Friday, July 17, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
Team Romania
Ready...set...JUMP!
oops...looks like Charis got the wrong memo and is playing charades, acting out "being terrified"??? Who knows...
oops...looks like Charis got the wrong memo and is playing charades, acting out "being terrified"??? Who knows...
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Summer in Romania update # 2
Dear friends,
If I were to describe Romania to you, here are some of things I would probably talk about:
Hot and humid weather, smell of honeysuckle in the air, stray dogs everywhere, reckless drivers, good food, beautiful language, friendly and hospitable people, never on time :)
We, as a team, have been facing opposition and definitely have felt God’s protection on many levels! From sickness and injuries, to miscommunication, to a car accident....two car accidents actually. Both non-injury accidents!! Two weeks ago we were in Craiova for our first church visit, and our car got rear-ended. Everyone was ok but the car was totaled. To make matters worse, the guy that hit us had no insurance, and ended up getting it after the accident (how is that possible you may ask? I really have no answer for you). Tudor, a camp director here in Romania that travels with our team, was driving his car, and is now dealing with the insurance company to get money back. It has been a frustrating process. We are praying that God provides a car (or finances) for Tudor and his family.
Yesterday, we ended our third and last church visit in Seleus. The youth pastor from that church, Emi, was driving us to our next location, a city of Timisoara, where we will be for the next couple of days before heading to training and camp on Friday. We got rear-ended, again. We really praise God for no injuries, just sore necks and backs! After the accident, I called Mel, my boss, to tell him what had happened, and was told him and his wife Amy had prayed for safety for our team that morning. We also found out that Tudor’s daughter had woken her mom the night before and asked to pray for daddy because she thought he would be in a car accident again! Tudor’s wife told him this when he called home to tell them he was ok.
We have been here for one month now, experiencing the culture, meeting the people, and attempting to learn the language. I have to tell you that I am very proud of the team. They are doing a great job!! Plans change often, and usually we find out at the last minute, and have to adjust quickly, but it has not been a problem and everyone's been really flexible and gracious! Definitely a God thing I feel like!
Church visits – Craiova, Galati, Seleus
I definitely am seeing how God has paved the way, and been preparing things for us to enter into. All three of our church visits went so well and we had a chance to connect with the youth group and the team we will be working with. It is good to be on the same page and the visits have definitely accomplished that!
{Left: Advertising camp in a local park in Craiova, Right: Hanging out with the team from Craiova}
What do we do during a church visit?
Each visit was four to five days long, and we got to stay in the homes of the people from the church. We had multiple meetings discussing logistics of camps, meeting the teams, and setting things up for training before camp. We advertised camps in public places, and invited students to come. All the teams are really enthusiastic about the camp theme “Stories” as well as an opportunity to do an evangelistic camp. We shared at church services, and J got to preach at a church gathering in a Gypsy community on one Sunday. We feel very blessed to be here to share God’s love with people!
A couple of times we got to go and serve the poor. Poverty is all around here in Romania. We met a family of seven who lives in a small tent next to a cemetery, outside of the city of Craiova. Parents and their five little children live there because they have no jobs, no other place to go, nothing. We brought lunch to eat with them and got to play with the kids. The cool thing was to see the local church reach out to this family, to accept them, and to start helping them....trying to figure out the living situation, find a job, etc. We saw a very practical side of love and care from the church!
June 20th is World Refugee Day. The church in Galati has a large group of refugees from Congo attending their church. Together with the Romanian youth group, we got to celebrate with these Congolese men at a worship concert held in a local theater.
{Left: World Refugee Day worship concert, Right: Gypsy church in Galati}
Story time:
Dan Vieru is the youth pastor of the church in Craiova. While there, he shared his story with us. He and his wife Dana adopted a little girl about five years ago. It was awesome to hear their story of trying to have kids and how they couldn't, and then they finally decided to adopt and they now have a beautiful daughter, Brianna. A few days after we left for another church visit, we got a note from Dan saying that his wife went to a doctor and he told her she was pregnant! He kept saying how it was a miracle, and it truly is! After 11 years of not being able to have children, little Brianna will now have a sibling :D
We are leaving tomorrow to go back to Seleus. The American youth group that is coming to help us flies in tomorrow as well. Friday and Saturday are training days. On Sunday we will travel to camp location to start setting up to be ready to begin camp on Monday morning! Camp number 1 is here!!
Prayer requests for camp # 1 (3villages-Seleus, Ineu, Sebreus; July 3-14 including training days and follow up)
~That we will trust in the power of the gospel!
