Romania

Romania Day 3,

So I’m writing the entry for Day 3 about three weeks after the fact, so this account probably won’t be as detailed as the other entries. We got dressed and set our for our first Romanian church service, not gypsy mind you, Romanian. It was one of the churches Daniel, the missionary ministered to I guess, but it was really neat experience. It was small building by our standards, had about three rooms in all. The hard wooden benches we had expected were replaced with nice cushioned chairs. The people were friendly and welcoming, and they were chatting and smiling. We started to wonder if we had come to the right church! It wasn’t anything like what Daniel had warned us about. The pastor led the music as we came in and sat, and we discovered that all Romania church music was Polka! It was awesome! A guy with an accordion came up and started playing too! Romanian church is very different from church in america. We stood to pray and when the pastor began, everyone in the entire building started praying out loud at the same time! Talk about culture shock. The service consisted of a cycle of worship led by people in the church, romanians from our group, americans from our group, and then testimonies. I was blessed with the opportunity to share some things God had been showing me even that day. He had just blessed me with all through all the songs sung beautifully in Romanian and english at the same time, and in fact, the first hymn we started out with was the Battle Hymn of the Republic, possibly my favorite hymn of all time! It was sweet! Before we knew it, three hours had gone by! The rest of the day we spent breaking off into our different groups of Sports, Children, and Medical, and we prepared for the days that would follow. A guy named Stephen taught all of us children’s ministers how to make balloon animals! God dealt with me and my pride of thinking I knew what was best because of my background in children’s ministry. He quickly brought to my attention the fact that these are NOT the kids I’m used to, and I’m in an environment that is foreign to me. I had to confess that later, and ask forgiveness for causing conflict on my team. Mr. Killen was really passionate about the puppets which challenged me a lot!

Romania Day 4,

Well, after planes, jet lag, training, and Romania church we finally got on the field today. We (our group) consisting of myself, Jeff Killen, Kara, Adi, Nick, Nicole, Matt, and Macon broke off from the the throng of 40+ americans and formed a smaller group for the smaller villages. Haha almost like the Thirst team of the mission trip. We set out for the smaller Roma gypsy village of Frata. Romania is beautiful without question. The miles and miles of open rolling hills blow me away. God is a master craftsman. I continued working Mr. Killen’s lines for the puppet skit we were doing today in my notebook on the way there. And reviewed the Biblical account of the fall of man. Adam named Eve “Eve” btw. On the way to the village we stopped to ask a gypsy guy for directions or something. He thought we were offering him a ride and tried to get in our bus/van. I’m pretty sure we shut the door in his face. The houses in the villages were more “nice” and “elaborate” than my newest impressions had led me to believe. Upon seeing them, they were very similar to what I imagined them to be back in the states. Four walls, windows, doors, porches, tile roofs. Very rural European, but still you could see the poverty. There were several elaborate orthodox churches, and a very nice looking Jehovah’s Witness church (or whatever they call their meeting places.) We pulled up next to the only protestant church in the village which is a small two-room building. The sanctuary is smaller than my living room. The medical team left to do their thing and we stood in the street waiting for person or persons unknown to come and unlock the door. It was hilarious when a gypsy boy came with “they key” AKA a screwdriver. Small farm carts prattled down the street pulled by horses carrying shrubbery. Once the door to the church was open, we went in and set up some stuff, like the puppet theatre, AKA, a sheet thrown over some chairs. Eventually the kids started coming and we were outside to greet them. A lot of them looked just like american kids, and of course some had the darker complexion with the dark hair. Upon closer inspection you could see the dirt on their clothes or the holes in their socks. I was surprised however by the similarities in children from Romania, and the children I meet all over the USA. Their just kids, any way you slice it. We played some out-doors games in the church’s front yard which was a small patch of grass that was a little larger than the church itself. We played a game where we had to hold hands and transfer a hula hoop around our bodies without breaking the circle. We played duck-duck-goose, but instead of saying “duck,duck,duck...” each time they patted another kid on the head they would say a word from today’s memory verse in Romanian. Genesis 1:1. We played Romanian freeze tag, and another Romanian game, I don’t quite know all the rules to, but I’m sure I will by the end of the week. We took a break for lunch. We had lunch-meat or peanut butter sandwiches we made after breakfast. For some reason I didn’t care for the cheese on mine. We get our clean water from large bottles that we funnel into our standardized water bottles. After lunch, the kids returned, and we had song time! With Nick and Ben. We did “Pharaoh, Pharaoh”, “Every Move I Make”, and “Joy in my Heart.” All big hits! Oh and during game time, we also did BOOM-CHICK-A-BOOM, which the kids loved! Bible story time which was sweet, we did the creation and the fall, which was really fun. My translator we Adi who is the spitting image of Justin Parker. He was great, really rolled with the punches, helped out a lot, and was a great sport. I got to tie in the Obedience definition too. We did animal charades with the kids, we told them to act like an animal God created. Then we went back in and did a puppet show which was also fun! I played an angel, Eve, and Satan. Jeff played, God, and Nick played Adam.

