nothing. At the end of the VBS she was standing outside and Gretchen asked if she was waiting for her children. With the help of a translator we found she didn’t have any children at VBS but just wanted to listen. She then asked if she could have a book i.e. the Bible. Gretchen told her to read John 4 and come back tomorrow to discuss it.

Fieni - VBS in Fieni was probably the biggest surprise in that the church is facing the greatest persecution from the Orthodox church which has taught the children in the schools that Florin’s church is to be avoided at all costs and they had 40 kids. God is definitely bigger than any problem with think there will be. The disguise in Fieni wasn’t quite so cunning especially as the duct tape holding the mustache on Izzy’s face started to slip down and she had to kind of hold it up to talk through it.

When we all regrouped at lunch I realized that the blog was creating a new phenomenon in that everything little thing was

being judged for its blog worthiness. And I think this phenomenon is creating some exaggeration. By the end of lunch 24 of the 21 kids had given their life to Christ in Varfuri. Fieni had about 100 kids and Pucioasa was ready to plant a new church.

After lunch we split up again. Don and Russ headed to a hardware store, Sue and Gretchen went food shopping and Damien and I took the rest of the team (all females) shoe shopping. Oh what joy. Thankfully it started raining and only one pair of shoes was bought.

Michelle and Damien with Oana translating tried the Way of the Master evangelistic approach with a few people in the market. One couple had had their grandfather die 3 days earlier and it wasn’t the right time for them to talk. One man just got up and walked off. The final lady we decided to bribe and buy one of her watermelons if she would give Michelle and Damien 10 minutes of her time. She ended up talking to them for about 30 mins off and on between customers and proved to be a perfect orthodox. Believed in God and Jesus but believed you had to do good works and go to church to be saved.

Women’s Conference - Evening One

I only heard about the women’s conference because the ladies told me - I was not allowed anywhere near the event. They had started off expecting probably 5-10 women but originally packed for 20. When the weight of the suitcase was still light they just decided to pack all of the journals they had been given which was 31 in number. Shortly after the start the tables that were set up had been filled up and there was one Romanian lady at every spot where there was a journal - exactly 31 Romanian ladies turned up. From all accounts it seemed as though the event was a great success and there was talk of these ladies bringing more friends tomorrow. Having given her testimony in church on Sunday night Gretchen felt more comfortable using a translator and even paused after each sentence instead of completing a whole paragraph before letting the translator speak.

Russ, Savannah and I went to Solomon’s house for dinner. Russ and I were looking forward to this because Solomon’s Mum is a great cook. We were a little more aware that there would be 3 courses for the meal after last year and so were ready to pace ourselves. The appetizer came out first which was a plate of 4 stuffed cabbage leaves, some stewed cabbage and a good serving of corn grits (not sure what you call them). Our assumption was that this was to be split between the four of us eating. Oh no - 3 more of the same size plates came out. Maybe this year we would just go straight for the main course but no. Halfway through the first plate of food and second just as large plate each came out with two pieces of chicken, a pile of diced potatoes and a tomato, cucumber and cheese salad. All three of us almost dropped off our chairs - mind you that could have been from the amount of food we had eaten for the appetizer. We finally rolled out of there probably 20 lbs heavier.

The end of day tradition continued and we all got together at the Vienna restaurant for Papa nosi (donuts and cream) and coffee. Tonight the theme was arm wrestling as Savannah wanted to show her prowess off. Having beaten most of the youth she turned her strength on the adults (except for Russ and I - she knew what we had just eaten and some of the weight must have gone to our arms because I stomachs were definitely not big enough for all the food). Except for Don who beat her while reading his iPad she did show pretty well against Gretchen and Damien before losing. Izzy and Dina both went down to this arm wrestling phenom.

Tomorrow is Day 2 of VBS and the Women’s conference. Please continue to pray for us all.

Psalm 100 - Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations.

Romania 2011 Day 5: Church Day

2011-07-24T15:47:00.004-05:00

Romania 2011 Day 5

To get on the internet last night I went back to the restaurant to see if I could sit and use their wireless internet. At first we had the usual language barrier problem as I tried to explain what I needed. Every year the owner of the restaurant asks me if I speak German and every year I offer Spanish as the alternative and so between English, Romanian, German and Spanish we don’t have any common language. To help with the problem he said he would call his “doctor”. I tried to think what I could have said that would make him think I need a “doctor”. After a bit a girl turned up and I realized he had actually said“daughter”. Apparently it wasn’t their internet and so the owner said he would take me upstairs. We actually went up to the hotel rooms above the restaurant where we had stayed in previous years and I was able to connect and I didn’t get an examination from any doctor so it was a blessing on all counts.

We woke up to rain today. The good news was that with the rain would come cooler temperatures and for church that is good. When we go into a church service we tend to help fill it to the brim which means it gets hot and stuffy but the colder air wouldhelp mitigate this. Six of us, Izzy, Hannah, Michelle, Kayla, Savannah and I, were going to head to Fieni and the rest stayed in Puciosa.

Before that, we came together for breakfast at the same place we had dinner. I think the restaurant appreciates us coming to town but obviously needs warning. Last night we had drunk them dry of Mountain Dew except for one bottle and so Russ thought it best to finish that off this morning. After a quick breakfast we made our way to the churches.

When we arrived in Fieni we were amazed at ho much the church had changed. The outside was now pretty much complete. The second floor has one functioning room and another section under development. The third floor has walls and floor but cannot be used for anything. The joy of coming back year after year is to see some of the people who have become so dear to us and we enjoyed spending the morning worshipping together and praying together. During the service I gave a lesson and both Izzy and Michelle gave their testimonies. This is one of the joys of being on a Mission trip. You get to hear others’ testimonies and you get to see a new part of these people’s lives.

After the service we split up and three people went to the house of Marian (the pastor). Three people went to Florin’s house. It was the first time I had seen Florin’s house and just like the church, he had built it from the foundation up. All I could think about was how that every time I try and build anything or fix anything at home Barbara has to call someone in after to re-build it or re-fix it.

Florin is truly a special person whose heart is sold out to Jesus. He seems to have done so much and to do so much. He has been a fireman, a pastor, a builder and his new hobby is as a beekeeper. Lunch at the Romanian’s houses usually consists of food grown in their own gardens and it was the same in Fieni. It is hard to explain how much better something as simple as tomatoes taste when they are grown naturally and picked ripe off the vine.

In Puciosa there was a slightly different pattern to the service. I think this is mainly because Nicu makes up his mind to do something about 2 minutes before it happens. Before the service the going in position was that Sorin was going to give a 45 minute sermon. We would do a few songs and then Don would give a 15 minute lesson. Just before the service Nicu asked Russ if he would give his testimony. The service started at 9:30 with a prayer time and then the fun started. Russ was asked not to give his testimony but to do a lesson. The only thing we are told to do is be prepared to give our testimony and for the men to have lesson ready. This was one of those times Russ was glad he had a lesson ready. Sorin did give his 45 minute sermon and Don did a blend between his testimony and a lesson and 3 hours later the service was over. We are going to suggest that Lance adopt this kind of approach to our service at Harvest - it definitely adds some excitement to the service.

In the evening we were back at church and this time it was again Russ’ and my turn to be surprised to give a lesson. Usually we would like more than 30 mins to prepare for a lesson even if we have one initially prepped. I have to say that it seemed as though Russ had been preparing for weeks as his lesson was so smooth. I think I will spend time tomorrow night preparing in case it is sprung on us at the Wednesday night service.

After the service a few went off to Varfur to hand out flyers about the VBS which starts tomorrow. Nothing like good preparation and advertising. Then it was time back together to share food from the new BBQ grill. They had asked us to get the “sturdy” grill not the one on three legs but that had four legs. I really don’t think the number of legs really mattered. This grill was so shaky that if you put more than 5 hamburgers it would collapse under the weight.

There is one thing not quite right with this trip and that is that Chrissie is speaking to Daniella more than we are arranging dinners. We keep getting told where and what time we are having dinner and this is being arranged by Chrissie in Houston. Chrissie - Don has a message for you - next time you are coming or he is turning your phone off because he cannot afford the phone bill.

The first full day in Puciosa is almost over and we are having our end of day meeting at one of the local restaurants. Not sure this restaurant will be a regular. We sat down and the waiter did not even come over for 15 minutes. Well tomorrow we start VBS and we are all expecting something to change.

John10:10 - I come that you may have life and have it abundantly

Romania 2011 Day 4: Puciosa bound

2011-07-23T15:14:00.005-05:00

Romania 2011 Day 4

The day started at a more normal time today. The body is finally adapting. Outside ofthe house in the mountains there is a cowwith a big cow bell. Several of the team loved the sound of the bell especially as they woke up in the morning. Izzy in fact is buying one to put on one of her cats.

Not sure the cat will be moving much but he will sound good.

Today we were heading back to Puciosa but first it was breakfast and another lesson.

Don taught today on building on the

foundation of Jesus Christ. As christians we are no longer under the law but because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Don then asked the Romanians what would be sacrificed without Jesus’ death. They all started talking about killing Bo. I made a note to let Bo he better not come back to Romania. I have no idea what he did but they are out for his blood. Actually I think Bo means bull in Romanian but if I was Bo I wouldn’t risk it.

After the lesson we headed down to Bran so that some of the new people could go and see Count Dracula’s castle (which really is not his castle at all but they sure make a lot of money from fooling people). Those that did not go in the castle enjoyed an hour or two shopping for junk, I mean mementos. I think the highlight for those who went in the castle was seeing Monica who apparently is the Anna Nicole Smith in Romania. She is a model who has married a very old wealthy man.

After this we all jumped in the vans for the drive back to Puciosa. We stopped at a gas station to load up on candy and drinks and even found a magazine on which Monica was the cover story. I finally broke down and had my first Mountain Dew of the trip. The ride back to Puciosa is not too long but the road is extremely windy (not as in the wind but with lots of bends). Having spent about an hour snaking through the mountains Hannah was suffering terribly from motion sickness and was asking Izzy just to drown her or break her neck. We had to remind Hannah that this remedy was only used by Izzy for dogs on their last legs. By the time we got to Puciosa Hannah, Michelle and Damien were all feeling a little worse for wear. I think the Mountain Dew protected me. In Puciosa we were reunited with Gretchen and Sue who had spent the last two days partying in Puciosa. They said they were preparing the food menu, the women’s conference and finding a hotel for us but I think that was just a front. Mind you we did have hotel rooms at a brand new hotel so maybe I am wrong.

This next part of the blog can not be seen by the Orthodox church otherwise Katie might not make it back home. As we came down the mountains today their were lots, and I mean lots and lots, of families pulled over on the sides of the roads having picnics and playing in the rivers. It seemed to be a constant occurrence to see someone relieving themselves, men women and children. Katie then asked why they didn’t use the outhouse that she saw on the side of the road. It was then pointed out that this was actually a shrine. Not sure the Orthodox church would be too happy about using the shrines as toilets.

I couldn’t wait too long to mention the dogs. The same rules apply as in all years which

is not to touch the dogs. Savannah doesn’t really touch them, she pets them, hugs them, plays with them. I have to keep checking the vans and her room to make sure she is not harboring any stray dogs. Izzy is a little more discerning and really only has a hard time seeing little puppies all abandoned. Don and I had seen one on the side of the road and although difficult to do we drove on by. Don made the mistake of telling Izzy and she was determined to go and find him. When we drove past the same spot on the way home the puppy wasn’t there and so I tried comforting Izzy by saying that he had found home. She seemed to think his home would have been in a ditch somewhere. Russ did try to comfort her by telling her that this was still a home but it didn’t seem to ease the pain.

Walking through Puciosa brought back memories and even one of the waitresses in one of the restaurants recognized me. Being rather shy I am not sure why she would remember me. You can ask my family how quiet I am when we are in restaurants. It is good to be back in Puciosa and all of us are looking forward to the next week of VBS and the fellowship with churches in Puciosa, Fieni, Vulcana Bai and Varfur.

1 John 1:3 - what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ

Romania 2011 Day 3: Bible lessons and fun

2011-07-22T13:57:00.004-05:00

Day 3 started early. A few of us woke up a little earlier than normal at 5 a.m. ish but it was just our body clocks being off. The one thing you notice is how clean and fresh the air feels up here in the mountains. It probably was in the mid-50’s when we woke up and has not been above 75 all day. I know you are all thinking that we are suffering for the cause but don’t worry we will hold strong.

At breakfast we had all of the Romanians and Americans (minus Sue and Gretchen) together. The wives of the pastors and their children also came up into the mountains. All of the children are growing up way too quickly. Alexia, Nicu’s daughter, is still a little card but I think maybe a little confused. She ran up to Damien and recognized him from last year but was calling him Emily. Obviously she knew something before they even did. Once we had wiped the “missing you” tears from Damien’s face we got back into the swing of things.

In the morning we had two lessons with the youth from Russ and I. It took a while for the mind to get back into the swing of using a translator but it was great to sing songs in both Romanian and English and study God’s word together. If you want to study along with us we are mainly using

Matthew 7 for our study.

After lunch it was a time for volleyball, basketball, soccer and tennis. The Americans clearly dominated at volleyball. Emily, I mean Damien, showed the way on the basketball court. When it came to soccer the Romanians ran circles around us. Obviously it was the altitude that affected us. Also the Romanians brought in recruits from Sorin’s church in Brasov.

Some of our team went for a walk clearly enjoying being in God’s beautiful creation. Don and I headed down to Bran to find a Wifi connection. In the middle of Bran there was a connection although you had to stand in one spot on side of the street to get it. A group of taxi drivers were very bemused as to why a man was standing on the side of the road typing on a bright, hot pink laptop. I just about had time to connect and send the last blog.

During volleyball we have come up with one problem. When we have Kayla, Michaila and Dina player we have some confusion because when we call Michaila Dina thinks we are calling “My Kayla” and she says “No, she is my Kayla” so now we have Michaila, My Kayla and My Mom.

Today we also had our first injury. Surprisingly it was Don who is always accident free in Romania. Today he decided to close the tail door of the van on his head. I know most people pull their head out of the door but Don thought differently. Tonight we had our third lesson with the youth taught by Don. It was about healing (well it should have been). After dinner we headed out to the back of the house for a fire where we made smores.

The good news is that we finally got an Wifi to work at the house we are at and so I am able to post a new blog tonight. However each photo takes about 20 minutes to load - so before you complain Nate I will get more photos included when we get back to reliable internet. Tomorrow we head back to Puciosa via Bran.

Colossians 3:16 - Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Romania 2011 Day Two: What Day is it?

2011-07-22T06:48:00.000-05:00

Romania Day 2: What Day Is It?

First, let me apologize for not sending a blog last night. The place we are staying for the youth retreat does not have Wifi and when you see the schedule we went through I hope there is some mercy in understanding why.

The flight from London to Bucharest was on time and I think everyone tried their best to get a little sleep. At the end of the flight I was brought back into the realm of different culture = different norms. A few of us we were sitting towards the back of the plane and once we had landed the usual mad rush to stand up and get your bags pursued. I think this is a worldwide norm. What was a little different was the older lady who was sitting at the back of the plane who decided she needed to get to the front. I assume she thought the rest of us we were just stretching our legs and really wanted to stay on the plane to enjoy another gourmet meal. She proceeded to push her way past every single person the young and the old alike. I wondered how long that would have lasted if she had done that on a flight in America.

Having collected the 29 checked bags we loaded up trolleys and rolled trolleys and bags out to the rental car. Damien, who somehow managed to not even have a carry-on in his hands, did a great job of making sure that the rest of us including the ladies, both young and less young, didn’t drop any of the bags.

