Church picnic...finally!

I almost can't believe it, but I can finally say that I've been to Libertatii's annual church picnic!



Traditionally, May 1st is "picnic day" here in Romania. It is actually the international version of labor day and was a major holiday under communism, celebrating the army of workers with parades, demonstrations, speeches, etc. Since the fall of communism, it continues to be a big holiday, but the government now plays a very small role (other than making sure most people have the day off!). Even before that, Romanians celebrated May 1st as the coming of spring. Now, everybody celebrates by getting out of the city to wherever they can find "green grass" (the way they describe it) and having a picnic. The church traditionally has their picnic on the Saturday after May 1st.



My first year here, I was out of town, having my first face-to-face meeting with our publishers. Every year since, we have had gorgeous weather on May 1st, but it has rained on the Saturday after. Because of the busy wedding season & other events, the picnic was always cancelled rather than simply postponed a few weeks. This year, true to form, it rained on the Saturday after May 1st & the picnic was cancelled. However, this year, we were finally able to reschedule the picnic for 2 weeks later (May 17), and I finally got to go. I even got the sunburn to prove it!


It was a gorgeous day, not too hot & not too cold. A few minutes of rain mid-afternoon, and then back to the sunshine we had been enjoying. We also enjoyed hot dogs and mici (pronounced "meech") - a Romanian barbecue staple. And green grass. And quiet. And no traffic (well, except our train of cars & the occasional horse-drawn cart that went past). Fantastic!

Cristina & Nelutu's Wedding

May 10, 2008

Progress

Remember this? The train station in the shipping container?

They finally finished the REAL train station, and it's really nice...

...apart from the fact that there is still nowhere to sit and wait for the train. Some things take a little while longer than others, I guess.

Worlds Apart

For an hour or so this evening, I forgot that I live here:

Because I was here:

(Here is one of the two new malls in Cluj, a two-hour drive from Targu Mures.)

I was an "Americanca" through and through tonight! I walked to the mall without a coat (oh no, you might die of a chill!). I wore jeans and tennis shoes, and I ate at Pizza Hut.

And I had a tall hot chocolate from Starbuck's for dessert. Just because I could. This Starbucks just opened on Monday, and it's the first one in the country outside of Bucharest.

I never went to Starbucks in the States. Never. Not a single time. And I never went to Pizza Hut by myself; it was strictly a group activity. So, why do I feel the need to go here? Because it's a taste of home. It's a little world unto itself, a little bit of sanity, civility, predictability, a little piece of America.

Preaching to myself, yet again

Yesterday was another one of those days when I had to wonder if the lesson I taught in Sunday School was more for the kids (teens) or for me.

We're using the Firm Foundations curriculum from New Tribes Mission to study chronologically through the Bible. It's taken us 6 months, but we've finally made it to Joseph's story. Last week's lesson left off with Joseph on his way to Egypt, sold as a slave by his own brothers.

One thing that I love about this curriculum: when taught correctly, it doesn't get bogged down in all of the details of some of the Bible stories, but concentrates on the big over-arching themes of Scripture. Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all discounting the details of the Scriptural accounts...but many of our kids (and adults) have heard those details over and over again and can spit them back out upon command. What they can't always do is identify the "so what?", the take away value of those stories.

So, we skipped all of the details of Joseph's troubles, Pharaoh's visions, and even the incredible reunion scenes between Joseph and his brothers. We concentrated on the big picture: the fact that, no matter whether Joseph was at a high point or a low point in his life, every single moments was within the knowledge and control of the sovereign God. It's easy to look back on Joseph's life and understand how God used the hard things - being hated by his brothers, sold as a slave, injustly accused, thrown in prison, forgotten by those he had helped - to accomplish His plan of fulfilling His promises and delivering His people from famine. It's easy for us to say that the end result was worth all of the pain and suffering, because we can see the end result.

I'm guessing it wasn't always so easy for Joseph. I could be wrong, but I think he probably had days when he questioned, even doubted. Maybe he wondered if God had forgotten him just as Pharaoh's servants had forgotten him as soon as they were released from prison. We don't really know what Joseph was thinking most of the time, but we DO know what he did: he continued to be faithful, to be a hard worker, to inspire confidence in the people around him. He continued to live in light of what he knew to be true - that the sovereign God was still in control - rather than living in light of his circumstances, which often seemed to spiral out of control. He trusted in the midst of the storm, when the outcome was still unknown. I don't know about you, but I'm challenged/convicted by his example.

There is one time when we do know exactly what Joseph was thinking, and it's another powerful lesson for me. After God used Joseph to save Egypt (and Israel!) from famine, Joseph's father died, and his brothers got a little nervous. What if Joseph had only been kind to them out of respect and deference for their father? What if it was all just an act? Now their father was gone, and there was no longer any reason for Joseph to pretend. Once Joseph understood their concern, he immediately set out to allay their concerns.

