What's so great about Romania???

Everyone is short here!!! Seriously, I'm like average height for a Romanian. It's kinda nice for a change :)

Two Funny Stories :)

So, I forgot to mention two funny things that happened while I was with the choir...

At the first church, I was sitting next to this guy who helps out with the choir (though I'm not exactly sure what he does!), and he was really trying to make conversation with me before the service started even though his English was very poor. However, he was asking if I knew any other languages, and I said that I spoke a little bit of Spanish - and I definitely stressed the "un poco", and he said that he spoke a little bit of Spanish as well. About half way through the worship service, he said that he would translate what was going on into Spanish for me if I would like. So, I'm thinking that would be amazing! I thought he would just tell me what they were doing, but no, he started translating every single word for me! So, now, I'm not only hearing one foreign language, but two!!! Plus, I didn't understand much of what he was saying! I kinda just sat there nodding my head because I felt bad, and every time I thought about the situation, I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing!

Then, we got to the second church a couple hours early so that the choir could set up their sound system and rehearse. So, after they finished rehearsing, a lot of people layed down in the pews to rest. Since we had left at 6:00 that morning, I of course decided to do the same. I'm not really sure how long I slept, but when I woke up there was this old lady standing over me because I was in her spot! I was sooo embarrassed!!! I sat up and moved as quickly as I could, and then one of the pastors came over to speak with me (I'm not sure if he was going to reprimand me or what) and I tried to explain that I was with the choir, but I wasn't getting anywhere, so he finally left. The choir was back up on stage practicing (I had woken up when the music came on), so of course all the kids saw what was happening and were cracking up - so much so that the choir director turned around and started laughing too! It was pretty funny!

Traveling with the Choir

Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to travel with the choir to a nearby village where they had two performances. (For those of you who don't know, Caminul Felix has a choir that does concerts to help raise money for the orphanage.) The concerts were performed at two different churches that were very different from each other.

First of all, church in Romania was pretty different than church in the U.S. The morning service begins at 9 am and ends at 12 pm - yep, that's right, three hours! The worship part of the service consist of singing a couple songs, then someone coming up and talking (I think they may have been reading scriptures, but who knows!!), and then everyone prays individually - but audibly - and then they start all over again; this continues for the first hour and a half. Then someone does announcements, and then the pastor preaches for the final hour. For someone who doesn't speak the language, this is an exceptionally LONG service!

If I were to describe the first church in one word, it would be "genuine". The people were friendly, and a couple of them came up to try to speak to me (I say try because my Romanian sucks!). When they prayed individually, it really seemed like they were genuinely crying out to God (once again, "seemed" because I have no idea what was actually being said, haha).

In the second church, the atmosphere just felt so oppressive. All of the women wore scarves on their heads (the younger girls had their's folded into headbands, but they all had something on their head); plus the men sat on one side of the church, and the women and children sat on the other. The order of the service was the same, and when the congregation prayed individually, it didn't seem genuine in the least. It was as though they were just making noise so as to seem as though they were praying. At the end of the service, when the fed us dinner, no one came up to speak with us at all. They kinda just handed us our food, stood back, and watched us eat. I also got some very strange looks since I was sitting with the congregation and not wearing anything on my head!!!

The second church really got me thinking about two things:

1. Why do we go to church? Are we there because it is expected of us or because we genuinely want to be there? And, if it's only because it's expected of us, should we even be going at all?

2. How do we treat new people who come to our church? Do we welcome them and try to make them feel at home, or do we stand back and hope someone else will talk to them so that we don't have to?

Delaware People...

Amidst the jumble of Romanian words that I hear throughout the day (practically none of which I understand!!!), I often hear words thrown in like Brian, Stacey, and Brad. Know that you are missed, but not forgotten :)

Sports Camp!