One of the Romanian teenagers, Solomon, is attending a Christian music college in Romania and the day that we arrived it was his birthday. To be able to complete the college three-year course he has to have a classical guitar which he does not have nor can afford. Don had a classical guitar at home that he no longer needed and so he brought that over to give to Solomon. It wasn’t until we were in the Romanian airport that Izzy asked why Don and brought a guitar case without a guitar all this way. Apparently the case and guitar was so light she didn’t think there was a guitar in the bag. I informed her that it was an air guitar which seemed to answer the question.

From the airport we split into two groups Don, Russ, Izzy and Dina took our youth straight to Bran where the retreat was. Sue and Gretchen had to go to Puciosa to prepare for next week. Having seen the fear on Sue’s face when Don informed her that she was driving a van to Puciosa I thought I had better offer to drive to Puciosa, drop them off and then head to Bran. When we got into Bucharest on the way to Puciosa we realized that this was probably the first good decision we had made. Driving in Bucharest is an art unto itself on the best of days. Trying to cope with traffic while following someone is close to a death trap. Last year we had several near crashes as Stuart led us through Bucharest making right exits off a roundabout from the left lane across three lanes of traffic. Well apparently Romanians do this as well and yesterday we even learned how to do it during rush hour. Then there is the “make your own lane” rule that you have to get used to. At some turns where you cross traffic you pull up behind the car in front to make the turn. As you wait more and more cars join the turn line but over here the turn line isn’t one behind the other but all lined up next to each other. When the other way is clear about 15 cars all make a dash for the turn which is only 2 lanes wide. I think Sue and Gretchen are breathing again and we did make it safe and sound to Puciosa.

From here I jumped in the car with Marius and his wife and baby son and we headed to pick up Marian (the wife of Florin, the pastor in Fieni) and their daughter Demarius and head to Bran. At this point it was about 8p.m., I had not slept properly for 30 hours and was suffering a little from motion sickness. Ahead of me was a 3 hour drive to Bran. Half way there we had winded our way over the first set of mountains and I couldn’t stay awake any longer. I apologized to my fellow passengers for needing to sleep and for the likelihood that I would snore and proceeded to fall asleep. When I awoke we were nearly in Bran and they were all quiet. I think my snoring must have scared them too much.

When we arrived at the retreat house it was about 11 p.m. a few people were still up but most were in bed. I realized I had missed a meal that night but I wasn’t quite sure which meal I had missed. I did have 2 breakfasts and a lunch I think so I guess it must have been dinner. I said a few hellos and then headed to my room. Apparently Marius and Marian had called ahead to Nicu and asked if he would put me in the same room as Russ who is notorious for his snoring to pay me back for my snoring. Little did they know I have been in training for snoring roommates by having my English bulldog sleep next to me. The training seemed to work and I fell right to sleep.

Anyway there is no internet here and I was so tired I couldn’t drive into town to find Wifi. As soon as I have the chance I will find a Wifi and post.

In Ephesians 5:20 it tells us to give “thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. This is one of the results of being filled with the Holy Spirit. After our safe travel all the way to Bran and the joy of seeing our brothers and sisters in Christ from Romania all that we can do is give thanks.

OK - I found internet but I am not sure for how long. Here is the latest post. Because I am in a hurry there are no pictures. I will try again later if possible.

Romania 2011 Day One: The madness begins

2011-07-21T03:48:00.009-05:00

Romania 2011Day 1

Currently it is about 4 a.m. in the morning in Houston. The Romanian Missions team is now in England on a 4 hour layover before flying on to Bucharest in the Southeast of Romania. There is always something about spending 9 hours cramped on a plane that brings out the ability to look at the funny side of life.

The journey to London was relatively smooth once we got the Ayoubi sisters to the airport an hour or so late. Something about forgetting a passport and needing medication seemed to be the problem. Not sure if the medication was for either Hannah or Michelle or for Dani as she said goodbye to the girls for two weeks. Houston airport was pretty crowd free and so having 15 people walking around with the same shirt on drew attention as it has done in the previous 2 years ( I think I meant same colored shirt not the same shirt - having 15 people all in one shirt might be too weird). One gentleman tried to persuade us that we should buy property in Portugal because everyone is selling. He said if we did we would be treated like we were Portuguese. I kind of found a flaw in his sales pitch. There must be a reason everyone is selling - it’s not usually the best tactic to buy stock when everyone is dumping it. I maybe thought it was because they were being treated as though they were Portuguese that actually might be the issue. Not quite sure how the Portuguese are treated but apparently it’s not so good.

The plane brought its own events. One of the flight attendants started to question why we all had the same shirt on and then began reading it. He kind of got stuck with the “Isaiah six point eight” as he said it. I think he thought it was some kind of software program. He finally did come to realize it was a verse from the Bible. Maybe it was the picture of Jesus carrying the cross on the back and front that gave it away. A lot of the English may have a great sense of humor but that doesn’t mean we are all as smart as me :-)

We were all spread throughout the coach section of the plane. I carried on visiting Business Class to see how Stuart Holland was doing but remembered he wasn’t with us this year. Gretchen I think drew the short straw. As tall as she is she had to have the man in front of her who wanted to lay his seat back as far as possible. I think by the end of the trip she felt a bit like God as she could number the hairs on his head. Russ didn’t fair much better as he had the choice of spending the whole flight in an aisle seat next to a 2 year old for whom the family had not bought a ticket i.e. had no seat, or crammed into a window seat. The one

saving grace for him was that when the person in front reclined the seat he had a get rest for his Nook on her head.

I had a good seat/bad seat kind of situation. I got a bulk head seat (good) but I had the toilets right in front of me (bad). I had some nice leg room (good) but the guy next to me was not a small dude (bad). It wasn’t so much the top half of his body that was pressing against me but from the hip down. And boy did this guy put out some heat. I thought summers in Houston were hot. Also for some reason he sat with his legs as far apart as possible. I carried on leaning over to make sure the baby wasn’t coming out. As I tried to sleep it was nice to have the constant sound of a flushing toilet to lull me to sleep. I might try and get the sound added to the Soothing Soundscape CD used to help people go to sleep.

Heathrow was the usual schedule. Immediately head for Wagamama for a good English

breakfast and then shop or relax until the flight to Bucharest. I have no clue what internet I will get when we get to our retreat location in the mountains and so I cannot promise an update tonight but I will try.

On a personal note I do need to have shout out for Steven Buras. Last week I put my back out and it wasn’t getting better. The prospect of sitting on a plane for 10 hours was frightening. I went to see Steven on Monday, Tuesday and finally on Wednesday morning before the flight. I walked into his office on Wednesday in a lot of pain and walked out feeling much better. The good news is I didn’t feel my back at all and even getting up after sitting for so long was pain free. Praise God and thank you Steven.

Philippians 3:13-14 - ... but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Romania 2011 - Pre-trip Blog

2011-07-08T16:27:00.004-05:00

Pre-trip July 2011

Every time this year I seem to get back into blogging. This time last year I was actually finished with the blogging escapades but for some reason this year the Romania Missions trip was pushed back a month and we still have a few days before we leave. I am sure the fact that Don Owens was organizing the trip had nothing to do with the trip being delayed but I do think the two year ban on his driving in Romania, because of the car he wrote off, expiring may have had some influence. (I don't think he was banned but it is a good story to keep perpetuating).

This year a smaller team is headed to Puciosa but we will still have three groups for VBS (Puciosa, Fieni and Vulcana Bai - in some combination of Isabelle Sr. Clair, Sue Hedner, Lindsay Hedner, Damien Burke, Katie Rossman, Michelle Ayoubi, Hannah Ayoubi, Dina Ellisor, Kayla Ellisor, Michaila Bertuccini, and Savannah Britton) and a building team (Russ and Don) and new to the mix this year is the women's conference led by Gretchen Bertuccini.

With a smaller team the bonding may be a little more stronger than with the larger groups. Don Owens has already set the example here by forgetting to take Lindsay home after one of our preparation meetings. With her parents out of town it wasn't a really big deal for the first couple of hours of being stranded. Luckily somebody else stepped into the gap and got Lindsay home safely.

So tomorrow we set off. An overnight flight to London and then after a couple of hours a 3 hour flight to Bucharest. From Bucharest we will head straight to the youth retreat stopping via Puciosa to pick up the youth (thought that would be a good idea). I am not sure whether we will break the news to the Romania youth that the 3 drivers will have not slept for 24 hours before we head up into the mountains or just wait and see if they ask why we are drinking so mcuh Red Bull.

After a few days at the retreat we head back to Puciosa for the VBS, building project and women's conference.

Our call to action is from Isaiah 6:8 - "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send and who will go for Us?' Then I said, 'Here I am. Send Me'"

Please pray for our travel and that the Holy Spirit would lead us in all we do and say.

Day 10 – A Day for the Tough, the Journey Home and Final Thoughts

2010-07-04T20:37:00.006-05:00

Day 10 – A Day for the Tough, the Journey Home and Final Thoughts

The alarm clock goes off at 5 a.m. (although I think for some of the others it was earlier) and 45 mins later we have the bags packed in the vans and say a prayer before leaving the hotel for the airport. Because of a recon trip to the airport the night before, we got to the airport without event on Saturday morning. The only hard part was actually trying to return the rental vans. The guard opened the gate but when I asked him where to

park he looked at me like I was foreign. Okay so he didn’t speak English but if you say “Hertz” at a rental car return area you

would expect some kind of understanding. I am sure we were not the first people to return Hertz rental cars to the airport. After a shrug of his shoulders we just pulled into three empty spaces and dropped off the keys in the drop box.
This year we got to the airport just when the BA counter opened, not an hour or so before hand. We still had the same problem as last year which was despite there being an obvious line some people just walked up to the front of the line to check in. This also happened at the security check point so it must just be a cultural thing. It just happens to be an extremely annoying cultural tradition. Despite very careful packing one of my bags was 2 kilograms too heavy, about 4.5 pounds heavy. One thing I do remember from last year is that the airport personnel are stickler for rules (except for enforcing the “no-butting-in-line” norm) and so I had to frantically rearrange a couple of bags to make them weight appropriate. From check in it was through to security. Now having travelled extensively and internationally I am pretty careful about what I pack in my carry-on luggage and so was surprised when my bag got pulled aside. Now the way they have the screens set up at the security, once you have walked through the

body scan, you can see the bag x-ray screens. So when my bag was pulled I looked at the screen and could see that by computer battery and by flashlight were circled. In most countries the procedure is to locate the suspicious object and verify it is okay or remove it and re-scan the bag. Not in Romania. He went through my bag and randomly emptied pockets into a tray and then emptied bags of my computer cords etc. And so my bag was almost empty and the contents haphazardly strewn in a tray. He then rescanned everything and gave me my bag and tray of contents to repack.

A three hour flight to London followed by a 3 hour layover, led to our boarding the 747 that would take us from London to Houston. As we boarded the plane I struck up a conversation with one of the flight attendants and having found out that in Coach there was no power outlets for computers, I asked him whether it was okay if I ran an extension cord from row 50 (5 rows from the back of the plane) down to business class. After thinking about it for about 3 seconds he just laughed. During the flight I tried to work on my computer but realized that the balancing act on my table and belly made it so hard to use a computer hence the lack of power outlets.

The flight westward is longer than the eastward journey and with it not being an overnight you find ways to keep entertained for nine hours. With the new Video On Demand system entertainment was not the issue. However the problem we faced was the temperature. In our section it was like an oven. When you are cramped up with your knees touching the seat in front, body touching the person next to you and sitting on a leather seat the last thing you need is for the cabin to be hot. I write this so graphically so Stuart can get an understanding how us common folk travel. Anyway for about 8 hours of the nine hour journey we were unbareably hot and sweaty. As you watch the screen that shows the flight path and it tells you that the outside temperature is -52˚ you’d think that a 10 second blast from outside would cool things down pretty quickly but no we just sat and suffered. When you walked the plane you would find pockets of cold air and so the crew’s rationale for it being hot where we were was that some other people were cold. Now call me stupid but if you are cold you can put blankets on and stay warm. I don’t think the alternative of me taking clothes off is an acceptable or desirable option. Anyway about an hour before we landed it finally cooled down.

So now we are back home and I have had a day to reflect on our trip here are some final thoughts. As we drove home last night the sun was setting and that is the same sun that was setting on our Romanian friends about 8 hours earlier. I don’t know why but God has ordained that I should be living in America and those friends are to live in Romania but I cannot take for granted the blessings I have. Simple things like a good and reliable shower, a comfy mattress, a pillow that has some constituency to it and is bigger than your head so when you roll over you don’t have to keep your head in one spot. However, more important things like food on a table or housing or religious freedom are also things we take for granted. Now in Romania they have food but they grow a lot of it themselves including raising chickens on rabbits for meat. They have housing but that might be a family of four in a one bedroom apartment. They are free to go to church where they want but if they don’t go to the orthodox church they may be shunned by family and friends and definitely will be by society. We saw kids whose source of entertainment was a cardboard box that had been pulled from the trash not a TV or a computer or a video game. But no matter what the circumstance, no matter what they had or didn’t have, these people at the churches in Puciosa and Fieni had a love for Jesus and a smile on their face. I just wish I had half of the fortitude these people had to deal with what card they had been dealt. Once a year Puciosa gets invaded by a group of Americans and believe me they remember us (especially when Russ with a little help from me drink two restaurants dry of Mountain Dew and I, with a little help from everyone else, can get a restaurant to sell out of Papanosi). So how we act and what we say are so important not only in representing God but also representing ourselves, the churches there and also Harvest Bible Church.

One of the biggest frustrations I have is the language barrier. I have learned some

of the language but there is only so much you can talk about when you know how to say hello and good bye, right and left, and count from 0 – 99 (actually I learned 100 this year as well). In one store we went to, the man asked Alex which cult we belonged to. I didn’t understand what he said but if I had known I would have loved to talk to him. There are people we meet at VBS who I would love to talk to but cannot. I got myself in trouble a couple of times when I said “Good morning” to someone in Romanian and then when they made the next comment saying “Da” as though I had understood but then with they came with another comment, asking me a question which I did not understand also and that seemed to require something more than another “Da”. The people looked bewildered when I tried to explain that I didn’t speak Romanian. My goal for next year is to continue to grow my vocabulary.
I did want to clear up one small point that had been floating around since arriving in

Romania. Certain comments had been made as to my navigational abilities and implications that I had to stop and get directions. There were also some photos that tried to prove these baseless accusations. It was obvious that I was trying to evangelize and the pointing done was in response to where the person was going after they died which then opened up the opportunity to tell them it wasn’t left or right they were going but probably down. I feel better knowing that everyone knows the truth now.

Some of the Romanian practices still leave me confused. The allowing of dogs to rule the streets seems strange. I guess that versus euthanizing them is a better option but you’d have thought something would be done. In a restaurant if the bill comes to 23.42 lei and you give them 50 lei to pay, you don’t get back 26.58 lei as one would expect but you get 25 lei back. I am not sure if this is self-decided tip they take or just the fact that they have no clue what to give back because their math is so bad.

