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the VIDEO

IF YOU HAVE FACEBOOK, WATCH this on Facebook.

You've all been waiting patiently. Here's the official video from our trip to Romania. The quality is less than stellar, if the pixellation bothers you, try viewing the one we put on Facebook. The photo quality should be much better that way.

It's 7 minutes, so go grab drink, sit back, and enjoy.

Trip finished, Planning the Next

Well we finally arrived home at 2:30am last night. God showed us many things on this trip, many of which we will never forget. We will never cease to pray for our brothers and sisters in Romania and their sacrifice for the gospel. We are very grateful to be home but we already miss Romania. The next trip is already in the planning phase, I encourage you to think about coming. If you're interested we will let everyone know when the time comes.

Thanks for reading our blog and we sincerely appreciate everyone's prayers for us and the team. We will give a presentation at our church on the trip either this Sunday or next but we'll post it on here if you want to come hear more.

Love,
Nathan and Leah

Sunday! Last service went great.

We had some free time today in between the church services (4 hours of church services today eek!), and we were taken to the Bucharest Mall. It made Short Pump look lackluster and behind the times. It was filled with great European stores and fancy Italian and British clothing. We didn't actually buy anything, but it was nice being around civilization again. What a contrast to what we have been around for the past two weeks though. It was weird to find something so up-and-coming-hip after we had been in the villages using outhouses for the past ten days. Granted, Bucharest is about 6 hours away from where we were in Sighisoara, but it was still a shock to my system.

This is the church in Bucharest. It was very different from the churches we were at the past 10 days. They knew Mighty to Save here! In Romanian and English! Very cool.

By the way: If you heard about crazy riots at the Presidential Palace here in Bucharest, yes we are FINE. We didn't even know about it till some people from the States contacted us online freaking out. We're fine.

We are staying in a bad neighborhood again tonight, but the place we are staying has a big gate, and we're on the third floor. Here is a link if you want to see video footage of the area we are staying in. We didn't do the footage, but its the same neighborhood, Farantar.
Mom, don't watch this til tomorrow. We will have left for the airport by then!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac9jhexKZUQ

We love you all and are excited to see you again!

10 things I didn't expect

1) Toilet paper is orange and apricot scented here. Or pink, depending on your location.
2) Corn is a legitimate pizza topping.
3) Men sit on one side of the church and women sit on the opposite side.
4) Bread for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Every day.
5) Ketchup goes on everything.
6) Wearing dangly earrings is a sign of paganism.
7) Being on time is optional, and there are no real consequences if you are late.
8) The church here has a mandolin choir here in Bucharest. Sweet.
9) Everything is subject to change.
10) Everything WILL change.

Bucharest and other random musings

Remember the two hour drive to Bucharest today? Oh no. It was 5+. The plus was warranted because out of the 13 of us, no one actually knew how long it took. At some point in Romania, you begin to completely disregard time. We're just along for the ride!

We made it to Bucharest. This city is CRAZY! We're staying in the ghetto. Nathan has his salami nunchucks to keep us safe.

We stopped halfway through our trip to visit Bran Castle. It was frigid and rainy, but a fun time. Can anyone tell me why there are SO many daggone stairs in this country!???? We are going to come back buff!

Today was a sad day because we had to say goodbye to Florin, Sabin, and the gorgeous countryside of Sighisoara. We seriously love these guys, and can't wait to share our videos of them with you when we return. Nathan gave his guitar to Sabin so that he can learn guitar.

Our time in Sighisoara packed a lot in. We loved on the kids, shared the gospel, and exhorted the Romanian believers. We fed 150 kids each day. I don't think the food thing can be stressed enough. The Roma will eat GRASS in the winter to just survive. We are so spoiled it makes me sick. Some of the gypsy kids our team met took 30 minutes to eat half an apple because they had not had food in so long that their tiny stomachs couldn't handle it. We bought and delivered 150 food bags to families. Out of all that stuff, I think WE were the ones who were blessed. I was so encouraged to see how God is on the move here. I was amazed how people with so little can be so generous. Their church budget for the entire YEAR is $5,000, and yet the gospel is flourishing over here. Oh America, we are so desperately wicked in our selfish sin when our brothers and sisters are over here giving everything they have for the sake of the gospel. Its not ok to just live your life, we need to get up and get with it, God is working and on the move! It's time to listen to our Father more closely and stop being wussy's about the gospel.