Eve: “Umm... have you always been naked?”

Adam: “Where did you hear that?”

Eve: “From the friendly neighborhood talking snake.”

Adam: “Oh, well, he seems trustworthy.”

After puppets we went back out for another game (I didn’t pay too much attention to this one) But then it was time for coloring. Let me tell you, these kids started coloring like it was going out of style! You’d think they were eating candy! They were a pretty rambunctious bunch when you got them outside, but suddenly the whole place grew quiet with everyone enjoying an afternoon coloring. It was an illustration of Adam and Eve with an Elephant, Giraffe, and some other animals. A debate emerged as to whether Elephants were gray or brown. But when you’re coloring I don’t think it matters. I saw black and blue elephants on some of the kids pages. Even some of the parents got in on the coloring action, and I’m hoping the kids were sharing with their parents the meaning of the pictures. I’m also hoping the gypsy parents don’t question or take offense to American missionaries passing out a picture of a naked man and woman for their kids to color. Soon after, we returned. I almost fell asleep on the bus. Then I started this Journal... on day 4... Afterwards was a dinner, followed by a testimony by Mihai, Daniel’s first convert (I think). It was very convicting, just hearing about His simple faith. I put so much stock in the Biblical knowledge God has given me and allowed me to retain, and I love it, but even without that, he was still able to just put his faith in Christ and he was redeemed. Hearing stuff like that gets me discouraged about my own testimony, where I’ve struggled so hard to confirm that my faith is real and not just head knowledge. But I know that discouragement has come from Satan, so I gave the issue to God again who is always faithful and He allows me to rely on His words. We had a lengthy group meeting, discussing David and Goliath, our motivation for coming on the trip, and any positive or negative feedback we received from our family or peers about deciding to come to Romania. After that we colored and cut out some finger puppets for the nativity lesson mañana. I ordered some “chocolate ice-cream” which is very different in Romania than in America. It tasted like frozen cough syrup that was dyed brown. I found out it had alcohol in it in later! Then Sam and I got caught up in our nightly deep theological discussion. Tonights starting topic was: Does God change His mind? Apparently Sam really offended a girl by talking about this. But it’s pretty hard to argue with Exodus 32:14. We then headed up to our room where Sam instigated another debate about evolution. Oh Sam. I didn’t head to bed until 12:00AM, but even then I didn’t get to sleep. The power went out briefly several times, due to a spontaneous thunder storm. Some of the girls had stolen Matt’s suitcase, so he was up looking for it, and then the guys stole his backpack. 

