The Hopkins

We Are Home

2008-06-12T05:44:00.000-07:00

Well it took a while but we finally made it home safe and sound. The journey took 30 hours to complete, and if I figure it out correctly, we went about 47 hours without "sleep". I mean sure we dosed a little on airplanes and in airports, but I am talking about laying down and sleeping in a bed sleep.

It all started Monday evening in Romania. We had a early Tuesday morning flight at 7:15, so we rode down to Bucharest in Dorothy's van and left at 11:00 PM. It is a five hour car trip to the airport, which I helped drive, and arrived at about at about 4 AM. We waited a little while and checked our 9 suitcase plastic tubs. Our only scary moment was when we went through Romanian passport control, and the guard asked for our residence visas. Karen had hers stolen with her wallet about a month ago, and there really was not enough time to have it replaced. I gave him mine and he processed me and they boys with no problem, but then he said wait here and he took Karen's passport into a small room. Uh-oh! I am standing there thinking are they really not going to let us leave the country? He brought a higher ranking immigration officer and he asked us a few questions and let us go.

Our first flight was two hours from Bucharest to Munich, Germany. We than about an hour layover until we caught our long flight. We then boarded the plane for a 9 hour flight to Washington DC. This went very well because they had movies at each individual seat in the seat back in front of you. The boys loved this and they watched movies and slept alot. We arrived in Washington and this was the part I dreaded the most. You have to go through passport control, customs, un-check and recheck your baggage, and then go through security all over again. I was not really sure how we could drag two tired boys, four carry-on bags, and nine huge plastic tubs through all these stops. It turns out that it went great! We loaded three push carts with three tubs each and the smaller bags on top. I pushed one, Karen pushed one, and Nolan was able to push one. What a big guy and helper he was. We were first in line at all these stops and breezed through very easily!

Next we had about a four hour layover in Washington until our flight to Rochester. As I first entered the airport in Washington, I was overwhelmed with being thrust right back into American culture. It was hard for me after being immersed in Romanian culture for a year. It is difficult for me to even explain. It feels like you are standing still and everyone else is running circles around you. It is very much like sensory overload. As we walked through the terminal, I saw a Wendy's. I stopped and stared. Oh how I missed a Wendy's burger and fries. We found our gate and set up camp for the next four hours. The boys wanted to look in every store and wanted to buy ever cool thing they saw. I guess this was how they were trying to deal with there reverse culture shock being thrust into this situation.

Then we boarded our final flight, ah the last leg at last! There were going to be a group of family and friends who were going to meet us at the airport in Rochester at 6:44 PM. We boarded the plane quickly and then the pilot announced that all flights were delayed due to thunderstorms. So there we were, stuck on a fairly small plane, unable to take off or get off the plane. The pilot was great. He came back a talked to all the passengers and was very friendly. He then offered Nolan and Liam to come see the cockpit. He let them push buttons and sit in the captain seat! Nolan said the plane talked back to him when he pushed buttons. I was just hoping he was not dumping fuel or something bad. To make a very long story short, we sat in the plane for about four hours before we were cleared for take-off! Thankfully the boys were exhausted and slept the whole time. We were about to land in Rochester and we could barely wake them. Liam said "We are here already". Needless to say, most of our welcoming committee could not stand around the airport for four hours, but there were a few people. That was OK though- the boys were shy and we were all tired. Nolan and Liam were so excited to see their cousins. They helped us to load our luggage and gave us a ride home. We ended up walking into our house at about 11 PM Tuesday night. The only thing Liam has wanted for months was to come home and get his Buzz Light Year and Woody toys. When we got here the key for our room with all out stuff in it wasn't anywhere to be found. Liam was so upset. We got a hold of someone though and they brought the key right over regardless of the time. Liam was so happy. The boys spent all day yesterday rediscovering old toys and playing in their yard.

It was such a strange feeling walking into our home. In one sense, it felt like I had just left it a short time ago, but also it felt like so much had happened since I left. I am sure that we all had different and similar feelings, if that makes sense to anyone. It was like I pushed pause on my American life, while a year of my Romanian life happened. I also realize that this is not true, things here in America have changed and time has moved on. This is what will take time time to adjust to, nothing is the same as it was. We are different by what we have experienced, and things have changed here also. Now we just need time to process both of these things. Maurice

Miss You Liana, Emil, Mama, Tata, Lian, Andrei, Tanti, Lori, Sendi, and the whole Ludu family- Love Karen

Is he really old enough to be driving and going on a date?

2008-06-07T12:27:00.000-07:00

We went out to a village called Viscri today where the Ludu's have a house. There just happened to be an old car there. It amused the kids all day long. Only after living here would Nolan and Liam play "Taxi" all day. Bianca Ludu is the one in the car with him. Lori is the one climbing over the back of the taxi.

June 10th

2008-06-04T01:39:00.000-07:00

For those of you who do not know, June 10th is our return date to the United States. Wow, where has a year gone? It is very difficult to explain all the emotions involved in leaving. Of course we are very excited to return to our home, our family, our church, and our friends. Conversely, we are leaving all these very same things here in Romania. We are happy, nervous, and sad all at the same time. As I face our impending departure here each day, I usually go through the whole spectrum of emotions depending on who I am speaking to or the topic of discussion. Goodbyes will be very difficult here, we have developed some incredible relationships with people that we will never forget. We also have been reading a book about re-entry for missionaries back into their home culture, and we also know that this will be difficult. We have changed. In our year here, Romania and the people have reshaped who we are as people. We are no longer typical Americans anymore for many reasons. This is not good or bad, we are just different. How do you become a former missionary? If you have any insight please let me know. I have been told that you never really do. I have also been told that we will always feel that half of our heart will be here in Romania and the other half in America. Hopefully I am not rambling and you can get a glimpse of the emotions that we are going through.

I also want to take this opportunity to thanks the Dunns. Scott, Paula, and their children Stephen and Lydia are Free Methodist missionaries who live in Arad, Romania. Scott is our country leader for us here in Romania. The Dunns have served us as mentors, wise counselors, encouragers, but most importantly friends. When we were stuggling and did not know where to turn they were always there for us. They more than anyone perhaps, knew exactly what we were going through here. They did this while handling many struggles of their own. I hope that we were able to help them in some way and not just be a burden with our issues. So thank you Scott and Paula for all that you have done for us. We look forward to working with you and helping anyway we can in the future. Romania is lucky to have such committed Christians serving here. Keep up the great work. Maurice

Wrapping It Up

2008-06-02T21:49:00.000-07:00

Why.....
I have been reading a book on "re-entry" after being a missionary. One major focus is to put closure on your time on the mission field. For me, I think it is important to get our blog current with what has been happening for the last month or so- not just so that others can read about it- but so that we have it for ourselves to read.

The Youth Retreat in Prod

We have been working with the youth here in Sighisoara since September. The first half of that time was spent reaching out to teens in the Baragan area. Although that was rewarding and challenging God seemed to be telling us to change our focus to work with the teens in our church. We have about 5 in our church. Most of these were not coming to the larger Baragan group but we thought that our time here would be much better spent helping them grow in their faith and allowing them to reach out to their friends. It has also allowed us to have more in depth conversations about God that we weren't able to have with Baragan outreach. We average about 7 teens in this group- some of which don't go to our church.

A week and a half ago we were able to take these teens away on a weekend youth retreat. Wow- what a lot of work but also a great time. ( A big thanks to Pastor Greg, Mike, Lynn,TC, Big Dan & Mary, and Doug for how much work you put in to making youth retreats happen at Pearce). All total 22 of us went- 9 teens from the group as well as leaders, Mrs Fleshar and Timmea to help cook, and Andrea Kazmierski, Kristen Spaulding, Aaron Roorda, and Kyle Eich who were here visiting Mel. There were two main objectives to the weekend- to have a chance to talk more about God but also to let the teens just relax and have fun away from the some difficult home and school situations. It turned out better than I hoped. We played a lot of crazy outdoor games, walked in the forest, played fotbal (soccer), and played a whole lot of Rapid Uno.

We also had some great discussion times. The first night Aaron gave his testimony. The second night Andrea and Kristen talked about the road to Christ (using versed in Romans) and what seperates us from Him. They really did a fantastic job. On Sunday morning we were able to have our own church service in the German church that is part of the retreat center. It was absolutely beautiful in there especially hearing the teens singing and Kyle playing guitar. We talked about the Sower's Parable and how that related to each of us after the message that we heard through Kristen and Andrea the night before. A major prayer request is that the seeds that have been planted during this retreat find their way to furtile soil, that people come into their lives to support and encourage them during these diffucult years, and that these teens grow up to really have a personal relationship with Christ that strenghtens and encourages them during the storms of life.

Vacation....

The church was wonderful enough to tell us to take a little vacation time before we came back. Right after Orthodox Easter we drove to Arad to say goodbye to the Dunns. After that we headed up into the Apuseni mountains of Romania. I had made reservations at a Pensiune in the mountains but nowhere on the internet did it say it was on the TOP of a mountain. We should have known the road was bad when Romanians we asked said it was a bad road- that it must be really bad. Needless to say we had to travel 16 km up the side of a mountain on a road that was more like a logging road. After an hour we were wondering how much farther it could be when the car died. As it was rolling backward we saw oil on the ground and the oil light on. Turns out that some way back on the mountain road we bent the screw that holds the oil pan on so badly that oil was leaking right out of the pan. Here were were on a mountain top - no town or tow truck for at least an hour- all we could do was pray (well Maurice offered the car a small kick before that). I mean- there is really nothing else you can do but pray and trust God to help the situation. I think that so many times we trust ourselves first and forget the God wants us to trust him first- he will take care of us.

The whole time up the mountain we didn't have cell phone service. I gave it one more try when the car broke and we got a hold of the pensiune we were staying at. God was already at work- it was right around the next corner. He came with his tractor and towed us to the pensiune. The next day a man was going to the city 3 hours away and brought back oil and the 2 part glue "Poxi-Pol". Roberta has always called this fix all glue but this gave whole new meaning to that. The man sanded the oil pan- put the glue on it- and the next day we filled it back up with oil- and IT WORKED.

The people who live in the mountains in that region are called "Mots". It was just like being int the movie "Heidi". They are very self sufficient, hardy, and amiable people- not to mention the cooking was incredible. Almost every meal was served with items right from the farm- incredible Rasberry jam, Zacusca, butter, fresh milk, pickles. As you can see - the car troubles didn't affect my appetite for good Romanian food. The whole reason we were in this area of the mountains was to see the Scarisaora Ice Cave. From the Pensiune it was a 40 minute walk. Maurice was confused on how you go into a cave when we climbed to the hightest point on the mountain. We quickly learned how. The cave was at bottom of a giant hole in the earth. A very disconcerting trip down the side of the hole to say the least. At the bottom the steps were still covered with snow. Once at the bottom of the hole you walk into a beautiful cave filled with ice. One part of the cave is called the church because of the giant ice stalagmites and stalagtites. Good thing Grandma wasn't with is- as Nolan says- she would have been freaking out watching the boys go down into that cave.

After a couple days in the mountains we were ready to cut our vacation short and get back home to Sighisoara. We had an uneventful trip off the mountain but only 20 minutes down the main road another teaching trust moment came along. In the middle of nowhere the car starts making a horrible knocking noise and dies. We waited couple minutes and the car started. We drove for 5 more minutes when the car dies again at the edge of the very next town. This time there was no restarting it. There was a wonderful family across the street who helped us out. It was May Day in Romania which means no one works. It also means that this turns into a 5 day weekend and the only garage in town is closed for the next 5 days. Some of you may be saying- call AAA, get a tow truck, no problem. WRONG. Tow trucks and towing companies don't exist here. The family let us push our car into their driveway and helped us figure out how to get back to Sighisoara. Turns out there was was a bus in just a few minutes and the bus stop was just a few houses down. Pretty much where the car died. We rode two great buses, a taxi, and a train and got safely back to Sighisoara. God took care of us again. Unfortunately the car spent two more weeks of vacation in the mountains before we found a way to get it home. That was over two weeks ago and we still don't have the car back. The mechanic always says- Tomorrow. It is beginning to feel like the country song- "If Tomorrow Never Comes". Ah well- Ce Sa Faci. What can you do?

