Stories from Romania- 2009

Romania Stats

2009-07-27T01:10:00.001-07:00

17 Americans

20 Days in Romania

1200 slices of white bread eaten

160 bottles of water

24 hours of air travel

2 birthdays celebrated

30 liters of Fanta consumed by Kip

1300 pictures of Emma and Anna

1 toilet broken (and repaired) by Libby and Megan

20 days of Fan Ministry from Brenda

8 mangy dogs named by Collin

1 (at least) Romanian heart broken by Kesh

50+ hours of video footage taken by Jim

200 Romanian words learned by Alex

30 tattoos designed by Brandon

17+ talks from Rick (including one Romanian radio show)

1 American boy band (Nate, Jasper, Kesh and Alex)

90 pieces of luggage arranged by Jason

15 hours of singing from Kristin

1 British psychiatrist played by Nate

5000 phone calls received by Emi

30 times Ian was mistaken for being 5 years older

12 bowls of ice cream polished off by Jasper

4 times Vio was mistaken for an American

14 members of the team are en route to Portland at the moment. Meanwhile, Jason, Nate and myself are staying for another few weeks to do some traveling in Europe. It was difficult to leave Romania and some on the team are already making plans to return. We're all excited to share stories and pictures with everyone, and stay tuned for that 50+ hours of video footage to be turned into an awesome video. Thanks for following along and praying for us on our journey.

Ciao!

All American Boy Band

2009-07-25T06:38:00.000-07:00

We just returned from camp and are tired and more than excited for the pizza that's coming in an hour. If you see anyone from the Romania team in the next weeks, ask us about white bread, pink toilet paper and Count Vlaaaadimir.

We appreciate your prayers through this week of camp--the Lord worked in some amazing ways through Rick's teaching and through our conversations with our new Romanian friends. It was truely amazing to pray and worship together with these fellow Christians halfway around the world.

We've learned that Romanians have extremely competative spirits, serve hot food in the extreme heat, sing with gusto, and pray with fervor. We've made relationships that we hope to continue when we return home.

Camp Week: The Quest For Truth

2009-07-22T13:17:00.001-07:00

We're on Day 3 of our camp with 6 different churches from the Arad area and we're spending lots of time baking in the sun, eating white bread and learning a lot about Romanian competativeness. We were expecting around 80 campers and ended up with 140 people! It's been fun getting to know the Romanians in our small groups and rooms, having conversations about cultural differences and learning from one another.

The theme of the camp is The Quest for Truth, and we've been following Louisiana Jones and Georgia Jones (Indy's goofy cousins, aka Nate and Kesh) and their interactions with Count Vladamir and Fido, two Romanian vampires (Alex and Jasper) who try to impede their Quest for Truth. Rick has been speaking in the evening, guiding us on our Quest by unpacking Postmodernism, Scienctific Naturualism and other religions.

We appreciate your continued prayers for God's work in the hearts of the campers, the conversations we'll be having and that we can be examples of how Christ lives. Unfortunately my internet is a bit spotty this week, but I'll try to put up some pictures on the next post. Until then, Ciao!

Camp Week: The Quest For Truth

2009-07-22T13:17:00.000-07:00

We're on day 3 of our camp and everyone

Thursday, Friday, Saturday

2009-07-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

On Thursday we met with Lee, the founder of Networks whom I wrote about in a previous post, and worked with some of the kids in a local gypsy village. Unfortunately we were unable to take pictures because they want to protect the villages from becoming tourist attractions.

This Friday a group of us started repairing the play structure at the church who is housing us for the week. We've replaced the old wood, repaired the roof and started painting on Saturday.

Saturday morning was spent visiting the orphanage building and Christian clinic connected to Maranata Church in Arad (where Emi's father is the pastor). Emi's dad also took us to Revolution Square, where the Revolution in Arad began. He shared stories from 1989 and also from his time as the mayor of the city from 2000-2004. The first thing that caught my eye when we walked into the square were the words "Via, Veritas, Vita" on the municipal building. These words of Jesus: "the way, the truth and the life," were added to the building during Emi's father's time as mayor. A city that was once under Communism now has Jesus' words on their most important government buildings. Praise God for change.

Wednesday: Revolution Sites and Soccer Matches

2009-07-18T12:29:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday Emi's father took us to Timisoara, a neighboring town where the 1989 Revolution began. We stood on the street where the riots began, saw buildings still marked with bullet holes, and visited the Revolution monument and cemetery, where hundreds of victims, all killed over a period of five days, are buried.

In the evening some of the guys played a soccer match: Romanians versus Americans. I've never seen so many sweaty people in one room. When asked to comment about the game, Collin says, "I have no comment."