Each member of the team gave of their time and their talents and it was a joy to spend time and serve with them. Whether it was their musical talents (Lindsey, Sue, Emily, Chrissie, Tiffany, Savannah, Holly, Katie, Michelle), their cooking talents (Chrissie, Tiffany), their VBS leadership talents (Dani, Kelley, Tiffany, Stuart, Russ, Barbara), their shopping talents (Chrissie, Dani), their preaching and teaching talents (Russ, Stuart, Damien), their sporting talents (Damien, Hunter, Barbara), their drawing and creativity talents (Hannah), their construction talents (Russ, Damien, Hunter, Stuart, Sue), their blogging talents (Katie, Holly, Michelle),

their driving talents (Russ, Stuart), their leadership talents (Russ, Stuart), their sitting at home talents (Nate and Sara Krupke, Steve and Kelly Zettlemoyer, Don Owens, Isabelle St Clair) and their “Bushy Bear” talents (Hunter), all was done with passion. Next year we already have direction about what can be done but we will have to see what God has in store for us.
God bless you all or as they say in Romania “Pace” (peace). Thank you for your prayers and for sharing this journey with us.
Philippians 4:8 - Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Day 9 - The Toughest Day

2010-07-02T15:45:00.003-05:00

Day 9 – The Toughest Day

I know yesterday’s blog wasn’t really a blog but for the first time in the two years of coming to Romania I really was too tired to function. And so tonight I will try to cover the last two days in a little more detail.
Yesterday was the wrapping up of VBS. Both Puciosa and Fieni had about the same number of children (40-50 at both locations). From what I could tell the children had a great time. Some of the children really touch your hearts. One of the boys at Puciosa has been a royal pain for the last two years and nothing changed this year. After about 30 minutes of his acting up you are ready to beat him. But this year for the first time I heard more of his story. He comes from a gypsy family and is one of 8 children (I think – it may be 14 children but that seems way too many). And his 14 year old sister is in charge of looking after all of the young ones including a young toddler. When you start to realize that this boy has essentially no guidance it is not difficult to understand why he constantly acts up. This year Russ decided to show some tough love and discipline him but do it with some guidance. Today as we said our goodbyes he was there with his elder sister and he wanted his picture taken with us and loved the picture he had with Russ.
For the roving Brittoners we began and finished up in Vulcana Bai. VBS was in a field, on a hill, in wet grass – the program had to be cut down from 4 hours to 2 hours and so essentially we used the accounts of Moses and Jesus to give the gospel message. Talk about difficult conditions to do crafts and even act out some of the scenes but I am proud of my family and the job they did to pull off another great VBS. Here we had 27 kids and again this was after handing out flyers one day before. The toughest thing for me was the fire eating. In Varfur the wind posed a problem with fire eating and having learned from that when I faced the same windy conditions in Vulcana Bai I remembered to face so that the wind was blowing away from my face. But now I had a new problem – when I faced with the wind blowing in the right direction and put my head back the sun was shining straight in my eyes. As I lowered the fire into my mouth I had to shut my eyes for the last few inches. When I came to the part where I light my tongue on fire I literally shut my eyes and hoped I pressed down on my tongue and then was able to find the flame with the other stick. This was by far and away the most difficult fire eating I have ever done and frankly makes think twice of whether I will ever eat fire if there is even the slightest breeze.
Niku and I spoke and he was so happy that at the 3 locations we reached almost 70 kids. One of the goals of this year’s trip was to expand our outreach and that was done. There are already ideas afoot of expanding the time in Magura, Varfur and Vulcana Bai and even sending a team to Rimnicu Sarat.
Today was the toughest day of the whole trip. The goodbyes. After breakfast we headed to the church where we began the painful process of saying goodbye to both the Puciosa and Fieni churches. Dani won the prize for most time spent crying but frankly everyone pailed in comparison to the deluge Izzy produced last year. In fact I am sure Izzy has shed several tears this year and she wasn’t even on the trip. Again the tears shed between the youth were very touching but for me the most touching was the 14 year old girl who came to the church with the trouble boy and the toddler so they could say goodbye. She had spent 4 days at VBS where she had been able to actually act like a kid, singing songs and doing crafts, and had help looking after the toddler. She was walking up and down the street by our vans bawling her eyes out.
The drive back to Bucharest was uneventful except for Stuart, who was leading, once again having a desire to make a right turn from the left lane of a roundabout (traffic circle). After a traditional meal at Hard Rock some decided to visit a Museum of Houses, some took a water ferry to the hotel and Russ and I drove to the hotel. One of the biggest changes this year has been the police presence wherever we have been and today in Bucharest it was even more the case. We had road stops, police cars and ambulances flying up and down roads and at one point Russ almost had a head on collision with a police car. I do have to say that this was not Russ’ fault at all. He made his way on to a roundabout going the right way and suddenly a police car appeared out of nowhere going in the wrong direction. Both Russ and the police car completed diversionary maneuvers and I put my money I was going to use to bail Russ out back in my wallet.
We rounded out today with a devotion and then dinner at the hotel. Just like last year there was a group singing in the restaurant and just like last year the lead male singer blew us away with his 1970’s look. I am not sure any photo could do justice to this guy’s outfit.
Well just to finish off this blog here are some random stories or thoughts from the trip.
Food has been a main topic of conversation and controversy this trip. From the first meal here with Hannah unable to order anything she liked, to the wonderful food we had at people’s houses, to the joy of being able to turn up at breakfast, lunch or dinner and have it prepared for you by Chrissie, Tiffany or Daniella. Stuart finally changed from only praying for the hands of the person who prepared the meal to praying for their whole body. Dani had a saccharin disaster. With Hannah needing a sugar substitute Dani picked up a saccharin dispenser for her. The one-by-one dispensing didn’t work and so Dani prized the top off the dispenser sending hundreds of tiny saccharin tablets all over the table including over the Papanosi.
Last year we were all surprised by the listing of Crap on the menu. Now this is a fish and the only debate is whether it is Carp mis-spelled or actually a fish by that name. Hunter finally couldn’t take it anymore and ordered Crap to share with Michelle. They really didn’t like it and so Russ and I tried it and both agreed it lived up to its name and that it left a horrible after taste in your mouth. Depsite this proclamation Holly and Savannah seemed to determined to disprove us. I am not sure why you would run the risk of the proclamation being right but they didn’t find it quite as bad until the after taste set in. So take note if you make next year’s trip, do not order Crap or Mushroom soup at the hotel restaurant.
Some people make lasting impressions. When I turned up at Fieni to do my fire eating Marian asked the children if they could remember a special person from last year’s VBS. The answer was not George Bush but “Miss Isabelle”. This year it was Hunter who made an impression. Before VBS on the last day a little girl named Maria cam running up and gave Hunter a picture of herself and had written her address on the back. As she walked away she professed her love for him. What these 8 year olds will do for a boyfriend. I must admit it was not hard to be attracted to her especially with her Mickey Mouse slippers on.
Philippians 4:11-13 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Tomorrow we head home and so have an early morning leaving the hotel at 5:45 a.m.

2010-07-01T17:13:00.002-05:00

Day 8 – VBS Ends

It’s currently 1 a.m. and I am just sitting down to write the blog so you may have to forgive me if this is short. The reason for the lateness of the blog is that today is the last day in Puciosa and we crammed in as much as possible and I am just getting back to my room. The quick rundown of the schedule was as follows.
• Devotion and Breakfast
• VBS in Puciosa, Fieni and Vulcana Bai
• Lunch
• Last minute shopping in Targoviste and Puciosa
• Construction in Puciosa and Fieni
• Fellowship dinner in Fieni
• Volleyball in Puciosa
• Final evening wind down at Café Vienna
• Packing for the trip back home

I will write a lot more tomorrow but for now I need sleep.

Day 7 – Church on Wednesday (like most normal churches)

2010-06-30T17:20:00.002-05:00

Day 7 – Church on Wednesday (like most normal churches)

I am not sure whether we had another mosquito in the room last night or whether the mosquito bites that had been inflicted on me the night before were just coming out. At the latest count I have 36 on one arm and 11 on the other. As least I know I will be leaving a part of me here when I go home.
Today the roving team headed back out to Varfur. There were 31 kids and a couple more mums. In speaking to Niku this is a village that is ready for an evangelical. He was so uplifted to see the response from the village towards the VBS and not only that, the mayor of the town seems to be open to having Niku start a church there.
Again in typical fashion the plans change on the fly. Our time in Vulcana Bai on Thursday is only supposed to be from 10 a.m. to noon, not 2:30 p.m. and so Niku me if we could go back out to Varfur on Thursday afternoon. I let Niku know that the VBS material would be finished today but I could go out and do a series of object lessons for them. In the end as I started to prepare a 2 hour program Niku changed his mind. In a way I would love to have gone back out because the instant interest from this area is something that needs to be grasped to.
In the afternoon we had some free time except for the fact that nothing had been communicated to the people in Vulcana Bai about the VBS tomorrow and so a team of people went there to hand out flyers. Barbara and I got to accompany Alex to Targoviste and while there he took the time to take us to a couple of places. First, we went to the old fortress which was in ruins but was being rebuilt. The only thing open to the public was the tower and in that we learned some of the history of Romania and of Targoviste. Romania used to be a country made up of three regions all ruled by a prince. Then about 400 years ago it was united under some man named Mihai who has his head buried in Targoviste. I am not sure what happened to the rest of the body but they only seem to care about where his head was buried. The capital was moved from Targoviste to Bucharest and remained a monarchy until the end of World War II. Sometime during this period is when Vlad Tepes ruled as one of the regional leaders in Targoviste. His name Tepes means “stake” and because of his father being called Dracul, Vlad Tepes became known as Count Dracula. He lived upto his name by putting a stake through people. At the end of World War ii the Russians came in and installed a new ruler who was a communist. They took the wealth from the rich and gave it out. Despite everyone having a job and being able to have the essentials in life they could not handle the lack of freedom that existed under the communists. Eventually in 1989 the communist leader of Romania was killed in Targoviste.
The strange thing about the ruins was that the wall had been built up and then inside these walls a number of ruins had been uncovered and the buildings were being rebuilt. However, the tower was rebuilt but on top of the site where the church used to be. The church was being built somewhere else. So essentially they were building a series of new buildings to cover up the ruins.
Second, we went to visit an area in old Targoviste which has been re-done to create a shopping/restaurant area only open to pedestrians. I was actually very nice so we sat down to have a coffee. And then the rains came in. So we jumped into another café and had another coffee. I told Alex if we kept doing that we would be wired for church. It did stop and we returned to Puciosa for evening Church.
At church I started to get some of the emotions of this trip as I realized we only had one more day in Puciosa. This trip again has been a blessing to me and it is hard to think it almost done for another year. Niku had asked all of the VBS kids to bring their parents to the church for the service and had promised I would do fire eating (not inside during the service but afterwards outside. This was going to be the 3nd time for me to eat fire. In Varfur I did the fire eating and was rather challenged with the wind. I only singed one side of my beard. Then in Puciosa after the service I did the fire eating. At one point I push one of the burning rods on to my tongue which lights my tongue on fire so I can light the other rod. Unfortunately I did not have enough liquid on it and I had to push down very hard to have the flame burn on my tongue. It never is a good feeling when you take a fire and push it onto your tongue but I got through it.
Tonight Barbara and I and Russ and Tiffany went over to Solomon’s house and met his family. It is very strange to see a family over here all with strong Christian values and all getting along together . Solomon is one of 11 children of which one died at birth and the eldest died from leukemia 10 years ago. As Solomon talked about this brother who was about to die when Solomon asked him to teach him music, you could see the tears in his eyes. This was how Solomon got the passion for music but also the heart for Jesus. After eating, Solomon introduced his mother. With Solomon on the accordion and the mother either singing or playing the harmonica and the rest of the family singing, we were serenaded by them. Folks, I think we have found the Romanian equivalent of the Parkin family.
Philippians 3:13-14 – “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

2010-06-29T15:25:00.003-05:00

Day 7 – The Egypt Files Continue

Getting back to my room last night I checked for mosquitos and did see one but could not catch him or her but that was it. Feeling at ease I went to sleep and slept well. Apparently that mosquito ate well. It seems as though she (because only the female bites) walked up my right arm where I have 21 bites, she then jumped over to my left arm and got in 8 bites before she was either full or I woke up.
This morning we headed over to Varfur for VBS while the Puciosa and Fieni teams did their things. On Monday some of the team had headed over to Varfur to hand out flyers for VBS but we had no idea how many kids would turn up. How many kids would turn up ended up being the least of our problems. At first the vice-mayor wanted to put us in a derelict run down building. Now call me a sissy but I wasn’t going to step into a building that should have been condemned. The fact that the building was falling down was probably reason enough that it was derelict and for those who have seen Romanian construction know how solid their foundations are. Option 2 – we were going to be given a scythe to go and cut the grass in a field. I was starting to get the feeling the vice-mayor was looking for some cheap labor. Option 3 – at the end of the government building there was a patch of grass we could use. We didn’t have any electricity which wasn’t the end of the world but we didn’t have any furniture at all. Now the kids were able to find a dry spot on the pavement but we had do everything on the wet grass. Worse than that I was supposed to do my egg trick today. I thought for a few minutes how I could balance the glasses and eggs on Hunter’s back but I am not sure he would take the broom being whacked into his rear end. With some improvisation we found some construction concrete molds that looked like they were going to be used to build a drainage ditch. We had the bottom one just like it would be in the ditch and then the second was turned upside down and balanced on top. Next we had to do our best to even it out. I will come back to what happened.
By the time we had set up in Varfur we had 21 kids and 1 mum. This was a great turn out for only having one day of notice. It was also good to see some faces from the Church in Puciosa. The churches in Puciosa, Fieni and Magura are starting to grow their outreach. The one good thing of being outside was we could do some games where we could run around. We played a game called sticky tag which involves one person chasing another and then having the ability to switch places with someone else. Hunter did his best impression of a baseball slide on the wet grass and ended up on his back side. Then as he was chasing I tried to get him to take it easy on the little kids. Well they were a bit better than I thought and Hunter was running for about 5 minutes straight. At one point I heard him run past me saying “I can’t breathe”.
Back to the egg trick. I had set up everything as usual but noticed the pan the eggs were balanced on was not even. I tried to compensate but I was not sure how it would turn out. Well as you can see in the photo the eggs didn’t work exactly to plan but it’s still quite impressive how it ended up – two of the eggs were split but balanced on top of their glass.
Everyone met back up at church and had lunch. It seems as though Puciosa had the same number of kids and Fieni had grown to about 50. After lunch we all split up – some went to Fieni for some street evangelism, some stayed in Puciosa to help lay the concrete which was only 3 days late and my roving team headed back to finish VBS in Magura. Today we had over doubled to 10 kids which was great.
Tonight the church had once again arranged for us to go to dinner at someone’s house. We went to Daniella’s house who lived in Magura. We spent a while with Daniella as we ate and she shared about her husband and 2 sons all of which do not go to church. The stories we hear over here about people’s lives rally make me appreciate what I have but more importantly convict me to be a better husband and a better father.
Philippians 3: 7-9 - “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”