Stamping.....

We came with grand plans to start small businesses in Tsigmandru. Needless to say that our plans and God's plans were a little different. This has been a blessing to me. We set up the card workshop in the Baragan apartment and are working with a Mrs Ludu and Mia as well as Lori and Sendi Ludu on getting this project going. They are all excited about it. We have made over 100 bookmarks and have done well selling them. We have a basket in the House on the Rock where we can sell them. They have already sold over 50 of these in just three weeks of making them. Lori is really talented and I think has the enthusiasm to really make this successful. Pretty soon she will being making actual cards. I went to Targu Mures a couple a weeks ago and was able to have some stamps made that said Sighisoara, Romania as well as Multumesc- which is thank you. The proceeds are divided three ways, part for the church, part for the person who makes them, and part for supplies. We have a meeting tomorrow night to discuss the transition time as well as resupplying, selling overseas, paying people, etc. Please be in prayer for this fledgling ministry.

Other Ministries....

Last Thursday and Friday I was able to provide a ministry to Dorothy through the form of cooking. The Veritas Board was here last week for a Board Meeting. Dorothy was very anxious that they have great experience and had been preparing for them for months. I saw as chance to give something back to Dorothy for all that she has done for us and also to help relieve her stress a little. I offered to cook two Romanian meals for her guests. Mama was out of town so Liana helped me on Thursday. She made an incredible soup and salad but I was able to make the Salata de Beof and Chicken Friptura with wine sauce all on my own. On Friay I made Sarmale. It is good to know that I can actually cook this Romania food when I return to America. It is like bringing a little piece of Mama, Liana, and Romania home with me. The Board really enjoyed both meals which made Dorothy very happy. So- ministry a success. I wish they were all that easy.

Sunday School Room......

The Sunday School room area at the church has been filled with years full of stuff that teams bring and leave. Much of this in English that no one can use as well as tons of craft items in various places. All of this makes it very difficult to have Sunday School. About a month and a half ago I started working on pulling everything out a drawers, cupboards, and throwing lots of things away. On Sundays duirng Sunday school Lori and I would continue to work on it and put things in order. When Aaron and Kyle were here they helped Maurice and David get a huge, heavy cupboard out of the room that had been partially blocking the stairs to Roberta's office. On Saturday Lori and I spent 2 hours labeling every cupboard and drawer with exactly what was in it. She really enjoyed doing it and did a fantastic job. I think now that her big sister Sendi is going off to school (college) she is really looking forward to leading Sunday School (and at 12 years old). Please continue to pray for both Lori and Sendi. Sendi as she takes major final tests for school and then heads off to college starting a new chapter of her life. For Lori as she now becomes the oldest girl in the Ludu house and the one of the oldest teens in church. She wants to continue with youth group after we leave so pray that a way will present itself.

Construction.....

Lastly but not leastly. Maurice has been actively doing construction projects since the team left in February. He worked with a group that came from Maine and tiled the kitchen in the Baragan apartment. All the work we did on our own house before we left payed off. After the group left Maurice and I went down and grouted the whole kitchen. Who knew that when we we were grouting our own kitchen a week before we left that we would be grouting a kitchen in Romania? Needless to say the bathroom is completely torn apart but not put back together. I guess it is God's will for someone else to finish that. When Kyle and Aaron were here they worked with Maurice and fixed and painted the wall at church. It looks GREAT.

Pictures are worth a 1000 smiles

2008-05-12T00:49:00.000-07:00

Over the last year I have been accumulating pictures of people from Tsigmandru. Pictures from literacy class graduation, people becoming members of the church, random pictures of children, and family pictures. A couple of weeks ago I printed them all out and sorted them into about 25 different packages. On Sunday before church I took them out and Dorina (Hordu's wife) helped me walk around and deliver pictures to everyone. It was like Christmas. There were smiles everywhere. It made me realize how much we take pictures for granted but that the people in the village rarely have any photos. The sad thing is- is that they have probably been photographed hundreds of times. Lots of people promise to send copies to them but it rarely if ever happens. Or they might give one copy of a picture when 5 different people are in it. Here is one of the pictures we handed out.Yesterday we had a family photo day out in Tsigmandru. Each family from the church was able to come and have a picture of each of their children as well as a picture of their family. I think we took over a 100 pictures and people were so excited. Little girls were all dressed up. I also took some pictures of a new playground that was built for the block of houses next to the church. In the background you can see the new wash house that is being built. The whole area is fenced in. The children seem to love having something to play with. Please pray that this playground can be used as a ministry and not lead to hard feelings within the village.

Over these last couple of weeks I have also been working with Mia and David to give each person from the elderly clubs a framed picture of themselves. They were all so pleased to get a picture of themselves.

I want to thank everyone who supports us while we are here- YOU made it possible for us to put those smiles on people's faces. It is really amazing what a simple picture can do. - Karen

Easter- What must it have felt like to be there?

2008-05-11T23:40:00.000-07:00

April 27th was Easter here in Romania. I really experienced Easter in a much different way this year. The sights and sounds of Easter here made me realize so much more . I will try to describe this for you. On Good Friday morning we spent time with the Veritas staff in a beautiful, quiet little garden. We read a play called The Passion of Christ which tells the story of the persecution and crucifiction of Christ. In the middle of the circle was a table and on the table was a crown of thorns, a purple cloth, and a large antique nail. As the play was being read and it said he was made to wear a crown of thorns and a purple rode you could imagine it better with those images in front of you. How piercing that crown must have been- how beautiful the purple rode would have been if it hadn't been stained with so much of Christ's blood. The quietness of the garden felt like we were in the Garden of Gethsemene.

(Sorry if some of you are shocked or appalled at this part- but Christ's Crucifiction wasn't pretty. It was in the graphic detail that I began to really grasp his pain and suffering) That afternoon the boys and I took Emil out to Daie to slaughter the lambs for Easter. Actually seeing these innocent little lambs being slaughtered. To listen to a knife being stabbed in their throats as they hung helplessly upside down and to hear that last gasp of air. How much worse must it have been for Christ. After the lambs were slaughtered the heads were cleaned and the eyeballs were popped out. These were then thrown out to the chickens. The boys chased the chickens around the yard with these eyeballs just dangling out of their beeks. It made me realize how callously Christ was treated. We also took eggs home to dye red. The red color of those eggs was the color of blood and you couldn't help but remember that Christ shed his blood for us.

That night we went to Church and the feelings continued. Communion was served like it was the Last Supper. There was a table on the alter. We went to the table in groups and sat down. Roberta broke a loaf of bread and we passed the cup around the table. How intimate the Last Supper must have felt. The service was by candlelight and the candles were slowly extinquished throughout the evening. At the very end of the service, as the last candle was put out and the church was completely dark, there was suddenly the smacking of a hammer on a nail. Oh the shudder one felt at that sound. To hear what it would have sounded like as the nails were driven through Christ's hands. Then it was just dark and completely quiet. It felt like being plunged into darkness with complete sadness. How must the disciples felt, his mother, Mary Magdalene, his followers? Maurice said- it is easy for us living on this side of the Ressurection. How did they feel- hearing that Christ would rise again but not really understanding what that meant. How did they feel to remain in that utter darkness and sadness until he rose again on the third day.

Thank You for allowing me to share these feelings with you. - Karen

Last Week

2008-04-23T00:17:00.000-07:00

April has just flown by. Debbie- a friend from our church was here last week. She had a chance to visit and work with most of our ministries. While she was here she was able to do a short devotional with the elderly at church as well as a lead a really great talk on the 10 steps of prayer with the Veritas staff. It was really neat because we were able to see that prayers can be written, spoken aloud, silent, or sung. You can sit still and pray or you can walk and pray. Debbie also had a chance to cook vegetable sarmale and bean soup with Mama which was a lot of fun.

I am glad the time she was here went well because the day she arrived started a little rough. I went with Nolan to pick her up at the airport. Nolan and I really enjoyed some good mommy-Nolan time. We had an uneventful trip from the airport to the train station and even enjoyed a little McDonalds while waiting for the train. When we got out to the train I realized I couldn't find my wallet. I went and looked around at McDonalds where a guy come up and told me he thinks a couple guys had stolen it. I called Maurice and told him to call our bank and cancel our credit card. By the time he called, which couldn't have been more than 45 minutes from when it was stolen, they had already tried to use it 3 times. Unfortunately in my wallet was my VISA permit for Romania, my driver's license, and some money. I really thank God though for taking care of us. Our train tickets were in my pocket and so we still had those and Debbie had money to help us get home. Our church ATM card which allows us access to all our funds for Romania was back in Sighisoara. God gave me a sense of peace about all of it- they were just material things and he was taking care of us. We had a nice trip on the train but almost had a longer than planned trip. When we got to Sighisoara we were waiting by the door of the train but when we stopped the door wouldn't open. We had to rush to the other end of the train. There was a conductor there but the train was starting to move away from the platform. She was trying to wave the engine down to stop, Maurice was calling to tell me that my train was pulling away and where was I, and Nolan was starting to panic that we were stuck on the train. The train finally stopped at the end of the platform and were were able to get off. Nothing like a little excitment to end the day.

Construction Update

2008-04-20T07:41:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to give everyone a construction update. For the past two months I have changed my focus from working on the Tsigmandru church to working here in Sighisoara. This basically began when the teen group came from Pearce. When they were here we started working on the apartment that the Church of the Nazarene owns here in the Baragon area of Sighisoara. No one lives there, but there are various clubs and prayer meetings that meet there five days a week. When the teens were here they scraped a type of calcium coating of the walls in three rooms and the hallway. These walls were then coated with a light coat of plaster. I have been sanding, painting, and laying carpet in theses rooms. Just this week I started to tear apart one of the bathrooms. I am currently pulling tile off the walls, scraping the calcium off, and beginning to change out the bath tub. It is hard, difficult, and time consuming work, but also very rewarding in the end. I am including some before and after photos of the other rooms and will soon do the same for the bathroom. Maurice

Thunder Snow?

2008-04-15T03:49:00.000-07:00

Easter sunday was a beautiful warm day and the following day was even more beautiful. The spring flowers were already popping their heads up. It was about 70 degrees that afternoon. That Monday night Mel and I were at Monday night dinner when there was a huge crack of lightning. When I left for home it was just starting to snow and by the time I got up the street the snowflakes were even bigger. I took the boys outside to show them and the snowflakes were about the size of silver dollars.- Karen

Easter Sunday (Number 1)

2008-04-15T02:21:00.000-07:00

I say Easter Sunday number 1 because here in Romania the majority of people here have not celebrated Easter yet. Orthodox Easter is April 27th which is when our Church here will celebrate Easter. Hungarians and Germans celebrated Easter on March 23rd. Let me tell you a little bit about how we spent March 23rd. At 7 am I climbed the stairs to the German Church on the hill for the sunrise service. This church is over 700 years old and has a crypt underneath of it. The service was all in German but it didn't matter- it was still beautiful. At first we all stood in a circle around the inside of the church while music was sung and the pipe organ was played. Then we slowly filed down into this small little crpyt where there were candles on the floor. It was so peaceful and really helped to picture what Christ's tomb might have been like. After a small service we each took a candle and walked back up into the church. We stood in a circle again and sang joyful music to celebrate the resurrection. Afterwards everyone was invited to the Lutheran priest's home for Easter breakfast. Breakfast was simple but beautiful. In America everything is pastel colors for Easter but here it is bright colors. At each place at the table was a bright red egg and the whole table was decorated in bright yellow, red, and orange. The red dyed egg is to symbolize the blood of Christ. It was really a blessing to be included in the German celebration of Easter.

