Four Day Count Down

Yes, it really has been almost 10 weeks since I left my home in the states and arrived at my new temporary home here in Romania! As I look back on my time spent here in Romania I am once again reminded of how blessed I am. What an amazing summer it has been! I have been able to spend time building friendships with Romanians all while serving God on the Cinema pe Roti team. I can’t think of any other way I would have wanted to spend the summer of 2013.

This week we have had the opportunity to serve in the village of Carceni. The drive to this village took us 15 minutes down a dirt road into what appeared to be ‘the middle of nowhere’ however when we arrived we were greeted be 100+ kids! Nights one and two where typical ministry format. Tonight, night three, will look a lot different. Our goal is to try something new and create a camp type atmosphere. We’re going to divide the children and teens up based on age and gender then spend some time singing songs, playing games, sharing testimonies, and praying together. There are three Christian churches in Carceni and to our understanding most of the individuals who attend ministry the past two nights are from those churches.

For the remainder of my time here in Romania… Friday I will be packing my suitcase and relaxing. Saturday has been declared ‘Lauren Day’ and hopefully we will spend the day at the pool. Sunday will be church and Monday…I head to the airport! Wow! I can’t believe it! This is CRAZY!!!   

Where Do I Start???

What a wonderful week we were blessed with this last week! We made the city of Vulcan our home base Monday through Saturday. In Vulcan we were blessed to have two wonderful host families provide us with comfortable beds to sleep in and cook us delicious meals. Our team cannot say ‘Thank You’ enough to express our true gratitude to these families for opening their homes and lives to our team for an entire week.
Each night ministry was well received by the people of the cities we visited. Ministry while staying in Vulcan took place in small cities rather than tiny villages. Ministry in cities can look a lot different than village ministry just because of the volume of people and location differences. Each night after ministry we left with smiles on our faces because we saw God move in big and small ways.
After returning home(to Craiova) in the early morning hours on Sunday we got a few hours of sleep before heading off to church to celebrate the baptism of one of our teammates. What a joy it was to celebrate with our Sister in Christ and her extended family.
We are now enjoying some down time to rest and relax before heading into three villages this week Wednesday through Saturday. I’m on the ‘less than two weeks’ count down now and my head is full of many mixed emotions. I would appreciate your prayers as I make the transition back to the States soon. I’m sad to leave Romania yet very excited to be home.     

Quick Update

Wow! Time is moving so quickly here in Romania. I will be headed home three weeks from today. The thought of leaving Romania and returning home is very bittersweet. I will be sad to say goodbye to friends and farewell to this life adventure I dreamt about for an entire year; yet I am very excited to say hello to family and friends back home. Rather than thinking ahead three weeks to these very bittersweet emotions I am trying my best to stay focused in the here and now.

This past week we spent four nights in villages carrying out ministry and all four nights were successful and filled with wonderful conversations and interactions with local people.  We were in Filiasi and Giubega this past week.

Today we are heading a few hours away to stay for the week in the city of Vulcan. This is the home town of Lory, one of our team members. I always enjoy meeting family and friends of teammates! Ministry will take place in Petrila- Monday and Tuesday, Baru- Wednesday, Vulcan- Thursday, and Lupeni- Friday and Saturday.

All For God’s Glory    

Blessings, 

Ministry Evenings

Yes, I do realize that my blogging skills are very poor and I am very sorry if you have been waiting for some type of an update. David and Maggie have done a much better job at posting on their blog so please check out their posts to see what we have been up to recently.

Rather than giving you a very long and boring list of what has consumed all of our time in the past few weeks I thought I would focus on what an evening of ministry generally looks like. I don’t know if I’ve ever explained what village ministry looks like??

Typically our team will gather at Jim’s apartment 30 minutes to an hour before we plan to leave for a village. We use this time to plan out our children’s activities and communicate to everyone on the team what their role will be for the evening. It is very important that each team member knows what the general plan is so everyone can be involved and help out wherever needed. We also use this preparation time to spend some time in prayer, make sandwiches for our team, and load all of the equipment into the van.

Once we arrive in the village we hit the ground running. Depending on if there are children waiting for us or not we may walk through the village and invite people to our activities. If our ministry location allows(sometimes we use a park or a school yard) the boys will gather to play Soccer while the children’s activities take place. Our children’s activities consist of a combination of songs, games, face painting, simple balloon animals, and the wordless book bracelet Gospel story. These children’s activities usually take place for about 1.5-2 hours. As it starts to get dark enough to project a picture onto the screen we show a few music videos for children. Just before the film begins our ministry team sings a couple songs in English and Romanian, and presents a skit. Following the film Jim will conclude the evening by laying out the plan of salvation.

When the evening is finished we pack everything and everyone back into the van and make the drive back to Craiova. Once back at Jim’s apartment the van has to be unloaded, and everyone is dropped off at their homes. Typically we get back to our apartment about 12:30am. For some silly reason I get a ‘second wind’ when we get home so I usually am able to communicate with home for a little bit before heading to bed by 1:30 or 2am.

