Romania Mission Trip 2010

It's the Last Night

2010-07-02T12:05:00.000-07:00

WE'LL BE HOME TOMORROW :D

VBS was wonderful,

evangelizing was wonderful,

Romania is wonderful!

2010-06-30T14:29:00.000-07:00

Michelle and I decided to skip yesterday's blog and catch up on some much needed sleep during the day! But today, wednesday, I made a video of tuesday and wednesday mixed together. The kids loved Hannah's drawings and were shocked silent as they watched her create the scene that they were listening to. Another VBS favorite is the puppet. This year it's name is Bailey. The kids don't know who of our team is the puppet, but they are close to figuring it out! Have you figured it out? I'm looking forward to reading what you say.

Have a great rest of the day, America. It's time for me to catch some Z's :D

-Holly

Full of Sleepiness

2010-06-28T13:52:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of VBS! We were full of sleepiness, but the little Romanian children woke us right up! :D

Smile With Your Eyes

2010-06-28T11:49:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone.

Not much of an update.

Today was this first day of VBS in Fieni and

it was great to see the familiar faces of the kids.

We came to Pucioasa for lunch and then immediatley went

back to Fieni to help Florin and Marian with putting CDs and tracks together for 2 hours.

We then came back to Pucioasa and chilled, had some dinner, and had a women's bible study.

Everyone is really exhausted and ready to go to bed.

We are all getting a little homesick, but we still love it here.

See y'all Saturday!

Also, sorry for no pictures from today. My camera is dead ):

P.S. "Smile With Your Eyes" is quoting Tyra Banks. We youtubed her explaining it and we've decided that it is the funniest thing we have ever seen. It never gets old.

P.S.S. We are not trying to promote Tyra Banks. At all.

Sister Nate ;)

2010-06-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

F.Y.I. I changed the settings on this blog so that ANYONE can comment on our posts! Now, you don't have to have any sort of membership to participate in our blog :)

Here's the Video of Our Sunday in Fieni.

Michelle already told you about it, but here it is on video for you!

Oh and there's a special segment just for Tarek Ayoubi!

Check it out :D

The reason for this blog's title:

While giving an impromptu greeting in the Fieni church, Mrs. Dani described Mr. and Mrs. Krupke as Sister Sara and Sister Nate. She quickly corrected herself, but we all decided this statement was very blog worthy.

-Holly

Pure Celebration

2010-06-27T13:24:00.000-07:00

Today, I witnessed the pure joy and beauty of baptism at the Fieni church. Christis (I don't think I spelled his name right, sorry) started coming to the church around the time we came last year. He had really been struggling with pornography, drinking, and just bad influences in his life. Florin and Marian had witnessed to him and told him about Jesus before, but he just ignored them. Weeks later, he decided to open his Bible randomly. He just happened to open up to Romans and began to weep. He knew there had to be a change in his life. After that, he received salvation from repenting of his sins and fully relying on God. He came to the Fieni church and a few weeks later, met some of the men from our church. They said that they would continue to pray for him and his struggles. Throughout this year, his mother saw the changes in his life and also received salvation. So today, Stuart, the Canons, and us Ayoubis went to the Fieni church where Christis and his mother were getting baptized. It was so cool to see that OUR God is an awesome God and He has believers all around the world that continue to glorify Him and strive for His word.

Today we had an evening service in Pucioasa. It was filled with lots of singing, lessons, and testimonies. I loved sitting packed together in the small church and being with fellow believers, or as they would call themselves, repenters. At the very last second, Russ asks my mom to share her testimony. She did an amazing job. Afterwards, we had an intense volleyball match. Score: Americans-2, Romanians-1. Whoop whoop!

Double Shot Gun!

2010-06-27T13:02:00.000-07:00

Day Four

The trip to Saniai was all about the Castles and the Touristy Trinkets.

Michelle Told you about the day in an earlier post, but now see for yourselves!

Blood, Sweat and Tears.. Jk, no tears.

2010-06-26T13:26:00.000-07:00

Day 3

Here's a video of the 3rd Day in Romania!

Michelle's told you what happened. Now, see it for yourself! :)

The home sickness is starting to set in, we miss you!

So remind us you're there and comment on everything!

Shotgun!

2010-06-26T12:45:00.000-07:00

6/26/10

Hey y'all!