Nolan and Liam knew that it was Easter in America and so expected that the Easter Bunny would come and leave some Easter eggs outside in the yard. I found a couple of eggs at the store and hid them in the backyard. The boys really had fun looking for them and were perfectly content to only get two eggs each.

After church we went out to Saes with Emil, Liana, Lian, and Andre for a gratar (grilling). I have really come to appreciate Romanian "gratar"s because they are so much simpler than grilling out in America. When we got to Saes we worked out in garden cleaning up dead branches and raking up all the dead stuff from the previous year. This all gets put in a big pile and burned. Once it is burned down enough the grate is put over the coals and the meat is cooked. Along with the sausage and cremwurst we ate some radishes and apples. The boys had a lot of fun. Nolan helped Emil and his cousin haul wood for over an hour. Emil calls Nolan "harnic" or hardworking. I can't say Liam is the same. He would rather just play.- Karen

Our Romanan Saturday

2008-03-26T01:55:00.000-07:00

We have introduced before to our property manager, Emil. Last week he asked us to give him a ride to Deae, to take a few bags of seed (alfalfa I think) to his father's farm, since he does not have a car. We said sure, we would love to. We have learned here, though the language barrier and various other reasons, that when you committ to something such as this, you never really know what it will entail. Melanie had the boys for the day so me, Karen, and Emil were off to Deae. Before we left Emil asked if we could take a few other things, keep in mind our car is not very big. I had some old tires that he asked if his father could have for his caruta, I said sure, so we threw them in the car with the two large sacks of seed. Then we went to Emil's house and he asked if we could take their dog from their house to live permanently out on the farm, so we loaded it in the car. Then Emil asked if we could take the dog house also, we said sure. We also added a shovel and some various other tools. In the end it was good that the boys were not with us, because the car was totally loaded. Then we were off for the 40 minute car ride.

Deae is a small village in the middle of no where, accessible only by a very seasonable dirt road. When we arrived we meet Emil's father, who lives alone, is in his mid-sixties, and runs the farm with the help of his neighbor. They were in the process of plowing the potatoe field with a horse drawn plow. Karen immediately asked if she could try, they said sure without hesitation. I have no idea what they must have thought about this crazy American woman. We then got the tour of the barn and various animals. We saw the cows, chickens, sheep, turkeys, pigs, and rabbits. Karen especially loved holding a new little lamb, until Emil informed her that this lamb was the one we would be eating together for Easter, when Orthodox celebrate Easter next month. She thought he was joking with her at first, but he was not. Were then invited into the small farm house for some food. They sat me and Karen down at the only two spots available at the small table and found us some dinnerware. They put a bowl of liver and onions in front of us and insisted that we eat all of it without them. They also pulled out the biggest slab of slanina, raw pig fat, that I had ever seen. We also had bread, and they brought a honey comb, literally straight out of the bee box. We looked at it a little unsure, so they took the knife and scraped the honeycomb back and exposed beautiful honey in the middle for our bread. It was a great day, one that I will remember for a long time. It was a snapshot of how people in the heart of Romania live their daily lives on a small farm in small farming village. It is one of the many moments that I have had here when I can not believe that I would ever in my life being there. It is very surreal in a great way. Here are some pictures. In my next entry I will tell about the next day, Sunday. Maurice

What's Going On?

2008-03-13T04:28:00.000-07:00

You may wonder where we have been and what we have been up to for the last month. I have heard from several faithful blog readers to say "What's Going On?". I promised my sister-in-law Amy that I would definitely write a blog this week so here you are Amy. Since our last blog on February 11th much has happened and we have been pretty busy.

Liam turned 5 years old on February 12th. It is really hard to believe that he is already 5. He is getting tall and losing his baby fat. He has quite an active imagination and often contributes anything he does wrong to the little guys who live inside of him. Conveniently- when I want to talk to those little guys- they have locked the door inside Liam and won't let him in. Melanie made him a really cute birthday cake and he got to open a few presents.

On February 15th a group came from Pearce Memorial Church. There were five adults and 15 teenagers. While they were here we worked on a house in forest in real need of some insulating and protection from rats, worked in the Baragan apartment where we hold a lot of our clubs, fixed and painted the main room in Magda B's apartment which had water damage, as well as tear off the walls in the Sighisoara church. Pretty ambitious- but everyone did a great job. The teens were fantastic workers. In addition to all the work we also had a great time of devotions every day with a different teen leading them. It was great for us to see this as these teens have grown up and spiritually matured while we have been away. It also got us excited to go back and work with the teens again. The first Saturday the teens were here we had a soccer game at the Baragan school. We had so many kids we had to have teams rotate out every fifteen minutes but everyone had a great time. At the end we played 6 on 6- America vs Romania. If you can't guess who won- let's put it this way- the America got spanked. Our American teens though were really impressed how great the Romanian kid's footwork was.

Another highlight was our trip to Mama and Tata's house in the village of Saes (shaiesh). The morning before I took four of the guys down to Mama's house to make Salata de Boef and prajitura. Mama made me a chef hat to wear. She said now I had my own kitchen staff. The guys had a great time and Tata really got a chuckle when he came in the kitchen and saw Alex wearing a flowery apron and cutting up potatoes. The next day we took everyone out to Saes and cooked mici (meech) on the grill and ate the Salata de Boef. We had a wonderful time but a couple of the boys got to experience the anger of a romanian mama. Two of the guys came back from the soccer field with questionable foot attire. Sid had no shoes on and Stephen had only shoes- no socks- because it was so muddy. Mama was "superat". When I was leaving to take the first group home she had both boys in the back room with their shoes off soaking their feet in steaming hot water. Quite a sight. Mama said "I told you so" to me a couple of days later when I told her Sid was sick the next day with a cold. It was definitely a real Romanian experience for Sid and Stephen.

The greatest thing about the team being here was the relationships with our friends from America. We got much needed encouragement and realized how much we miss our church family. It also got us so excited to come home and work with the teens again.

To read more about the teen trip from their perspective go to http://www.sighisoara08.blogspot.com/ or look at my attached photo album.

On February 29th Maurice, the boys, and myself took the train to Arad to spend the weekend with our Free Methodist missionary friends in Arad (the Dunn's). The boys had really been wanting to ride on a train but that got old quickly during the5 hour train ride. The boys had a great time while we were there as the Dunn's have a great dog named Madison. Stephen (their son) also has a car video game the boys loved and the Wii. While we were there we went out to dinner a couple of times and drink some really good hot chocolate at Paula's favorite coffee shop in town. We had a wonderful time just being able to talk, share, and relax together.

March brought a lot of new things. Mel is living out on her own now in a little apartment above Mama and Tata's. This means Liam and Nolan now have their own room (Mel's old room). It works out great because we don't have to retreat to our bedroom as soon as we put the boys to bed. It also means that Liam quits getting me up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. He is now right across from it. Starting March 1st the boys are no longer going to school here. We had been talking about taking them out for financial reasons as well as making sure Nolan is where he needs to be for school in September. The week before we took them out of school pretty much solidified the decision. I have never really liked the way they discipline the boys (black dot on the had when they are bad, red when good). For Liam who rarely had a red dot it was difficult. Every day he would get the message reinforced that he was a bad kid. Then they were coming home saying they had to wear these Christmas tree shaped hats when they were bad (dunce caps). Then they said that their teacher pulls their ears so hard when they are bad that Nolan can hear the inside of his ear crack. Needless to say- it's just not what I am used to although that is pretty mild for here. Home schooling seems to be going well now that I am getting some kind of routine. I try to take the boys one day a week to elderly club so they can sit and color with them or play Rummicube. Mel comes on Wednesday afternoons and does geography or history as well as music class with the boys. They seem to love all the silly songs they learn.

Since the group left Maurice has pretty much doing construction everyday in the Baragan apartment or church. Last Saturday there was a whole church construction day at the church and the whole thing got painted as well as the outside getting washed. It was great to see so many people work together. This Saturday will be another work day for the church but this time the plan is finish the apartment.

We have picked a tentative coming home date - June 10th. This will allow us time to get reacclimated to America before I hopefully go back to work June 30th. We still have much we want to accomplish here but we are not sure what God wants to accomplish through us. Please be in prayer for meetings we have coming up concerning small business in Tsigmandru. We will be working with Magda and Nelutu to develop a small business plan for the sewing workshop in conjunction with a Peace Corps volunteer that is here. Soon after we hope to have similar meetings in Sighisoara with the church here.

February had it's really great moments for us but was also filled with some real discouragements. I want to especially thank the Pearce team, the Dunn's, and Tracy for keeping us looking towards God even in the difficult times. God really blessed us though you. Thank you for all your love, support, and prayers. -Karen

For You Mom

2008-02-11T02:41:00.000-08:00

I am writing this as a tribute to my mother. I received a special blessing this week that I never saw coming. I discovered a new kind of respect for my mom. I think my mom has really not quite known her purpose in life since my brother and I left home 14 years ago. This year my parents sold the dairy cows and mom was faced with finding and alternate means of income but also finding her place in the world. My mom came to Romania to see us in October and while she was here she had a chance to work with the elderly in several of the programs and found a real love for them. A week and a half after she went home she saw an ad in the paper regarding a Certified Nurses Aid in a local nursing home. For the last several months she has been doing the grueling training but has been so blessed by the interactions with the elderly she works with. The work is physically demanding but she goes everyday- even though the pain stays with her the rest of the day. The other night I talked to her on the phone and she told me how she does it. Every morning she gets up and prays. She tells God that only he can get her through the day- on her own she could never do it. Then she opens her journal and prays for each of the elderly from the nursing home. She also told me that she remember when I was little she would find cups under my bed with mold growing on them (thanks for remembering that). She realized that we are like that-we have mold growing on us, dirt in our hearts, uncleanness in our spirit and that each day we need to ask God to cleanse us. Only then can the Holy Spirit fill us anew and work through us. I realized how blessed I was to have a mother who loves God, who raised me to serve and think of others first, and to realize that each and everything is life we do- we are doing for God- no matter how hard or how difficult. Mom said she doesn't do it for the money (minimum wage is pathetic). She does it for God. Thanks Mom.- Love Karen

Praise- for a cold?