~Students who will hear the story of God
~For unity for all these different teams coming together – the intern team, US youth group team, Romanian teams from Seleus, Inea, and Sebreus, and a group of leaders from B.I.G., the national organization JV partners with
~For health
~Life after camp – that the church would continue to reach out to the community, and care for new believers
Thank you on behalf of our whole team :)
Love, Katka
If I were to describe Romania to you, here are some of things I would probably talk about:
Hot and humid weather, smell of honeysuckle in the air, stray dogs everywhere, reckless drivers, good food, beautiful language, friendly and hospitable people, never on time :)
We, as a team, have been facing opposition and definitely have felt God’s protection on many levels! From sickness and injuries, to miscommunication, to a car accident....two car accidents actually. Both non-injury accidents!! Two weeks ago we were in Craiova for our first church visit, and our car got rear-ended. Everyone was ok but the car was totaled. To make matters worse, the guy that hit us had no insurance, and ended up getting it after the accident (how is that possible you may ask? I really have no answer for you). Tudor, a camp director here in Romania that travels with our team, was driving his car, and is now dealing with the insurance company to get money back. It has been a frustrating process. We are praying that God provides a car (or finances) for Tudor and his family.
Yesterday, we ended our third and last church visit in Seleus. The youth pastor from that church, Emi, was driving us to our next location, a city of Timisoara, where we will be for the next couple of days before heading to training and camp on Friday. We got rear-ended, again. We really praise God for no injuries, just sore necks and backs! After the accident, I called Mel, my boss, to tell him what had happened, and was told him and his wife Amy had prayed for safety for our team that morning. We also found out that Tudor’s daughter had woken her mom the night before and asked to pray for daddy because she thought he would be in a car accident again! Tudor’s wife told him this when he called home to tell them he was ok.
We have been here for one month now, experiencing the culture, meeting the people, and attempting to learn the language. I have to tell you that I am very proud of the team. They are doing a great job!! Plans change often, and usually we find out at the last minute, and have to adjust quickly, but it has not been a problem and everyone's been really flexible and gracious! Definitely a God thing I feel like!
Church visits – Craiova, Galati, Seleus
I definitely am seeing how God has paved the way, and been preparing things for us to enter into. All three of our church visits went so well and we had a chance to connect with the youth group and the team we will be working with. It is good to be on the same page and the visits have definitely accomplished that!
{Left: Advertising camp in a local park in Craiova, Right: Hanging out with the team from Craiova}
What do we do during a church visit?
Each visit was four to five days long, and we got to stay in the homes of the people from the church. We had multiple meetings discussing logistics of camps, meeting the teams, and setting things up for training before camp. We advertised camps in public places, and invited students to come. All the teams are really enthusiastic about the camp theme “Stories” as well as an opportunity to do an evangelistic camp. We shared at church services, and J got to preach at a church gathering in a Gypsy community on one Sunday. We feel very blessed to be here to share God’s love with people!
A couple of times we got to go and serve the poor. Poverty is all around here in Romania. We met a family of seven who lives in a small tent next to a cemetery, outside of the city of Craiova. Parents and their five little children live there because they have no jobs, no other place to go, nothing. We brought lunch to eat with them and got to play with the kids. The cool thing was to see the local church reach out to this family, to accept them, and to start helping them....trying to figure out the living situation, find a job, etc. We saw a very practical side of love and care from the church!
June 20th is World Refugee Day. The church in Galati has a large group of refugees from Congo attending their church. Together with the Romanian youth group, we got to celebrate with these Congolese men at a worship concert held in a local theater.
{Left: World Refugee Day worship concert, Right: Gypsy church in Galati}
Story time:
Dan Vieru is the youth pastor of the church in Craiova. While there, he shared his story with us. He and his wife Dana adopted a little girl about five years ago. It was awesome to hear their story of trying to have kids and how they couldn't, and then they finally decided to adopt and they now have a beautiful daughter, Brianna. A few days after we left for another church visit, we got a note from Dan saying that his wife went to a doctor and he told her she was pregnant! He kept saying how it was a miracle, and it truly is! After 11 years of not being able to have children, little Brianna will now have a sibling :D
We are leaving tomorrow to go back to Seleus. The American youth group that is coming to help us flies in tomorrow as well. Friday and Saturday are training days. On Sunday we will travel to camp location to start setting up to be ready to begin camp on Monday morning! Camp number 1 is here!!
Prayer requests for camp # 1 (3villages-Seleus, Ineu, Sebreus; July 3-14 including training days and follow up)
~That we will trust in the power of the gospel!
~Students who will hear the story of God
~For unity for all these different teams coming together – the intern team, US youth group team, Romanian teams from Seleus, Inea, and Sebreus, and a group of leaders from B.I.G., the national organization JV partners with
~For health
~Life after camp – that the church would continue to reach out to the community, and care for new believers
Thank you on behalf of our whole team :)
Love, Katka
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