Romania Day 5,

As day five starts, we’re all a bit more groggy than yesterday. It was hard getting out of bed. The omelets had meat in them this morning, so that was a good pick-me-up. I’m doubled up on Zertec, so I’m hoping and praying that the drugs will not effect my relationship and intimacy with Christ today. I don’t feel very saved today, but I know that’s just the devil. Because it’s not about feeling, it’s about faith. I read an encouraging verse today. Philippians 2:13-15. Christ enables us to will and do His good works, which is so great which means even the desire to serve Him, love Him, and know Him is FROM Him! Love it! I’m speaking this evening at a youth event in Frata called “Youth Explosion!” I have yet to nail down what I’m speaking on, so that will be interesting. We set out in the morning for the very very small village of Naiu. This village was a lot more like El Salvador. Very third world. The entire village was maybe six “houses” in a fenced enclosure. The fence was literally made of twigs and string. The houses were extremely small and run down. Part of the roof was caved in on one of them. Pigs and children played together in the dirt yard. Ironically, a number of houses had satellite dishes. One of the girls said they saw Tom and Jerry playing in one of the homes. The kids were smaller, dirtier, poorer (it seemed), and shyer than yesterday’s group. We were only going to be there for the morning, so we changed up the schedule this time. We greeted the village and took the kids out to the gravel road. We walked a couple feet and came to an intersection (three way), it was song time. We sang two songs, these kids weren’t very engaged, it took a lot of coaxing to get even some of them to participate. They were smiling though. Then we busted out Boom-Chick-a Boom again, and they got more involved. I can never tell how much they’re paying attention to the Bible story. I feel emotionless right now. I don’t know if it’s the drugs or what. I know I’m not supposed to rely on feelings, but I’d like to feel compassion and love. It seems like I know that I’m feeling the feelings instead of actually feeling them. If that makes any sense...  We did a brief puppet show about the nativity. I was an angel and a sheep. We also had two shepherd and Mary. The kids didn’t know what an angel was. I wish I could speak gypsy so I could just sit and talk to them about Christ and the things of Christ. All I can do is show them the love of Christ through my actions, which is really what grabs or “fishes” men. But how will they know we come in His name because of what He’s done in us without telling them? It’s just harder to have really personal conversation with 1. an interpreter, and 2. when they’re so much more interested in game time or the “cool” americans. But we experience problem number 2 in Base Camp a lot. But Jesus did say that they will know that we are from Him by the way we love one another. I want to please God by what I do, say and think here. Anyway, then it was time for balloon animals! Oh goodness. It was like we were handing out custom made action figures! We could really only make them two at a time. Mr. Killen inflated them, and Nicole and I formed them into animals. Mostly dogs and giraffes, but I did a mouse, and Nicole did a fish. Once everyone had a ballon, including some of the adult villagers, we packed up and headed out. But the bus wasn’t there yet, so we played ball in the road. Football, beach ball, plastic ball, and football american. The bus finally arrived and we drove to lunch, which was picnic held on one of the sets from “The Sound of Music.” It was beautiful! Rolling hills and beautiful European landscape 360º. Pretty much. I couldn’t join the official picnic however because of my allergies, so I sat in the bus to eat. Corinn came and kept me company, so it was fun! Soon the children’s ministers from the other villages realized they’d be receiving reinforcements via our group, so we met and discussed some activities to do. Some of the Romanian guys came and asked me to do Boom-Chick-a-Boom for the entire group again, which was fun. We actually did it for a pretty good length of time, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. When we arrived at Camaresc, the biggest of the villages, it was so different from the other experiences. There were about three times as many kids and we met on an open grassy hill. We got together, did one song, and then it was Boom-Chick-a-Boom time again. Followed by story time with Evan x2. I was blessed with the opportunity to tell the story of the fall again, and then I got to tell the pink monkey story for the first time. A cow puppet followed shortly after, and mass coloring time. I got to meet a few Romanian kids and actually got to talk to them with Adi's help.  One of them was making fun of me, it was hilarious.  He showed me his hands and said “You see these hands?  These hands have seen work!”  Then he grabbed my hand.  “All you do is eat and sleep.”  Yep.  Typical american.  Everybody was pretty zonked when we got back to the hotel.  We were all pretty exhausted.  