December.

The final few days are upon us. Five days left in Romania. There is much to think about and a few things to finish up. 

This month we had our special needs event. It was a big success. We held it in the small Nazarene Church, and it was full! The skit that we had prepared went well, the costumes looked good :). There were also a few accomplished musicians, which sounded really beautiful. Another amazing thing was a professional acting group came and performed! I loved seeing how much the clients enjoyed it. They laughed and laughed and laughed :). Joy. The mayor also appeared for the first 30 minutes. 

Last weekend a few of us went up to Cluj, a nearby city, and saw the new Twilight movie. So cheesy--definitely not impressed! I did get some good laughs out of it though. And, it was fun spending the time with friends, since time is so short. 

On Wednesday we had a small Christmas party with friends. We watched Elf--I forgot how much I love that movie!

Last Monday was the St. Nicholas fair. There were small shops set up around the citadel square...mostly home-made goods. Veritas had a table set up for each of their different groups (teens, special needs, domestic violence, etc.). There was also a stage set up next to a very large Christmas tree. Teens, kids, and elderly women came and caroled for us! It was very beautiful! I participated in the Veritas teen club group. We sang "Feliz Navidad", Silent Night (in English, Romanian, and Spanish), as well as a Romanian Christmas carol. 

On Sunday I am very excited because we are having a candle walk. It will be very special and beautiful. Many different people come from the community and meet at one of the churches located in the citadel. After everyone is there, we will walk around with candles, stopping at different spots to pray and sing a song. We will end at the House on the Rock for hot tea. This candle walk is a tradition in Sighisoara, started a little while back when people advocated against a Dracula themed theme-park. The story is pretty cool, but I don't feel like explaining it all on here!

This may be my last blog post about Romania. With only five days left, I am not sure how much of it I will want to spend updating my blog! 

Romania has been such an amazing experience for me. I have done things I never would have imagined myself doing. I have grown to appreciate and love things I never thought I would before. I have learned about God's love and people and culture and so many more things! I can only begin to explain all that this trip has made for me... I am so thankful to the Lord for this experience.  I guess if you would like to know more about my trip---just ask! I would love to share stories and pictures :).

Please keep us in your prayers as we finish up our trip. There are a few things that need to get done still. Also, it is difficult to say goodbye. 

Please keep the country of Romania in your prayers, as well as the Roma people, as well as Veritas. 

Finally, some of us are heading out to Budapest next Wednesday. Pray the trip goes smoothly and it ends up being a good time to reflect on our time in Romania, as well as prepare ourselves for re-entry into the United States. We will be flying home on the 20th! 

Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers...thank you for taking the time to read this blog and for being interested :). You are so appreciated.

November...

Hmmm, I figure since a month has passed since my last blog post, I should probably update.

Right now I am in the kitchen working on some homework...Through the bedroom door I hear Amy laughing as she watches the Office. Saturdays and Sundays are usually nice, peaceful days :).

I guess I should say something about Italy? It was a whirlwind of train rides, getting lost, eating pizza and gelato, and of course seeing some amazing historical sites, and meeting cool people! It was really enjoyable and it does not really seem real that it happened! Through the trip it was obvious that God was watching over us...He is amazing :). 


I am very thankful that I brought my ukulele along, because I have had quite a few opportunities to play it over here...Not just in my room to de-stress, but for different programs and such. I enjoy it because it is a way to share about God's love...and I love sharing about that!

Last Thursday for the teen Bible study I was asked to share a favorite Bible verse. I could not really decide on what to share...after praying about it I felt God calling me to share from Hosea. I said a little bit about the book and then shared some of the final chapter of Hosea. It was amazing because the overall theme of the Bible study was the prodigal son, and what I said about Hosea went along perfectly with that, and I didn't even know that was the theme of the Bible study before hand! God working all the way! 