Ministry evening are busy and fun(sometimes stressful and chaotic too)! A lot takes place in an evening and it is an absolute blessing to be a part of.   

Extremely Blessed

Knowing I am extremely blessed is something I try to remind myself of often but sometimes it just hits me deep in my heart. I am so blessed to be here in Romania! God continuously moves mountains for me and blesses me beyond what words can describe.

After facing a few very challenging situations in ministry we pulled together as a team and discussed how we must turn this all back to God. We have had many wonderful opportunities to grow deeper together spiritually as brothers and sisters in Christ through these challenges. We are strengthening our ministry with each and every experience we encounter.

Today I was once again moved by Romans 8:28 ‘And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.’ Also, Romans 10:14-15 ‘But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” WOW those verses are so clear! I have been brought here to Romania for a very specific purpose; to share the ‘good news!’ No matter what challenges I may face during this experience…God causes everything to work together for good!

I hope you are moved today by these verses as well. Blessings and Love <3

Way Behind...

I first must apologize for how much time I have allowed to go in between my blog updates. I often find myself too tired and exhausted to type out my thoughts in a form that would make sense for others to read. Here we go, I will give you a brief review of what we have been doing this past week or so…

On Tuesday, June 18th we traveled about 2 hours away by van to a village near the town of Corabia. Unfortunately we were unable to stay for ministry because not much prep work had been done(where we could set up, etc…) Our schedule for the remainder of the week was flexible so we decided to return on Friday and Saturday evenings instead. Before making the 2 hour drive home we stopped to see the Danube River. We can now say we have seen Bulgaria from afar and the Danube River at flood stage!

Wednesday, June 19^th was a ‘Free Day’ so we didn’t do much of anything in the morning, but headed to the mall and local swimming pool in the afternoon. We concluded our day with dinner at KFC and a visit to the city center.

On Thursday, June 20^th we traveled to the village of Perieti for ministry. There is a Baptist church in this village so there were many children and adults present for our activities and the film. We were encouraged by several good conversations that took place throughout the evening.

Ministry on Friday, June 21^st took us back to the village near Corabia. When we arrived there weren’t any children waiting for us so we started walking the busy village road to invite people to join us in the park. When we returned to the park there were only two children there; this is very unusual. As time passed a few more children joined us. We kept the activities low key and enjoyed a little bit of hang out time with the children. At one point in the evening an intoxicated man approached his young daughter and began yelling at her. After translation…I guess he was upset that she allowed us to paint her face. It was a very heart breaking situation because the little girl ran away crying and we feared how the father may act toward his daughter once home. The entire evening I could feel the hurt and darkness in this village.

When we returned to the same village near Corabia on Saturday, June 22^nd there were several children waiting for us in the park when we arrived! Our local connection also brought our attention to the fact that the Orthodox Priest was in town. We gathered together as a team and prayed for God to move in this village. When we gathered with the children and started playing games with them we could hear the Orthodox Church bells ringing and the priest beginning a service. Not long into our first game a couple of police officers approached us…after translation and several minutes… they wanted to know if we had permission to be in the park doing activities with the children. Our Romanian teammates assured them that we did. While the officers made a phone call to the mayor we quickly shared the wordless book story with the children as we were sensing possible trouble. Sure enough the mayor showed up yelling and screaming demanding that we must leave because we never had permission to be there. Unfortunately this yelling and screaming took place directly in front of the children. We were heartbroken however we felt it was best that we pack up and leave.

Following church in the morning on Sunday, June 23^rd we packed into the van and drove the 4+ hour drive to the city of Deva. When we arrived in Deva we gathered together with a few others and headed over to an area of town for an evening of ministry. We were greeted by many, many, children with beautiful smiling faces. After a few songs and face painting we began playing a few games. Unfortunately,… after translation… a child got hurt by another child which resulted in a very large physical fight amongst the parents. We thought maybe things would calm down after a few minutes….but that didn’t appear to be the case so it was decided for our safety that we needed to leave. We were feeling a bit defeated now with two consecutive nights of failed ministry…

On Monday, June 24^th we began our day with a team meeting over breakfast at McDonalds and a recharged attitude ready for ministry in the village of Certej that night. During the day were took time to enjoy the city of Deva and recharge ourselves. *Special note: you are never too old to take a nap with your best friends and giggle like 7 year old girls at a slumber party while trying to fall asleep =)

Tuesday, June 25^th consisted of us taking a little side trip to the town of Alba. We were able to see many beautiful historical places and enjoy the company of friends.

Can you tell I get tired of writing by the end of these posts??? Tuesday really was a very fun filled day I just can’t come up with more than two sentences right now. =)      

Wednesday was a travel day and for the rest of this week… we will be in villages for ministry. Please pray for our core team of young people who organize and lead our evenings of ministry. We desire to be strengthened together spiritually and are working hard to make this desire a reality through our faithfulness to Bible study and prayer together on a daily basis.                

