Mountain pictures

I told you about the mountains the other day, so now I will show you some pictures.
Today is my last day here. I went to the market and I will spend the rest of the day packing and relaxing around here. I will leave here tomorrow morning at 5 and my plane leaves Cluj at 9:25. I will get into Grand Rapids at 6:23 tomorrow night.


The cabana we stayed in











The view from almost the top of the mountain











These girls clung to me the whole week. They were so sweet... Melita (Romanian version of Melissa), Ioana, and Adelina.










This is the view of the mountains I went to on Saturday

A week in the mountains

Today I got home from a week in the mountains. We left church around 10:30 Monday morning and got to the camp around 1. We had a nice cabana. It had a kitchen and a larger room we used for storage, a cellar, and 1 bedroom downstairs. Then there were 2 bedrooms upstairs where the little kids slept. And then the adults slept in the attic. There were matresses for us and blankets and it was quite comfortable. We had no running water but we had a well. The water was safe to drink, I drank it all week with no sickness. For toilets we had an outhouse and for a shower we had the river. We had a generator so we had electicity to cook with and lights when it got dark but that's it.
We fell into a sort of routine. Breakfast and then the Bible story. Then we had activity sheets related to the story and then craft time. Each day we had a different craft. After that was free time until lunch which was around 2. Then the kids had a rest time for about an hour. Some days they rested more than others. Then we would go for a walk and usually to the river. I got thrown into the river two times!!! Neither time was I expecting it, and the first time I had my clothes on! The second time I had my swimsuit on under my clothes. The water was very cold but it was so hot, about 30 C each day, and sunny. Except for Friday morning when we had a storm with marble sized hail. But the afternoon was good again.
We went on walks and saw some beautiful things. It was relaxing but also a lot of work. We constantly had to watch the kids and pay attention to them. I had a great time with the children and I grew very attached to them. I learned a lot of Romanian and everyone is surprised when I say a sentence in Romanian or answer their question with out a translator. I guess that's what happens when that's all you hear for a week!
Today I went up into the moutains with Nelutu, Evi and their son Robert. We left camp around 10:30. We drove for about 45 more minutes to the base of the mountain and then up we went. We stopped quite a few times on the way up. It got colder the higher up we went. We stopped and played in some snow too. And we went through the longest tunnel in Romania and then to the very top of the mountain. There was a beautiful waterfall and snow on the moutains and the roads were so curvy! I took so many pictures! On the way down we stopped at a lake but it was so foggy we couldn't even see the lake! We did some climbing to get a better view, so we were very hungry for lunch. On the way home we stopped at a few stores so they could get groceries and then came home.
It has been a busy week and I have not had much rest. So now I am very tired. I have to get up early for church tomorrow morning so I will go to bed soon. Noapte buna :)

I made it!!!

I made it to Romania yesterday afternoon, around 2:30 I arrived in Medias. All my travel was very smooth and all of my luggage made it! (That's a big deal as I have had trouble the last 2 trips) I rested yesterday afternoon and then I slept good at night too. I only got maybe 30 minutes of sleep on the plane! Today, I went to church in the morning, and in the afternoon, I went to meet the group from CERT. We unpacked their boxes and organized all the snacks, games, crafts and medicine items. I helped make some of the supplies for the craft. When that was done, I helped sort the medicine and put it into packages for in the villages tomorrow. Then we took a taxi to church. Tonight, the choir from Sibiu was here and it was wonderful! After church I talked with many many of my friends. It was good to see them all again. There was a reception in the downstairs of the church so we went down there for a while. Then I took the bus home and had dinner.
Tomorrow will be the first day in the villages. We will go to two villages I have been to before, Axente Sever, and Tarniaviora. I am excited to see the kids again. I am not sure what I am doing, but I will find out tomorrow.
I found out some things about the camp also. We will leave next Monday and return Saturday. 20 children are going, plus 9 adults, I think. We will have a generator so we can plug a fridge in. Also, the river is not used as a toilet, there is an outhouse....so I will not have to go a week with out bathing! *huge sigh of relief*!!! Nothing like miscommunication! There is an outhouse behind the cabin we will stay in. Other than that, I do not know much more.