Day 6 - VBS begins

2010-06-28T17:10:00.002-05:00

Day 6 – No I didn’t skip Day 5

No I did not skip Day 5 – yesterday’s should have been Day 5 and so we are now back on schedule.
Last night we moved into the new hotel which was a huge blessing. We have sheets and blankets, the pillows do actually support, no rooster to wake me up, no train and no dying dog and the shower is fully functioning. We did get the dog battle outside but that brought back good memories of last year. The only issue we had was not really with what the room didn’t have but what it did have. All night I would be buzzed by a mosquito and it just never seemed to leave me alone. When I got up there was a mosquito on the wall by the door. So grabbing a paper pad I whacked that mosquito. The only two problems were that when I hit the mosquito it left a rather large blood spot on the newly painted bright yellow walls. Second, when I looked up I realized that it was not a mosquito that was buzzing me but about 30 or so spread out across the ceiling and walls. In the bathroom they had installed a small window to allow for the moisture to escape and they had left it open. That was the entrance way for all of the mosquitos. Re-arming myself with the note pad I systematically killed each of the mosquitos. Now as I sit in my room it looks as though we had slaughtered something in here because blood spots are all over the walls and ceiling.
One of the most important logistical aspects of the trip is the food and Chrissie and Daniella, Niku’s wife, along with Tiffany have been sweating over hot stoves to feed us. The food has always been delicious. Okay I hope that is enough praise because Chrissie said she wasn’t going to cook anymore until the cooks got a mention in the blog.
We are now over half way through our missions trip and today marked the first day of VBS. Both Puciosa and Fieni started at 10 a.m. and had about 40 kids come along. As usual there were the few kids who were there first thing in the morning but both got under way on time. The roving team otherwise known as the Brittoners, finalized preparations for the first half of their VBS program. Because we did not begin until 3 p.m. and this was the only day in which we could be at the two main VBS locations, I did a trick/object lesson for Puciosa and then headed off to Fieni to eat fire. Romanian gas still tastes disgusting.
The roving team’s VBS really had to be created from scratch and so the changes in locations and time create changes to the program. Sometimes when you get familiar with something and you are trying to think ahead of what is to come you can get your words all mixed up. I had Hunter and Savannah asking the kids who created the first “God” instead of “man” and Barbara told them to really get into the role they were playing i.e. when they entered the stage as monkeys they needed to make monkey noises “Oink, oink.” I think we laughed for about 5 minutes flat with these mistakes.
The VBS in Magura only had 4 kids but when the village only has 20 kids in total itvwasn’t too bad. The main observation about these kids was their appreciation. They sat and listened and when we did a craft they just sat down and did it. One of the crafts was to color in a piece of card which folded into a pyramid. Each kid sat down and did their best effort and after each marker pen they used they put the top back on and put it away. And this was without a single word from us. In most Sunday School classes the boys would have scribbled across the card so they could get up and play. And all of the kids would have just left the markers out mostly without the caps on. As my family debriefed we discussed this and felt as though there were two main reasons: 1. There is a high level of discipline sometimes instilled by the parents and always enforced by the Church; 2. These kids have very little and so when they get to use a marker pen, which kids in America take for granted, it is a special occasion for them. Also the responsibilities on these kids are so much greater than American kids. Emma, who is 16 and whom we had lunch with on Sunday, has to look after a sick grandmother during the summer while her Mum works. Cassandra, who was the girl we bumped into outside the grocery store, had been so excited about going to VBS but she did not turn up today. We later found out a little more about her life. She is not homeless but both parents sit at home and do not work but have their two kids beg for money so they can survive. Apparently Casandra had not “earned” enough begging money and had to make more. My heart breaks for these kids especially when I consider the blessings that youth in America have been given.
Big Alex invited us to his house for dinner this evening. For Hunter and I, it was great to see everything again and for Barbara and Savannah it was amazing for them to see how they grow all their own vegetables and fruit and also raise their own meat. Unfortunately Breakfast, the rabbit, lived up to his name not too long ago but lunch and dinner were still alive. The pig which Alex had last year has grown huge and he has only a few months left before he becomes the meat supply. At the end of the meal Alex’s , Mum came out to say goodbye having spent our whole visit there cooking food for us. She said a lot of things in Romania which I couldn’t understand, until she came to Hunter and then the only 2 English words came out “Bushy Bear”. We all died laughing.
Philippians 2: 14-15 - Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world
Our goal over here is to shine as light and bring the gospel to villages and people who would not hear otherwise. But when it says to “Do all things without grumbling or questioning” it is so convicting because I do not always do all things with a happy disposition. Tomorrow we get back on the VBS trail.

Church All Day

2010-06-27T16:00:00.003-05:00

Day 4 – Church All Day

The nights are getting shorter. I finished the blog at 1 a.m. which took me through the nightly dog fight. When I went to bed I realized that the hotel had actually changed the bed sheets but had only put one blanket in the bedroom which Hunter was using. I started to fall asleep but an hour or so later I started to freeze. Like a good father I went over to take the blanket off Hunter and realized he had both blankets. So I took mine and went to sleep. At 4:30 a.m. I woke up cold again because Hunter had kicked his blanket on the floor and taken mine. Now I couldn’t go back to sleep. And so I got up and packed my suitcase because we were moving hotels today. I then went to shower only to discover that when they cleaned the bathroom they completely broke the shower and so now all I had was a faucet about 2 feet off the ground. I must admit I thought about 5 minutes how easy it would be to get on my knees and take a shower that way. Realizing that the lack of sleep was blurring my logic I decided just to wait until I heard my wife or daughter taking a shower in the next room and then go in after that. Having spoken to Russ I am not sure it is much better at the new hotel. There the shower is just an attachment on the bath tub and there are no shower curtains. Russ did try sitting down in the bath tub to shower but had forgotten that everything in Romania is smaller and got kind of wedged in the bath tub.
Chrissie observed the Sabbath this morning and didn’t have breakfast for us and we ate at the old faithful Café Vienna. From here we split up into our three teams. The Parkin’s and the Hedner’s heading to Magura, The Canon’s, The Ayoubi’s and Stuart Holland heading to Fieni and The Britton’s, Emily, Damien and Katie stayed in Puciosa. There was kind of a plan about who was going to preach, who was going to give their testimony and who was going to sing. I think the preaching went on track but the singing and testimonies seemed to get added or changed on the fly.
After church we were invited to lunch at the Romanians’ homes. That too seemed to be a constantly changing plan but Damien joined the Britton’s to go to Emma’s house with her Mum (that is the Romanian spelling as well) and her cousin, Betty. Just like last year I am always blown away by the self-sufficiency and joy of the Romanian people. We had an absolutely delicious turkey soup which was made with all home grown ingredients (including the turkey). Then we had turkey, sausage, mashed potatoes and bell peppers in a special sauce. I think everything except the sausage was also homemade. It truly was delicious. As we got to know this family we met the grandmother who had had a stroke 13 years ago and had been bed-ridden since. Despite the mother working and Emma going to school they find a way to take care of the grandmother. I do think the highlight of the visit was the baby cat they had which found a way to climb up the table and into Hunter’s lap.
From here was back to Church for evening service which believe it or not was even more “on the fly” than the morning. Both Sue and Dani gave their testimonies. As much as we miss having last year’s team here it was probably very good we did not have Izzy here. When Dani started to cry during her testimony she would have never been able to finish if Izzy had been there with all the crying.
By the way at this point the Britton’s still did not have a hotel room for the rest of the stay. Some jockeying for position was beginning with Barbara staking her claim for the back seat of the van. Eventually we did get our rooms at a completely different hotel from everyone else. With us being the roving VBS team I am starting to get a complex about the obvious attempts to separate us from the group.
Before I go any longer let me give another example of flexibility. Way back in the planning stages the idea was for us to do 4days of VBS in both Puciosa and Fieni and then a roving team doing a day in Magura, a day in Vulcana Bai and a day in Varfur. Varfur was then dropped and instead it was only a day in Magura and Vulcana Bai. When we got Romania we were told it would different but no-one seemed to know what the plan was. Last night we had the first inkling of a final schedule and now we are pretty much back to the first plan. We do two half days in Magura and 2 half days in Varfur and a full extended day in Vulcana Bai. Now tomorrow morning the roving team has to redo their VBS plan to match the schedule.
After church it was the first real time when all the youth from Romania and all the youth from the US played volleyball. Barbara got an urge to relive her college days of playing volley ball and joined the US team. After going up 2 games to nothing and the dinner the Romanians finally won a game.
Philippians 4:6-7 - “ Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” In the midst of all of the “flexibility” it is always good to remember God is in control.
I apologize now for the short blog today but I have to get some sleep after the 3 ½ last night. Tomorrow we begin VBS.

The Hills Are Alive

2010-06-26T16:02:00.006-05:00

Day 4 – The Hills Are Alive

After getting back to the hotel last night I was able once again to show my mastery of language skills. We had just found out that our new hotel could give us 4 rooms a night earlier. When I got to the hotel/dance club I needed to go and let the four groups in the main hotel to pack so we could check out in the morning. I asked the first employee if he could let me know which rooms they were in but he had no clue what I was saying and then one after one the employees came out to talk to me. I first found out there were no Americans in the hotel. I assumed they didn’t understand versus they had kicked them out. Then I was told I couldn’t have a room because they were full. I now have a greater appreciation of Holly’s game of charades with them the night before. Well I think the end result was that I am the new DJ for the hotel and I start tomorrow. They were also impressed with my hand movements (i.e. charades) and want me to perform my break dance for the club as well. I think the worst part was actually going up to tell the team. I knocked on the Cannon’s door and they refused to answer the door (not hearing them clearly I later found out it was because they were not decent). While I stood at their door the Hedners, hearing the commotion outside and seeing the silhouette of a large man (glass in doors must distort the view and like a camera put 20 pounds on a person), got scared and Sue threw Lindsey to the floor to hide her. Finally order was restored when Stuart came out to check on things having mopped up his bathroom after another incident with the shower.
Last night was a more typical Romanian night. At about midnight the dog fight began. It only went for about 30 mins. Then at 4:30 a.m. the rooster started up. This was followed up by a train passing through and for whatever reason wanting to blow his whistle every 10 seconds. Needless to say my 4 hours of sleep set me up well for a long drive to Bran and Sinai. I think my sleep deprivation also affected my family. At 7:50 a.m. I ran into their bedrooms and told them they needed to be ready in 10 minutes for us to leave for breakfast. They all looked rather surprised but did a great job of being ready. I then checked my watch and realized it was only 6:50 a.m.
Today was a day to take the Romanian youth to two castles. The first in Bran which was the castle belonging to Count Dracula. The second was the royal palace in Sinaia. Russ prepped us for the trip by cooking pancakes which I don’t think the Romanians fully understand but do like. We then all jumped in the vans for the three-hour drive. About an hour into the drive one of the Romanian girls decided eating pancakes before a long drive wasn’t such a good idea and left them on the side of the road. Then about an hour later the internal bladder pressure had reached breaking point and we had to stop at a petrol station (gas station for the American readers). It was kind of interesting to see a quiet gas station suddenly get stormed by 33 people trampling over each other to get to the toilets. My wife won the race which I think was relative to the amount of internal pressure.
We finally made it to Bran castle which was fairly interesting but we didn’t see any dead bodies or heads or anything. Similar to a lot of us who may have lived in New York but never been to the Statue of Liberty or London and not visited the Tower of London or Houston and not visited … um … that famous place you would go to in Houston, several of the Romanians had never been to Bran Castle.
From there it was on to Sinaia. Half way back to Sinaia we pulled off the road to have sandwiches which Chrissie and Tiff had prepared for us. In the field next to us were a flock of sheep and a few dogs, supposedly sheep dogs. Well being the animal loving people we are, everyone started throwing their leftovers to the dogs. Suddenly pandemonium reigned as the shepherd tried to move the sheep along but now his dogs were more interested in free food and the sheep lost formation and were spreading out. No matter what he did he had lost control of his dogs. I think what brought back a sense of order was when Tiffany started throwing orange peel to the dogs. They were not interested and gave us that look that said “You’ve got to be kidding me”
Last year we had seen the outside of the castle in Sinaia but this year we had a tour inside. As we entered the castle we asked to put slippers over our shoes. When you have size 12 feet and are wearing hiking boots there aren’t many slippers that would fit. So I careful positioned a slipper over the tips of my boots making me look kind of like an elf but it had to be done. Then our tour guide took us around. I think there should be a rule that a tour guide needs to be over 5 foot tall. With a large group of people all I could make out was a voice coming from the midst of the crowd. I am not sure what he looked like.
Immediately after the castle visit we went down into Sinaia. On the way down we came across a Black Bear that Russ managed to wrestle to the ground and Katie stabbed to death with a pen. We took the bear to the restaurant where we had it hung on the wall and then decided to eat (see photos for proof). That's our story and we are sticking to it.
After a relaxing dinner we headed back to Puciosa and Stuart finally let Russ and I know that he had been racing us all day and that was why he was always in the lead following Alex who was in his car. Russ and I had just thought he really wanted to be first and so had let him go. Now if you are in a race it is usually good to let the other people know and now armed with the actual knowledge there was a race the gauntlet was down. On the way back home Stuart drove like a maniac to make sure he was in the lead. I then had to drop a Romanian youth off in Fieni and so fell to the back. Then Stuart had to drop someone off and both Russ and I passed him and he was in last place by a long way. Of course his van started making up rules as to why Russ and I were disqualified but again it usually is better to share rules with the other teams before the contest starts.
Well tonight most people have turned in for the night except for the bloggers and Damien who is getting some blogging tips for next year. Coffee and Papernosi (donuts covered with cream and a fruit sauce i.e. a sugar rush) are the key essentials for late night blogging. The tiredness is setting in even with our fearless leader. Russ is now falling up stairs in restaurants and has changed my family’s name to the Brittoners. Tomorrow is Church day – a long day in which you spend a lot of time having no clue what Niku is saying.
Philippians 2:4-7 - Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant.
I am constantly reminded here that my life is not for me but for Christ and if Jesus can come and take on the form of a servant how much more I should be able to serve others.
Until tomorrow night.

P.S. We received a message from Nate to post more pictures. I can only give you 5 per blog but my real answer is "next year buy a ticket" :-)

Fieni Visited and The Big Clean Up

2010-06-25T13:46:00.005-05:00

Day 3 – Fieni Visited The Big Clean Up

As I got up this morning I realized I may sound as though I am constantly complaining but it is just that I try to see the light side of life and with my mind almost everything is funny. For instance, last night I was looking at all the bad things that could ruin my sleep - the mattress that is so firm it doubles up as a ping pong table; the pillow that is so fluffy that I had to roll it up to give some cushion to my head; the rooster that lives right behind our hut; the dying dog (or so it seems). And so when I woke up I realized that the mattress and pillow had not been an issue; the rooster crowing at 6:40 a.m. was actually a blessing because I had turned my alarm off and fallen back to sleep; and the dog did not make a sound. So feeling much better I jumped in the shower and the fun started again. The soap bars were so old they just disintegrated when you opened them. The shower was a stand up shower with a broken faucet so you had to hold the shower, the protection was a curtain that you had to put inside the shower “dish” (not quite sure what you call the thing you stand in), and so when the water is on the curtain blocks the plug. It really makes for an interesting shower.
As I walked up to the van I realized that my night had been absolute bliss as compared to the group sleeping in the main building. Starting about 10:30 p.m. the hotel had become a dance club. But luckily for them the noise only went on until about 3 a.m. Holly took it upon herself to go down and share the gospel at about 2:30 a.m. – well actually she walked downstairs to ask them to turn the music down. I can only imagine the bemused look on their faces as a teenager walks in and tells them to turn the music down because she wants to sleep and worse still she has to do it by playing charades because they didn’t understand English.
At breakfast this morning Russ created a Romanian Oreo - Nutella (a kind of chocolate peanut butter) in between two pieces of breakfast sausage - hey don't knock it until you try it which is why I will never knock it. After the morning ritual of devotion and breakfast we headed over to Fieni. For those that have been there you would be amazed at how much work Florin and Marian have done to the church. There is now a third floor and stairs up to the second floor. If there is any discussion as to whether there is a need for a construction team, discuss no more. There is so much we could help with.
From here we decided to work up a sweat by clearing the land at the church at Puciosa. They too have been hard at work and they now have the shell of a new building. As we cleared the land the neighbour, who is about 70 years old, decided to pick cherries except for the fact that his way of picking cherries was to cut the whole branch off. I tried to explain that you can just pick the cherry off by itself and then the branch can produce more cherries. But he would have any part of it. I tell you these old-timers are all about instant gratification. Part of our work today was to prepare the porch for the cement. This involved evening out all of the junk in the frame and then laying rebar on top so that the cement could be poured. Yesterday Damien had asked why he had not been in the blog. Since then he has made it a mission to be included. As he was carrying the rebar over to the porch he cut himself on one of the edges. After realizing that it was rusty metal and a few people joking about needing a Tetanus shot and my telling him that I would make sure he got back to the hotel room if he passed out, he decided to pay a visit to the local hospital. We may now have our Don Owens understudy. Luckily all was okay and no shot was needed. Just to make sure we do not have any more Don Owens incidents we have banned Damien from even thinking about driving over here but the extent Damien will go to, to get in the blog, is ridiculous.
If that wasn’t enough Damien is becoming the local target of photographers. As he and I were leaving a restaurant a teenager stopped and asked for a photo with him. Now obviously I thought they wanted me in the photo as well but the gentle shove away cleared that misunderstanding up. I think he may be okay now except for the fact that I told them he was Kobe Bryant.
On Friday night there was an outreach to the local youth for the church in Puciosa. In typical Romanian fashion the evening was very flexible. A few songs by the Romanians, an introduction of the team by Russ, a gospel presentation by Stuart and then Emily and Damien (third time he has been mentioned in the blog – is that enough??) gave their testimonies. And then Niku gave Sue the guitar to lead us in songs. Only problem was that when he played the guitar he had broken one of the strings. So in front of a large group Sue played a 5-string guitar while we sang. Then Niku advised that he had forgotten to order the pizza and so we had find things to do to keep the youth entertained. I personally liked the challenge of trying to play a guitar with 5 strings and so I got Sue to play another song.
We have just finished up our winding down time where we share some of our memories from this trip and from other trips. It seems as though Stuart has the same shower problem as me however he hasn’t quite figured out all of the ins and outs of managing the shower. He decided to try and balance the shower head on the tap while he shampooed his hair. The shower subsequently fell out of the shower and was spraying the bathroom while he happily worked up a strong lather.
Philippians 1:29 – “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.”
This was a verse from our devotion this morning (that our leader didn’t do last year) that I think Damien (fourth time today) took a little too seriously.
God bless you all. Tomorrow we head to the mountains.