On that note, goodnight and much love from us both!

God is so good!

God has been blessing us so immensely while we are here in Romania.
I was horribly sick last night and all today, and was sad to miss out on the last day of ministry in my favorite village, but God wanted to use it to teach me about His power, and His provision. I'm feeling significantly better but not out of the woods yet.

I came down with strep last night. Based on the timing we are pretty sure I picked it up in the States right before we left and it just was incubating. My throat was KILLING me, and I just lay in bed and cried. Today my friends went to the pharmacy to try and get me some drugs. They went back to the pharmacy counter and the pharmacist said, "You know I can't fill anything without a prescription" and they said, "Yes, but we need the medicine and don't have one" and the pharmacist said, "ok what do you need?" They said Amoxycillin, and she sold it to them without a prescription for around 2 dollars! God is soooo good! Apparently its easier here to get antibiotics. We called Dr. K (my dentist who happens to be Romanian) and asked her about dosage conversion, and she helped us out with dosage conversion!

Many amazing God things happened today, but you will have to hear the stories in person when we return. We went to church tonight, and Nathan gave his testimony and encouraged the congregation in light of God's sovreignty. I got prayed over by a Romanian woman and that was special. We leave Sighisoara for Bucharest tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. It's a two hour drive through some crazy scary roads. It will be 1 a.m. your time, so say a prayer for us before you go to bed! I can't believe our time here is nearing an end. It makes me want to cry thinking about leaving these people. Nathan and I have both had our hearts captured by the Romanian people, and are already talking about coming back. It's the strangest feeling when God makes you fall in love with a specific people group. You don't understand why or how, but everything in you is inexplicably drawn to them. Everything in me automatically and selflessly loves them. I was telling my Mom before we left that even after all the medical mess we went through, it was never even an option in my head to NOT go to Romania. It was as though there was a magnet in my heart that was so drawn to this country and these people, that it was impossible to not want to go. I am convinced that God is in the process of drawing the nations to Himself, and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to go!

Please continue to pray, especially as we travel back on the 27th and 28th!
We'll keep you posted about what happens in Bucharest!

The Salt Mine

Our pastor/tour guide Sabin insisted that, on our day off, we go to the salt mine. He said that it was very healthy for you and good for your lungs. So we drive for 7 minutes under ground and step into the mine. The moment we step out of the bus we feel a dizzy, loopy feeling. Sabin said the air was good for you lungs but we found that the air had a very different affect...

Very soon one of our translators, George, said that if you lick the wall its very salty. It was and the following ensued...

The video is a little long but I promise you will enjoy if you stick it out to the end!

The Rooster is Gone!

I forgot to tell everyone the great news:
the evil rooster was moved away from our bedroom window yesterday! I prayed he would disappear and he did! LOL. God is so kind, even in the little things.

God is blessing us so immensely through the relationships we are building and the people we are meeting. We have laughed SOO much during this trip, and we've had our share of tears too.

It's been amazing to see the Romanian church in action. They remind me of the early church. The church we are working with has only 160 members, and they have planted FIVE churches in gypsy villages. They share everything they have with each other to the point that it hurts, and they love each other so genuinely. Sabin told us today that it was hard for him and his wife to come back to Romania after living in the comfort of the U.S. but that life is too short to waste, and we have to be where we are most effective for the Gospel.

Salt mines and Cow Stomach Soup

Today was our day off. Pastor Sabin took us to a famous underground Salt Mine, which was several miles underground. It was very disorienting being down so deep inside the earth. It was also pretty cold down there (55 degrees or so). I'm telling you that to make you jealous, since I know it was 104 in Chester today! We ate lunch in a Hungarian restaurant. Nathan tried the cow stomach soup that George ordered. I did not. We have finally gotten used to soda without ice, and are enjoying it the European way!

The picture above is Jon, Pastor Florine, and Nathan breaking bread together at dinner. In Romania you eat bread at EVERY meal. Their bread is comparable to Panera bread! We have really grown to love Florine (and his bread) and want to come back and help his church in the future. The people here are so neat. We feel such a bond with them that can only be the Holy Spirit. Our last day of ministry here is Friday, and then we move on to Bucharest. It's going to be hard to leave Sighisoara, but Bucharest awaits!

Round two of pictures are currently being uploaded so check back in a bit.