What You've All Been Waiting For: Pictures! Tuesday

2009-07-18T11:55:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday we visited a local orphanage where we played with the kids and thoroughly enjoyed jumping into the pool on this sweltering day. After spending just a few hours with them, Alex wanted to adopt all the children, but since international adoptions are illegal, one of our interpreters who works at the orphanage has decided to adopt him instead.

Pregnant Parking Only

2009-07-16T13:06:00.001-07:00

We parked next to this sign today when we stopped by the store to buy craft supplies. Libby commented that we're well on our way to achieving the pregnant look if we keep eating as much bread as the Romanians try to feed us...

Go Over the Wall

2009-07-16T11:26:00.000-07:00

This morning we spent time with a man named Lee Sevell who runs a ministry for street children and the poor in the villages outside Arad. Lee grew up in a non-Christian home, was a successful lawyer in Sheffield, England and thought Christians were "weak, pathetic individuals who needed a crutch." Through an interesting series of events, he found himself at an Alpha Course (a 10-week course explaining the basics of Christianity) in 1994 and came to Christ at the age of 34.

Soon after Lee became a Christian he began having open visions- movie-like pictures that would pop into his head that he eventually determined were from God. In one recurring vision he was standing behind a wall looking out over a field half-covered in fog. A boy around 12, without shoes and a shirt came bursting from the fog, screaming and obviously running from something. As time went on, more children appeared in the vision: a 16-year-old mother with a child and another boy. At the end of the vision he would hear a voice saying, "Go over the wall, Lee."

Lee finally determined that these were street children in his vision, and he began researching street ministries around the world. In the midst of looking at ministries in Brazil and other places, an older couple in his church invited him to go to Romania. When he stepped out of the car in Arad (where we're spending the week), he came face to face with the children in his vision.

After that first trip to Romania, Lee returned to England, resigned from his job, sold his home and moved to Romania to work with street children full-time. He started out taking soup in margarine containers to 20 children on the street, and since then the ministry has grown to include 50 full-time staff members who work in several Gypsy communities, providing stability in often rocky family lives.

Lee has story after story of how God provided specifically as the ministry was growing and changing. When he was looking to buy the first building that would serve as a boys home, a man from Sweden whom he had never met called him saying God had told him to give $12,000- the exact amount needed to purchase the property. There are many more stories of God's provision for land, money, and miraculous healings. Lee says that he can look at the growth of this ministry knowing that it has been the Lord working the whole time, and he has learned that "His plans are so much better than mine."

In the afternoon our team did a VBS-type program in one of the Gypsy villages that Lee's ministry is involved with. We sang songs, performed a skit about David and Goliath, and ended our time making paper plate tambourines. Within minutes of arriving in the village we rounded up about 25 children (many thanks to Alex, our team's Pied Piper of Children), who were instantly hugging us, giving high fives and fighting to sit in our laps. A gypsy woman tried to swipe Collin's running magazine, but other than that, we loved our afternoon in the village and are trying to find some time to return before we head to camp.

Dracula Lives, Batman Returns and Driving Straight to Heaven

2009-07-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

A few observations about Romanian culture:

Dracula: On Sunday most of the group took a train to the mountains in Transylvania to visit a few palaces. This mountainous region outside Bucharest was once the home of the real Count Dracula (and yes, he really did have extra-sharp canines). On the train ride over during a particularly competitive game of Hearts, Emi, our dear Romanian friend, let out a maniacal laugh that reminded us of the former village vampire. Though we weren't able to visit Dracula's castle, his presence was well represented on this day. Ah ah ah...

The Mangy Dogs: Every public city space in Romania has a requisite pack of mangy dogs. They've learned to follow tourists, beg politely and look cute (despite the manginess). While waiting at the train station, Collin, Brenda and I observed a pack we dubbed The Mangy Five. The Mangy Five included Batman, Blanket, Prince Michael II, Benji and Mary Poppins, who obviously had puppies somewhere (whom we named Huey, Dewey and Louie, though we never saw them). The next day on our lunch stop from Bucharest to Arad, we encountered another black dog whom we named Batman Returns, and his cohorts, naturally, were Robin and Wolverine.

Drive, Drive, Drive Like a Maniac: As Rick so perfectly observed earlier this week, Romanians drive as if they are anxious to meet their Lord. They are quite fond of passing on two lane roads, weaving, and making maneuvers that defy all laws of physics. Romanian drivers also make good use of horns, accelerators and brakes. Your continued prayers for safety are not in vain.

Timp petrecut in Bucuresti

2009-07-14T01:10:00.000-07:00

Though our time in Bucharest was short, I think all would agree that we made some wonderful new friends, thoroughly enjoyed our homestays with our host families and loved spending time with Missio Dei, the new church plant. It was difficult to say goodbye to our host families when we left for Arad yesterday morning.