Romania Update

Well, I leave for Romania in 2 days. I'll be jetting away Friday morning.
Some things have changed since I last wrote about my trip so I thought I would update you.
I am leaving on Friday morning and I will arrive on Saturday around noon. From there it is a 2 hour drive to Medias, the town where I live. I will be staying with my friend Magda, at her house. Sunday I will go to church and meet the team that I will be working with for the next week.
From June 16-20, I will be working with a group from CERT. We will be doing Vacation Bible Schools and Medical Clinics in 4 different villages. We will be in one in the morning and a different one in the afternoon Monday-Wednesday and the same in 2 different villages Thursday and Friday. I'm not sure what aspect of this mission I will be helping with yet, but I am looking forward to working with CERT.
I will have the weekend to visit or travel or hang out with friends or shop or whatever I choose to do. Of course on Sunday I will go to church and spend time with friends.
Monday morning, we will leave for camp. We are going to a camp in the mountains about 1.5 hours away from Medias. I don't know much about the camp, but I do know this: there is no electricity, no toilets, and no showers. I was told that we will use the river for a toilet and if it is warm enough we will also bathe in the river. I stocked up on baby wipes because let me tell you...I am not going to bathe in the same water used as a toilet. I'm sorry but that's pushing it. My idea of roughing it at least includes a porta-potty! :) We will be doing VBS type things up in the camp. I am in charge of games and crafts. While I have a feeling it will be pushing my comfort level, I am very excited. There are about 30 kids from ages 8-14 who will be at camp and I think 4 or 5 adults.
We will return on Saturday. I will have the next few days to do whatever comes up to do. I leave again on Wednesday July 2.
I am not sure what type of access I will have to computers but if I get the chance I will be updating my blog.
If you're interested, here is my flight schedule:

Friday June 13th
Flight 7115 (United Express/Canadair) from GRR to ORD leaves at 11:29A arrives at 11:25A
Flight 435 (Lufthansa) from ORD to Munich leaves at 2:10P arrives at 5:55A (Saturday)
Flight 3496 (Lufthansa) from Munich to CLJ leaves at 9:10A arrives at 11:55A

Wednesday July 2nd
Flight 7016 (Austrian Air) from CLJ to Vienna leaves at 9:25A arrives at 10:15A
Flight 65 (Austrian Air) from Vienna to ORD leaves at 11:05A arrives at 2:20P
Flight 106 (United) from ORD to GRR leaves at 4:00P arrives at 5:52P (this plane might arrive earlier, it is a scheduled 52 minute flight but has a tendency to only take 25 minutes!)

Romania...

As many of you know, my friend and fellow missionary to Romania, Gerri, has been in Romania for the past 23 days. She returned late this past Friday. Thankfully she was healthy through-out the entire trip and had an amazing time. Our friend, Claudia, had twin boys right before we went this June. They are now about 4 months old and doing great! They are not identical twins though,when they were born, they both had dark hair, but now Titus has dark hair and eyes, while Joel has blonde hair and blue eyes, they're opposites, like their parents. The pastor and his family are doing very well. Miriam, the pastor's youngest daughter, got married on September 29, so Gerri was able to attend her wedding. Her and her new husband Daniel, are doing well. Gerri talked with Peter, the man who runs Father's House, a children's orphanage/foster home organization there. Last June, I felt a strong call to get involved with this ministry. He said that there are many job openings in Medias, so there will be something for me to do, should I go there after I graduate college. My thoughts now are to hopefully take a team to Medias (Romania) for two weeks next July, and then I will probably stay there for another 3 weeks or so, to look into full time mission work there. Then I will return to Michigan where I will complete my associate's degree and graduate in the spring of 2009. That summer or fall, I will be moving to Romania as a full time missionary. In the meantime, I ask for your continued prayer as I seek where God wants me to go at this point in my life. Please join me in being a missionary right where you are...you can serve God in your home town, you don't have to travel overseas. If you feel God's call to go somewhere, that's awesome! follow Him, but we can all be missionaries right where we are today!!!

Good memories....

Well, everyone else is posting pictures and such from their summer, so I think I will join the crowd and post some of my favorite pictures from Romania...





We played a game with the kids in Medias













At the mission house, playing spoons












Doing a craft in Bazna












Some of our friends...at the mission house














This baby was so cute!!!!!!!!!!









Gloria....this was at her 3rd birthday party, and I asked her if I could take her picture. This was her (adorable) pose


















In Lodroman, with my new friend















Playing Simon Spune (Simon Says) in Alma Vii












In Sighisoara (birthplace of "Dracula")