2008-02-11T02:28:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share this praise with everyone back at home because for us it is a big one. Many of you know that one of our major fears about moving to Romania was Liam's respiratory problems. In fact it was the last thing really holding us back from the mission field until I heard something a much wiser missionary women from Cambodia (Yuko Williams) had said. She said "If you don't do missions work because of your children, then you limit your children to only experience a little bit of God". That finally sealed our decision to move to Romania with the boys. That didn't mean we were going unprepared though. We took enough medication and two nebulizer machines just to be proactive. For those of you who don't know- when Liam was one he ended up in the hospital with a severe respiratory problem. Over the next two years, every cold he got turned into asthma like symptoms and he need steroids and albuterol. Last year our pediatrician took an agressive approach and he was on inhaled steroids from the first cold of winter until the end of April. He did much better and only occasionally needed the albuterol. We were going to start him on the steroids this year in September but decided not to. He got his first major cold last week and we kept him home from school for several days. On Monday he was back to normal- no medications, no breathing treatments, no respiratory problems at all. What an answer to prayer. This is the first cold since he was one that has been just a "normal" cold. A little hot water with honey and lemon every day and he made it through. I just wanted to share this with you as so many of you have been praying about this and we thank you. - Karen & Maurice

Romanian Experience

2008-02-02T02:11:00.000-08:00

This past Thursday I had a "Romanian Experience". This is an exspression that we have come up with here to explain when something happens to us that is truly unique to Romania. We do not pass judgement, it is not right or wrong, just different. So Thursday is the only day that we can pick up international packages from the post office. Melanie missed her opportunity to pick hers up last week and knew that she had more this week. Knowing that she would have an arm load of boxes, I offered to drive her(she does not drive in Romania). I parked behind the post office where I always do. We got back into the car and noticed that was a ticket under my windshield wiper, it was a parking ticket. There are several different types of police here and I do not completely understand the different jurisdictions and responsibilities, but I got this ticket from the community police. They are slightly different from the normal police. I got the ticket at 11:15 AM and I was ordered to appear at the Police station at 1:00 PM the same day. I was a bit confused for many reasons. I never saw any no parking signs. Signage is not as specific here as it is in the States. In many ways the most frustrating and exhausting part of a foreign culture is not understanding the "unwritten rules". So I talked to Roberta, the pastor here, and she explained to me where to go for my appearance. She said that she would be happy to go and translate for me. Keep in mind that my Romanian is greatly improving, I do not speak it perfectly, but I understand alot. I am pretty comfortable in most situations that I can communicate well enough to get by. When it comes to the police, legal, or governmental issues I always want a translator in these situations. So I stopped by her house on the way down to the police station to meet Roberta, but she was not back from a pastoral visit. I did not want to be late and I figured that the police would just want me to pay a fine. How hard could it be? I thought I can handle this.
You also must understand a little about about our car. In Romania you can tell where a car is from by simply looking at the license plate. Our car is registered to the Church of the Nazarene in Bucharest, so our plate says we are from Bucharest. Now Bucharest drivers have a famous reputation for being bad drivers. Also police are far more likely to ticket a Bucharest car up in this region of Romania. So I went down town and walked into the police station all by myself. The ticket says nothing about how much the fine will be, so I have no idea what to expect. I am taken into a large room with about eight male and two female officers who were sitting around smoking and drinking coffee. This was incrediblely intimidating for me as a foreigner. This is were I usually announce in Romanian that I only speak a little Romanian, but this time I decide that I am just going to go for it. So one policeman says you are the one from Bucharest parked behind the post office. I answered him that my car was from Bucharest but we lived here in Sighisoara. Another asked how long I have lived here, and I answered six months. He complimented me and said that I had learned Romanian very well. They then asked for my passport but I now have my VISA that allows us to stay one year. We have humanitarian VISAs for the work that we do here, and says that we are American. This has gotten Karen out of a ticket already once, just by itself alone. So the policeman that had my ticket and information did some paerwork while I made more small talk with the other officers. Eventually he made me sign something, told me something about where not to park again, and then said thank you and goodbye. He did not fine me at all! I do not know his reasons for letting me off, if it was because I was not actually from Bucharest, if it was the humanitarian VISA, or if it easier for him to let me off. It may have been a combination of factors, but I strongly feel that it was my willingness and ability to speak their language. I walked out obviously happy to not have to pay a fine, but also proud of my assimilation into the society here. It happens so slowly, that it is hard to even notice sometimes. Then an incident like this happens and I realize how far I have come in a short period of time. Maurice

Second and Third Time

2008-01-30T04:02:00.001-08:00

Well it happened again. Roberta, the pastor of both the Nazarene Churches here, went away for a week and a half. She had to go to a conference in Switzerland, so she asked me to preach again. Must be no one complained loud enough to her last time I preached. I said yes, I would love to. So last Sunday evening I preached in the evening service in Tsigmandru and then this past Sunday in the morning service in Sighisoara. I preached the same sermon in both services. I am not as polished or professional as Roberta. She preaches every Sunday morning and evening, and she never does the same sermon twice on the same day. Oh well, I am just a substitute. It went very well though. I liken it to a public speaking course I took in college. I am very nervous preparing and anticipating the actual event, but once I am doing it I feel very at ease. It is a great privledge and responsibility, that I do not take lightly, to stand behind the pulpit and preach God's word. These three times I have preached have been a great blessing for me. Maurice

I Rode on a Caruta!!

2008-01-22T09:32:00.000-08:00

Today was a really cool day for me. I went out to Tsigmandru at lunch time on the maxi taxi. It just so happens that Maurice was on his way to Marius and Anina's house in the village so I went long with them. Anina made beef snitzel which was delicious and mashed potatoes. Afterwards we went back to church for a while so Maurice and Marius could finish a section of flooring. When we were done we asked if Marius wanted a ride home. He said no- he had to go to his sister's barn.

Note- at this point in America I would have looked at the clock, thought about all I needed to do, and say "Okay, See you later". But- if there is one thing I have learned since being here is that wonderful blessings come when you take time for relationships. So- instead I said " Can we go to?".

We walked back to the barn through a whole lot of mud. It was a nice little Romanian barn with some very loud geese in the barnyard, a haystack with puppies on top, and a haymow full of loose hay- and it smelled like a barn. I tried to explain the smell to Maurice on the way home. It is not a good smell by any means but for me it is a very comfortable smell and reminded me of my dad's farm when I was little. When we had thoroughly explored the barn I asked if I could milk a cow. Sure- but not today. Cows get milked at 5:00, but another day I am more than welcome to. All the cows in the barn get milked by hand- about 20. There is a small milk tank to hold the milk cold but everyday the milk is put in cans, loaded on a horse and caruta (pronounced carutza) and taken another rode over to the milk truck.

When we were ready to leave we thought we would have to walk back through the mud but instead there was a horse and caruta waiting for us. I have always wondered what it was like to ride one. It looks so easy but without hay in the wagon it is a little more difficult. It was still great.

Lesson is: Take time to live life rather than rushing through it.

Cooking Romanian Style

2008-01-18T03:31:00.000-08:00

Mel and I went to Doamna Maria's house today (Liana's Mama)for our next lesson in Romanian cooking. This time we make Cozonac and Lique. It was a long day of cooking but what a great experience. When we got there we had breakfast. This breakfast was very traditional. We had slanina (solid porc fat) with hot peppers and pickles. Doamna Maria also brought out her homemade rosehip jam and bread. After we had thoroughly relaxed and finished our breakfast the cooking began. Cozonac is similar to cinnamon swirl bread but instead has nuts and cocoa in it. Cozonac is the bread that is served on any special occasion in Romania and we were learning to make it from one of the best. We also made a desert called Lique. This is done by taking some of the Cozonac dough and layering it with gris, apples, and a sour cream mixture and baking it. We did all of this by hand (Mel has a few blisters). I will add a picture album so you can see some of what we did to make it.

We took time out for lunch which was a delicious homemade soup similar to Navy Bean soup. We also had a cold pasta dish which was macaroni with a little pesmet, ground walnuts, and cinnamon sprinkled on top. I am going to give you a simple recipe that we watched Tata make while we were there. I made it today and it is very good and very healthly. I am going to call it Tata's Winter Salad.

1/2 celery root- grated
4 carrots- pealed and grated
5 apples- pealed and grated

Squeeze the juice out of the grated ingredients. (This is great to drink)
Mix in a carton of natural yogurt (strawberry is good)and a heaping tablespoon or two of honey. Mix and eat.

Over the Holidays

2008-01-17T07:40:00.000-08:00

Well I suddenly find myself with an hour alone. The boys are outside playing and Maurice and Melanie won't be back home for at least another hour. That means I actually have quiet time to write a blog. It has been quite a while I see but that doesn't mean there isn't anything to blog about. I guess I will work backwards from today

Cooking- Romanian Style
Last Friday Mel and I had the opportunity to start learning how to make traditional Romanian foods. I am sure you have heard me mention before Liana and Emil. Well Liana's mother worked in a several restaurants during the communist period. She is a fantastic cook. It has really been my desire to learn to cook the traditional Romanian food we have eaten here so that I can take that part of Romania back to America with me. On Friday we prepared Salata de Beoff. Previously I might have described it as potato salad but after making it I realize it is much more than potato salad. It is made from homemade mayonnaise, cooked chicken, cooked carrots, cooked potatoes, dill pickles, canned peas, an apple. Everything in the Salata is the same size (pea size) so Mel and I did a lot of chopping. Once it was finished Liana's mom helped us mold the salad by hand and and then decorate it. We decorated it with slices of pickled peppers, cooked egg whites, and carrots. It was delicious. What made the whole experience so special was the relationships we got to enjoy. When we first got to her house we sat and had coffee and homemade pastries. There was no cooking until we had relaxed and talked together. This Friday we are going to make Cozonac. A delicious Romanian bread for special occasions.

Ministry Starts Back Up

Over Christmas and New Years we had a break from ministries but last week they started up again. Maurice is back to doing flooring in Tsigmandru with Marius. This has been really great because he spends more time talking to Marius. Maurice gets to practice his Romanian and Marius is learning English. Maurice has even gone to his house twice for lunch. What a privilege. I have taken the boys there and they love it. It is as close to grandma's farm as they have had. There were pigs, chickens, rabbits, and even puppies.

Mamarute has also started back up. This semester we are doing 10 weeks on habitats around the world. This week was Africa. The kids have fun because we make a poster for each habitat. They color all the pictures and then we glue them on. They are getting to be quite creative. Please be in prayer for one of the little boys in this group. Adi's grandmother died around November and he has really been acting out since them. Please pray that we will know how to help him during this difficult and confusing time.

The Thursday after New Years we hosted an ice cream party for the teens from our church. we invited Liana and Emil's two boys- Lian and Andrei. They came a brought a couple of friends. we made banana splits and I am pretty sure none of them have ever had such a thing. Most kids liked it. We played a great game called "Pass the Pigs" that my sister-in-law sent me for Christmas. The teens loved it and now we play it at any teen gathering. We also had an open gym day at the Baragan school on Saturday to reconnect with the Baragan teens. It was a fun two hours (but I'll admit I was a little sore the next day). We also invited Lian and Adrei. Lian said that it was "forte frumos" meaning it was terrific.

Doama Lenuta (pronounced Lenutza)

If you recall from previous posts this is the elderly women we met during the food drive. We have been continuing our weekly visits to her. She enjoys talking about old traditions, questions about God, and telling stories from her childhood. She wants us to write her stories down and take them to America. When we get them all compiled we will put them on the blog to read. Please be in prayer for her as well. She had some heart problems over Christmas and needs a new pacemaker but can't afford it. She trusts God though to provide for her needs. After Christmas Roberta, Maurice, and I went to see her. She said she had questions about the church and would not have peace until she had the answers. She always asks me who is home with the boys. When I tell her that Maurice is- she just chuckles. She really gets a laugh when I tell her that he washes dishes and does laundry. I guess that is just not man's work here. She likes him anyway. She has promised to go to church in a couple weeks when Maurice is preaching but she is very nervous about all the stairs. Please be in prayer that she will safely get down the stairs when we take her to church.

New Years

Almost everything in town shut down for the first two days of the new year. That pretty much left us nothing to do except stay in our pajamas all day and watch "Pride and Prejudice" - TWICE. The first one was the one Melanie had which is the new version. After that we watched the 6 hour version I have. Maurice is probably a little sick of girl movies. In addition to that we had a visit from Lian and Andrei with their friend Roxi. They came with a rose and pine branch wrapped in tinsel. After some miscommunication I finally understood that Mel and I were just supposed to stand there. They sang us a song and tapped our shoulders with the flower. I am not sure what it means but it was fun.

Christmas Treat

For a Christmas treat over the holidays we all went to a swimming pool about 1/2 hour away. It was a great time and the water felt like bath water. It was a little expensive by Romanian standards but it was actually about the same as going to the movies in America. Nolan and Liam really loved it as they have only had a couple of opportunities to swim since we have been here.