Day 2 – From Bucharest to Puciosa

2010-06-24T15:00:00.004-05:00

Day 2 – From Bucharest to Puciosa

Aaah – the joys of jet lag. Now admittedly I don’t sleep a lot back at home but waking up at 3 a.m. local time raring to go is not the ideal start to a day. Not sure whether it was the large fluffy pillow (photo included and yes, that is my iPhone next to it not an iPad) or the fact that Hunter’s and my room was literally 2 meters from the front desk and I could hear everything that happened in the lobby or the background thumping of dance music that punctuated the air until about 3:30 a.m. that gave me a relaxing night but by tonight I should be falling on my face as I try to post the blog. But I am thankful for the additional quiet time which allowed me to work on the devotions for the trip as well as my potential sermon for Sunday.
This year we have taken a more spiritual approach than last year’s leader and are doing a devotional every day and following a wonderful buffet breakfast we spent about 30 mins looking at the start of Philippians. This was also when I found out that Savannah had also left her bible in the US. Next time I need to explain that packing light doesn’t mean just bring clothes and an iTouch. After this it was a quick check out and on the road to Puciosa. Following our somewhat troubled directions from the airport to the hotel we put Stuart in charge of getting us to Puciosa. We only had one major problem getting out of Bucharest which was Stuart making a left turn from the right lane which both Russ and I had to follow. I am not sure the man Russ almost had to run off the road was too happy and it was probably one of those times we were glad we didn’t speak Romanian.
Getting to Targovista was easy but then trying to find the Romanian version of Walmart there was another story. We did an obstacle course in the vans through a parking lot with a very low hanging tree. We again asked directions from a taxi driver who made it about as clear as mud where to go. Finally we found a Penny Max XXL which was in fact a grocery store but never the clothes store. We actually found out that the clothes store was right across the road but I think we had faced enough shopping for one day (at least from a man’s point of view).
Arriving in Puciosa was great. We were met by Chrissie, Tiff, Solomon, Oana and Daniella. It was amazing how quickly we had the old relationships rekindled. This year we have a different hotel to start out in. The rooms are nice but I have a feeling tomorrow morning will be different. Right behind our “hut” there is a field of chickens and a rooster. Next door is a large apartment block where there is a dog that sounds like it is dying and then somewhere in our wall or roof there is a bird that might as well be in our room it chirps so loud. We shall see how sleep goes.

The photo of Savannah is for Izzy – please meet Oscar our newly found puppy.
Our activities for the rest of the day were lunch, exchanging money, volleyball, a devotional, singing, more volleyball, dinner, a debrief and the traditional wind down in a local restaurant. When we got to the restaurant they kindly set up a large table for us and then cranked up the dance music for us. Kind of took away from our time to talk but we did get them to turn it off despite Holly trying to break out a few moves.
So if you are wondering what kind of things we do and what kind of impact is made let me share two stories. In Puciosa they are building a new building for classrooms. Russ went out today to buy tools so that we can help lay concrete on Saturday. Not only will they get a concrete porch that could be built out as a new room but they get new tools. Second, Chrissie, Tiff and I went down to buy some groceries as we entered a child was outside who we are not sure is homeless but came to the VBS last year. She actually is dressed as a boy, we think to help protect her. Anyway when we recognized her, her face lit up. She grabbed for her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper on which were the details about the VBS this year. She treasured that paper because that was her ticket to come to VBS. She hugged us incessantly and asked me whether I was going to eat fire. It is truly a blessing to see these kids with a smile on their faces.
Okay to finish up let me make just one more observation. The grocery has a nice variety of food and household liquids but you can also get a moped, a TV and a chainsaw. I am not sure about the floor management but some sales rep has done a wonderful job persuading the store that a chainsaw next to the meat section makes complete sense.
“And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:9-11.

Day One and a Half - The Journey There

2010-06-23T04:21:00.004-05:00

Day 1 and ½ – The Journey There
We’re off. Sixteen of the 18-person team jumped on a flight from Houston to London Heathrow. Chrissie and Tiff were the advance recon team who had left on Sunday and had already arrived safely in Romania. The first part of the trip seems to have had no major mishaps except for the Ayoubi’s turning up to the airport late, the driver from the Parking Spot giving me a tour of the airport grounds because he forgot which terminal I was going to and my daughter forgetting to bring any, yes any, toiletries. I am not sure how she will smell or look at the end of the 10 days but I’ll try to get most of her pictures in early on in the trip while people will still stand next to her.
Just like last year all but one of the team is suffering for the cause crunched up in World Traveller class (i.e. coach) for the 8 ½ hour flight. Stuart once again is in business class. Mind you it’s not all luxury up there. If he drops his pen and it rolls under the seat in front of him he has to unbuckle and get up and walk to pick it up. All I have to do is contort my head and neck down towards my knees which subsequently blocks my view of the floor. Then, in sweeping motions across the floor (which I’ am sure is very clean) reach out my hand until it bumps into the pen, but I don’t have to get up or even unbuckle.
As much as I travel I still never get used to the oddities of being locked up with a couple of hundred people in a container that feels like it should only have 30 people in it. There was the baby crying incessantly but it did eventually stop. Then there was the man watching the movie who seemed to have forgotten he had headphones on and was laughing out overly loudly. The one saving grace was that he drowned out the crying baby. Finally, because of the lack of space it is hard to do much. My eyesight is getting worse nowadays and it seemed too hard to get my bible far enough away from my eyes so I could read my Bible. Using the PC was an even greater challenge as it has to rest somewhat on the table, somewhat on my belly and with the screen tilted at an awkward angle so that the seat in front doesn’t break the screen. Somehow I don’t think Stuart had the same issue. Mind you because he was lying down flat I don’t think he used a PC. Luckily for me my in-flight entertainment system was broken so I couldn’t even watch a movie to pass the time. Sleep was the answer if I could just get my knees unwedged from the seat in front.
We arrived in Heathrow on time and went through the connecting security check. Well that was after I had lost my boarding pass and had to queue up to get a re-print. With typical British efficiency they directed me to a counter which had no-one behind it. I went back out to inform the lady that no-one was there. Her response “There should be.”
Well thank you for that help. As more and more people came along for their boarding passes they all asked me whether there was anyone at the desk. Being first in line I passed on the message “There should be”. I finally decided it would be quicker to empty my bag and find the original boarding pass which is what I did.
We all made it through for our flight to Bucharest and in the terminal we bumped into Sorin’s new wife, Trisha, who was on our flight. Actually she recognized us, not sure how she did except for 16 people in red shirts. I think most people from our team slept on this flight and once again the flight was on time.
We finally arrived in Romania 16 hours after leaving the US and now our final travel was a short drive to our hotel in Bucharest. This year we have rented three vans which are actually very nice. However, the directions were a little more challenging but after 3 stops and asking directions twice we made it to the hotel. The first guy who gave us directions was telling us to go right and right and for a while I was able to follow him but then when he started to use his hands as well as give the direction and I realized he didn’t know his right from his left. Somehow we made it a little closer to the hotel. The second guy was French and I am convinced he purposely gave us the wrong directions which took us down a dead end. As I told my van load of people “Never trust a French person!”
The hotel in Bucharest is the same one as last year and is very nice. In fact Dani is in the same room as last year which she shared with Izzy (who isn’t here this year). Just like last year we had dinner at the hotel – it was the restaurant with “crap” on the menu which I think is either carp or is in fact a fish called crap. Everyone enjoyed the food except for Hannah who ordered a mushroom soup that was really orange soup with mushrooms in it. Then she saw our Caprese Salad – tomatoes with mozzarella cheese - and ordered that but got tomatoes with shredded cheese on top. After that she found it easier to eat from her Mom’s plate. To finish up we had our first Papanosh and it did not disappoint.
If you followed last year you will have seen dogs being a regular topic on the blog and it has started all ready. Savannah found a dog who found some attraction to her, maybe because of that “no toiletries” issue, and it followed her around. I think we have our new Izzy (who isn’t here this year).
Well the fatigue is setting in. Time to shut down.
Isaiah 6:8 – And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me.” As we begin our Missions we pray that God will remove the uncleanliness from our lips so that all we say will bring glory to him.

Romania 2010 - Pre-trip

2010-06-02T15:06:00.004-05:00

Departure Day minus 2

Well it has almost been a year since I was last blogging and now with another Romanian missions trip only 2 days away, it is time to start getting back into the blogging frame of mind. This year a group of 18 people will make the trip to Puciosa. Of that group 8 are returning members but 10 are first-time Romanian missionaries including my wife and daughter.

Last year the travel to Romania was relatively uneventful except for the Swine Flu epidemic that had us scrambling in Romania to fill out documents to say we did not have swine flu. At first they didn't have English versions which may have proven to be a little difficult to complete accurately but finally they did produce some English versions. It always amazes me how trusting Security can be at times. How many people who thought they might be sick would actually tell Immigration knowing full well they would end up in quarantine or sent back home? This year we currently have two obstacles in our path already - Volcanic Ash and a British Airways Cabin Crew Strike. Personally it might be better if some of the grumpy older BA Flight Attendants didn't make the trip with us.

The biggest dilemma I have this year is my name. Last year being George Bush seemed to work. I know I don't want to be Barrack Obama because it needs to be someone who has at least a semblance of being Christian and so I may just stay with the name they all know me by. Also with my wife going she wouldn't even have to change her name - George and Barbara Bush.

My last few days before leaving will be spent deep in fasting and prayer as soon as I get through announcing for the Divisional swim meet, teaching at church on Sunday, finishing a project deliverable for work and packing. I'm kind of looking forward to a 10 flight so I can sleep.

Well as I sit here in my dark bedroom typing this blog by the light of the screen just as I did most nights last year in Romania, I thank God for the privilege of being part of this missions trip and cannot wait to see our friends in Puciosa and Fieni. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel again to Romania.

God bless.

Romania 2009: The Final Day

2009-07-05T08:08:00.002-05:00

After an evening spent with the family, Hunter and I crashed out and got up fairly early so we could do a little shopping before leaving. Didn’t find what I was looking for and so we decided to have a traditional English breakfast of a sausage, egg and cheese McMuffin, hashbrown and OJ followed by a Starbucks Frapuccino.
Heathrow terminal 5 is actually really nice as airports go and we had no incident getting through all of the formalities before boarding our plane. I decided to still wear my Houston Dynamo shirt to travel in and not one person asked me if I played for them. Maybe it wasn't the shirt and my athletic physique that made people think we were the team but the fact that there was a group of us wearing the shirts. I’m going to stick with my original premise until proven otherwise. As we boarded I tried to convince the flight attendants that there was a mistake on my ticket and instead of row 37 it should have been row 3 or 7. No-one seemed to buy it.
We arrived early into Houston and had no real wait at immigration or customs and on the other side were the beaming faces of my wife and daughter. It was good to be home.
As I end out this series I wanted to share some final thoughts. First, I hope in some way you got to share in the amazing experience we had in Romania through this blog and through the photos. Second, missions work is something, I believe, every Christian needs to be involved in. It may not be travelling overseas but there are so many people who are in need not just physically and materially but most importantly spiritually. There are a lot of groups who do great works to help meet the material needs of those less fortunate but at the same time are leading people down a spiritual path that will not lead them to eternal life in heaven but an eternity separated from God.
Third, with a group of 27 people travelling together, thousands of miles away, to a country that doesn’t speak much English, there were so many things that could have gone wrong – travel delays or lost baggage, sickness or health issues, weather problems, personal disputes – but essentially the trip went off without any major issue. All of that is not luck but the power of prayer and a God that blessed this trip.
Fourth, in Romania there are a number of challenges that Christian (biblical) churches face and for the youth the pressures are even greater. Romania is developing and money is coming into the country but at the same time a lot of the worldly influences are coming in which are trying to suck the youth away from their faith. Not only are they under attack from the influences of the world but even the Orthodox churches are not shy in their condemnation of anything non-Orthodox. The majority of the elderly people go to an Orthodox church if they go to church at all and the public dislike for bible-based churches is very evident.
Fifth, I have never met any of these people before as it was the majority of our group but it was almost instantaneous that two groups separated by a language (America and England are separated by the same language J) had a unbreakable bond through the love of Christ as Christians. In the first few moments together on a coach they were singing songs together.
Finally, never take the blessings you have for granted. No matter what you are going through now for a time, there is someone else who is going through a tougher situation. The answer to many of our issues is not a focus on our own problems but a serving of others and a seeking for the Kingdom of God.
Until next year – May God bless you, and keep you and may His face shine upon you.2 Corinthians 2: 1-9 – “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him."