Nathan and the boys in Hituer.
I'm really nauseous today and a stomach bug is being shared amongst our team so I'm bracing myself for a long 24 hours. I think half of us currently are down and out, the other half are praying they don't get it! God was gracious to our team today. He knew exactly what we could and could not handle in our current state. Our group of kids was small and well behaved, and since it was raining and chilly we were forced to stay inside and play more calm indoor games. Thank you Lord! We got to teach them about creation, the fall, God's redemptive plan for mankind and salvation. Short entry for now, gonna try to rest so I can kick this bug before tomorrow.

Please pray!

Hi all! Thanks for your prayers so far. Me and Nathan are doing well, but our team members are dropping like flies. Lots of people are sick today. Please stop and pray for their fast healing, and that Nathan and I would continue to be unfazed by illness. We're eating breakfast and about to head out for the day!

A small glimpse of our afternoon with kids in Saies. Today was crazy. We did kids in the morning/afternoon, visiting families, and this evening Jon taught a seminary class to the Romanian men. Here's 3 minutes from our day.

Saies

Today was hard. When we counted at the beginning of the day there were 70 kids in a 10x16 room. The decibel level was incredible. By then end I think we had accumulated at least 90. I don't know where they all came from. We only had 2 translators who stayed with us the whole time, so it was difficult to corral all the kids, because of sheer numbers and the energy level of these kids with little ability to communicate what was going on. These are pics of the kids I bonded with, the other 70 or so were so hyper I couldn't deal with them. I also didn't sleep well last night, so maybe my fuse was a little shorter than normal. We went to bed at 1 and our rooster friend decided to start screaming from 2 a.m. till 3 a.m. last night. I'm praying his life is cut short soon as punishment for the evil screaming he likes to do at night. Aren't roosters supposed to wake you up in the MORNING?

The picture I put up is of the church we were at. The condition of this village seemed better than Laslea, but still much worse than anything in America. The families are running out of food, and work is very hard to find because the village is 90 percent gypsy. Usually they try and get a job as a field worker in Romanian fields, but there are so few Romanians in the village. We visited 2 Christian families. The house we visited first was a two room house (no bathroom!), maybe 400 sq. feet total. The couple had 6 kids, and everyone slept in one room. The condition of the house was unthinkably bad. It made an american trailer park look like the finest luxury. We chatted and gave them food bags, and when Nathan prayed with the family we couldn't help but just weep for these people.

As bad as the conditions are now, it is only going to get worse. Most Romanians live off of about $200 a month. Roma (the gypsies) live off of significantly less than that! Starting next month the Romanian government has completely cut all gov't aid to families, and everyone who has a salary job is getting their pay cut by 25%. Everyone who gets retirement is getting theirs cut by 15%. Pastor Florine said that in the winter they eat only bread and water to survive. When they run out they will eat anything, even grass. Starvation is going to be a very real danger for these people in a few short months. Pray for our brothers and sisters here in Romania!

Laslea and its Kids

This video is of some of the children in Laslea. They laugh and play as they see themselves in the camera. It is heart breaking to see these kids in these living conditions. They are sweet and loving children. When all the children were in the church it reeked of body odor, they have little sanitation and rarely bathe.

"but the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to His disciples, 'Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?' Jesus replied to them, 'The healthy don't need a doctor, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Luke 5:30-32

Your time and offering yourself for service of the kingdom of God are worth more than your money to these people. Jesus commanded all who believe to go and make disciples. How are you fulfilling the great commission? Merely giving money to the church is not obeying God. All are commanded to go, all are missionaries. America is spoiled, people are hungry and dying. Wake up and move. God is always on the move.

our sweet gypsy kids

This is the church we worked at today.
We fed our kids salami and ketchup sandwiches today, and they LOVED it. They use ketchup like we use mayo in America.

The church we are working with has a bread ministry that gives out bread to needy families during the harsh winter months (6 months of winter here!) but this past winter the bread ran out before the winter did. There were kids who didn't get to eat for a very long time. These kids were VERY grateful for the food.

Please pray for our protection from sickness and injury while we are here. Stuff like lice, intestinal worms, and scabies are all rampant here. And if one of our team gets it....we all are likely to get it. eeek! We both physically exerted ourselves to the point of pain and exhaustion today, so prayers are appreciated!