So, last week I got to help a team from Delaware put on a sports camp for the kids. It was a great way to meet people and so much fun. I mostly helped get the lunches ready for the kids (since we all know I'm not exactly an athlete!); however, when I wasn't doing that, I got to help with the little kids (ages 5-9). Naturally, some of the first Romanian words that I learned were for "sit down" and "listen" haha. On Friday - the last day of the camp - an altar call was given, and over 40 kids accepted Christ into their hearts. I literally broke down in tears when I heard them praying the sinners' prayer. It was amazing and something I will never forget!

The Flights

So, I flew out of LAX last Friday (June 20), and, though we arrived at the airport in plenty of time, I barely made my flight. Here's how it all went down ;) ...

We left at about 8:00 that morning, which was in plenty of time to make my flight that left at 1:55. Traffic was great the entire way there, so we stopped at In-N-Out for lunch (mmmm...) and got to airport at probably like 11:30. I bought my tickets online and the email I received with all of my flight information said that I was flying on LOT Polist Airlines, so we're driving through the airport, looking for the terminal (there are seven) that I need to go to; we made it to the last terminal (which was for United) where I then got out of the car to ask which terminal I needed to go to. I was told to go back to terminal 3 where all of the international airlines are, so we started the loop all over again. At terminal 2, we stopped again to make sure that the information the last person had told us was still correct, this was confirmed, and we continued on to terminal 3, found parking, and went inside. However, LOT was no where to be found. So, we asked at the information desk and they told me that LOT does not fly out of LAX (I know!!!) and that I would actually be flying United - which, if you remember, was terminal 7 where we first stopped to ask for directions. By this time, it's already like 12:00, so we're rushing. We go back out to the car, drive to the parking garage for terminal 7 and go inside, where there are TONS of people waiting in line to go through security. Being the experienced traveler that I am (as in, not at all), it was pretty overwhelming. I checked in on the computer monitor, checked my bag, got what I thought was my boarding pass, and got in line to go through security. I made it through the first checkpoint where I said goodbye to my family, and got in the next line. At the next checkpoint I was told that the ticket I had received when I checked in was not my boarding pass and that I needed to go back. I had to wait in line to get my boarding passes for a really long time because there was a lady asking stupid questions at the front. I finally got back to the line for security at 1:25, and now I'm really freaking out. I finally got to my gate at 1:53 (no lie) and luckily my flight was delayed (thank God!). Once I got there I was able to relax, and we didn't end up boarding the plane until like 2:15. However, the plane didn't take off until 3:05, so then I was worried about making my connecting flight. When I got to Chicago, it turned out that I had to get on a tram thingie (haha) to get to another terminal which meant that I had to go through security again. I literally walked onto the plane minutes before we took off. The flight from Chicago from Poland was good; I slept about half the time, so the flight didn't seem too long. It took about 2 minutes to go through customs in Poland, so then I had three hours to sit in the airport to wait for my next flight. I was soooo bored; seriously, there is only so much you can do in an airport when you don't speak the language ;) The flight from Poland to Budapest only took about an hour, and when I got there, they didn't even check my passport or anything. I was really amazed at how different security is from country to country. John and Lois (a U.S. missionary couple from Caminul Felix) picked me up at the airport with a group from Delaware who are here for a week, and we made the four hour bus ride to Caminul Felix. Hungary was beautiful (the pic is of Hungary); it was very green and lush and all of the houses were very European and cool. The sun actually does not go down here until 10:00 (crazy!), so I was able to see things for the first couple of hours. We finally got to CF at about 1 in the morning and, of course, went straight to bed! :)

Way Overdue...

Sorry, everybody...I know I haven't posted in a while, and you're probably all wondering how things are going in Romania; however, you will have to wait a little while longer ;) Things are really busy here and I haven't had enough time to actually sit down and write, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I did make it here safely and I'm having a great time! There is another group here right now, and I'm helping them with a sports camp. As soon as I get a chance, I will update you all on all the exciting things that are happening!

XOXO