I have started teaching English as opposed to doing "English Club". English club was more hanging out, giving girls an opportunity to practice their English. Some of the teens from Veritas told me that they would be interested in having an English class, and they do not know English as well as the girls who have been attending English club. So, since we had three leaders for the club, I branched off and started teaching and English class! Never thought I would do that--and never had a desire to be a teacher! But I guess when it is for people I love, and I want them to have more opportunities in life, it is a different story :). It has also given me a good opportunity to get to know a couple of the girls in the program a lot better. 

In the special needs program I led a small art therapy group. I really enjoyed it. We have also been making Christmas ornaments to sell at the St. Nicholas fair coming up in December. Another thing planned for December is a short skit and song time. The families of the clients are invited to come. Another student and I are in charge of making a few costumes for the skit. 

It has been getting really cold over here. Foarte frig! This past week we had our final Romanian exam! We all got A's! We are very happy about that :). Today Amy and I went and helped out with Metro Ministries in another part of town. On our taxi ride over we saw a little snow on the ground! It was exciting and lifted our spirits :). There is something cheerful about the first snowfall...

Please pray for us as the end of our trip is approaching. I am not really excited about that at all. I am starting to feel the loss. I don't feel ready to leave everything behind...  I really want to make the most of the last few weeks we have in Romania. Also, I am praying for a peace about leaving. I know that God called me here for a semester, and it is in his plan that I would come home too! But it's difficult. 

On another note, you could also pray for us as a few of us are planning our last week in Europe. We are planning on visiting another country, possible going to Budapest, Hungary. We originally planned on Greece but feel as though God has closed that door. I am really praying that he would guide us to this last destination. Honestly, I am really hoping we will be able to find someone who could tell us more about human trafficking in Hungary (or wherever else we end up!). We were able to sit down with someone in Bucharest (oh yea--we went to Bucharest last weekend and saw the second biggest building in the world, the first is the Pentagon) and talk to her about what she is doing in the fight against sex trafficking. It was amazing to hear how God has already provided so much for them. You can pray for that issue in Romania. A lot of prayer is needed... Anyways, if you have any suggestions for countries around Romania that we could visit, let us know! We are kinda praying for a free place to stay, although, that seems like an unlikely dream! :) 

 

Do the Bernie!

The weather has been pretty chilly these days. In the morning I am reminded of the Calvin and Hobbes comic where Calvin goes outside, makes a face, and then mentions, "I hate it when my boogers freeze", or something along those lines... :)

The weeks continue to fly by, but each day is a treasure for me, especially as I sense the end approaching. I know it is a long way off, but I cannot help but begin to feel the loss. The more invested I/we become in lives, the more difficult it is to think about leaving. Of course we are excited for home and all the lovely people back there. 

Slowly in our groups we are each receiving more responsibility. In a couple weeks Shari and I will lead our first teen club all alone! It is a little daunting, but exciting. We actually are doing a "culture night" on Tuesday night. Last night we presented the USA. After a brief history and holiday power point, we taught them some American dances :) This included a country line dance, compliments of Amy, the two step, which was taught by Shari, and I showed the video of the Bernie dance--holler! I was a blast seeing the kids get into the dances; it seemed like they each enjoyed at least one of the dances. 

This Saturday is a very exciting time for us students...it is the beginning of our mid-semester break and start of our trip to Italia! Woohoo! All six of us are going and we are all very excited! We will fly into Milan from Romania. After a few hours of sightseeing in Milan, we will take a train to Verona, where we will enjoy dinner. If you didn't know, Verona is the place where part of Letters to Juliet takes place :). After dinner and sightseeing we will hop back on the train and a couple hours later arrive in Venice. We will spend a day or two in Venice, hopefully getting in a gondola ride! After Venice we will head out--by train--to Florence, which is halfway from Venice to Rome. We will spend a day or two there (depending on how long we staying in Venice) and then hop on over to Rome! We will spend the rest of our time in that lovely city. We recently watched a documentary on Michelangelo so we are all very excited to see his work--especially the Sistine Chapel!