Christmas Day

2007-12-27T22:50:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day in Romania was very different than America but no less busy. The boys slept until 8:30 at which time Nolan exclaimed that Santa had found his presents and put them under the tree. We had breakfast before we even opened presents. I tell you this to contrast my American Christmas morning breakfast to my Romanian Christmas breakfast. In America we usually spend the night at my parents and when we wake up Christmas morning we have a huge breakfast- pancakes, homemade apple topping, egg omelet baked in the oven, donuts, oranges, bacon, etc.. Our breakfast this year was no less exciting although most of you will not think so. We all ate cereal. Not just any cereal. Our Christmas package from our church contained an 8 pack of little Kellogg's cereals. We each ate two of these and Melania finally opened her box of Lucky Charms she brought from America. This may not sound exciting to you but it was to us although I must say that there is a lot more sugar in American cereals. After that we opened presents. We had quite a variety from grandparents, aunts and uncles, and some we brought from America.

Around 12:30 we went to Roberta's house for Christmas dinner. Thanks to whoever sent me Raspberry jello I was able to make jello for dinner. I also made green bean casserole. You say- whats the big deal- a can of cream of mushroom soup, some Durkee french fried onions, and beans. Well it is not so easy when you have to make everything except the beans from scratch. I also made a banana cream pie which Maurice was nice enough to share his favorite pie with all of Roberta's guests. The banana cream pie was a real hit with the Romanian dinner guests. Dinner at Roberta's was like Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. It tasted wonderful.

Now this should have been the end of our busy afternoon until church that night but at the end of Christmas caroling last night we got another invitation for Christmas dinner. Of course I said yes- it was a Romanian family and you don't turn down Romanian hospitality. I also wanted the experience of a Romanian Christmas. As soon as we had finished eating at Roberta's we headed to the Ludu house. Dinner was started with the traditional molded potato salad. I love that stuff. There was also homemade grape juice. After that was done and cleared from the table they brought out a piece of homemade sausage and sarmale with sour cream. Sarmale is the traditional food for any celebration in Romania. It was really good. This was followed by plates of homemade cozonac. This is also a traditional bread for Christmas. There were several varieties- nuts, poppy seeds, turkish delight, and raisins. They were delicious. Then Mrs Ludu served mint tea made with leaves from their garden. That was really good. I had brought a fruit salad and that was brought out at the end. It was definitely an American fruit salad- oranges, pineapple, bananas, whip cream, cut up strawberry marshmallows, and white marshmallows. The Ludu girls loved it.

We relaxed and enjoyed some wonderful conversation. Most of the Ludu girls speak English but Mr and Mrs Ludu do not. Instead of making the girls translate we tried our best to speak Romanian. It was a lot of fun. But alas- on to the next event. We had church in Sighisoara at 6:00 that night. The church was all lit with candles and was beautiful. Melanie and I sang along with Sandy Ludu and Ligia. We sang traditional Romanian Christmas songs along with a couple American Christmas carols - only in Romanian. The group of us that went caroling the night before also had a chance to sing. The Christmas story was told but also the analogy that Christ came to the world to be a light in the world. That is when the last advent candle was lit. At this point oranges were passed out. Each orange had a candle in it. Roberta talked about how we were also called to be a light in our world. Each candle was lit and it was simply beautiful.

Our day was not quite finished though. Mel took the boys home and put them to bed but Maurice and I went back to Roberta's house. We warmed up leftovers for one last Christmas meal. This gave us energy to do the mountain of dishes left from Christmas dinner. This was a real service to Roberta. About two 1/2 hours later we finally headed home and Christmas was over.

Christmas Eve

2007-12-26T04:14:00.000-08:00

Here in Romania there is a tradition on Christmas Eve, Christmas caroling. Romanians love to sing and visit their friends, so caroling combines both. We did not plan on participating, but we were asked by the Ludu family from our church here in Sighisoara to join them. Since we had no real plans, we said that we would love to join them. So we met them at there home at 6:00 PM to practice three Romanian Christmas carols, thankfully they printed them out for us to follow. Then we set out. We visited about nine homes in Baragon and Sighisoara, mainly older women from our church. We eventually ended up here in the Citadel, finishing at Roberta's house. It is customary that after you sing a song or two, you are invited in for sweets and a drink of some sweet beverage. I have to confess that after that many stops, I was starting to feel more than a little sick to my stomach. We got back around 10:00 PM and the boys went to sleep very easy and actually slept fairly good Christmas morning. We had a terrific time, it was so different from our usual American Christmas Eve routines. In our next post we will tell you about our very busy Christmas day. Maurice

God Asked, We Obeyed, and the Blessings

2007-12-19T12:34:00.000-08:00

I thought I would give an update about the Canned Food Drive as well as some reflections on the whole experience now that it is finally done.

Saturday morning we woke up to find at least 4 inches of snow on the ground. Maybe not the best weather for the food collection but at least it was not raining. When we got to the school the only kids that showed up were the two Ludu girls (Alexandra and Loridana) with their little sister Bianca. They go to church with us. Dragoste ( one of the Romanian leaders) also came with us. After meeting with the Veritas staff it had been determined that we only needed packages for 75 families rather than 100. That meant on Saturday we set our goal for at least 27 food items. We had already received a large cash donation from a store owner who also hung up signs in her store. We collected until 1pm and met our goal for the day. With more people resources we would have been able to collect more as there were still at least 300 apartments we weren't able to get to.

The day had it's fair share of downs and ups and I want to share those with you. Early on in the day the Ludu girls with Mel got yelled at by a not very nice women and the women's neighbor. They were called all kinds of names like beggar and gypsy and they just felt miserable and lost almost all courage to continue. It is to be expected that things like this will happen. Some people in this world are just really unhappy people. Knowing that though doesn't make it any easier when you experience these unhappy people. I give a lot of credit to those girls though. They stuck it out and kept collecting. I kept praying after that for them to have a really good experience somewhere that would ease the hurt. It came towards the end for them and it really was a blessing. The girls knocked on the door and when the elderly couple answered the door they were so excited and said "They came, they came". The couple had two large bags of flour just waiting for us. The couple was so sweet and wonderful to the girls.

I had a blessing of a different sort that day. I knocked on one door. A man answered and we gave him the paper explaining what we were doing. I think he told us to wait although I am not sure so when he closed the door I waited. Eventually the door opened again and an elderly woman was there who was about to leave. She came out in the hallway and seeing as I was still waiting for them to send me away or give me something I thought I would help the women to the stairs. That led to helping her go up the one flight of stairs to her apartment. When we got up there she asked me to come it. I decided to be more like Romanians and take her up on the offer- the collecting would just have to wait. I talked with her a little bit and understood enough to realize that she rarely ever leaves the apartment. I asked her if we could come sing Christmas carols for her on Monday night. She thought that would be wonderful although she said she had nothing to give us if we came caroling. Not to worry I said- we would bring oranges. When I finally left, the woman from the apartment on the floor below came out with a bag of sugar. I will tell how the Monday night went later on.

After the food drive we took the girls out for pizza at a restaurant. That was a real treat for them (as it would be for many Romanians). I am not sure if they had ever been in a restaurant before. For a Romanian- restaurants are very expensive. I sat there and thought about the contrast. Nolan and Liam have been in so many restaurants that they take it for granted and here these three girls are sitting having pizza and bottles of sprite and it is a real treat. Americans really don't realize how other parts of the world live or what we take for granted.

Tuesday night we took the money that had been raised (240 Ron) and went and purchased 62 bottles of oil, 57 bags of sugar, and 52 bags of flour. Alexandra and Dragoste went with us. This was also quite a new experience for them. Dragoste said he felt like Mos Nicolai (St Nicolas). The cost of cooking oil, flour, and sugar has really gone up in price since the summer. I just looked our receipts from the summer and the same bottle of oil in July cost 2.59 and when we bought it the cost was up to 4.59. Flour and sugar have each gone up about .50. That may not seem like much but when a good wage is around 2.5 an hour, it is a lot. Cooking oil is used a lot in Romanian diets so it is particularly painful for the price of oil to be going up so much. We matched what the Romanians donated using ministry money in our budget. So each one of you that contributes financially know that this month you helped provide oil, sugar, and flour to families who will really appreciate getting it.

Maurice and I packed the bags this morning and then got two unexpected surprises when we went to check on the details of distributing the food items this evening. The first was that we had just asked that the story be put in the local newspaper. Turns out that the thanks to our friend Petra it will also be on the radio and television. This is really important that the kids and those that contributed can see the results of their efforts. The other surprise was that the Hochland cheese company wanted to be a sponsor and donated one cheese wheel for each packet

Tonight was the night that Veritas held a dinner for the families that would be recipients of the the food packages. It was really a beautiful evening and after dinner we were asked to come up and talk about the food packages. All of us that had collected came up and I talked to them about what we had done and explained that these packages weren't from Veritas or from the church. These packages came from their neighbors and people in the community. That is what really made this special. Dragoste and Alexandra both talked about how they had prayed for courage and found it and how much this has changed them. Andreia (she works with the teens from the Family Center) asked if she could share a few words. She shared how much it meant not only that people collected food but that people were wiling to give. She said that this would change the way they look at things and believing in things that might seem impossible. Then one of the men stood up and thanked us and told us how special what we did was. The really touching part was that they all stood up and sang the traditional song that it sung at all celebrations in Romania. It made me cry and I am pretty sure Maurice was tearing up.

Here are some reflections on the whole experience:
1. We will never understand as Americans what this means to Romanians who spent more than 50 years under a communist regime and see very little hope, even now that communism is gone, for a better life. It is hard to describe but you get the sense that no one believed it was possible and were more than pleasantly surprised when it did. They may actually begin to find hope in their community again.

2. As Americans we take most things for granted. We contributed the equivalent of $120 to complete the food packages. To Romanians that feels more like $1200. Even more amazing is that is what Romanians themselves contributed. We probably also find it hard to imagine what the big deal is with a bag of sugar, a bottle of oil, and a small sack of flour. For many that may be as much as a day's wages.

3. I am not sure what God's plan was in all of this and it would be easy to get discouraged that no other kids showed up on Saturday to collect food. Instead I like to focus on the positive things where I can see God really working. To see the courage that God gave the Romanians who did this is amazing. To see that if we just answer his call he will provide.

4. From my devotional:

II Kings 3: 17-18
"You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and animals will drink. This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord.." To human reason, what God was promising seemed simply impossible, but nothing is too difficult for him. It is the role of faith not to question but to simply obey. In the story above from the scriptures, the people were asked to "make this valley full of ditches" (II Kings 3:16). The people obeyed, and then water came pouring in from some supernatural source to fill them. What a lesson for our faith! (Excerpt from Streams in the Desert by LB Cowman)

5. Lastly- I promised I would share about the woman we went to sing with. She loved it and it was really a blessing for me to be a part of that. Her story is sad. She is a 79 year old women who lost her husband and one son 3 years ago. She lost her daughter at the age of 7 when she fell off the back of a wagon and she doesn't speak with her other son due to some conflict. She has a pace maker and lives on the 4th floor of an apartment building. She almost never leaves the apartment building as there is not an elevator. In fact in all of Sighisoara there is only one apartment building with an elevator. During communist times only buildings with more than 5 floors needed an elevator. Thus most buildings were only built with 5 floors. As an American who grew up with the Americans with Disabilities Act it is incomprehensible the difficulty faced by the elderly and people with special needs in this country. As Americans we take it for granted that there are always elevators, escalators, handicap ramps, and handicap parking. You won't find much of that here. So next time you ride one- be thankful and remember the people who are not as fortunate.

6. Thanks so much to everyone who supports us with prayer. Those prayers have been invaluable.

-Karen

Prayer Need

2007-12-12T12:45:00.000-08:00

We are in a situation that could really use your prayer help. It all has to do with our house back in America. When we decided to come to Romania for a year, it was clear that we needed to rent our home for one year to cover our costs for the house and not have it be a burden to our Romania missions budget. We were able to make arrangements to rent our home to group of five young men and make it a "Discipleship House" for Young Life in our area. This sounded great at the time and was really an answer to prayer. Unfortunately things have not been working out as well as we had hoped and prayed that they would. Due to many unforeseen circumstances this group of five has been a constantly fluctuating group of two or three. They have been unable to meet the full rent amount each month. This has quickly become a financial burden that we can no longer carry on our own. We need your prayer as to how to best handle this situation. Also that God would help give us wisdom how to handle this situation. If you know of any possible renters who would be interested in a 6 month lease- please let us know. We are still trusting that God has this situation in His hands but being so far from home just makes it more difficult and that much more necessary to rely on God. Maybe that's His point. He has so often taught us here that He will meet our needs and to trust Him. Maurice & Karen

Canned Food Drive- A Crazy Idea

2007-12-08T11:18:00.000-08:00

Today was a great day.