It's our fourth day here in Romania, and it's been awesome. We all got to the church exhausted, but our journey was yet to begin because we were heading up into the mountains of Sinai. Our breakfast wa

s very American: Pancakes & Bacon. (Daimien is telling me to add that all of the girls were the ones who finished off the bacon.) We all added

our little

twists to the pancakes with our optional choses of Peanut Butter, Syrup, Bananas and Nutella. As we were about to leave, Holly ran inside the church to leave her backpack and she heard randombanging. Turns out that Ms.Tiffany had locked herself in the bathroom, so it was Holly to the restroom rescue. (: Holly and I called our usual "Shotgun!" "Double Shotgun!" and we were off! We rode for about two hours until we stopped at the gas station named "Viva", which is surprisingly a lot better than most gas stations in the US. We filed for a line to use the bathroom, and, of course, the girls line was much longer than the guys. Solution: the girls used the boys bathroom as well. We piled back into the van and arrived at our first destination: Count Dracula's Castle. Well, one of several. It was filled with old paintings, furniture, and a wishing well filled with lei. On the way through the tour, we started to talk to some other Americans that we happened to run into. We soon found out that these strangers were Baptist missionaries who had been there several times. It was nice to know we weren't the only Americans there facing a difficult language barrier. Once the tour was over, we went down to the little gift shops and bought beaded bracelets. (I found the exact same one I got in Texas at the shop!) We then headed to the next castle in Sinai. It was much nicer inside and, apparently, they didn't want our dirty shoes to ruin their carpets, so we had to wear these funky slippers over our shoes. Of course, mine were too big and kept slipping off when I walked upstairs, which was quite embarrassing on my part. I continued the rest of the tour sliding like I was on ice skatesso that they would stay on. BAM!* I tried to make people believe that the famous missionary,Amy Charmical, was my great gram and also the Queen Amelia of Romania. I'm pretty sure they bought it.. Once the tour was over, we decided to look at the gift shops at that castle in the cold weather. (Yes, cold weather.. Sorry Texas.) Holly and I bought matching scarves that we wore around our heads in the car so we looked Arabian. As we headed to eat at the pizza place from last year, Giles' van decided to cut in front of us on the road. Thus begins our big van races. Of course, we immediately cut back in the lead and regained our champion title. But our happiness was crushed when we found out the pizza place had been closed, so we had to find an alternative. We drove out into the city and

found another pizza place that seemed pretty decent. We parked the vans and began to walk to it, when, out of no where, we saw a little romanian boy just peeing by the fence. Awkward? Yeah, just a little. We tried to pretend like we didn't notice, but it was the talk of our conversations after that. We arrived at the pizza place and all got seated. We all ordered and then Stuart told us he order bear to eat. We were all a little skeptical to try it, but we did, and it was actually extremely good. It tasted like really salty fajita meet. So, we decided to order some for ourselves. My mom asked big Alex what he was planning on doing, as far as school and seminary. He informed us that he is going to do Masters Seminary in California studying Biblical Counseling, which is exactly the college I want to go to and what I want to major in. It blows my mind how God brings two people who want the exact same thing together, even when they live almost half way across the world. As we finished off our bottles of Apa Plata (water), I accidently knocked mine over, and it flipped over. Being the easily amused

Americans that we are, we all decided to start flipping our water bottles over. On our way home, the van races began once again, bu

t Russ' and Giles' van are disqualified because they passed Alex's car, which is obviously

part of the rules, which makes us the champions. (If Giles tries to say otherwise on his blog, don't believe him. He is disqualified.) We finally made our way back to Pucioasa around 9:30 and everyone decided to head back and catch some Z's. Except for the bloggers of course. (And Daimien). I'm sitting here now with Giles, Holly, and Daimien eating popanaush(?) and drinking Coffee Frappes (which are not as good as Cappuccino Frappes). Well, that's about it. Tomorrow is church! (: See y'all in six days!

*Inside joke.

Congratulations Sorin and Tricia for your wedding today!

Vedy Good Ideeeea!

2010-06-25T11:05:00.000-07:00

11/25/10

Today, we went straight to the Pucioasa church, had a quick devotional led by Giles and ate breakfast. Before we left, the neighbor of the church was cutting his tree and "donated" and very large branch covered in fresh cherries. As we picked them off, we figured a better method was to just shake it. So, Daimien and Hunter shook and shook the tree and we barely got any off. Unsuccessful. Then, we were off to go visit the church in Fieni! It was so good to see Marian, Florin, Mariana, and Simona again. Resvan has grown so much, it's not even funny. We thought he was a different kid. Their church second and third story is coming together so quickly. They also added a ping pong table which was a huge hit with us Americans. The Britton family definitely dominated. On our way back to Pucioasa, a train was coming so the blocked the railroad like normal. So we waited for the train. and waited. and waited. Cars started cutting around and then finally, the smallest train of mankind came by and left in a second. We got a little frustrated with their railroad system. Once we got back to the church in Pucioasa, it was Extreme Makeover; Church Edition. There was shoveling, sweeping, mowing, and organizing. Oh, and ask us about our new dance move; the pebble shover (: 6 year old Alexia is slowly learning English and going around to all of us, saying "Vedy good ideeea! Vedy good ideeea!" As we were working, Daimien got cut with a metal fence rebarb and we all started freaking out, thinking he needed to get a tetanus shot. But the doctor said it wouldn't be necessary and he was fine. We had about an hour of relaxation at the hotel and then we had a youth event at the Hotel Marina Cafe. We sang songs, having Stuart on trumpet, Sue on guitar, and Lindsey on flute, and heard Daimien's and Emily's testimony. Stuart, Alex, and Nicu gave short lessons. Then, it was dinner time. The Romanians like to add ketchup as a topping of their pizzas, which we don't quite understand. And now, Emily, Katie, Holly, Tiffany, and I are just lounging around talking about Romanian Hotel/Clubs and food. Tomorrow, we go to Sinai!