I started to worry about what I would say at the “Youth Explosion” tonight.  God wasn't laying anything specific on my heart.  At least not that I could discern.  I had my back-up, I could always tell “the Good Prince.”  But I didn't know if God wanted me to share my heart about feeling emotionless, but not relying on feelings or something like that.  I talked to Ben and Jeff (Coward) about it, and Jeff just encouraged me that whatever I said, as long as I honored the Lord, it'd be alright.  We had dinner and a few of us loaded onto the bus and headed for Frata.  Halfway there, half the bus informed us that the event wan't at Frata, but was at Camaresc, so we made a U-turn.  The kids eyes got big as we passed them heading into the village.  They were excited!  The church at Camaresc was smaller than the one at Frata, but not by much.  The sanctuary was about as big as my room.  When we got there, the youth started gathering immediately.  They came from all over it seemed.  The small church slowly filled to beyond capacity.  A small band of americans and a lot of gypsies.  The children tried to squeeze in too.  But Daniel dismissed them, saying that the program was for adolescents.  I got to use the out house.  The poop hole was probably at least 6 feet deep and 3 feet wide.  When I returned from the outhouse, I saw that there was trouble brewing.  A couple gypsies stood outside the gate of the church yelling and shouting in what looked like protest.  Come to find out, that's what it was.  The real instigator was a stout bald man who was yelling at us in anger.  I'm not sure if the others who were yelling were for him or against him.  A[apparently, he was a deacon at the church and was angry that we had not given the children food or water while playing with them in the field that afternoon.  He walked up to the church entrance after his raving and called for Daniel.  He dictated that the youth meeting be canceled.  Daniel ignored this demand, asked him to leave, and told him they'd discuss this later.  The deacon said he had talked to the pastor of the church and said that the pastor agreed with him.  Daniel left Justin in charge while he and Mihai went to call the pastor.  Turns out, the deacon was lying.  The pastor told Daniel to pay him no mind, and continue with the service.  It was just the Devil trying to disrupt the work of God.  But he failed.  The worship service that followed was one of the best I've been to in a long time.  We sang, and they sang together in unison, praises to the King.  I even got to go up front with the rest of the worship team and sing.  It was like I was transported to the throne room of God where every nation, tribe, and tongue are gathered praising and bringing glory to God together.  I was brought to tears many times by the sheer beauty of it.  I was blessed with opportunity to be sort of the main speaker that night.  Two others shared a testimony, one american and one gypsy.  I shared what God had been doing in my life the past few days.  How He had answered my prayer that I prayed just this morning, about being devoid of feeling.  Jesus had answered that during the wonderful worship service.  I then, with Adi's help, shared the story of the Good Prince.  I had a blast and I think Adi enjoyed it too, even though I messed with him a little.  One thing's for sure, much was made of Christ throughout the evening.  Afterwards, I made an interesting discovery.  Boom-chick-a-boom is too powerful, lol.  The Romanians treat it like Justin Bieber's latest single.  It's really hard to stay out of the Rock-star mentality when you have crowds of youth and kids cheering when you “do your thing'  That's what happened after the service.  One of the teen gypsy girls brought me out and asked me to start it up for the crowd.  We stopped when the vans showed up to pick us up, and I had to be ushered through the crowd to the van, waving and saying “chow” to smiling “fans” either trying to talk to me or hang on to me.  I felt like a rock star.  Or the President.  Either way I had to deal with my pride then and there, making sure I gave all the glory to God, and ask forgiveness and repent of my pride.  IN the bus, I had other things to worry about.  Back when I went to the outhouse, I discovered I was dehydrated.  I had a small bit of someone else's water in the service, but I was really feeling it now.  My lips were all dried out and my hands had been shaking in the story.  So I rested my head on the seat in front of me the majority of the ride back.  As soon as we got back, it was time for another service.  But I had to run upstairs to get a drink.  Once I did, I felt a whole lot better.  In the hotel service, we heard Robert's testimony.  He is a gypsy who came to Christ, and had an opportunity to go and live in Rome and minister to his own people who live there.  He shared both words and pictures.  He's very good at speaking english.  After that, everyone was pretty much exhausted, so we all headed off to bed.  But not before Ben brought out a huge box of chocolate sticks!  They're like those Keebler elf cookies with the chocolate in the middle.  But in stick form.