Our teen group at the Baragan school is primarily boys with generally one exception. Over the last month we have talked about "respect" and what that means. What does respect for the earth, other people, elderly, disabled, school property, and for ourselves look like? That last question about respect for ourselves became even more important when we smoking and drinking came up as topics. Most of the boys in our group range from 12-15 with a couple older than that. Some of these kids have been smoking for years and quite likely drinking almost as long. One really great kid has been smoking since he was seven. The tactics used in America just don't work here when trying to convince kids that smoking isn't good. "It's bad for your health" is often followed by the response "so what" or "what does it matter anyway". The kids often feel there is no hope for their future anyway.

This in turn leads not to telling kids "you do have a future, you should care" but rather showing these kids you care about them and giving them opportunities to show that they can make a positive impact on the world around them. This is what we have been doing these last couple of weeks. I used the American idea of a canned food drive for Thanksgiving as the main idea. As there is no Thanksgiving here we are doing this for Christmas. The theme is 'Hope for One Hundred this Christmas". The one hundred referred to are 100 families in a local social services program (Veritas).

Believe me when I say that this idea in Romania has met with no shortage of skepticism, criticism, and cynicism from Romanians and non-Romanians alike. No such thing has been done in this area before. An intriguing idea, a great idea, but no such thing has ever been done like that in this area and we are not sure when everyone is struggling if anyone would be willing to give anything. But for those of you that know me- when someone says it can't be done- it just serves as a challenge for me. The kids asked- "what if no one gives?". I said that all we can do is what God asked us to do and the rest is up to him. When one looks at the impact that 100 small food packages may have for the families who receive them- one may ask why even do it. But the bigger objective was to show these kids who see no hope that there is meaning to their lives and they can change the world around them. That this little group can change the community just by asking for a donation and showing that they do care about others.

Tuesday night we went with 7 of the teens from our group around a section of the Baragan apartments and hung up 45 posters asking for people to donate oil, sugar, flour, or can fruits or vegetables. We asked that each family donate one. On Thursday, Maurice and I walked around and hung up 45 more posters. We figured that 45 posters would be seen by approximately 1000 people. Based on that number I would be happy with 100 people donating something.

Today was a beautiful sunny day and when we got to the school two of our Romanian leaders and the two American students (Courtney and Rebekah) but there were only 4 kids. It didn't matter. Dragoste prayed and we set on our way. I was confident that this would work- I had really felt God calling me to do this- but we just needed patience and some early successes. In the beginning the 3 boys were very shy and embarrassed to ask for food. Remember that it probably has the connotation of begging. Even the Romanian leaders- Sandy and Dragoste were very nervous. But you know what- God had everything in his hands. Dragoste had prayed for courage and watching him today you would never know that he is very shy. After only 3 apartment blocks the three boys decided that they just couldn't do it- people knew them here and they just couldn't handle it- so they left. I felt confident though that we would see them again. We kept going though. Little Loredana was amazing. Few people could resist her cute little voice and she got braver every apartment we went to. I began to ponder what would come of today and part of me really believes that we gave confidence to the Romanian leaders and that today would have a lasting impact on them. Dragoste was beaming every time someone responded to his request. Once we moved to a different section of Baragon the boys came back. They started knocking on doors and speaking to the people that answered. It was amazing to see.

At the end of the day we had collected 68 Ron (Romanian currency) to be used for food purchases and 45 food items such as sugar, flour, and oil. Seeing as we only covered approximately 300 apartments. We are going to collect again next Saturday to cover the rest of the apartments we couldn't get to today.

I want to share some of the really great stories from today to show that Romanians do care about their community and their neighbors. There were several apartments we went to where people had clearly read our poster and were prepared for us to come. They had food waiting for us at the door. One woman had sugar, flour, and oil all tied up in a bag for us. Another man said to come back and them we saw him leaving. He went to the little store next door and bought oil, sugar, flour and then gave it to us. Another women who hadn't answered her door walked downstairs just to give us a bag of flour. Another women originally said no but after we had already moved to the next floor she came out to give a donation. Some people donated lots of clothes instead. There were three women who are part of the elderly club whose apartments we stopped at. They clearly did not have much but each one of them gave something. Is was very touching. These are just some of the many blessings we witnessed today but for me the biggest blessing was the look on the faces of all those who participated.

Please continue to pray for this little group of kids and leaders, for the hearts of the people of Baragan, and the community these kids live in. Pray also for the mayor of the city as we intend to ask the primeria (city hall) for a donation as well. Please also pray that the light of Christ will shine though us as we spend time with these kids and they will be drawn to ask questions about him.

(The picture is Nolan's rendition of collecting food today)- Thanks for all your prayers- Karen

It's Official

2007-12-07T11:04:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday was a huge day for us and many people here. The church in Tsigmandru was officially organized and the building was dedicated. This was the culmination of four years of work and planning. Our church, Pearce Memorial, has sent a group every year to work on the building. It has been a blessing for everyone who came on those short term missions trips, to see the building go from concept, with four stakes in the ground, to completion. It has been a frantic three weeks working up the the dedication day getting everything completed. It was especially inspiring to me to see the people of the village come together and work night and day to finish their church. There now are three Church of the Nazarene in Romania, one in Bucharest, Sighisoara, and now Tsigmandru. Pastors, church leaders, and people from all these churches came together in Tsigmandu for the building dedication, official church organization, and their district conference. Twenty-two people were made the first members of the church after it was officially organized. Here are some pictures, I will put up an album of pictures with the finished church, it is amazing indeed. The main theme of the weekend was that this is not the end, but only the beginning of a Ministry Center that will change lives in Tsigmandru and the surrounding villages. Maurice

My Boys

2007-11-30T05:48:00.000-08:00

I feel compelled to talk about my boys. Earlier this week I dropped them off at school in the morning. They took off their winter clothes, put on their slippers (worn in schools here), went into their classroom, and waved goodbye to me through the window. It really hit me that day. I am so proud of them! In a culture where I sometimes struggle with the language, culture, and being away from home, they are unbelievably great examples to me. I drop them off at a school where the kids do not speak english and the go every day without complaint. They embrace the culture, the language, and the entire experience of Romania. They live in the moment and enjoy every day as it occurs. What a great experience for them and me as they teach me about life. Maurice

Just Plain Busy

2007-11-26T11:20:00.000-08:00

We are sorry we have not posted more often. I can not believe that it is almost December! November has flown by with a whirlwind if activity. I will try to catch you up:

Last week we went Budapest, Hungary for the Free Methodist European Church Leadership Conference. It is an event that is held every other year for missionaries, pastors, and church leaders from the European Free Methodist churches. It was a great time for use to learn, share, worship, network, and relax. It was excellent, there were 15 countries with 13 different languages represented. Here is a link to Larry Winkles blog that describes it in more detail if you like http://winckles.typepad.com/update/.

Then on Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving. In Romania, it is just another day. So I went to work in Tsigmandru and the boys went to school. I would be lying if I said it was easy working on the holiday. I am all about the Thanksgiving meal and watching football with family and friends. Then in the evening we went down to Roberta's for a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Wow, was it great! It definately felt great to eat. It made it easier to be away from home on a holiday. We ate with the five of us, Roberta, Hans from the Netherlands, Morag from Scotland, and nurse Annie from England. It was very multi-national, yet very American. Maurice

Baragan Teen Ministry Update

2007-11-03T01:13:00.000-07:00

Up until this point I (Maurice) have been part of the leadership team but have not gone to the teen club in Baragan on Tuedays evenings. I went this week for the first time and was a little overwhelmed at first. We have a classroom that we rent in the school there. The club has been growing each week, with a high of 17, this week we had 26! It was a little loud and chaotic, but also great in another sense. After an hour the teenage Romanian boys, who are very macho and proud of their muscles, lined up to arm wrestle me. After about six straight boys my arm was ready to fall off. Then us boys went outside to play basketball in the dark. It was only after a few minutes of investing time in them and they were very attached to me. It was remarkable to me that they are so hungry for attention from an adult male. I instantly felt a bond to alot of the boys. Most of the boys play handball in school, and they were all telling us when their games are and asking us to come. For me, it was the first ministry that I really felt needed and God drawing me to. It is a place that I feel I can really make an impact. Maurice

Ministry Updates

2007-10-28T23:33:00.000-07:00

There are lots of exciting things going on with Ministry right now. First- the Mamarute children's club is still growing. Wen we started 6 weeks ago we had 7 children. This last tuesday we had a record 16 children. We were able to contain the group all in one room of the apartment but noware using two rooms. This actually works great because we are able to put the younger kids in one room and the older kids in another room. Each week we are doing a Alphabet letter, a story, songs in english, and a bible verse that relates to our letter of the week. Last week when we did the letter "R" our craft was a rainbow and we talked about Noah and the rainbow in the bible. We also try to do an interesting snack that goes with the letter of the week. The week we did the letter "T" we gave the kids tomatoes with tuna in them. A big hit- try that on American kids. We also have been blessed with a second Romanian translator. Chilla is a girl one of the American students has got to know. She grew up in an orphanage and is now working in a factory. She has come for 4 weeks now to help and is just great. She is really good with the kids. Magda is the other Romanian that helps. She is the assistant pastor at the church. Please pray for the safety of the children as they travel to and from club with it getting darker earlier.

On another exciting note the Baragon teens club is also growing. We have had as many as 17 kids. Up until this week we had been just been playing games and building relationships with the kids. Sometimes we would talk about how there week was. This week the club broke new ground though and it is scary and exciting all at once. We were going to teach them a christian song that was really fun. When we started to explain the song they all had this wierd look on their faces. One of the kids said " This isn't and orthodox song- is it?" Turns out all the children in our club except the two that go to our church are Romanian Orthodox. Orthodox is pretty much the state sponsored religion. It is very similar to catholicism but much older. They have a patriarch in Romania similar to the Pope in Rome. Under communism this was the only allowed religion. Some Orthodox priests are tolerant of other religions but unfortunately there are many that are not. Kids in the school are required to take Orthodox religious classes unless they get permission to go to a different class. Non- orthodox people (or protestants) are generally called "Pocait" which I do not think is a nice word. Kids can get picked on pretty bad for being a "pocait". When this came up in our teen club we broke up into three groups and tried to define similarities. This at least established some common ground. There were some very good discussions in these groups and the kids really participated. At the end we got back together and said that we wanted to understand their religion and we asked that they be open to understanding what we beleive. God was certainly in those discussions as none of us had planned for that conversation to come. Please be in prayer for this teen group and also for the two kids that go to our church that they would have a sense of peace and be encouraged in their faith.

The teen leadership is also growing. We have 4 Romanians in our leadership group which is great as well as Maurice, Melanie, myself, 2 American students, and 1 volunteer. On Wednesday we had a leadership meeting and talked about plans for future teen activities as well as how to proceed with future discussions. Please be in prayer for this.

Check out the picture album called Ministry October for ministry pictures.