Romania 2009: Day 10

2009-07-03T18:13:00.002-05:00

The journey home. As always the travel day brings a mix of emotions; the sadness of leaving a country and friends that have been a part of your life for a short time; the excitement of returning home to see family; the anxiousness of having to spend several hours in airports trying to check in, get through immigration and customs; the rush of finishing the packing; the knowledge that you will be spending several hours on a plane in a space big enough for a four foot tall, 120 pound person; “where did I put the passports?”; “why did we have to get the earliest flight out meaning we have to get up at 4 a.m.?”
Before you know it you are in the midst of that whirlwind and when you have a group of 27 people travelling it is more like a tornado. I guess one of the advantages of wearing the bright orange Houston Dynamo shirts is that the glow keeps you awake as you fight off the lack of sleep. That is for everyone except Holly who “accidentally” misplaced her orange shirt.
Check in and security went without issue except for the Romanian who cut the line in front of me. I wasn’t go to question it but a few people in our group were willing to question him. In the end he was lucky it was a group of Christians travelling together as a group wearing football shirts and not a group of English football fans wearing Christian shirts. Everything in Romania has been very reasonably priced but suddenly in the airport the prices seem to quadruple but both Hunter and I were too thirsty to wait. We were bused over to the plane and I entered first with Hunter about 5 people behind me. We had to show the boarding pass as we entered the plane and I had both. Being the good father I am, I let the flight attendant know I was travelling with my son who was wearing a white hat, had curly hair and the same color shirt as me, and most importantly she could have as much fun with him as she wanted letting him know he could not board without his boarding pass. As I proceeded down the plane I heard the shout from Hunter, “Dad” which I, of course, ignored. When I looked back Hunter was looking at me with that “I know you stitched me up, Dad” look.
We arrived in England and pretty quickly got through immigration and had our bags waiting for us. My Dad picked us up and we had a short car ride back to Beaconsfield. The town continues to change little by little but it is still the same Beaconsfield I grew up in. As always the first port of call in England was the Fish & Chip shop and after 3 years away it was worth the wait. Both Hunter and I polished off a large portion of chips and fish. There really is nothing served anywhere else that rivals the English Fish & Chips.
In the afternoon we decided to relax and watch Wimbledon. I think I saw the start of both matches and the ends but not much in between. I think both Hunter and I were snoozing for a while. In the evening we surprised the rest of the family at dinner. My Dad had organized a meal but did not tell anyone we would be there. As they all sat down at the dinner table I don’t think anyone was surprised as Hunter and I walked in wearing chef’s outfits except for my Mum. The part that always amazes me is how fast we settle into a conversation together and it feels like we have never been away. It is good to see that we all still have the same sense of humour and the same practical joke nature. All in all we had a great time. The most humorous part of the meal was at the end when the bill came. My Dad was going to pick up the tab and Mark, Guy and I all grabbed for our wallets to help pay for the meal. My Mum grabbed for her pen so that my Dad could sign the receipt.
Again I am not sure how the day will be but my final blog might not make until Sunday.

Romania 2009: Day 9

2009-07-02T14:19:00.006-05:00

Well here it is! Our last day in Pucioasa. The first order of the day was to finish packing and move the bags out of the rooms and into one room. It is amazing how fast you can fill up a room with just luggage but I guess with 27 people and then the extra luggage for VBS and food it doesn’t take long to add up. After this it was time to head over for the last day of VBS. Again both VBS’s had great turn outs – over 60 in Pucioasa and 46 in Fieni. The sweet part of this VBS was at the end when all the kids were leaving. For some you could tell they had had a great time and they wanted to hug everyone. Just to look on their faces was all the reward we could ever ask for. Our prayer is that in some way the last four days gave them a desire for Jesus and a desire for God’s word.
Everyone was starting to come to grips with the fact that very soon the really hard goodbyes would start. The adults we fellowshipped with: Nicu and Daniella, Florin and Mariana, Marian and Simona, Sorin, Danny, Alex, Avi, Didi, Iuliana, Dani, Jenny, Anna, Iulika, Sorin (the vet). The youth who we spent so much time with from the retreat in Sinaia to all the time in Pucioasa and Fieni: Raluka, Oana, Elizabeth, Anda, Emma, Laura, David, Filip, Little Alex (who is now Alex the tall), Solomon, Alina, Magda. As the goodbyes started so did the tears. Even Hunter was in tears (I think that’s Barbara’s genes). One piece of joy that Harvest Bible Church can share in is that we were able to buy one family a washing machine. The wife and children are in a very difficult situation with the father/husband and the mother is working two jobs to try and make ends meet and at the same time trying to keep a family together with very few resources.
As we drove back to Bucharest (on an extremely hot coach) I looked back on our time in Pucioasa but I also looked ahead to the hope that someday I would be able to return. In Bucharest it was a time to relax down and have one more meal together at the Hard Rock Café.
A couple of quick stories that came to mind that I had not shared. When in Romania do not order a Pepperoni pizza unless you like Jalapenos. Pepperoni sounds like the word for jalapeno and JP was a little surprised when his pizza turned up with no meat but just jalapenos. At some point we need to hold a burping contest between Don and DJ who seemed to be able to burp at will. The third contestant would have to be Isabelle who is not a frequent burper but has the volume to be a true contender.
This will be a little shorter than other days but given the need to get up at 4 a.m. local time I need to turn in early. Not sure what tomorrow will allow me to do on the blog front but I will update if I can.

Acts 21:6 – “When we had taken our leave of one another, we boarded the ship, and they returned home.”

Romania 2009: Day 8

2009-07-01T17:02:00.004-05:00

Well today was an interesting day. On the way over to the church Alanah shared with us that Jesse had had quite a lively night. Apparently half way through the night Jesse sat up in bed from a dead sleep, started a running motion sitting down on the edge of the bed. When Alanah asked if Jesse was okay Jesse said yes but then asked where the “Machina” was, not the machine but the “machina”. Jese then got up and went to the bathroom but she remembers nothing about it. We have now gone from Hunter to Jesse with the talking in the sleep but Jesse was definitely more active. I headed over to the church for breakfast and sat and read the newspaper as always. After breakfast we went to Fieni for VBS. For the games and the tricks (i.e. me) we went to a small playground area. I did one balloon trick for them and then they played a game with the 40 kids who turned up. During the game the local police came over to ask if we had a permit for having the kids in a group outside?! Not sure about this one - a permit to have the kids play a game outside as a group. Apparently there is still a lot of hold over from the communist days. Also the Orthodox Church has a lot of influence and so the police I think were just creating a presence.
As the game wrapped up and the police were walking off the kids sat on a wall and started shouting for “George Bush, George Bush”. I was waiting for the police to come back over to see why George Bush was in Fieni. All week the kids had been waiting for me to eat fire and today was the day. I really don’t mind doing the fire eating but there is still something weird about putting car gas in your mouth. Well today I had a little problem in that when I pushed the burning stick onto my tongue to light my tongue on fire, the liquid ran down my face. In about 2 seconds flat I had the fastest beard trim I had ever had as the front of my beard caught fire. Luckily no serious damage was done. One more time to do this before we leave.
During VBS Mark played the part of Goldilocks a part he played very well I might say. So from a butterfly last year to Goldilocks this year. I don’t even want to guest what he will be next year. After VBS in Fieni we went back to Pucioasa where they had had 70 kids. Again both teams had a great time working with these kids. Tomorrow is our last day.
Almost as soon as we were back a small group of us went to the Crisis Center where a group of orphaned young adults spend their days. Some of the people also struggle with a mental disorder and I think these are the ones that live at the center. One of the men there, obviously taking me for the linguist in the group, started to explain to me in Romanian about something with the building. I wasn’t sure what I agreed to do (“Da” being the standard response) but I think it entailed painting and fixing up a dilapidated 2 storey building. Hopefully he was satisfied with the balloon animal I gave him instead. At the end of the visit the team loaded up in the van and voted to leave me there. Apparently they felt I would fit in better.
After a trip to the Crisis Center we were invited to lunch in different houses again. This time Hunter and I split up and he went with a group of youths to Sister Avi’s house. I joined the Holland’s at Niku and Daniella’s house. It was interesting to hear from him about some of the challenges he faces as a Pastor in Romania. Each time you sit down with the Romanian people you learn more about them and how they came to Christ and how they live there life. To live outside of the hotel environment could definitely be a challenge for someone used to American standards but as a whole there is nothing that is not bearable.
In Pucioasa Church is on Wednesday night like 99.99% of Churches in America (Harvest being the 0.01%) and it is about 2 hours long. We did get some English bits but at times it was completely in Romanian. In Church “Da” is not really appropriate but “Amen” (pronounced Amin) seems to work as well.
Tonight being the last night in Pucioasa the tears were flowing and my guess is that tomorrow will not be much better. A fire was built for Samores and a few were made before a massive storm blew in. At that point everyone retired to Vienna, the restaurant on the street level of our hotel building. I have a feeling that restaurant is going to go into withdrawal tomorrow night after 4 or 5 straight nights of a large crowd sitting there for a few hours.
Just some random thoughts for the last night – the food has been good but I do miss the moist, chicken breasts and cinnamon apples. The crevice between living in America and Romania is not as wide as I thought.
1 Thessalonians 2:8 – “So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.”

Romania: Day 7

2009-06-30T13:53:00.003-05:00

I have decided that tonight I will write the blog a little earlier. For the last two nights I finished the blog at 1:30 a.m. (ish) and after a long day of VBS, building, ministry in the park, dinner, basketball and volleyball and then a late night, I think I need to get a little more sleep. Today I stayed in Pucioasa while the other team went off to Fieni. The builders left earlier in the morning to get a head start on their project. Pucioasa had about 64 kids today which is at the point where we have to start changing things up because we don’t have enough crafts. We omitted the games and instead I did about 30 minutes of tricks for them. As always I have a Christian message behind the trick and for one of them I tell the story of Jonah. When I asked them if they could tell me about Jonah there was not one kid who could tell me anything. It struck me how little bible teaching is done outside of the few bible churches. Another interesting issue was when we did the crafts we asked them to write their name on the craft and there were a few kids who were old enough to do so but could not. (By the way – we have a new guard dog at Pucioasa. See the photo – his name is “Noa” which means 9 but sounds just like the biblical Noah).
After VBS in Pucioasa we headed over to Fieni. They had had 39 kids and had an equally good day. On the first day Dani started the crying during the opening prayer followed quickly by Isabelle. Apparently today they made it through the opening prayer but some time later it was Kathy Murdoch who started the crying followed by Dani followed by Isabelle. If we get Kelli, Sarah and Chrissie in that crowd as well we might have to start building an ark not a building.
When we got to Pucioasa the builders had finished both side walls and were working on the first end wall. If you ever want to believe in the power of prayer know that all afternoon it threatened to rain but it held off until evening which was long enough for a lot to get done. I will be back over in Fieni tomorrow morning and am excited to see how well it has all gone.
After we arrived in Fieni we broke into teams and went out to do some street ministry, handing out books and trying to share the gospel via the Way of the Master approach. In a country where Orthodox is the main Church it is interesting to see how many different views there are out there. A lot of the old people refuse to talk or take a book but see anything but their church as a heresy. For the middle aged adults a lot have rejected the church or believe that it is all about what they have done that determines whether they go to heaven or hell. One man we spoke to knew he was a sinner but as long as he had confessed his sin he was still going to heaven. Nate tried to explain about the difference between confession and repentance but I am not sure he really got it. For a real challenge we approached a group of “men’s men” outside a men’s social club. At the start it was all jokes about how bad they were and how stupid they were. One man started out admitting he was going to hell and said it didn’t really bother him because he didn’t know what hell was really like. As we tagged team back and forth to bring some recognition to the fact that hell was not a place you really wanted to go and that if they wanted there was a way to be forgiven (it was not too late), and that we wanted to share this gospel with them out of love because we were just like them, there were a few men whose facial expressions changed and I pray that tonight as they are away from the other men they think more deeply about what was shared. Overall it was a pretty cool experience.
For dinner we were invited to different people’s houses and Hunter and I headed to big Alex’s house where we met his elder brother, his younger sister, his dad and his mum. His mum cooked up a wonderful meal although I think the cheese ball (corn bread (kind of) stuffed with cheese made from sheep’s milk) was a little too much for Hunter but he did a good job of eating about a third of it before passing. Alex is a wonderful human being who is finishing up seminary and teaches at a church in a nearby town. He wanted to share so much with us about his family, his travels and his coin collection and we shared with our stories. Somehow his whole family had a hard time believing I was 35 years old and that I was a brain surgeon but caught on pretty quick that I like to kid around. Amazingly his mum caught on pretty quick and gave it back to me just as fast. The hospitality of these people is truly amazing. They grow most of their own produce and we got to walk through and see all of the food growing. Alex also has a collection of chickens, rabbits, a pig and a dog. When we first went through his garden Nate, Sarah and Isabelle were with us and the question was asked why he has rabbits and a pig and the answer was “to eat”. We decided to name the rabbits for him and the best we could come up with was “Breakfast”, “Lunch” and “Dinner”. Before we left Alex’s mum gave us a hand-made wooden fork and spoon.
Today was a break through for me as I had two people comment on how good my Romanian was and I continue to add phrases such as “How are you?” to my repertoire. I have found this to be important because it is hard to have a conversation when you only know the numbers. My constant saying of “Da” during conversations seems to be paying off especially with the kids. I am not quite sure what I am agreeing to but they always seemed to be happy with my answer. If a few of the kids turn up at VBS with their bags packed ready to go home with me I might have to do some back tracking. The only slip up so far was at Alex’s house when I wanted to say the name of a fruit we ate and unfortunately by pronunciation was off a little and apparently I said “I go to the toilet” (number 2) in their colloquial language. I did note that down as a fruit not to order at a restaurant in case I get it wrong again. It was said before we came that trying to speak in their own language will make a difference and it definitely does create a closer bond with the Romanians.
Tomorrow is my next venture into fire eating at the VBS in Fieni. Hopefully it will be as painless as the first time I did it. Have a great rest of your day and I will be back tomorrow.
Hebrews 13: 15-16 – “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”

Romania 2009: Night of Day 6 (supplemental)

2009-06-29T23:41:00.003-05:00

Apparently Monday night in Pucioasa is "dog wars night". I have never heard such a racket in all my life. You could actually hear dogs chasing each other and there was at least one fight. It all makes for a good night's rest before another busy day!! Waking up this morning it is partly cloudy so please keep praying for a dry day.