Also, for your enjoyment: the creepiest most hilarious looking bird I've ever seen.

former communist turned to Christ and his sweet wife

We were invited into their home for drinks and they shared with us what God has done in their lives. This man used to be an officer in the the Communist regime. He didn't believe there was a God. His testimony was amazing, but too long to write now. They were so kind and hospitable to us, even though they have hardly anything of their own to share. We took them a food bag with flour, sugar, butter, cheese, and some other basics to try and help them out. We worked in a village doing a kids camp from 10-2, and then we walked into the village about a mile or so and visited 3 families today, giving out food bags, because the economy is really bad here and they need help. This evening I (Leah) am going to get to cook with Romanian women and share with them as we do women's ministry. We're making them apple cinn pancakes b/c they have never had them! Nathan is going to play soccer (futbol) with the men. Soccer is very big here. They do it as an outreach and invite alot of guys. Our translator George (pronounced George-ay) is getting to be friends with Nathan and he told Nathan "You don't wanna play with me, I'll break your legs!" Lol. So tonight will be fun, and many more pics to share soon!

day in Archita

Teaching the kids Psalm 139.

Sighisoara

Sabin took us up here after church tonight to see the beautiful view. Click the image to enlarge.

Romanian Choir

For those who appreciate music check out this Romanian choir. They sung 4 times in the Sunday night service! They are all normal lay choir members of a small church in Sigishouara. Yea, and they were amazing...

Put on a good pair of headphones/earphones and enjoy!

Here is another:

church service

Happy Father's day from Romania! We are thinking of our dads today, but are focusing on the work our heavenly Father has given us to accomplish this week! Church today was incredible!

Yesterday Jen told Nathan he would NOT have to preach, so there was no need to prepare a sermon. Today we got to the village and the Elder asked him to preach (surprise!), so he got to proclaim the gospel at TWO different churches. I was so proud of him, he did an awesome job. It seemed very natural for him, even with working tandem with our translator. Surprisingly, the language barrier has really not been an issue for us at all.

The ride to church this morning was like something out of Busch Gardens. Our van was stinky and had no seat belts, and since we were running late our driver Phillip was driving even faster than normal (and in Romania that means CRAZY driving). On the way home Phillip told us that the van didn't have brakes, and that he had only gotten his driver's license 3 weeks ago! AHHH! I figured that God had brought us this far, He was protecting us so I just held on for the ride. The rest of our group rode in regular cars, so we gave them a really hard time for putting us in the deathmobile when we all reconvened after church.

Pastor Sabin told us that when Americans come to Romania they are told not to go to Gypsy villages, because its like the ghetto. For us to come and actually WANT to be with these people and love them is something they are not used to.

The first church we went to was in a village called Danes (Dah-nesh). It was a small, one room church. When we walked in the people seemed excited that we were there, and they all seemed very joyful and sang really loudly. It was weird because even though we couldn't understand a word they were singing, you could still feel the presence of God and it was just a really sweet time.

The second church we went to was emotionally hard. We drove up to this cinder block structure that had plastic over some parts of it, two by fours haphazardly holding up other parts, and looked like it was about to cave in. Then they told us we were going underneath of this thing, because the service was held in the basement. As we descended the stairs, the smell of stale urine, mustiness, and b.o. hit me in the face. These people have it rough. We are going back to their village later this week to give families food bags, and I can't wait. The people all looked really beaten down and you could feel a heaviness in the room. We did get to sing with them in Romanian and that was fun. After the service an old man came up to us and chatted away and seemed like he enjoyed it from what I could tell. Now we are going back to church again tonight and Nathan will lead worship and we're teaching them Mighty to Save in Romanian :) I'm excited. I absolutely love it here.

I am struck by the hunger for God that these people have, and I am amazed at how kind, hospitable, and servant minded these people are towards us. I want more of this.

Archita Video

Here is some video from Archita...

archita

Today we went into Archita and worked with the Roma (gypsy) kids. 75 kids came today! I can't even explain the love we already have for these precious children. In some ways they are similar to American kids, and in many ways, I like them alot better. They are energetic, but great at listening to adults and doing what is asked of them. They LOVE to sing. Many of them have so much responsibility because they have kids of their own. Most of them have tattered dirty clothes. They have no access to medicine if they get sick and there is no doctor in the entire village.

I met a 14 year old girl today who had 3 kids of her own. THREE! Most of the gypsy kids' parents marry them off by the time they are 12 or 13. And you all thought we got married young ;)

A monster storm came through shortly after we got there, and so we were all trapped inside with them. Water was coming in the windows and the light flickered several times.