Weekend Retreat

2007-10-26T07:58:00.000-07:00

A week and a half ago I went on a weekend retreat with the staff from the Veritas organization, the American students studying in Sighisoara, and volunteers. During the 3 days of the retreat we looked at personality types and how these traits helped us contribute to the organization. The retreat was at a beautiful private chalet in the mountains. During the retreat I had a chance to sing many of the old hymns in Romanian. It was beautiful. We walked up to the top of a mountain through a beautiful forest. God's creation was spectacular. We even saw a mushroom straight from a fairy tale. It was red with white spots. On Saturday morning a few of us got up at 6:00 to drive to a market in the village part way down the mountain. Although they had a vegetable market I was not prepared to see the meat market. There were whole wash tubs of just kidneys or livers. Racks of meat just hanging. I tried to take a picture of them chopping up the meat. This apparently infuriated one of the boss men who starting yelling at me. Then he gave Roberta and I a none to gentle push out of there. Other than that though I found that people in the market loved having pictures taken with their vegetables. The fall foliage was incredible on Thursday and Friday. Maurice and the boys came to spend the night on Saturday and by that evening we had gotten snow. When we woke up in the morning it felt like Christmas. The whole mountains had been transformed into a winter wonderland. The boys were so excited and we had to go out an play in it. Unfortunately, I had not planned for snow and the boys had no mittens. To Nolan's indignation I made him wear socks on his hands. They had a great time but it also nice to get back to our own home. Check out the picture album called "Weekend Retreat".- Karen

Famous First

2007-10-12T09:53:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, October 7th, was a big day here for me and Karen. The Nazarene church had its European conference in Turkey. So almost everyone who in any position of authority, in either church, was out of town for about a week. So Roberta, the pastor for both the Sighisoara and Tsigmandru churches, asked if Karen and I would "run" both services. Karen chose the music for both services and I volunteered to preach at both churches. I know, this was shocking to me also. I came up with a topic to talk about in the service here in Sighisoara, but I was struggling with material for the theme I wanted for Tsigmandru. I talked about it with Karen and she felt that her testimony better fit the theme that I had in mind, so she volunteered to preach in Tsigmandru. Well it went great for both of us. I felt lead to preach, but it was very stressful to do for the first time. The enormous responsibilty and privledge to preach was not lost on me. It is the highlight of my work here thus far. I like to joke that all the Nazarenes left town and turned over the keys of the church to the Free Methodists.

Karen and Melanie were able to go on a retreat this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday with the staff, students, and volunteers of Veritas. I have been home alone with the boys, which is much more difficult here than in America. We are doing well and will be joining the group on retreat tommorrow. The retreat ends Saturday at noon, and families are invited to come stay Saturday evening. The boys are very excited because the retreat area is located in the mountains near Sibiu. I am sure that Karen will make a post and put up some pictures of the retreat after she returns home. Maurice

Birthday

2007-10-10T06:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of entries lately, but now I have three. I will do one each day. Last Thursday was birthday!(Maurice) For those who want to know my age, I am two years younger than S.D. thinks he is and four years younger then P.D. really is. Sorry for the inside joke if you do not get it. Actually that day I went out to the church in Tsigmandru and worked. Karen brings out the nurse to Tsigmandru on Thursdays for the doctor clinic. I usually ahve to stop my construction because it is too loud while the doctor is seeing patients. This past week we decided to climb the hill across the main road from the church in Tsigmandru. The boys went up with us also. We took some pictures which I have posted. We then went home, had a nice dinner, and Karen baked me a cake. I got some phone calls from home, a few electronic B-day cards, and some real cards in the mail. Thanks to everyone who did that. Maurice

What is inside a chicken?

2007-10-03T12:06:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share a cultural difference that caught me off guard today. I had bought a whole chicken to roast. I had done this a couple of weeks ago and there was nothing different than an American chicken. So today when I went to cook this chicken it was a real shocker. First I reached inside and pulled out the neck. I then reached in a pull out what I quickly realized were a pair of chicken feet. Interesting I thougt. I reached in to see if there was gizzard. When I pulled it out and looked at it I quickly realizd it was no gizzard. It was a chicken head. Once the shock was over Mel pointed out that Magda gives these to the cat. So in an effort to recycle I threw the claws and head out the back door. I am sure by morning that one of our many neighborhood cats will be sleeping fat and happy with a chicken head in it's tummy. Just had to share this funny little tidbit. - Karen

Ministry Updates

2007-10-01T13:22:00.000-07:00

Thought I would take the time to update everyone on the Mamarute Children's Ministry as well as a new ministry that we are starting tomorrow night. Mamarute had a great turnout for our second week. We had 12 children last Wednesday. We worked on the letter "G", made Giraffe puppets, had grapes, and sang Hokey Pokey and I'm in the Army of the Lord. We also did a bible verse about God's creation and talked about what God was doing when he made the Giraffe- was he falling asleep when he was working on the neck or did he sneeze when he was painting the giraffe and so now there are spots. We are trying to get the children to see God as someone real and caring. We asked what he(God)was thinking when he gave Delia rosy cheeks or when he gave Raul a serious look. If you look in the ministry album you will see some cute picture of the kids who come to Mamarute.

Tuesday night will be our first night of the young teen ministry at the Baragan School. The ministry is for 12-15 year olds. It will be an opportunity for these kids to play games, listen to music, hang out with their friends in a safe environment. We also want to build relationships with these kids so we can talk about life issues. Roberta and I went to meet the school administration on Friday to ask them if we could use the school. Everyone we talked to at the school was wonderful. The administrator said yes to everything we asked for and thought it was a great opportunity for the kids. When we had our youth leadership meeting last Tuesday we were also very encouraged because we had a Romanian man from the church named Relu who said he be there every week. What a blessing. Any ministry that we start needs to have a Romanian who can sustain it when we leave. Relu's story really illustrates what can happen when we leave the direction for our lives in his hands. Relu had left his job in Romania and was going to get work abroad. He came back not long after leaving and said he was going to stay in Romania because he thought that is where God wanted him. Now he is getting the opportunity to help start new ministry. Relu also feels that he is being called to start a puppet ministry. Maurice is going to help him build the puppet stage and will start some puppet shows in the young teen and children's ministries. Please be in prayer for him and his family. Another prayer request is for the two American students, Courtney and Rebekah, who are helping to start this ministry. They have had a really rough week due to having to move host families. Ana Maria's mother was there host mother but because Ana Maria's health has deteriorated from the cancer her mother is coming to America to be with her. As a result the girls need to move out which is hard but they also see their "mama & tata" so upset about their daughter and they can't do anything to comfort them. The whole situation in the Lord's hands.

Lastly- Maurice and I will both be preaching on Sunday. Roberta will be gone on Sunday so Maurice will preach in Sighisoara and I will give the message in Tsigmandru. Please pray that hearts will be open to hear and that the words we speak will be God's and not ours. The Tsigmandru church has really grown. I am working with a Romanian there named Hordu to raise him up to be a worship leader. There is the language barrier to overcome but also the literacy barrier. We try to practice music on Thursdays when he is not working or after church. He works on reading the words and then goes home and memorizes him. He has such a heart for Jesus. Last week he prayed a prayer of thanksgiving that his children are learning to pray. Please in prayer for him and his family as they grow in their faith- not that God would improve their circumstances but that God would be able to use those circumstances to witness to others about the love of Christ. - Karen

Construction Update

2007-09-27T08:57:00.000-07:00

This week I have had the pleasure to work with a group from Michigan. They are here to do various things around the Veritas ministries, but also wanted to help do construction on the new church building in Tsigmandru. They were a tremendous help to me by laying the uderlayment and flooring. We were able to put underlayment in Roberta's lab, the small classroom, and the hallway in between. Then we laid the flooring in the hallway and the classroom. The team was most helpful to me by simply working out the best way to do the flooring. Coming up with the procedure is more than half the battle in a foreign country. I have included some pictures and I would like to give a big thank you to the group for all their help and support. Maurice

Ministry Success!

2007-09-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

We apologize for the lack of posts lately. This past Sunday we had a special memorial service for Magda Cini's mother for the Nazarene church in Tsigmandru. She was buried in the Orthodox cemetery and therefore had to have a Orthodox funeral. Roberta, the pastor, felt that we needed to have a second Nazarene memorial service that focused on the hope that we have in death and eternal life.<

Monday we all went to Targu Mures to apply for our Visas that will allow us to stay for a year. It was an interesting and exhausting experience. It took most of a work day for eight of us to make multiple stops and wait in lines. In the end the adults finished this step of the process, we now have to wait a month, but we were not prepared for the extensive requirements for the boys' visas. Needless to say- we need to get a lot more paperwork to get the boy's Visas.

Now for the great news. Today was the first day for the Mamarte (Ladybugs) Club in the Baragan area of Sighisoara. This is the first new ministry that we, meaning Karen, have started since we arrived. Up until this part we have helped out in pre-existing ministries. The leadership really felt that the church needed to reach out to the Baragon area of the city, where there is only one Orthodox church but where sixty percent of the population live. This club is the first of three that we hope to help begin. Karen, Magda Balaban, and an American student named Abby, who is here for a semester abroad started this new ministry. Karen was nervous when she left today that no children would show up. They used the existing elderly club in Baragon to hand out invitations to their grandchildren and children in their apartment buildings. There was no way to know if anyone would show up, but when she arrived there were already four children outside waiting. In the end seven children showed up and asked if the could bring there friends next week! We are so happy and pray for continued growth and success. We also pray that this will be a spring board to start other groups in Baragon. It is also very important to use to develop these ministries with strong Romanian leadership so that it can be sustained long after we leave. Maurice

A little more about Mamarute- It is a club for children 4-8 on Wednesdays from 3-4:30. We do crafts, singing, games, snack, stories, and practice english. We had such a wonderful time with the children today. We worked on the english letter "L" for "Ladybug", played Uno to work on our colors and letters, did the "Hokey Pokey", and made ladybug hats (that is the picture above). We also gave them a scripture verse in both languages about god's creatures. They took this home with them. We also read the Berenstein Bears "The Spooky Old Tree" first in romanian and then english. The older children are very eager to learn english. We are trying also to connect the children's club to the elderly club. Whether this be by making cookies or coming to help once in a while. Please be in prayer for this new group as well as for the connection to the elderly club and church. - Karen

2007-09-12T12:41:00.000-07:00

Today was a new cultural experience for us. I feel I need to describe this so you can get a taste of Romanian culture. We went the the funeral for the women we talked about in our last blog. In the States as well as probably most of Western Europe, death is sterilized. We keep a safe distance and the dead are fixed up to appear as they did in life. Death is different here. I won't explain morbid details but give enough to get the picture. The family is responsible to go to the hospital and get the body (as was pointed out to me yesterday- I said "body" and not "her"). The family must cloth the body, carry it out to the car, and bring it home. The body is then laid out in the house in an open casket. Embalming doesn't exist here. Burials happen within a day or two for this reason.

The day of the funeral the casket is then brought into the courtyard of the house where the Orthodox priest gives a liturgy. Today was pouring rain and cold. After the liturgy the casket was taken to the cemetery. Her wish for her funeral was that her grandchildren would carry her casket through the village to the cemetery. She had 70 of them. She also lived on the opposite end of the village from the cemetery so the grandchildren followed by family and friends (150 people) walked the 1 km to the cemetery in the rain on the main street. Rather than baskets of flowers at a funeral they make these 1-1 1/2 meter tall pine branch cluster that stand against the wall. There are flowers on the front of these but the flowers always in an even number like 12. We go to the cemetery and 30 of us each had one of these. As the funeral procession comes into the cemetery we form almost a long tunnel by hold these branches up on the air (like military swords are held to make an arch). The procession then passes under these. There is also a group of musicians that lead the procession. A violin, a trumpet, and an accordian. We walked up the hill which was quite treacherous with the rain and so many people. At the top was a perfectly rectangular hand dug grave. The casket is then lowered in the ground and the priest does a few more things at the grave side. Then the grave is filled completely back in and mounded. A wooded cross is placed in the ground. Then all the pine branches are laid on top. It made the most beautiful mound of flowers and pine. By this point I was cold and wet. When we got down to the bottom of the hill we were all invited into the community center where long tables and wooden benches were lined with soup bowls. We ate delicious soup, followed by cabbage, and then a hearty bowl of potatoes and meat. For many in the village this was rare meal and truly a blessing.