I spoke with Adiel, one of the pastors of Missio Dei and asked how we can be praying for the church as they grow and expand their ministry. Since Missio Dei is comprised entirely of youth, he said they really miss the presence of the older generation. They want to see the church filled not only with youth, but with older Christians who will be able to mentor and share wisdom with the younger. This progressive community also faces quite a bit of opposition from more traditional church communities. One young women we met often gets locked out of her home because her mother is upset at her attending the new church. They also need prayers for the spiritual health of their congregation so they can then go out into the community and carry out their missional vision.

We spent Friday and Saturday with the youth in three different seminar sessions for the women (talking about dating and relationships with Brenda) and the men (discussing apologetics with Rick). We also attended their Saturday evening church service (renting the building on a Sunday morning would be too costly), and Rick spoke about the proof of Jesus' death and resurrection.

The Bathroom Chronicles: Installment 1

Bathrooms in Romania have proved to be a breeding ground for bizarre experiences and good stories. Our first night in Bucharest Libby called down the hallway because the toilet wasn't flushing. Unlike western toilets, the tank was mounted close to the ceiling and flushes with a lever pulled by a cord. I walked down the hallway to help and promptly broke the cord off the lever! Libby hoisted me up on her shoulders and I braced myself between the wall and the window, Matrix/Spiderman-style and reattached the cord to the lever. Meanwhile, the still running water was spitting out from the tank into my face. Needless to say, Libby and I could not stop laughing.

Ciao for now!

- Megan

We're Here!

2009-07-10T22:46:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Bucharest around 5:00 pm on Thursday and are starting out our second full day in the country. We survived almost 26 hours of travel time-- Bend to Seattle, Seattle to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Bucharest. This is the beginning of our second full day in Bucharest and the team is doing well, despite some jet-lag and looking somewhat like zombies from time to time.

We're staying with host families here in Bucharest, some in Soviet-era bloc apartments, some in newer apartments, and a few lucky ones in a home with a pool-- which sounds heavenly in this muggy 88 degree weather. Yesterday we toured the People's House, the main government building in Bucharest, where the former dictator lived and worked, and walked around Bucharest to visit some of the key sites of the 1989 Revolution.

Yesterday evening we spent time with the members of Missio Dei, a 9-month old church plant comprised mostly of young people (its oldest member is 34). Missio Dei is a progressive community emerging among a rather conservative church tradition. They have had some opposition from the older generation, who don't completely understand their vision to be missional and more active in the community. The church was started by former Moody students and is pastored by two dynamic brothers. Last night we had some sessions with thier young people-- the women with Brenda speaking about dating and relationships and the men with Rick speaking on apologetics.

We're having a couple more sessions with the church this morning and evening, and some time with our host families this afternoon. Right now we have to catch a bus and head to the church building. Ciao!

-Megan

The Final Countdown

2009-06-29T14:31:00.000-07:00

In just 2 days, the Antioch Romania team will board a plane in Seattle and step off into former Communist territory, where we will spend 20 days serving, teaching, and learning alongside Romanian Christians and youth. The team of 17 has been meeting and planning since the fall, and it's surreal to be leaving so soon. Here's a rundown of our ministry and what we'll be doing:

Why Romania? If you've been around Antioch in the past year, you may have had a chance to meet Emi and Vio Popa who served as interns at the church. Both are from Romania, met at Moody as graduate students, married, and spent the past year serving in Bend. Emi is a gifted teacher and pastor, and Vio has an abiding passion for women's ministry. This trip is what we hope will be the first step in a lasting partnership between Antioch and the Church in Romania.

What we'll be doing: With instructions to be flexible and open to new experiences, our 20 days in Romania are sure to be rich and varied. We'll be spending much of our time in Arad, Emi's hometown, working with several local churches and ministries, including an orphanage and a Christian clinic. We will also be visiting a new church plant in Bucharest, participating in an Apologetic's conference and a women's conference. During the second week we're running a camp for youth from 6 different churches in the Arad area.

How you can support us: Prayer Please keep us in your prayers as we travel, serve and learn. Pray especially for Emi, Vio, and Kip, who are leading the trip and handling details, and for Rick Gerhardt and Brenda Jacobson, who will be teaching at the conferences and at camp. Pray for the people with whom we'll be interacting and for the health, both physical and spiritual, of the team.

Finances Even in this markedly rocky economy, the team has managed to raise almost all of our funds. A sincere thanks to everyone who wrote checks, got cars washed, donated garage sale items, and purchased chicken bowls after church. As a team we've raised $35,000-- just $3700 short of our goal.

Thanks for reading and for following our adventures. We'll be updating the blog periodically throughout the trip, so check back for more pictures and stories from Romania!

-Megan