Prayer requests:

• Our trip to Italy, that it is a safe trip but also that we have unity in the group! Also that it is a restful experience, as some of us are feeling like we need one. 
• Wisdom for us as we are given the responsibility to plan different activities in our groups.
• Also, something on our hearts is the different clients we are working with. It is hard as the cold comes and we wonder how they will stay warm in the winter, or if they have warm clothing...etc. Please pray for them and the rest of Romania, as it is a hurting country. 
• Finally, that we would keep God as our center through it all.

a little history

I thought I would tell you a little bit about the Roma (or we often know them as Gypsy) people, because they make up many of the Veritas programs. For example, most of the teens in the program are Roma.

Roma actually migrated many years ago (like 1,000 or something) from India. As you may know, India has the caste system; the Indians that migrated were the lowest. They went to many different parts of Europe, and probably some other places.

In Romania there are (obviously) the Romanian people. There are also Hungarians and Germans. My host mom is German, but she has lived in this area her whole life. And, finally, there are the Roma people. There are probably more ethnicity's here, but those are the ones off the top of my head.

The Roma people here, and in many other areas, are the poorest. In Sighisoara, at one point the Roma were moved to the outskirts of town, where they made their own little communities. Many of the houses are one room and scrunched together next to other homes. Many do not have running water and may be a family of six squished into one room.

Veritas serves the Roma people by providing clothing for the families, and also trying to help with other needs. For the teen program we had a day that the teens were able to go through a bunch of bags to pick out clothing for themselves and their families. In the program the kids are educated about different things. For example, Shari and I will be presenting for five weeks and we are choosing to present on bullying, drugs, smoking, alcohol, sex education, relationships, and a few other things.

I don't know if this is proven, but Charlie Chaplin may have been part Roma. His Grandmother I think prided herself on this fact. Also, Yul Brynner who played in "The King and I", "The Ten Commandments", and "The Magnificent Seven" was part Roma. To quote Wikipedia, "He was also a Romani on his mother's side, and in 1977, he was named Honorary President of the International Romani Union, an office that he kept until his death.

Also, one more little fact. I am not working in an orphanage. I think my Dad keeps telling people that I am, but I am not. 

If you have any questions, you can ask, otherwise you can research more about the Romani people. It is very fascinating!

day to day

I am gathering my thoughts and thinking about what to write about. I have mentioned things I do every week, but not much about the day-to-day living. It is hard to express some of this, but I will try.

Three days a week we have Romanian class, where we learn the language. It starts at 8:30 so Amy and I usually wake up around 7:15 or so. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I have teen club in the late afternoon/evening. For that Shari and I have to plan some different lessons/presentations. On Monday the younger group meets and Wednesday the older group, on Tuesday everyone comes for tea and games.

Romanians drink a lot of tea. It's nice. Especially since it's getting chillier. Today was the second day it's rained since we have been here; the first time is was just a light drizzle.

On Tuesday and Thursday I meet with the special needs group. Tuesday is workout day and also film club. The first hour and a half we work out and have some mini competitions (some of which I and another girl come up with) and the second part of the time we watched a movie. It is fun, we are currently watching Popeye with Robin Williams. A couple weeks ago we watched some Charlie Chaplin movies.  On Thursday we celebrate birthdays or do other group activities.

I also do English Club with a couple other of the girls. This meets once a week and is for some high school students to come and practice their English. We plan different games and discussion topics.

On Wednesday nights I go to Gospel Choir with a couple other of the girls. It has been fun so far. I have never been in a choir before, so I will admit I get a little nervous :). 

On weekends we do things that Dorothy (our supervisor) has planned for us, like go on hikes or outings to other cities. Or we have free weekends and plan our own thing. This weekend was lazier since Amy was sick (same flu thing I had last weekend). It is also chilly and rainy so we do not feel like doing much.

We walk everywhere here. Well, almost everywhere. Unless it is a great distance. Then we get a ride or a taxi. I like it. It takes up more time, but it's nice. We see people more.