"Yeah, you intended to do something horrible to me, no question about it. Lucky for you, God is bigger and more powerful than you are, and He took your evil intentions and turned them into something bigger and better than any of us could have ever imagined!" (that's the Becky paraphrase of Genesis 50:20). Another statement of Joseph's bold faith in the sovereign God. He didn't let them off the hook by ignoring what they had done, but he extended God's gracious forgiveness to them. A strong faith in the sovereignty of God is a powerful motivator for forgiveness! Because it doesn't matter what someone does to me, even if it is painful, even if it is blatantly intended to be painful, the all-powerful God can take those evil intentions and change them into something good, something useful, something that brings honor to His name. That's a kind of forgiveness that I need to learn to extend more often!

** Relax, I wasn't really preaching. Just teaching. It's ok. Really. I promise :) Teaching in Romanian is hard enough. I'll leave the preaching to others with much better language skills than mine (and a Y chromosome).

The truth

The truth is, I just don't have time to write here at this point in my life. Life is crazy right now, but most of it is "good crazy". I'm really enjoying teaching, and I love the structure that it gives to my schedule. On the other hand, spending 3 hours in the middle of every afternoon at the school means that I need to manage every other minute pretty carefully.

Take today for example: I was at the office supply store when they opened this morning, bought the things I needed, went directly to the office where I spent 4 hours making photocopies. Then I came home, ate a quick lunch, and threw an apple cobbler in the oven while preparing for class this afternoon. The other teachers ate the apple cobbler while I stapled tests, also for class this afternoon. The first hour was supposed to be review, but, really, who wants to come to class to review more before taking a test? I could tell my students weren't really into it, and in their place, I wouldn't have been either. Just give me the stupid test and let me get it over with! While they took their tests, I graded another set of tests from youth group this weekend.

(That's right...we gave our youth group a test. Disguised as a contest, of course. It was interesting to see who learned what. No big surprises, but interesting nonetheless.)

Back to my day...after class, I came home, started dinner, and wrote some e-mails. Half an hour later, around 7:30, I discovered that the oven had gone out for some reason, so I restarted it. An hour later, dinner was finally ready. Some day I'm going to eat dinner at a normal hour again. Maybe. Now it's 10, and I'm contemplating which project to tackle next. Or whether to ride my stationary bike for a while (my leg muscles are screaming "NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT!).

While I consider the options, here are a few images from the last couple of weeks to keep you entertained.

First, a series of my favorites. Early last Saturday morning, I was headed to the store to pick up a case of copy paper. On the way, I was met with an unexpected obstacle. May I remind you, I live in the city. Not in a village. Not out in the country. No, in the city. And yet, as I was driving down the road, suddenly this was walking out into the road in front of me:



So, what does one do while waiting for a herd of sheep to cross the road in front of her? Take pictures, of course. I was a little slow on the draw (the camera was buried in my bottomless-pit-of-a-purse), so you don't get the full effect of seeing the donkey leading the sheep across the street; that's him in the left of the frame. Trust me, it was quite entertaining.


Typically, the shepherd follows behind the sheep rather than leading them. Is it like this in the rest of the world, I wonder? What does that do to songs like "Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us"?



On a totally different note, last week I made one of my favorite winter meals, hamburger soup, a recipe I borrowed from Sara Hile in South Africa & then modified. I spiced it up a bit by turning the ground beef into taco meat & then got rid of the green beans (which are much better by themselves than in soup).


This is pretty much the only meal I make in the crock-pot, so it's the only meal that cooks while I'm not here. Gas pressure is way too unpredictable to leave the oven on when I'm not home. I can't even describe how wonderful it felt to arrive home and smell something delicious before I even opened the front door. Hot and fresh! Good stuff. I think I might need to hire a cook to occasionally have a hot dinner waiting for me when I come home in the evening (just kidding, in case you were wondering...).


And, finally, a random shot of a random child taken while in the mountains with the choir last weekend. Hopefully, another post will follow before too long (as in, during the next few days) with more details about that adventure!



Okay, off to do some more work in PhotoShop before doing my time on the bike for the night. Happy Presidents' Day!

La Multi Ani!

Happy 26th birthday to my "little" sister Sarah! (Someday I'm gonna start getting in trouble for telling everyone how old she is...but I think this year's still safe.)

Sarah, the choir enjoyed your birthday cupcakes tonight. I think. I really don't know for sure, because as soon as our break started, I went downstairs to grab drinks & snacks from the kitchen. When I got back, they were all gone. As in "not a crumb left in sight." Glad I left one at home. It was yummy! Sorry you didn't get one... I think that's the first time I've used a boxed cake mix & store-bought frosting together in over 2 years. Did I mention it was yummy?

So, since she lives in New Orleans and this is Mardi Gras weekend, she figures it's basically a city-wide celebration of her birthday. Oh, and that football thing everyone else is talking about tonight? That's the national version of her birthday party. Forget SuperBowl...think SuperParty!

Happy birthday, Sarah! I love you. Next year I'll make you a birthday cake you can eat ;)

And, for those of you who don't know her, Sarah's the sister on the right. The one in the middle is my older sister, Ruth; I won't tell you how old she is, since I'm probably already in enough trouble just for posting this picture...