Full Swing

On Friday, June 14^th we had the opportunity to participate in two different English classes as ‘guest speakers’. The first class was 6th graders at a local school earlier in the day and the second class was an evening class at the Salvation Army with students ranging in age from 8 to 16. Jim has participated in both of these classes before so we were welcomed with great anticipation and excitement. Between the two classroom visits we ate lunch at McDonalds and then visited Andre’s home in a beautiful village about 20 minutes outside of Craiova. I wish I could recall all of these village names correctly…I’ll have to work on that. =)    

Saturday, June 15^th was our first ministry experience since arriving in Romania. We visited the village of Balecesti which is about a 1.5-2 hour drive outside of Craiova. Prior to leaving for the village we were informed that the local Priest/Religion Teacher was threatening the children that if they attended our event they would fail his class. We prayed that God would break down this barrier and bring the people anyway and he provided! A good group of children and young people attended the evening’s activities and heard the Gospel message. Give God the Glory!

After a late night on Saturday, Sunday morning came quickly! However, God provided us the physical strength to attend the morning church service at the Baptist church and buy groceries for the week before taking a power nap and heading off to the evening church service at the Pentecostal church. It amazes me how God can provide for me daily…2 two hour church services in a language I don’t understand…yet I was alert and felt spiritually refreshed. To wrap up the evening we headed to McDonalds and then the local park with some Romanian young people.

Now for today(Monday, June 17^th)…This morning we started our day at a school for children with special needs. While there Jim was able to get the ministry some local media attention. If I understood correctly the ministry will be featured on the local news! Please pray that this media attention will be good for the ministry and for God’s Kingdom. This afternoon we were able to relax, cook, and have the landlord into our apartment to help us with a few maintenance needs. We have been so blessed to have this apartment to call home for the summer. Getting adjusted and settling in has been comical at moments but ultimately wonderful.

This week we will be in villages for ministry each night beginning with Rasnic tonight. Thank you for your continuous support and prayers as we are serving here in Romania. God Bless <3 

The First Few Days In Romania

Monday, June 10^th – Tuesday, June 11^th
4+ hour commute by mini van to Chicago O’Hare Airport
2.5 hours checking in, going through security, and boarding the airplane
9.5 hour flight to Warsaw, Poland
1 hour layover in Warsaw
1.5 hour flight to Bucharest, Romania
3+ hour commute by van to Craiova, Romania 
Thankfully all of our hours traveling went smoothly; no major sickness, delays, or confusion.
After arriving in Craiova we stopped at our apartment to drop off our bags and check the place out before heading to the local grocery store (Kaufland) for a few basic living necessities. Our next stop was Jim’s apartment to use his Wi-Fi and order pizza. Romanian pizza is really good…especially after traveling across the Atlantic Ocean. =) Romanians put ketchup on their pizza! It’s not really American ‘hotdog ketchup’ though; it’s special ‘pizza ketchup’ which to me tastes like pizza sauce. We concluded the evening by having a large slumber party in one bedroom of our apartment because David saw a rat….you can read his version of the story at http://romania2013.blogspot.ro/ . Very Comical!
On Wednesday, we slept in before David and I headed to Kaufland for a few more basic living supplies. While walking the 10 minute walk from our apartment to Kaufland it started raining! We’re not talking a few little rain drops we are talking about a serious down pour here folks. We laughed and ran for a little bit but then realized we were going to get more wet than we would like. We sought shelter under a bakery awning until Jim could pick us up in the van and take us the rest of the way to the store(a whole 100yrd LOL). Following Kaufland we went to the Romanian ‘Home Depot’ for a few more specific apartment needs. To conclude our evening the rat was killed and David attempted a shower but burst a waterline in the bathroom instead. Life is full of laughter here; my sides hurt when I laugh… that is how much laughing I have done in these first few days.
Thursday consisted of an American team meeting with Jim to discuss a few goals and logistics for summer ministry, showers at Jim’s apartment, having a plumber fix our busted waterline, and dinner out at a ‘traditional’ Romanian restaurant. Romania is becoming more and more like home each day and now with a functioning shower and internet our apartment is becoming home too. 
This post isn't anything in depth, personal, or spiritual but those kinds of posts will come once ministry starts on Saturday night I'm sure. 

WOW! It is already March 2013! The weather is finally starting to show welcomed signs of spring; sunny days, longer daylight hours, melting snow, and  muddy roads. =) Yes, I am excited for spring however I am even more excited for summer! In just three months I will be headed across the Atlantic to Romania for the summer! Yes, I said 'for the summer'! I plan to stay in Romania and work with the same missionary our team worked with last June. Our trip in June was a two week trip with a large number of team members. This summer I plan to stay for three months and travel with a much smaller group! I am very excited to see what God has planned for me and the ministry this summer. I've struggled to fall in love with classroom teaching the way I thought I would. I plan to take this summer as an experience and see what God might have planned for my future. As June gets closer each and every day I get more and more excited! Along with all of this excitement are some nerves too. Traveling across the world and staying for an extended length of time is a bit scary. I am praying for peace and trusting God to take away all of my nervousness.

Philippians 4:6 'Never worry about anything. Instead, in every situation let your petitions be made known to God through prayers and requests, with thanksgiving.'