Usually in the evenings Amy and I will watch an episode of some show online, read, or talk. We have also spent some evenings giving each other back massages. Some days when we come back earlier I like to play my ukulele on the porch. 

I cannot believe that this adventure is a third of the way done. In two weeks we will be in Italy for mid-semester break. After that we are halfway done.

I feel as though I just finished adjusting (still feel like I am a little). Time has flown so fast, and I feel as though I just dipped my toes in the water. I really desire to make an impact in my short time here, but I feel as though I have not done anything. You can pray for me in this area. I am praying that this week I really put myself out there with everything: the language, relationships, planning things, etc. I don't want to go back home feeling as though I wasted my time here. You can pray for wisdom as I follow God's plan for my time here, as well as love for those I am working with.

Thank you :) Hopefully this blog post was not too boring. I am not sure if I already posted about some of this stuff--hopefully not, but maybe! 

A month in!

Well...I am bad with time, but I think it has been about a month?

This past week has been good. The weeks go by so fast but so much happens in them!

So, some highlights.

• On Thursday I went on an all day trip with the special needs group. We went to a dam and spent the day by this small body of water. It was a little bit cold, but we had fun playing soccer, exploring, and having a nice picnic! It was a very relaxing day and a nice chance to get to know everyone better. We also had a really big bathroom...anywhere in nature! Haha :)
• On Friday we went out for dinner for Amy's birthday. That was fun! It was my first time at this restaurant called, "Quatro Amicii". It was just a nice time to hang out with girls and laugh! 
• On Saturday we went on an all-day trip for a hike and exploring the city of Brasov. The hike was beautiful. We followed a stream and ended up at a waterfall. We were then able to climb up ladders next to the waterfall. There were a lot of other people who went on the hike that day as well, so that was kind of cool! Sadly, I think I got the stomach flu (or something similar) and was feeling a little sick the whole hike... and then it got worse. I spent the time we had in Brasov sitting on some tile steps by the bathroom while everyone else explored and got McDonalds. It was alright though, I had some time to people watch and soak in the center of the town! :) There was also a piano player playing very loudly, so that drowned out most other noises--and the songs he played were pretty peaceful :). 
• Today I feel better but I am very fatigued. I spent most of the day in bed resting and reading. I am thankful that my sickness was not worse than it was!

 I am really excited about this upcoming week, but also slightly nervous. For the teen group I am giving my testimony and doing a slideshow of pictures, once for the younger group on Monday and then again for the older group on Wednesday. I am nervous for that and just praying that God will use me in that time. I also have some research to do this week and I just want to make sure I am staying on top of things and not procrastinating. 

You can also pray for our team as some of the girls are experiencing culture shock, or just feeling slightly down. 

Thank you :) 

Ps--Keep God as your Rock! [everything else is sinking sand...] 

a heavy heart

I am still thoroughly enjoying my time in Sighi... I still feel so blessed to be here! I enjoy the 15 minute walk from the apartment to the House on the Rock (the coffee shop/offices of some of the Veritas staff) that Amy and I make every morning and evening. There is this one section of stairs that still leaves us very out of breath..hopefully it will improve! :) There is also a house with a scary dog we avoid every time... It seems to have just appeared out of no where. The first few walks back and forth were fine, but then one day it barked really viciously and scared us...and made Amy run a little :). 

Yesterday I went on the first home visits for some of the teenagers. It was really hard for me to see the conditions that they live in, since when they come to club, they always come clean and fashionable. Some of the kids have alcoholic parents, some have been kicked out of their homes, some kids are told to beg for their parents so that they can buy food, or buy something like alcohol. Many, and I mean MANY, of the teens and adults smoke. One friend told me that some of the teenagers will get drunk before school. It reminded me that we are all broken...