Noah & the Ark

That's what our Sunday School lesson was about this last Sunday. Teaching was a stretch for me, since I didn't know I was teaching until Wednesday afternoon & there just isn't a spare minute in my schedule right now. But, in the end, it came together okay.

While I was preparing, I started thinking about the story from a new viewpoint. What was it like to be one of those standing outside the ark when the rain began to fall? They had laughed & mocked for years as Noah built his big boat, gathered all of the animals and climbed aboard with his family, all the while warning of God's impending judgment. And, suddenly, God closed the door, and the rain began to fall.

I'm guessing their mocking and laughter came to a sudden halt. As the water level began to rise dramatically, I can imagine hoards of people pounding on the side of the boat, begging Noah to let them in, to save them. But God had given them a chance. Lots of chances, in fact. And they had ignored every one. Then He closed the door. The chances were over. It was too late. And now they were ready to listen.

It was a sobering lesson for our teens. They, too, have had lots of opportunities to respond to God's warnings of judgment. And like the people of Noah's time, some of them are more prone to mock or laugh than they are to accept the one way God has provided to escape destruction. Others just figure they can enjoy themselves for one more day, one more party, one more... But, the day is coming when God will close the door, and it will be too late. I just pray that they won't have to feel the raindrops falling on their head before they realize that God isn't joking when He promises to judge sin.

What Else Is Going On

January in nutshell (so far!):
1. Baptism at Libertatii on January 6. Nelutu came to Christ this last year and absolutely couldn't wait any longer to be baptized. January 6 is also the day that the church in Romania celebrates the baptism of Christ, so that made it especially meaningful.

2. Team Meeting - budgeting, strategic planning, all that "fun" stuff.

3. Dinner with Gabi - Even though she is still doing some freelance work for us, we wanted to celebrate Gabi's time with us as she moves on to another full-time job. So, we took her out for dinner, looked at pictures from the last couple of years, and gave her flowers and a small gift.

4. Wrote letters to supporters, mailed packages to a bunch of other people. Going to the post office was quite an adventure, as usual. When I asked for 32 airmail stamps to the US, the lady just stared at me (has no one ever mailed that many letters before???) and then disappeared into the back of the post office for over 10 minutes. Then, it took quite a bit of convincing for her to believe that I really wanted to send my packages airmail even though it costs more (at least then I know they will probably get there this year!). And, of course, there is no such thing as self-stick stamps or computers that spit out labels with the exact amount of postage. So, after she scrambled around the office for another 10 minutes trying to come up with the right combination of stamps to make up the amount I needed,I got to spend another 20 minutes licking all of the stamps & affixing them to the proper envelopes. It took an hour, but, mission accomplished...eventually!

5. Finished collating and binding all of the teacher's manuals for quarter 8. (The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!!!)

6. Got a fun package from Jenny. Along with some weird looks from the postal workers (I pick up packages from a different post office than the one where I invested an hour of my life earlier in the week). Guess they haven't seen too many envelopes like this.

And the customs officer wasn't quite sure what to make of the customs declaration. "DVD, can of soup, random assortment of junk." I had some yummy tomato soup for dinner that night! And some good laughs, too.

7. After a long saga, I FINALLY received my license plates. It only took 10 trips to the police station.

8. Finally took down my Christmas tree last Friday (the 18th). Glad I did it then before I had to run out of town! I didn't feel too guilty about the fact it was still up since most of my friends here hadn't taken theirs down either. Of course, they also didn't put theirs up until Christmas Eve...
Since I won't be here for Christmas next year, I wrapped the tree up well so that it can be stored in less space. Each section is "trussed up" with leftover Christmas ribbon. And it stores in about half of the space that it did last year!

So there you have it...all of the "excitement" in my life in recent weeks. Truthfully, trying to keep all of the balls in the air and not let anything fall through the cracks is taking every ounce of energy and every moment of my days. But, I'll still try to update once a week!

The Best Laid Plans

I promised a better update last weekend, and then didn't follow through. I apologize. My plans for the weekend took an unanticipated twist when I had to make a last-minute trip to Bucharest. We made the decision at 11:30 Saturday morning that I needed to go, and I was on the road by 1 pm. Despite a thick fog blanketing the entire country, the roads were pretty clear, and I was able to arrive in Bucharest around 6:30 pm. I had an extra hour in the evening, so I took a walk through downtown, praying and taking some pictures. What I saw...

KFC - haven't eaten there in a long time!

This is one of the big changes in Romania in the time that I have been here - the country is being taken over by casinos. In 1 kilometer, I passed 4 large casinos. It makes me sad and angry at the same time; sad that people who have so little waste it in such a foolish way, and angry that that their dreams and aspirations for a better life are targeted and taken advantage of by people who already have so much more than they do (I realize that this doesn't remove their own responsibility for the choices they make).

The Intercontinental Hotel at Piata Universitatii. We went to a steak house at the hotel just before Christmas...absolutely fabulous dessert...chocolate cinnamon triangles. Try 'em if you get a chance!

I made it home from Bucharest just in time for choir rehearsal on Sunday evening and then in time to start another crazy week.