Romania 2009: Day 6

2009-06-29T16:30:00.003-05:00

I have to make another round of apologies. Apparently Nate is not 40, nor is he 36 but in fact 31. Also I received a comment on the blog from Tiffany Parkins to let me know that Russ is not 40 either. So if you really want a great reason to come on next year’s trip you seem to get younger and younger as the trip goes along. All I know is that Stuart and I are definitely over 40. If I have gotten anyone else’s age wrong I apologize now. (By the way – my wife is older than me).
Over the last couple of days I have also noticed some stray cats. There are definitely not as many as there are dogs and with the number of dogs I am not surprised. Now the cats aren’t as smart as the dogs and don’t come over to you with those big puppy eyes that seem to say “please give me something to eat” but run away from you. As such the cats don’t have people like Isabelle who make sure that there is not a scrap of meat left at the table after a meal so that she can literally take a doggy bag to them. By the way the dogs are much fatter than the cats. We have also had the debate whether Romanian dogs actually understand Americans but Kelli definitely seems to have Romanian puppy language down.
The cultural site of the day behind another cow being taken for a walk was from this morning. As I walked over to VBS an old car pulled up in front of me which had an elderly couple in it, probably somewhere in their 70’s. The man was driving and had pulled up to let his wife out. When she opened the door the music from their radio was fairly loud and some pretty hardcore techno dance music was being played. Either this couple were the coolest 70 year olds around or they had not figured out how to change the channel on their radio.
Today VBS began in Pucioasa and Fieni and the building project began in Fieni. I went to Fieni where we had 34 kids, 15 of whom typically did stuff with the church but the others were new. I was amazed at how fast they all got involved especially with the singing. After some lessons from the bible, some games and a craft the kids went back home and really seemed to have a great time. I did a few tricks for them and set the stage for me to eat fire on Wednesday. It is amazing how many kids think they know the answer to the trick but they rarely do. The cool thing is that every trick I do has some Christian message to it and it seems to keep them entertained while learning something from the bible.
Back when we first introduced ourselves to the churches here I introduced myself as George Bush (well he does have the same initials as me). Ever since then I have been called George Bush. Luckily it does not seem that he had such a bad name down here so I can get away with it. I have also tried David Beckham but I guess he just isn’t as believable and so it looks like it will be George Bush for now.
In Pucioasa they had 54 kids and from what I have heard it went down just as well as Fieni did. I did come back over to hear about some story of how Jessie Matthews had been caught on tap slapping Hunter on the face knocking him over. My guess is by the end of the week the size of these groups will have grown. After VBS we had lunch and a short break before we headed over to the park for an evangelism outreach. We had decided that I could start to draw a crowd by making balloon animals while some of the others handed at tracks and spoke to some of the adults and teenagers. I do not know what happened but within seconds it was like ants to sugar but I had people blowing up balloons while I made the animals (thankfully most of the kids wanted a sword which is the easiest thing to make). With the youths helping in blowing up balloons and Hunter as my back up sword maker I think we probably made about 100 balloon animals. As I soon as I stopped they all seemed to disappear. Any way tomorrow we will try to do something similar in Fieni if we can get past the local government restrictions.
After the outreach I went over with Nate to the building project. It was amazing how fast the wall was completed once I turned up. These guys are working under some pretty tough conditions – the original walls aren’t straight, the wood delivered is all over the place as far as standard size and length. A 4 by 4 can range anywhere from a 3 by 3 to a 5 by 5. I don’t think they have one piece of wood that is not bowed. On top of that they have limited tools and the rain keeps coming in. It truly will be an amazing feat for them to complete the project before we leave.
Basketball and volleyball seem to be the staple activity that is done every day for as many free hours as Nate will let us have. The good news is that we as a group are upholding the honor of America (and England) with our performance on the court. Mark, Steve, Hunter and I split two games of basketball against 4 Romanians. When it comes to this standard you can just call me backpack. I know I have been travelling too long when I finally get to play basketball with my son and he is better than I am. We almost did have a crowd invasion as Stuart tried to provide his vocal refereeing opinions which seemed to favor us more than to be unbiased. He did tell me after that he has had many a run in with referees at sporting events for Mark. Somehow I didn’t have a hard time believing it. Volley ball is a different situation in that I still have the edge on Hunter. Partly because of my amazing standing jump which has been measured at about 2, inches that is, not feet.
After a couple of hours of sport I think I can officially say that my athletic career is over. During basketball I tweaked my thigh muscle again and by the end of volleyball my whole body seemed to ache.
I am now back in the hotel room. Hunter came in shortly after I got back and just like last night stated, “Dad, I am not tired at all.” Within about 20 seconds he was asleep. I also know now that he has been getting involved with VBS. One of the songs the kids sing goes something like “Tica taca, tica taca, tica taca ta, Cu Cu” which is supposed to sound like a Cuckoo clock. Hunter just rolled over and sang “Cu Cu” in his sleep.
Psalm 108:3-5 – “I will praise You, O LORD, among the peoples, And I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your mercy is great above the heavens, And Your truth reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, And Your glory above all the earth;”

Romania 2009: Day 5

2009-06-28T16:56:00.004-05:00

Sunday – time for church. Our expectations of having the church service be extremely long, 3-4 hours, in a hot building with no AC, mainly in a foreign language have been set and played on my mind. We all met up for breakfast and for those that know me you will be pleased to know that my messing around with the waiters or waitresses is international and works even when they don’t speak a word of English. Our waitress was a little gruff to start off but after a couple of quick jokes she had a smile on her face. I think her favorite was when I asked if they would cook one of the fish in their fish tank for me. Anyway I am now ready to take on any server, in any restaurant, in any country.
We split into three groups to go to the three churches we support. I was in the group that went to Fieni. This is the church we are going to help build next week and as such is in pretty poor condition. I think with the 15 of us we doubled the congregation. We sang some songs in Romanian and English (at the same time) and then Stuart gave the sermon. Given the need for translation he did a great job of using simple phrases to get a great message across. Then I was able to give my testimony. Half way through a lady ran out. Now this could have been for a few reasons:
1. She was so overcome with emotion with my story it really touched her heart
2. There was a problem outside with the children
3. She thought the building was going to collapse and made a dash for the door.
I’d like to think it was #1, it probably was #2 but I couldn’t risk it be #3 and so I started running after her.
After the service we had a great lunch with them and started to find out more about them as people. The one story that touched me was of an eleven year-old girl called Lavinia. About 4 months ago her father died and she and her 4 siblings live with her mother is suffering from a mental illness. This girl was adorable and I would have no problem adopting. My heart just goes out to her.
The other eye opening story was about Pastor Lance. Marian, the assistant pastor, asked if we had gone to the castle in Sinaia and whether we had the “beer”. We questioned him again to make sure we heard correctly and he said yes the “beer”. We wanted to not be a stumbling block and so obviously said no. But he said that when Pastor Lance had visited and gone up into Sinaia he had the “beer” and they had a picture of it. Now somebody tried to persuade me that it was a “bear” and even showed us the picture of a “bear” but a few of the team are staying with the “beer” part and are going to have the “beer” tonight. (Just kidding).
For evening Church we headed over to Pucioasa and ended up with an overflowing church. The seats in the church were full, the balcony was full and even outside the windows was full. Most people from our group got up to either sing or play an instrument or share a word or just have Happy Birthday sung to them. I have noticed that I am usually skipped over for this. Even this morning as Stuart asked for someone to volunteer to share their testimony and I offered he had a pained look on his face and pleaded with the others for someone else to share. When he started to ask the Romanian children and even dogs and they said no or did not step up to the plate, I realized I was a last resort. After a longish but good service we shared a meal with the Church. This to them is fellowship. They love to share a meal with others and I tend to agree with this philosophy.
Don does have a little issue with barbeque lighter fluid – I am sure you are only supposed to put a few squirts on, not the whole bottle. The flames were quite impressive and seemed to do a great job of taking the paint off of the church’s brand new grill. I think this could be one of the reasons for the “Americans” prayer, i.e. “please deliver us from these Americans”.
As a wind down to the evening we all went to the restaurant where we have breakfast as well. The waitress seemed to remember me for some reason and I spent the whole time refining my almost fluent Romanian. One of the tricks I have learned over the years is to just say “Yes” in the local language (“Da” in Romanian) after they have said something to you. In Romania the people are very demonstrative speakers and what seems to be fun is to say “Da” in a loud voice after they have said something to someone else as though you are agreeing with them. They seem to first look at you totally surprised that you can’t order something simple but suddenly seem to be able to understand a full blown conversation.
As I close down for another day I try to reflect on some of the reasons for being here. The youth from the Church are truly wonderful people. To see how they have welcomed us with open arms, to see them interact with each other and genuinely seem to enjoy spending time together is in stark contrast to the majority of the youth who spend their evenings sitting around town. These teenagers can be the light the other youths need but they are under so much pressure to conform to the world.
Romans 12: 2, 9 – “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God … Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.”

Romania 2009: Day 4

2009-06-27T08:48:00.014-05:00

I have made the mistake of going by Day 1, Day 2 etc. So now I have no clue as to what day it is. Luckily there are other adults who seem to have kept better track of what day it is and they tell me what we are doing and where to go. Last night we decided to have a talent show. The Parkin sisters started with a couple of songs and a superb home-made rap about Chick Fil-A. Essentially that was the end of the talent show as no-one else really wanted to step up to claim they were talented after the Parkin sisters sang. Next time we need to start with some other people before the really talented people get up.

The days seem to fall into the same pattern. The Romanian youth want to stay up all night and the Americans at least go to bed at some reasonable time. In the morning the US contingent is up early followed by the Romanians.
After a quick clean up at the house in Sinaia we loaded up onto the coach back down to Pucioasa but even that wasn’t without incident. Before the coach arrived Niku asked everyone to get all of the bags outside the house. Literally as the last bags were coming out it started to rain: “All the bags back in the house”. We finished getting them back in and then the coach turned up: “Load the coach up”. Before we had really begun the day we had shifted about 50 suitcases three times. Unfortunately because of my pulled muscle I had to step up and take the role of foreman.
Nate has taken on the mission of trying to catch everyone on camera as they sleep which makes everyone sleep with one eye open. However, even on this trip people are willing to take the risk of the camera just to catch up on sleep.
The new hotel in Pucioasa is actually quite acceptable. There is no AC which could be problematic but we shall see how the temperature goes. The room is kind of small but the really weird thing is the size of the eating table which is about 2 foot off the floor and the stools are about a foot off the floor (see the photo). If I sat down on that stool it would be demolished. We had lunch at the church which also suffers from small-itus. The youth went up onto the balcony and most had to bend over to get up there.
Pucioasa is a fairly small town. A visit to the local market took all of 2 minutes and they are obviously looking forward to my fire eating here and have posters up all over but I am not sure why they have a picture of a clown!

I have to go back to the dogs. In my earlier blog when I said they are everywhere I was under-exaggerating. They are absolutely every single place possible. If you actually pet them or even worse give them food they seem to have a secret calling system and others just turn up to get a piece of the action. You have to check out the dog searching the trash can. All of the travel sites say to stay clear of the dogs but that is impossible. At camp we had our own dog called Lily who was the smallest dog of the strays but kept them all under control. There was the dog who though he was King of the

Hill and just watched over everything. There has already been talk of bringing one home but I think my wife would kill me.
As we spend more time together as a team we get to bond closer and closer and learn more about each other and our backgrounds. Most people want to know where I got my athletic prowess from and I tell them about my days in high-level sports. My middle school football team was pretty good. Also there is a comfort level between the youth and the adults as well. Today DJ, Don and Chrissie’s eight-year-old son, ran down stairs and the hotel and just ran into Nate and Sarah’s room to say hi, obviously just feeling at home with the Krupke’s. Unfortunately, Sarah was in the bathroom at the time and DJ just blasted his way in. When Nate told him he needed to close the door DJ closed the door but stayed in the room. It wasn’t until Nate told him to leave the room completely that DJ left, somewhat confused about what the issue was.
On another front I did want to make one apology. In one of my earlier blogs I had said that the men were all over 40 and it was pointed out that Nate was only 36. So my apologies to Nate – when a body has aged as badly as that it really is hard to judge a person’s age accurately.

Colossians 2:13-14 – “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

2009-06-26T10:42:00.003-05:00

Let me first finish out day 2. After spending 30 mins posting the blog Nate and I returned to “camp”. It seems as though volleyball is the chosen sport. David, one of the Romanian teenagers and I did break off for a game of 1 on 1 basketball. After spotting him a 7-0 lead (the kid doesn’t miss a shot) I cut him a break and called the game when the basketball hoop fell off the board. Little did he know I was just warming up. Truth be known I was already sucking wind and that was just from collecting the ball after he scored and checking the ball back to him.
We did the first devotion with all the youth and the challenges of language translation were there but it is still amazing how God can get through. We have decided to just pray and not translate and we take turns to pray in each language. I am not positive about this but the Romanian prayers all contain the word for “American” and I question whether they are asking God when these Americans are going to leave them alone. “Please deliver us from these Americans, let the bears be abundant when they are outside”. Luckily they have realized I am English and don’t include me in that prayer.
The fire eating went well. The main objective is not to burn myself and I didn’t. The next is not to swallow too much gas/petrol. Now let me explain, in the US I use camping fluid in the fire eating. I didn’t think transporting a highly combustible fluid through airport security was a good idea. I was worried enough that I had two barbecue spits (for the fire eating), a bunch of balloons (for balloon animals) and a rubber chicken (a long story) in my suitcase and I was going to have to explain this to TSA. As such I had to buy a combustible fluid over here and the only option was car gas/petrol. The Romanian gas has definitely got a different vintage than Coleman’s camping fluid but it definitely still burps up the same way. Overall it went down well – at least for me.
Despite the storm that blew through overnight we all seemed to get enough sleep. I was rather worried because of the reputation my wife had set for me through Nate’s blog that I snore rather loudly (which is obviously highly exaggerated – it is my dog). The pastor of the Romanian church, Niku, and I were in the same room on different couches and the last thing he said to me before going to sleep was that he was a very light sleeper and wakes up at the smallest noise. I think all night I only half slept because I didn’t want my purring to keep him awake. He is still talking to me this morning and so it seemed to go well. Apparently I may have been a little louder than I thought as he shared with others about my “noring”. I guess he was just being very polite.
Friday has been a day of devotion and sports. After the devotion time it was time for kickball. I’m not sure who won but I did pull a muscle. One day I am going to learn to stretch before trying to play soccer or any soccer derivative. With the heavy rain a few people did get a little muddy. Isabelle stepped in a decided to put a wash on for us. Now most Americans know the phrase measure twice, cut once, and I think this applies to this. My iPhone has a converter on it and Isabelle asked me how much 106 milli-litres was in teaspoons. The answer is about 0.7 of a teaspoon. When her response was “oops” we had to go and look at the washing machine. Isabelle had pretty much filled the draw up and you actually couldn’t see any clothes because of the soap bubbles. Maybe asking before putting the liquid and turning it on would have been a better path. Thankfully there was no overflowing.
The afternoon was another devotion and then volley ball. It really is interesting to see how this youth struggle with the things the world is telling them is okay. As parents, as friends, as mentors we need to be walking alongside them as they struggle with seemingly simple issues but when asked it really is eating away at them.
Tonight we introduce the Romanian youth to Tacos which should be interesting. Not sure when I will have the chance to post next as we head back to Pucioasa tomorrow.
Ephesians 4: 21-24 – “if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”
Colossians 3:12-14 – “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”

Romania 2009: Day 2

2009-06-25T12:00:00.004-05:00

Woke up at 4:30 a.m. this morning which is 8:30 p.m. in Houston. My first concern was that my body would think it just had a power nap and would want to go to bed in a few hours. After a good breakfast headed out to play soccer. Obviously the imposing presence of Don Owens, Hunter and myself scared the locals away and we didn’t even have our Houston Dynamo shirts on. But I guess when you are an athlete then you don’t have to wear sports clothes to impress people. It was either this or the lack of sleep was playing havoc with my sense of reality.
The drive through Bucharest and then up to Pucioasa and on to Sinaia in the mountains really show the differing cultures and history of Romania. Within the heart of Bucharest there is a lot of business and it is more modern in its architecture. As you get to the outskirts it is definitely more rustic. Along the route there were several small villages like Contesti, Aninoasa, and Doicesti and then another big town called Targoviste. Most of the condition of the housing points to the poverty that exist but at the same time a lot of these houses also have satellite dishes. And then with these towns there is the occasional big house. It points back to the Great Romania where there were a few very wealthy aristocracy and then a lot of poor people.
The most interesting towns were gypsy villages. The first was where the government had stepped and helped build houses. The gypsies moved their horses inside these nice houses and they live outside in tents. I guess with how important horses are to their livelihood it makes sense. All the way on the drive there are horse drawn carts carrying every kind of material. One even had a fridge in the back. Wasn’t sure if they had picked this up or whether they just use it to carry their food back home in it to keep it warm. I’m not sure if they realize it has to be plugged in to keep the .The second village was a town where they basically search the river bed for stones to use for building. This will include smashing bigger stones to get the right size rocks for building. Their houses are surrounded by piles of rocks and the houses are very attractive.
The other humorous sight was a lady who was probably in her 70’s taking a cow (yes a cow) for a walk.
In Pucioasa we picked up the youth from the church to head up to the cabin in Sinaia. Before leaving we managed to fit in a game of volleyball. At first it was the Americans versus the Europeans (I was obviously on the European side) but when we realized that the Americans could score a point we split the sides up. It is amazing how fast these youth can bond. Despite the language barrier the two groups of youth have already bonded. One of the coolest things was on the coach to Sinaia where they sang praise and worship songs in two separate languages. At times simultaneously and it really sounded good. To know that God was being lifted up by groups with the same belief but in a different language was really awesome.
There is probably a lot more I could write but we are limited for time as we are sitting in a hotel lobby borrowing their wireless internet. If I get more time tonight I will share some more thoughts. If we get gas/petrol then tonight I might do my fire eating. So pray that I don’t burn myself or burn the cabin down.