Romania Day 6,

Today was a different day.  I woke up feeling pretty bad.  My allergies were out of whack in an abnormally bad way.  My nose stung, which is never a good sign, and I could tell most of the congestion was toward the back, which is also never a good sign.  Needless to say, I felt sick, which effected my attitude a little.  I took a Zyrtec right away and debated on whether or not to take a shower.  I needed to ration my clothes carefully.  So they last all week, and I knew we wouldn't be working this afternoon because of the special shopping trip, so I decided not to shower until lunch.  The morning was a little trying, going through breakfast, making lunch, and doing journal and devotions while constantly having to blow my nose.  I think it occurred to me sometime on the bus ride over to Frata that I hadn't asked God for help or focus yet, or maybe it was after we already arrived.  Either way, I quickly did so.  Even still I found myself in prideful thoughts and trying to do things in my own power throughout the morning.  We were back in Frata church.  The team graciously let me remain inside and away from the grass during game time, blowing my nose all the while.  Some of the kids even mimicked me blowing my nose.  By the time song time rolled around I was feeling much better and stepped out onto the concrete stoop to help.  We did “father Abraham” in Romanian, which was really fun.  We then went inside for the story about the nativity.  Boom-chick-a-boom and puppets followed, and another coloring sheet, this one they could fold into a book.  It was a very simple gospel presentation.  Except it skipped the resurrection!  It just had “Jesus died on the cross” and then skips right to the ascension “Jesus went to heaven”  A kid could get the wrong idea. We broke out the animal balloons again, another big hit, this time it was a lot more orderly, but then again, we only had maybe ten kids.  At 11:30am it was time to pack up and go already.  The van was ready, but the med-team hadn't arrived yet, so we had some extra time.  I sat in the van trying to catch up on some journaling, trying not to stir up another sneezing fit, when this little boy Sergio taps on the bus window.  He's an excited little guy who's happy 97% of the time.  I felt like I shouldn't be selfish with my time, so I went out to play with him.  Some of the translators and Romanian helpers were out there and we took some pictures together.  One or two wanted me to teach them how to do Boom-chick-a-boom for their church, but they said I could do it back at the hotel.  Then I got to play with Sergio and two other little girls who had stayed behind.  One of the girls is the best english speaker of the group and she's always saying things in english during class time.  The showed me some tricks they could do.  English girl could bend over backwards and lace her palms on the ground.  She could also high kick and do a cartwheel.  The other girl was real interested in trying to tickle me, and she also demonstrated her ability to lift me off the ground.  English girl accomplished this as well, but not Sergio.  I feel like it's hard to show genuine love to these kids.  At least on the inside.  I know what is right to do, to build these children up, to brighten their day with smiles and laughter and to “love” them with my actions and my time.  But I want there to be an inner-connect.  I do these things because I love Jesus and I want to show His love to the kids, but I also just went to genuinely love the kids too.  Please God, help this be a reality.  And please help me get out of my comfort zone.  The van finally arrived, but Daniel requested that I ride with him and Susan in his car.  Which was awesome because I really wanted to spend more time with Daniel.  On the car ride, I marveled again at the sheer beauty of the Romanian country side.  It truly is just like something out of a fairy tale.  I was thinking what a fun romantic thing to do with my wife one day if we ever get the chance.  To rent a convertible for a day and just take a ride through those hills.  Utterly magnificent, the very handiwork of God.  We stopped to help some others get gas, and then went back to the hotel.  I had lunch and a shower and then it was time to head into Cluj.  Cluj was pretty big, you could see it in the distance driving embedded in the hills in it's own little valley.  It's a modern city, much what we think of in the US.  Some things are different for sure, it's more obviously dirty, and although it has all the modern conveniences, it feels a little stitched together.  Like frankenstein's monster.  One reason for this is the application of modern tech and advertisements to buildings that have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years.  We forget that we've only been a nation for 200 years, while Europe's been around for much much longer.  Thousands of Years.  Another reason for the mismatched look I think is due to the communists.  They ran the country until 89 and apparently built communist blocks, large plain concrete buildings for people to live in.  Regardless, it was cool to be in a European city.  We came to the mall first to exchange currency.  Entering the mall was like re-entering the US.  If you transported this mall to the states, going in you probably wouldn't notice much of a difference except for the names on the stores.  Ugh, and the immodesty in the advertisements was really bad.  I had to divert my eyes every couple feet.  I praise God that He has made me sensitive to such things.  All glory goes to Him.  I have no righteousness.  We only stayed long enough for the exchanges and then we loaded back on the bus and set out for the outskirts of the city to check out the local open market.  It was the typical market of a third world country, I've seen the like in Mexico and El Salvador.  Lots of hand made Romanian knick-knacks and souvenirs.  Pretty much the minute we get there, someone breaks something, the antler, clean off a ceramic deer!  I felt we should pay for it, but I'm not the one who broke it.  So I went shopping.  I wanted something that said “Romania” on it, so it'd be unique and people would know where I got it from.  Yeah kinda vain...I picked up some sweet secret boxes for my friends and a couple other things.  By the end, I was feeling convicted about the ceramic deer.  So I got a hold of Daniel and told him about the situation and asked him if we could reimburse the man who owned the shop.  When we found him, he was very kind and gracious, he told us not to worry about it and with a smile on his face, told us he could fix it. With that guilt off our shoulders, we set out again for the mall.  Y'know, it just now occurs to me how truly kind that shop owner was.  He could have charged us over 100 lei for that broken deer, money he probably needed, yet with a smile on his face he politely turned down that opportunity.  