It is hard because I want to build relationships with these teens and show them love. I know that that does not require language...but honestly it is so frustrating not being able to communicate in this way. That might be the hardest thing for me. I feel like I cannot make a difference because of the language. I know this is not true--because I have seen people who only speak English make a difference in the D.R. and build lasting relationships! But, it is still somewhat discouraging and you could pray for me and the rest of the team in that area. Thankfully we have a lot of opportunities to practice our Romanian, and our teacher is excellent! She is a lot of fun and we really enjoy her! Also, today I am going to try and use some Spanish to communicate with some of the teen girls who I know speak Spanish. Even though my Spanish is not the best, it is better than my Romanian :) And who knows, maybe my Spanish will improve during my stay here! :)

Even though it was a little bit harder for me this week, I am still so so excited to be here and wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I know God has a wonderful plan and I just need to trust and follow him :).

Busy days!

I am sure that everyone can probably agree that their days are busy...especially with fall and the start of school. I (also Shari and Amy) are pretty busy here in Romania, but finally, I have a couple hours to spare and I have access to the Internet! So I decided to update this blog...just in case anyone is reading ;). I mean, besides my Mom.

Since so much has happened, I will obviously not go into every detail, but I thought I would share some highlights from our time so far in Romania.

• First: We made it safely! Yay! No lost luggage or people...although I did almost lose my passport at one point... oops. Amy and I are living together in an apartment on the fifth floor, and we LOVE our host family. There is Imi, our host mom, Maria, our host sister and then there is also Jeremy, who is recently married to Maria. They will be leaving to the US in a few days to celebrate their marriage with his family. We feel really blessed to be living with them! Also--Imi is an amazing cook! Just thought I would throw that out there...
• Last week I went on an outing with the disabled group here at Veritas. We went up to this mountain and had a picnic. We also played soccer, which was fun because when we picked teams I was like the second person picked...That is probably the first time that I have been picked so close to first, so it was a really good moment for me. Haha :). Honestly though, I really enjoyed my time with them and I am so excited to get to know the group more! 
• There is a village nearby with a church we are able to volunteer our time in. I found out they actually have a sewing program. Some women make dolls, purses, and a few other things, and then sell them. I was so excited when I heard about this because it is something I have considered helping out with in the future! They have asked me if I would like to volunteer to teach them some new things, as well as help them improve other things. I honestly cannot even believe how goooood God is! I read my personal devotion journal the other day and noticed that a few weeks before leaving Romania, I had written that one of my dreams is to help women in the area of sewing. I did not know it would happen so soon and I never imagined it happening in Romania!
• Finally, we are beginning to make Romanian friends, and I am very excited about that! The people here have been so friendly and kind, I feel so blessed to be here!

Alrighty, in a little while I will be helping out with the teen program, along with Shari, and so I had better get going!

If you would like to pray for us, you can pray that we would continue to transition well into the culture and the new activities.
We are also going to the Veritas retreat for the staff from Wed to Sat so you can pray that goes well and everyone gets the rest and refreshment from God that they need.
Thank you for reading and praying :) We are praying for all our friends and family back home in Michigan (and other parts of the world!) :)

i'm going where?

 It was 2001 and eleven-year-old me was woken up in the early morning from my cozy bunk bed and all the sudden I was packing a bag because of the urgings of my mother and then all six of us were in the van driving and none of us kids new where. We thought it was Haiti. Turns out my parents bought us all tickets to the Netherlands and kept it a secret from us until the morning of. It wasn't really that they wanted to surprise us as much as keep us from being over excited and from acting irrationally in the weeks prior to the trip.

I guess what I am thinking is I wish I could do that to myself. Surprise myself with a ticket to Romania the morning of. I would have already taken care of everything that needed to be taken care of...but I wouldn't have to say goodbye to anyone? I know this is a completely impossible notion but in my mind it works. I would rather just jump on a plane randomly than go through the emotional process of leaving point A. for point B. I just want to be at point B. Sadly that is not possible so I will do what I usually do and keep conversations on the subject short and to the point and push the thought into the very back of my mind. And stay busy with Policy homework and sewing projects.

That's all folks.

ps. seriously though, soo soo excited and pumped that God is blessing me with this opportunity! :)