They taught us some songs in Romanian, and they sang about Jesus at the top of their lungs. They were so excited to sing, music is a huge part of their culture here.

village of Archita

These girls were little camera hogs! I have almost learned how to say "please take my picture" in Romanian, because they all ran up to me saying it so many times!

Finally at the Hotel!

Our Broken Van

longest travel day

We're in Sighisoara (pronounced Shig-ee-swar-a)

We got in at 4:00 a.m. last night after nearly 44 hours straight of travel. Nathan is uploading video now of the adventure.

Today we're surprisingly awake and happy, for being so messed up with our schedules.
Last night was like something out of a horror movie. Our van broke down in a seedy area of town, right outside a place called "Hotel Draguila". We all of course assumed that was Romanian for Dracula. We later found out it was a rough translation of something like "love shack". So we were stranded on the side of the road for about 7 hours. Nathan and I actually got split up about 5 hours into it they decided to pile all the girls into the one working van and drive the rest of the 2 hour drive to our hotel.

Nathan is probably preaching on Sunday, and I just found out we will be ministering to women on Monday while the men teach a seminary course. Women's ministry with a Romanian twist.

We landed in Bucharest around 4pm Romanian time. The trip to Sighisoara was supposed to only take six hours....before one of the vans broke down. NOW 12 hours later we have finally arrived at our hotel. We already have some...interesting stories to tell and it has only been the first two days! But now, we have been up for 44 hours straight with maybe 2 hours of power naps inbetween and need sleep.

We'll update soon!

Made it to London

We landed in London at 6:50 a.m. (about 1:50 a.m. our time I think) Our bodies are so out of whack, I don't know what time it is anymore! Fatigue is hitting us hard.  It feels like we have had an extended all-nighter because we couldn't sleep on the plane. We're currently laying on benches in London while we wait two more hours for our next flight. Thanking God for free wi-fi.

Next stop: BUCHAREST!

flying to London

Hi all!
The glory of God has already astounded me this morning. We have seen the sun set on the East coast, and rise over the U.K. in the span of 3 hours. Amazing. Wide bands of color stretch from east to west, and it’s unfortunate that I only have an 8” window to peek through at this glorious color show. The horizon is volcano red, followed by bands of buttery yetllow, fading to the most calming blue you could imagine. Beautiful.

Our trip has been ALL travel so far. International customs in DC singled me (Leah) out for extra search because I’m clearly a suspicious looking person. I have to say; I am impressed with British Airways, especially compared to American flights I have been on in the past.  We had our choice of orange chicken or vegetarian lasagna for dinner, and had passion fruit cheesecake for dessert.  They give EVERYONE blankets, pillows, toothbrushes, and headphones for free, and everyone has their own tv, and free movies through a touch screen system. Those Brits do travel right! The seats are heinously uncomfortable, but I’m overlooking that in light of the cheesecake experience. 

departing for London!

travel day.

Here's to our last night in America! For a while at least.

It's midnight: Nathan is making balloon animals, while Leah single-handedly cleans out the leftovers in the fridge by eating mad amounts of sweet potato casserole. We're ready!

We are going to be up at the crack of ridiculous in the morning to finish packing, and then head out to buy the few things that eluded our first 2 Wal-Mart runs. We meet our team at 11:00 a.m. to load up and head out to Dulles Int'l Airport. Our flight to London takes off at 6:50 pm.

Nothing of great spiritual significance since it's 2 a.m.
Let's save the good stuff for tomorrow. Goodnight!

We should be packed.

We leave tomorrow afternoon for Romania. Are we packed yet? Of course not. It's going to be a long night! On a fun note, I (Leah) went to the dentist this morning (that's not the fun part!) and found out my dentist is Romanian! She said we will love her country and that she is very jealous :) Thanks for your prayers as we are headed over there, we are so excited to see what God is going to do! And we'll keep ya posted!
-L

One week and counting...

We had dinner tonight with one of my favorite couples from our church, who suggested that we journal every day while in Romania about all the details. I loved that idea, and since there are so many people we love dearly back home who are curious about what we are up to, I decided to make it into a public blog. Welcome to our journal.

disclaimer: We've been told we will be able to get internet access, so we will update every day that we can with pictures and stories of what's going on! If you don't hear from us for 11 days straight, assume we were not able to secure internet access, and wait with great expectations for pictures and video when we come home!

-L