Huh.  God thing.  For being so far from home, the mall food court looked pretty familiar.  There was a McDonalds, a Pizza Hut, and even a KFC!  The mall was obviously sponsored by Coca-Cola, because their logo could be seen prominently every ten feet or so.  A lot of us chose to eat at a Romanian Kebab place, it was so good, just like eating home cooking.  I had chicken legs, chicken sauce of some kind, lasagna, and potatoes!  All the coke in Romania for the most part comes in glass bottles, so we were a little confused about what to do with our glasses when it was time to throw away our food.  I ended up just throwing away my coke bottle, but later we discovered a bottle carton you're supposed to place stuff in, so....oops.  By the time dinner was finished we only had about an hour to shop.  We really wanted some post cards and a shirt that said “Romania” on it.  We checked in some sports stores with no luck on the shirt.  Anka took us to a store that had post-cards, but it was a pretty sketchy store with a lot of sketchy memorabilia.  I'm going to be honest, this part of the trip was probably the most frustrating for me personally, just because I was letting my flesh get the better of me.  Some people in our group were taking their time and making stops for gellato and coffee and what not when we only had an hour to find what we were looking for.  In the end we made a mad dash through the mall trying to find a shirt.  We found just one and we decided to let sam have it.  We got back to the buses about 15 minutes late, but thankfully, no one cared/noticed.  Still, Charles and I were discussing how we hate being late because it just conveys to others that you don't care about them.  We left the mall and drove into the heart of the city.  We arrived at a huge public square where people ogled at St. Peter's Basilica, the oldest church in Romania, and a huge statue of Matthias Rex, apparently a hungarian king.  There were water fountains on the south side that shot up from the ground that little kids could run through, and on the southwest side across the street was a memorial built to several Christian martyrs who died in the square during the revolution.  This was my favorite part of the shopping trip.  I wanted to see the church first.  We stepped inside and my jaw involuntarily dropped.  The size of the cathedral was massive!  We were warned to be quiet and reverent as we entered, but I think that was an involuntary reaction as well.  The entire building inspired reverence.  I'm not going to bother describing it, because it would be useless.  It was big, old, and beautiful.  I did think that the pews were sweet.  I thought they had foot rests, but they were actually built in platforms so you could kneel.  Either way, I still think we should build pews that way today.  There was a small room off to the side of the church which I absolutely LOVED.  The room itself was actually the base of the steeple.  It was the imagery inside that inspired me.  On the wall, directly ahead of the entrance was a large, life-scale (maybe bigger) statue of Christ crucified.  The statue wasn't glamorous or embroidered with gold, it was harsh and real.  On the two adjacent walls were two beautiful stained glass windows.  ON the left, a depiction of Christ's resurrection.  The tomb was a European tomb, not like the one traditionally portrayed in our current Bible story books.  The romans cowered before Him.  The angel who had moved the sone slab bowed before the savior, while other angels above held palms, and gave Him and crown and and sword.  Christ Himself was emerging triumphant, holding a flag of victory and looking and pointing upward toward His father.  The second window portrayed Christ reigning on His throne, with angels on every side tending Him and serenading Him with music.  I loved this room because unlike the others in the church, which were filled with Catholic false doctrine stuff, this room was completely biblical and it was all about Jesus!  It was a wonderful experience.  One of the things that Ben and I discussed was how even though as modern day Bible believing protestants we've made leaps and bounds in getting back to the word and what it says, there's one thing we don't see much of nowadays that these orthodox people have in abundance.  Reverence for God.  A wave of reverence just washed over me as I entered that church, and it was kind of startling.  Maybe it was the building and all it's grandeur, but you couldn't help but whisper, as the majesty of that church directed your attention to the majesty of the creator and savior.  After the church we went to the far side of the square to a memorial.  The memorial was in honor of Christian martyrs who were killed in the square.  Apparently, during the revolution, idk which one, some young Christians ran to the church to find sanctuary, but the priest shut them out and locked the doors.  They were gunned down and killed in the square.  It was a nice memorial, several modern art swirly pillars represented each on of the martyrs.  There was even a scripture passage etched in stone.  In only a few minutes it would be time for a big group picture in front of the statue, but I spied a couple of my friends headed down the street to a cola shop.  I grabbed Mr. Killen and we decided to go too.  When we arrived we were delightfully surprised to find doctor pepper!  Apparently a very rare find in Romania.  We each bought one.  Mr. Killen was pretty excited, it was pretty funny.  Picture time came and we all assembled in front of the statue.  I decided to be the funny guy and stand on top of the statue's base.  And then I was asked to get off by Romanian police.  I'm really weary of police officers from other countries.  We took up a lot of space.  Mike had to run quite a distance from the camera to the statue in order to get there before the timer went off.  Well, all night the translators had been asking me to lead us in Boom-chick-a-boom, and I had been putting it off, partly because I was getting kinda tired of doing it, and partly because I didn't want to make a scene in the square, especially since I had already been talked to by the police once.  But I finally caved, we went over to the side, and I had to ask everyone to make the circle smaller so we wouldn't be taking up so much of the square.  We did it, and everyone had a great time!  We got back on the buses and drove off for the hotel.  Jeff, the main coordinator of the trip gave his testimony that night, he'd been through a lot recently, him and those he knew, especially with health problems in the middle planning this trip.  I was blessed with the opportunity to lead us all in prayer for him.  That was the end of the night.  After that, I'm pretty sure we all hit the hay.  