As I considered this new experience I think about what our friend Hans said yesterday. Romanians may live in a house with three generations- you will see babies being born, babies being made, and people dying. Families are very close. I don't write any of this to say that the Romanian way is bad- it is just different and it makes me wonder when our culture had to made death look so clean.

Even though Magda's mama came to the Nazarene church she was buried Orthodox. The Nazarene church doesn't have a cemetery so the only place to be buried in the village is the Orthodox cemetery which mean it must be an Orthodox burial. On Sunday night we will be having a memorial service at the Tsigmandru Church. Tomorrow I will be going out there to practice music with some men and women from the village for the service. Please be in prayer that this will be a time of healing for the family and an opportunity for the people of the village to turn their eyes to God and rely on him for strength in this difficult time.- Karen

2007-09-10T00:04:00.000-07:00

Today is a somber day for us here and the entire Church of the Nazarene "family". Magda Cini, who is the leading Romanian lay person for the church in Tsigmandru, lost her mother in a tragic accident. She was crossing the busy road just prior to the evening church service in Tsigmandru when she was struck and killed by a vehicle. It was just as the entire congregation was gathering, so it was especially shocking. We ask for prayer for her family and the entire Nazarene church community in Tsigmandru. Maurice

Motherhood and Other Stuff

2007-09-04T11:49:00.000-07:00

Well today I think I can say that as a mother I have taken a giant step into assimilating into the Romania culture and it feels really good. First- I took the boys to get there first haircut in Romania. I am not quite ready to try the clippers myself. The three of us went to the Frizarie (hair cut place) this morning. My limited Romanian doesn't include many hair cut words but I do know what the words for scissors and clippers are. In the states I keep Liam's hair a little longer than Nolan just because his is blond and looks bald when I cut it too short. But- I had no choice here as I couldn't say 3 on the side and 4 on the top. They wouldn't understand it anyway. Both boys got their hair cut pretty short and sat still the whole time.

After lunch they had a playdate of sorts with the children of our property manager (Emil). Emil's wife Liana is a very sweet Romanian women and she loves the boys. She has two boys of her own (Lian and Andre) who are a few years older that Nolan. They asked Nolan and Liam to play soccer with them. Believe it or not we played right on the street. When a car came everyone just yelled "masina" (car) and everyone moved off the road. I played with them and we had a great time. Stephanie Levan was right when she said children would help open doors here in Romania.

After soccer Liam wanted to go to Andre's house. We played Europolis which is the European version of Monopoly. The cities of Romania are on the cheap street. I had to go because I had language lessons but the boy's did not want to go so I left them there for an hour. Big step for me because the boys don't speak Romanian and Liana and her boys speak very little English. It didn't matter because children have a great way of communicating through their expressions. I went to pick them up and they were having a great time. They were invited to come play soccer tomorrow after school. God has really blessed us with a Romanian family as friends and it is great that the boys are making new friendships.

On another note- I am trying to get to know the adults in the Tsigmandru church and God has laid it on my heart to pray with them at times. One of the men from the village is having heart surgery on Thursday and wants people to come to Tigre Mures to pray with him. Roberta asked if I would like to go along with her to the hospital and pray for this man. Please keep him in your prayers as well.

Maurice had a productive day as well. While I was out forming relationships he was painting at the Sighisoara church. There is so much to be done here at this church that Maurice is going to spend one day a week at the Sighisoara church doing projects.

Keep the boys in your prayers. School starts tomorrow and we all need to get up earlier than we have over the summer. - Karen

2007-09-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Targu Mures to purchase hard wood flooring for the ministry center in Tsigmandru. It was a long and exhausting day, buying things in Romania takes longer than in the States. So when you buy a major purchase such as I made today, it takes a very long time. It is not just the language difficulties, it just takes more paper work and patience. There is no checking system here in Romania and credit cards are rare. So if you want to make a major purchase like I did today, you have to carry a large wad of Romanian money around in your pocket. I try to shop and pretend that there is not five thousand Romanian Lei on my person. The purchase is done, some of the flooring is being delivered, and the remainder will come in a month or so. Now we need to prep the very uneven sub floor for the flooring installation.

Upon returning to Tsigmandru, I meet up with Melanie for the younger teens club. This was the first time that 9-13 year olds were separated from the younger children for a program of their own. This was done because siblings of this age are required to care for their younger brother and sisters. So when there is kids club these 9-13 year olds are "working" and not enjoying themselves or being ministered to. They are forced to grow up very quickly. So this group was formed to separate them so they can just be kids. What a great success it was today. Thirty children showed up and had a terrific time. I found myself participating in a game of "shuffle your buns." These was a new concept to these kids but they had great fun. They also played a game where we tied a balloon to their ankles, and pairs faced off to stomp the other balloon until it breaks. There was not a person in the room, adult or child, who was not laughing uncontrollably. It was great to see the laughter and the freedom to just be a kid. It was very refreshing to me and to them the children. Maurice

Ministry Update

2007-09-01T12:17:00.000-07:00

Today is a day "off", so I am going to try and catch you up on our current ministeries here in Romania. This will be a long entry that will cover the last two weeks. Maurice

Beregon Update:
We have had our first meeting at the Beregon apartment and are going to begin work on two particular ministries to start. The first is a pre-teen ministry that may be able to work through the school system. We have learned that there is a couple that runs a Young Life program in a different area of Romania. We are hoping to make contact with them and gain insight into youth ministry in Romania. The Orthodox Church is the predominant church in Romania. Children who participate in protestant sponsored activities are often ridiculed and excluded. The Young Life leaders we want to make contact with have a great working relationship with the Orthodox priest in the area and we want to see what that looks like.

The second ministry we are looking at is a “20 Something” bible study. There is very little opportunity for social activity among this age group in a safe and positive environment. Please be in prayer as this ministry develops.

Tsigmandru Update:
We had our first church leadership meeting on Tuesday 8/28. The meeting was combined group of Romanians, Americans, and Dutch all working together in developing a church plan. The first baptism is being planned for late October. There are many challenges surrounding this because there is not a baptismal at the church and there is not a lake or stream at the church where baptisms could be done. We are looking at purchasing a small portable swimming pool so that the baptisms can be performed at the Tsigmandru church. It is a very exciting time in the life of the church. There continues to be new believers in the Tsigmandru church and my eyes just filled up with tears as I saw so may accepting Christ during last weeks service on the Prodigal’s son. Please be in prayer for the village of Tsigmandru and those who are seeking Christ in their lives.

We also discussed the continuing construction on the church. Maurice, Roberta, Hans (the man from the Netherlands who is living at the church), and Marius ( the local Romanian working on the church) will be meeting later this week to discuss the flooring options for the church. These are some major expensive decisions that need to be made soon. The hope is that if the flooring can be ordered and ready to install by the time a small team from Pearce comes in October. At that time the flooring will be installed. Roberta is praying that the church will be finished by the time of the Nazarene District assembly which will be held in Tsigmandru. At that time the church will be dedicated. There is still much to do before then and we are seeking God for strength to get it done. The plan includes getting the people of the church involved in painting so that they feel that it is really their church building. The majority of the church leadership will be gone for September and part of October so Roberta and asked Maurice to oversee the finishing of the inside of the church.

One other major topic of discussion was putting together a document which outlines the position of the church leadership on teams coming to support the church. The goal is to bring into harmony the needs of the teams with the needs of Tsigmandru. This includes items such as giving gifts and candy to the children, participation in worship, setting limits for children that are understood and followed by the team. We want to make sure that teams are expressing the love of Christ through acts of love and service rather than through material possessions. The last thing we want to do is promote materialism. Please be in prayer for the church leadership as we develop this document.

Stamping Update:
Melanie and I were able to work with two elderly clubs last week. We did a stamping project with each of them. They really enjoyed it and it was great to be able to practice my Romanian. The elderly club at Beregon was really excited about stamping and are looking forward to future projects that we can sell. This will help them raise funds to support an elderly club day trip this fall. I have realized that I had plenty of stamping supplies but not much paper. This was a major concern if we were to continue stamping projects especially once we are no longer here. Great news- I was able to find a craft store in town that carries paper similar to what we need and there are many colors. It will cost about the same as the paper I but in the States. I was also able to find beautiful ribbon in the colors of the Romanian flag. We will begin making cards in Romanian colors in two weeks. We are also going to have a day where the women can come and have their pictures taken. We are going to make a photo frame to put them in and they are very excited about that.

Music Ministry Update:
Melanie and I have been playing piano and helping to lead the worship in Sighisoara the last couple of weeks. With the language barrier it is a challenge but Melanie is picking up the music quite well. The piano has it’s own issues. Middle C and Upper C# and D don’t play at all. I have resigned myself that it is the heart of worship that matters and that God doesn’t care if the piano doesn’t sound quite right. We have also been able to invite the older ladies in the church to come up and lead some songs in Romanian. This has been great to see and they seem to appreciate it.

Kids Update:
Well what can I say other than PRAY, PRAY, PRAY. Rarely a day goes by when Liam does not sustain some new injury. The worst came last week when we were walking up the huge staircase in the dark and Liam tripped. He landed face first on a railroad tie and squished his nose pretty good. He has had a stuffed up nose since then and we have started his breathing treatments as a result. He is quite a trooper though and nothing keeps him down for long. The boys seem to have a great ability to meet new Romanians. Liam hangs out the window and gestures to the women across the street. They can’t actually speak to each other but she gives Liam and Nolan chocolate anyway. They also helped us meet our neighbors yesterday. They hang over her gate while they are playing in their fort. She invited us over and we had cakes, crackers, and juice. They she brought gummi worms out for the boys. They had a big German Shepard dog name Muldo and the boys had a great time with her. We were invited to our landlord’s house for a Romanian barbecue. It was really yummy and we had a chance to practice our Romanian. Nolan and Liam played football (soccer) with their little boy and had a great time. They were frustrated with no being able to understand the other kids but Nolan was so proud of himself. He said that when they asked him their names he said “Nolan si Liam” which means Nolan and Liam. Next week they both start kindergarten. We spoke to the teacher last week about Nolan’s level of work (he already did Kindergarten and needs to go to second grade when we get back). His teacher said that there is another child who has similar needs and that if we give her the home school work for reading, writing, and math that she will have special times to work on these with the boys. That was really a blessing.

Ana Maria Update:
Ana Maria is the 20 year old Romanian studying in Grand Rapids. She has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer and it has spread to her lungs and hip. Her mother was able to travel to see her last week. Ana Maria is having chemotherapy and they are still optimistic. Please keep her in your prayers. use it is a summary of the last two weeks.

2007-08-31T09:04:00.000-07:00

Today we started the day with the Friday devotions with the Veritas staff. It is great to feel like we are slowly becoming part of the team. We then spent most of the day out at the ministry center in Tsigmandru. I (Maurice) had a construction meeting with Roberta, Hans (the volunteer from the Netherlands), and Marius (the Romanian contractor). We went through the building, made some decisions, and set priorities for the remaining work to be done. We are starting to feel pressure to complete the building by mid-November for the district assembly where it will be dedicated. Karen also worked with Magda Cini to help organize some rooms in the ministry center. We are working in some rooms, so we have to shuffle things from one place to another to make room for construction. It is not easy to work on a building while it is a fully functioning ministry center. Then at 3 PM Melanie participated in the younger kids club there in Tsigmandru. We feel a great feeling this evening after finally getting started, August is a down month here. Veritas basically shuts down for the month and the staff take their personal time off. Now that September is here, ministry will kick into full speed. Maurice

Beginning days...

2007-08-30T03:01:00.001-07:00

Well it has been over a month living here in Romania and now that we have our feet under us (so we think) and have had several requests for one, we figured it was time to start a blog. We hope that it will help to keep you up to date with what's going on here. Enjoy!