Romania is a dog nation. There are dogs everywhere, mostly stray dogs but they are everywhere. My daughter Savannah would not survive over here or she would have to own a really big house because she would want to take them all in.
"All the earth shall worship You And sing praises to You; They shall sing praises to Your name" – Psalm 66:4

Romania 2009: Day One (and a half)

2009-06-24T14:21:00.008-05:00

With 25 people all wearing Houston Dynamo shirts (bright orange, really bright orange) it is hard not to stand out. As Hunter and I arrived at the airport we just headed towards the glow and found the rest of the team. I have figured out why Houston win so many soccer games – it is nothing to do with their skills but with 11 people running around in these shirts it is blinding. On the team there are 12 men and 15 women. Of the men there are three teenagers, 1 eight year old and the rest of us over 40. As such it amazes me that a few people actually ask us if we are the actual soccer team. I know given my athletic physique it would be believable but really!!
The flight has been longish and not very comfortable especially with the guy in front of me reclining his chair all the way back. So I did ask them to move me up to first. (Hence the picture – actually I only got to tour the plane and “try” first class). I did ask the flight attendant if the pilot could take a quick detour and do a fly by of my Mum’s house so I could wave to her as I hadn’t seen her for over 3 years. And of course they had to make an announcement for “Giles Britton in 36H” to the whole plane that they were swinging by in 15 minutes and the pilot had called my Mum and she would be outside waving.
Landed in Heathrow and was surrounded by a bunch of people who spoke like me. Funnily enough all of the employees spoke English as well. I am going to try and take this concept to Miami Airport when I am next there. Also met a man from Scotland who again asked if we played for the Houston Dynamo. I’m starting to think that I’m not in as bad shape as I thought I was. Mind you he did mention that the only reason he asked was because he knew the Manager of the Dynamo.
On the 3 hour flight to Bucharest I did get some sleep during the first couple of hours and then spoke to the lady next to me and that was it. I got the complete run down of her life – where she was born and raised, her move to America, her two children and their lives, and a blow by blow account of her career. The big take away from this conversation or monologue was her feelings towards Obama. As she lived in NY I assumed she would like him but it was interesting to find that she did not think he is the right person for the job and she believes that a majority of Americans fell for the smooth (yet empty) talk.
First, impressions of Romania is that it is more flat than I thought it would be, the weather is not too bad – a little on the hot side but definitely bearable – the people seem to be nice but for some reason they don’t speak much if any English. So far I have figured out that speaking in Spanish and speaking louder and slower in English do not really help the communication process. I can see that my acting skills are going to pay dividends over here.
Hotel is surprisingly nice and had a good dinner at the hotel. Ordering was a challenge as the menu was mainly in Romanian and again the pesky issue of the people not speaking English complicated things. There were a couple of dishes I was not going to order regardless of the language barrier (see the photo) – I appreciate the honesty but not sure it does much for sales.
Finally back in the room for the night now. Tomorrow we set out for Pucioasa and look to prepare our hearts for the work we have to do there. In Acts 13: 47-48 it says “For so the Lord had commanded us: I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth. Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many had been appointed to eternal life believed.” As Paul set out on his missionary journeys he spoke the gospel boldly despite the suffering he would go through. My prayer tonight is that I would be bold enough to share the gospel even in the difficult situations and as I look to serve others I too would be a light. It ultimately comes down to God’s appointing of the believers and I need to continue to be the light in my words and actions.
God bless

Romania 2009: The Day Before

2009-06-22T21:49:00.004-05:00

At some point in your life you sit down and think about all of those things you would like to do (bungee jump, sky dive, walk the Great Wall of China) or places you would like to visit (African safari, Australian outback, the Caribbean). Sometimes you get the opportunity to cross an item off the list (I have now been to the Caribbean) and sometime you get close but not quite there (I did walk into the Great Wall chinese restaurant in NYC).
There are other times when you know you want to do something different but you're not quite sure what it is until it happens. For years I felt God calling me to do more for Him but I just haven't been so good at listening. I enjoy teaching and studying but have not really found the avenue for that path. I have also realized that I have been extremely blessed and I know that there are millions of people who struggle with their every day existence and even worse their hope lies in this world and not in the hope of eternity with Jesus. As I read the bible I am ever more drawn into the example of Jesus as a servant and wonder why I find it so hard to be a servant.
On June 23rd, 2009 my son, Hunter, and I with 25 other people from our church Harvest Bible Church, head to Romania to a small village called Puciosa about 40 miles northwest of Bucharest (as the crow flies). While there we will run a VBS for the church and will also help them build the second story to the church.
I am still not quite sure about internet connectivity but God willing I will get about 30 mins each night to send a blog so that you can join us in our adventure. Please pray for our whole group as we spend 10 days in Romania.
I now get to cross two items off my list - visit Eastern Europe and go on a missions trip. Somehow I think this is not really crossing off anything but adding so many desires for my future and hopefully it will all be in God's will.

Working in Mexico

2009-04-22T20:19:00.001-05:00

Tales From Mexico

At first working in Monterrey, Mexico seemed like a kind of exotic idea and on December 1 I flew a quick hour-long flight and arrived for a six-month long project.
As soon as I got to Mexico I thought I'd try out my fluency in Spanish with the taxi driver and realized very quickly I couldn't remember the Spanish for weather but somehow I conveyed to the taxi driver that I wanted a guided tour of every big building we drove past. When he dropped me off he seemed very happy and obviously had enjoyed my supposed request for a guided tour.
The senior manager of the project took me out to lunch and proceeded to order my lunch for me without my even seeing a menu. When I asked what he had ordered me the most clear answer I got was "meat". At that I thought it best not to enquire what kind. I also had my first spanish lesson, here Diet Coke is Coke Light - if you ask for Diet anything you get some weird looks but I don’t think what a said was a swear word in Spanish.
The Monterrey office was very hospitable and on my first night held a big party for me where they rented out a restaurant and had free drinks and set up casino tables. About 50 BearingPoint employees and their wives came. To be truthful I couldn't understand what the "fiesta" was for but it seemed reasonable that it would be for me.
At the party I had another Spanish translation problem as I tried to ask the waiter what kind of drinks they had. He just walked away and came back with two beers. Not sure what I said and I’m not sure about the Mexicans attempt at mind reading – I was looking for a soda.

End of day one.

Got up early as always and headed down to the gym. Got on the treadmill and set the speed for 8 miles an hour. Boy I was feeling strong today. It seemed a breeze and I knew I would break my record time for 2 miles. I suddenly realized it was in kilometers and I was running much slower than I thought. I spent the rest of the run trying to multiply everything by 5 and divide by 8 to get it to miles. I’d try again the next day.
Mexican timing is a little different. We don't plan to leave the hotel until 8:15 a.m. which, I have found, means 8:30 a.m. at the earliest. They don't have lunch until about 1 p.m. but it is a 2-hour lunch (oh, and alcohol is perfectly acceptable) and they knock off about 7 p.m. If someone says they will meet you in 15 minutes you can quite easily read a couple of chapters of a book before they get there. If you have a meeting scheduled for 11 a.m. it means that you don’t have to think about leaving for the meeting until about 11:05 and you usually go to it at 11:10.
I was a little worried about maintaining my Atkins diet down here. Now I am just worried about eating, period. Last night I didn't eat dinner, this morning I didn't eat breakfast and that seems to be the norm for all of them. I'm not sure if I can survive on one meal a day. Didn't care what I ate at lunch today. I even ate “huesito” which basically is scraping the marrow out of a bone and eating it. I remember my dogs liking that and I wasn’t quite sure why I was eating it – I put it down to hunger blindness.
At lunch I took the opportunity to try and blend in with the team here. I still have a hard time understanding all of the conversations so have just started to join in the laughter anytime they start. I figure if I laugh loud enough they will think I understand them and just enjoy being with them. I hope they are not calling me names. I also got another lesson today and found out that you only tip 10% and you don't tip taxi drivers at all. It all became suddenly clear why the taxi driver from the airport was so happy, I had tipped him 20%.
I have already given up on my jokes - I seem to be the only one who laughs but that seems to be par for the course every where I go so maybe I'll just continue on. Maybe if I laugh really loud at my own jokes they will feel obliged to laugh as well, just like I do with them.
Another thing I have realized is that I am the tallest person around. At last I have found a place where I can challenge people to basketball and feel like Shaq.
Driving down here is a nightmare. There are three types of drivers:

1. Those that drive about the speed limit.
2. Those that drive about 100 miles an hour everywhere
3. Those that drive at about 20 miles per hour, usually because their vehicle is about to fall apart.

There also seems to be no rule against changing lanes at will, without signaling even if there is a car next to you. The only laws against it that I can see are the laws of Physics. You know, the ones about when one mass hits another mass there is a displacement of force equal to the energy going into the impact. Surprisingly Monterrey has one of the highest car accident rates in Latin America. My team, to a man, drop into the 100 mph group. I constantly feel like I am living a video game something like Gran Turismo and Frogger combined.
I am determined to improve my Spanish and at times I actually find myself thinking in Spanish and every so often a long lost word will pop back into my memory. When I’m in a restaurant I make every attempt to order in Spanish. Usually I plan what I am going to say and then when the waiter or waitress comes to me I fire off my order in perfect Spanish. I don’t know why they cannot just take my order say thank you and go to the next person. But without fail they always ask me a question back that I am totally unprepared for and I just look at them like a lost puppy and hope that somebody will answer for me. On one of my visits to the Supermarket I made the mistake of saying something to the check out boy. He obviously was impressed with my Spanish and having scanned the last product asked me a question. That wasn’t supposed to happen. He was supposed to total my bill, I would see the amount and then give him the money. Instead, I apparently donated some money to a charity.

Overall Monterrey is better than I expected it would be and if I do stay for the six months I probably will have a few more tales to tell.

The Tales Continue

Mexico is a place that grows on you - like a bad case of athlete’s foot. Not really. The people here seem to have a great disposition and in general tend to have a smile on their faces. Now, I’m not sure if that is because they find my attempts to speak Spanish humorous but they do seem to laugh a lot.
When it comes to my trying to speak Spanish this seems to have its upsides and downsides. First, the upside. I really think they believe I understand what they are saying and so they don’t make fun of me. Now obviously I don’t know this because I don’t understand what is being said and the lots of laughing is suspicious but why I think this is true is that they do make fun of “los gringos” (the Americans) a lot and I have been clearly labeled as English not “gringo”. For the upside that is it and for the downside there seems to be a few more issues and these seem to be more important.
With my trying to speak Spanish they do jump to the conclusion that I am fluent and so they continue to speak at normal speeds and for some people that is fast. I’m not sure what the record in the Guiness Book of Records is for most words in a minute but I am sure that it was someone speaking Spanish and while I have been here I think I have witnessed several occasions where the person has come close to breaking the record as they talk to me. I have, however, figured out when someone asks me a question. The room goes very quiet and everyone looks at me. I hope my monosyllabic response of “si” doesn’t give away the fact that I have no idea what the question was. If they continue to look at me after I have said “si” then I know more was needed and so I have the fallback of saying “Well, hmm, let me think about that for a while”.
In restaurants I am still having a few problems. The other day at lunch with several colleagues they al got their plates with lots of food on them. Meanwhile I just got a slab of meat. Apparently my attempt to order extra vegetables instead of potatoes didn’t quite work. A couple of times at work someone has made an announcement about an ad hoc team meeting. The first I know about it is when I realize everyone has disappeared and then someone comes out of the meeting to come and get me.
Another endearing trait of the Mexican men is the greeting ritual. A simple “hello” or shake of the hand does not suffice. Instead a handshake, hug and pat on the back, or a handshake ritual similar to some kind of gang handshake will take place. Now either one of these greeting rituals will take place with every male in the room. It doesn’t seem to be limited to once a day in the morning but seems to happen when you return to the room after leaving for more than an hour. Now I’m not sure of which ritual is appropriate for which situations and most of the time I am okay because I just do the same greeting as the person in front of me. The problem comes when I am first in line. I’ll go for the hug and the pat on the back meanwhile the other person is doing some kind of handshake ritual. I usually defer to the hug and pat on the back because I also have no idea what the handshake ritual is and it keeps changing. My attempt to lead ends up being some kind of three stooges handshake.

For anyone stuck in the past Monterrey is the place for you. My record collection from the 80’s is back in fashion. I’m amazed I can still remember as many of Lionel Richie’s lyrics as I do. Also if you have ever wondered what happened to all the cars from the 70’ and, 80’s that aren’t preserved as classics in the US, wonder no more. They are here!
Through some major reconstructive surgery process these old cars are given a new life down here. A lot of these cars are the ones that are only going 20 mph but it really is amazing that they go at all. For all you VW Beetle fans, Monterrey is paradise. It seems as though the VW “Bug” has been a proven success in the reconstructive surgery process. There are thousands of them down here, so many so that a game of slug bug usually ends in blood. A lot of people have Beetles as their personal car but somewhat surprisingly the Beetle has also become a staple of the taxi force down here. It is surprising especially when you realize that the Beetle is a one-door car. The way they have overcome the passenger needing to climb over the front seat to get to the back is just to rip out the front passenger seat. This however, does limit the passenger capacity to two.
Another novel use for Beetle was as a school bus. No kidding, it had all the markings and colorings of a school bus. Even had the “careful children crossing” sign. Obviously it is for a very small school or it takes a long time to get all the kids home.
Even more surprising is that I saw my first ever VW Beetle police car the other day. Somehow that doesn’t conjure up the picture of a high tech police force. Mind you it doesn’t seem that the main purpose of the police force requires much technology besides perhaps a calculator. If you are pulled over by a policeman, which by all accounts seem to be an arbitrary event at best, you only need to find out what the fine is for your alleged infraction and then pay a percentage (10%- 20%) of that fine in a bribe directly to the policeman, hence the need for the calculator. It is such a widely accepted practice that at times you will even be given a sticker on your license that says you have already paid a bribe that day and you shouldn’t be charged another one but be let go scot-free instead. I thought this was an exaggeration until I saw the license of a work colleague with the sticker on it. I guess the Catholic tradition of indulgences has found another walk of life to be a part of.
Another interesting fact for all of you who complain about work conditions in America or elsewhere in the world is that for the first two years of employment with a company you get a whopping 6 days of vacation each year. After the first two years there is a jump up in the third year with an extra day added. I’m now not convinced that the Mexicans who illegally cross the border into America are doing so for the wages. I think they just want a day off.

Well it doesn’t look like I will be here for 6 months now. Mind you that is solely based on my estimation of my role. Seeing as I don’t really understand what is being said in the meetings I am not sure how the project is going and I am not sure if I am volunteering to do something extra every time I say “si” in one of those uncomfortable silences when everyone looks at me.

The six-month project is over in 6 weeks – well that’s the only thing that was early for the whole project. Monterrey is a nice place but I’ll be glad to be back home with the family where at least it’s the same language that separates us.

Welcome

2009-03-09T21:11:00.001-05:00

Welcome to my blog. Over the next few months I will share posts about my faith and my travel.