Romania Day 7,

I woke up this morning feeling okay, but as the hours progressed I fell further and further into allergy land. I was running back and forth to the restroom constantly throughout breakfast and devotion time to blow my nose. Praise the Lord, one of the nurses on the Team saw me and asked me if I was taking any nasal spray. I said no, but I had been a couple months ago, and I found that a nasal spray helped me a great deal more than a pill. She said she had some and was kind enough to let me use it. Sweet nectar from heaven! I shot some of that stuff up my nose and in about ten minutes I was pretty much at 90%! WOOT! We set out for another morning at Frata, the kids were waiting for us on the church stoop when we pulled up. The plan was to do our thing at Frata in the morning, and then after lunch, head over to Camaresc for the afternoon, to help the other teams out with the massive throng. We averaged about ten kids throughout the week at Frata, but Camaresc had over one-hundred kids at one point! The lesson today was about Jesus feeding the five-thousand. I really enjoyed teaching it, I looked up the passage from Matthew to help me get some perspective. Due to the time shortage, we neglected puppet time today, and chose to go with a more unconventional approach. This was the leader’s idea. During Boom-Chick-a-Boom time, we had Nick dress up like Jesus, afterwards as we were getting ready for our departure, he came out and passed Life-Saver mints from a basket to all the kids. I liked it, thought it had a neat effect. We went to Camaresc and I got to tell the story again, which was really cool because the field we were in really reminded me of what I always pictured the location of the miracle looked like, so that was neat tie-in, at least for me. We inevitably did Boom-Chick-a-Boom again, and we did some games with all the kids. Then we busted out this new thing Macon, Ben, and Matt put together, where Macon made his arms look like legs by putting pants on his arms, and Matt putting arms through his pits so they look like his arms, and we put two sheets in between the two. The final result looks like a little hovering midget. I had the opportunity to be the narrator, and I basically just told Midget Macon what to do and it was hilarious! The kids loved it, I loved it, everyone loved it! I wish we had it on video tape. Later that night, we got to go to another worship service in Camaresc. This one we held outside because there were so many people from our group who wanted to come this time. A lot more gypsies came too! It had the same flow as the last one, testimonies, songs in english and in Romanian, even one in gypsy. Satan was trying to pry his evil fingers into the service with distractions. A pew spontaneously combusted and fell apart in the middle of the service, and this kid came down the street cracking a whip very loudly. It didn’t matter though, Jesus was glorified anyway, and I believe the Roma people saw, if not felt, His love and His presence. We returned to the hotel and just had a time of sharing what God had been doing in our lives that day. Things quickly became emotional, as people just shared how God was using the people on the team to influence and change them. Overwhelming gratitude was expressed to God for our translators who were so needed and without whom we would’ve been crippled. Praise the Lord!