-Michelle

We're Back! :)

2010-06-25T10:50:00.000-07:00

Here's a video of our 2nd day in Romania!

My favorite parts are:

1. Daimien ripping up the French Flag (suggestion via Giles, of course)

2. Michelle and I sliding in the the Romanian grocery store

3. Our ability to make Cappuccino Frappes disappear in under 30 seconds!

4. Everyone reuniting after an entire year!

Great Memories are already being made!

Try to keep up!

We have Wifi!

2010-06-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! We finally found some Wifi in the Hotel Marina where Russ and Tiffany Parkin are staying. My blogs are going to be really really boring because it sounds like our schedule. It would be easier to write when I have pictures up also, but I kinda left the camera in our hotel and didn't bring it to the one with Wifi.. Oops..

Pictures are coming soon! :D

6/24/10

We left for Bucharest in our three vans and headed to Pucioasa. We stopped at a MiniMax (local grocery store) and a market called Penny Market XXL. (Holly and I bought a European hair straightner (: whoop whoop!) Once we arrived to the small village of Pucioasa, we went straight to the church and met up with Oana, Chrissie, and Tiffany. Then, we went to our hotel that we are staying in for three nights. Some of us stay in these bungalow looking hotel rooms. (Pictures will be uploaded soon! I kinda forgot my camera back at our hotel..) After settling in and just relaxing for a couple of hours, we went back up to the church and most of the romanian youth were there. It was a sweet reunion (: Stuart led a little devotion in 1 John and we all sang together (Romanians sang in Romanian and Americans sang in English. It was awesome.) We gave the girls there the bracelets the high school girls at Harvest made for the girls and also gave them the letters they wrote. They were soo happy to get their gift and see their reactions. After, we just chilled and caught up with everyone, played some volleyball, and played some guitar. All of the Americans decided that we needed some American "debreifing" time. Our group chilled at the Hotel Marina Cafe. Since their is Wifi here, everyone was updating blogs except for Holly and me, who forgot our laptops. Instead, we got our infamous cappuccino frappes. Well, actually we got two each. We tried so hard not to drink the entire glass in two seconds, but the temptation was too great. Emily called the Parking girls through the her laptop we all looked a little ridiculous screaming into it while waiting for a delayed response. Fun fact: Make sure you don't call anyone in Romania fluffy.. (:

-Michelle

Houston to London to Bucharest!

2010-06-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

What a full day! Michelle already told you about it in the last post. So, here's a quick video to help you see what happened!

- Holly

-Oops! I apologize for the glitches! I was extremely tired when I made this. :)

8 hours into the future

2010-06-23T08:56:00.000-07:00

We're here!

The flights were very long, but pretty decent.

We're eight hours ahead and we've gone through two days in 24 hours.

Once we were in Bucharest, we couldn't find our hotel.

After multiple stops and asking for directions, we finally found it.

We just finished dinner, and I'm pretty sure everyone is running on adrenaline,

so we are all going to sleep as soon as possible.

Here are some pictures from today!

(Click the pictures to make them bigger)

Hannah being oh so happy by the lake by our hotel.

Mr.Giles and Mr.Russ asking for direcions

London Airport:

^yeah, that was supposed to be apple juice.

The Romania Crew

2010-06-21T19:53:00.001-07:00

If you don't already know, this is Michelle and Holly.

Here is the RMT2010 crew!

Here are other blogs for our trip:

http://harvestbiblechurch.xanga.com/

http://thenarrowgate713.blogspot.com/

Recap of 2009

2010-06-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! This is just a quick video recapping last year's missions trip to Romania.

It's got at least one picture of everyone who won't be returning this year. :(

The Newbies are: My mom: Kelley, Michelle's sister: Hannah, and others: Mrs. Tiffany, Emily, Daimien, Katie, Mrs. Barbara, Savannah, Mrs. Sue and Lindsey!

WE LEAVE TOMORROW! I'm so excited! Here we go :)

Before the Trip

2010-06-20T21:59:00.000-07:00

So, this blog is for Harvest Bible Church's trip to Romania. Holly and I are going to post videos and photos of our trip, that is if we find any WiFi. We are working at the VBS in Fieni. We are going to be there ten days: June 22-July 3. Have fun following us!

Michelle