Mud Fun

Caleb has a best friend, brother type really, Dani. Yesterday after church Dani's Mom and I filled up the kids pool at Herculane, which is next to the sandbox, and let them cool off.

We went inside to grab some corn on the cob, I think, and when we came outside this is what we saw. Dani's version of the story was this "We had to build a mud house in the sand for the poor Daddy who has no money to build one for his family!" Somehow the house building turned to cover each other with wet sand instead.... Then we asked them why they were doing what Caleb is doing below....
Caleb's response was that they were doing their hair like 2 guys at church that they really, really look up to...both those guys use "Gel" in their hair and so Caleb and Dani were trying to get the same effect by getting their hair wet!

Some pictures...finally!

So I asked Katie to put chalk all over my face...not sure if I like it or not...
Okay, I love it!
Making my Helmet of Salvation (Coiful Salvatorii)
Kristen helping me get my Shoes of Peace craft ready!
Sweaty, sweaty sleep. I didn't fall asleep until like 11:30pm, my Mom loved that!

It was about105 degrees F at camp!

Fever Update

Okay, first there should be an additional wedding added to the "wedding list."
Just forgot one, that's all.
And, I have a new quote for all of you :

"Get in line!"

This quote was in reference to all of the people catching fever who are "younger" than some of the others on the team. I think you know what the quote is trying to convey from me saying just that.

Wedding Fever

Let me tell you, if there was a river running down the middle of Marghita right now the 'Love Boat' would be on it. A few months ago a lot of people on our team here, or those who have been on our team a lot serving, were getting engaged. So we started joking around about "the fever" that was passing around the team. The joke isn't so much of a joke anymore as this fever is continuing like crazy. Today news of another happy couple hit the missionary streets here and I just have to laugh because it just keeps going. You have to understand that engagements, marriages and the such don't really happen so often on our team - at least since I've been here. But now, it's going crazy. And, you have to know that our team isn't that big at the moment. We're looking at the numbers below in perspective with a group of about 30 people, that itself including 6 kids. Here's the run-down of the past couple of months through now :

2 Weddings
3 Engagements
3 Seriously Dating Types

In the words of seasoned Marghita missionary Helena (she's been here longer than almost all of us), "We've never had this before!"

I'll try to get some more quotes to you all later on as I continue to tally the reactions of the rest of the team!

And no, Mom, none of those above include me. : )

They Got Married! YAY!

Way to go Laci and Julie! I would have preferred you guys waiting another 6 months but you know me and my 6 month regulations... : ) For the rest of you reading this, I thought I deserved to show you some of what I ran away to in Scotland for last week. My camera battery died on arrival so I wasn't able to take any pictures. Thankfully I was able to track down some online last night to post here.

P.S. You know that one scene in Braveheart where all of the Scottish soldiers moon the other army? Well, let's just say that they'd still be able to do that today...apparently wearing underwear under a kilt is not a popular option!

Changes

I feel that what God has me doing in Marghita is always changing. I look at some others on my team and I think sometimes how nice it would be to just have 1 focus and to go for that for however many years God says to. It's just not that way with Him and I here though...and once again He is asking me to pray about some more changes in what I do here, and whether or not I am willing to accept what He is offering. I think a lot of what God is speaking about now, in regards to this specifically, is the depth and commitment to the areas I am currently serving in. I believe that He wants to move more through me, and use me to a greater extent - am I willing to let Him do that? And, there is one area in the foundation that He has laid heavy on my heart for some time now. Am I willing to obey and take this on?
I have been so grateful for this time off this summer. All together the time off spans a 2 month time period, although I only will have taken off 6 of those weeks total. Everyday is like a *sigh*... a good sigh. I just really needed the rest and didn't realize how bad I was in need of it until now. So, thank You Jesus!
Still searching for a car. I had found one and then the dealer, in the middle of negotiating with me, sold it to someone else. That's okay - wasn't the car God had in mind for me and Caleb then!

Medical Care in Marghita

You know only here in Marghita would you be denied medical care with a sick, crying child in your arms. "He's had a fever for 5 days? Well then, you should have come in 5 days ago. Too bad you'll have to come back in the morning when your family doctor is in the office."
Our family doctor didn't have afternoon hours today so I headed to the pediatric center at the hospital, very normal to do so. The response above is what I got from the head nurse. I wanted to start crying...Caleb's had a fever for 5 days, a nose completely stuffed up and with bits of blood caked all around it from it being blown so often, and a bumpy rash all over his body. (The rash is really funny, you can't see it but you can feel it all over.) I was gone in Scotland so I wasn't able to take him to the doctor. I was back today so as soon as he woke up from a nap I took him over to his doctor, she wasn't in as I said before, and then over to the hospital, where I got the response above. Desperate for help I went to the pharmacy where I explained the story to the two pharmacists on duty...they took pity on me and gave me all of the prescriptions I needed; antibiotic, nose drops and ibuprofen for kids. Whew, was I grateful for that. He's finally asleep now after a morning and afternoon of non-stop tears and toy throwing anger : ) A mixture of being mad at me for leaving him over the past week and being so sick...
On a side note, the sky is a creepy light brown color and the wind is picking up....RAIN on the WAY! Thankfully I got a break form the over 100 degree F temperatures while in Scotland, but those here in Romania didn't. No rain for the past couple of weeks either. Let me tell you, it is HOT here right now. Let's hope this rain doesn't blow over - I can smell it outside right now so I hope it does more than just give us a whiff of what it can do!

Scotland

Yes, I'm in Scotland. I've never been in a country this beautiful before. Believe me, the green hills and the towns tucked into them are something that leaves you in awe. I think the friends I am with are tired of hearing me talk about God's incredible beauty He has displayed here but I could continue on and on.

So, the more pressing question is why I'm here. Well, awhile back one of my closest friends got engaged and throughout their relationship before and after engagement have also been very close to Caleb. She is from Scotland and he is from a town near Marghita. They asked us both to come to the wedding and really wanted Caleb to be a part of the ceremony. Due to many reasons, but especially financial, the trip wasn't possible for either of us. Many tears were shed over this and then I got a phone call from a good friend 1 week before the wedding saying that they so wanted me to be able to go, would I allow them to buy me a ticket?
After having a good talk with Jon and Kristen, those there from my church doing the Casa Alba VBS with me, and receiving their blessing : ) to go I accepted. SO, about a hundred babysitter arrangements made for Caleb and off I set to Scotland for 6 days.
The weather is literally 50 degrees cooler than Romania so that has been the biggest shock of all. Other than the few extra goosebumps I am having such an incredible time. What a gift this trip was, especially to be there witnessing what these great friends of mine were doing before God!

So, I need to get off now. Just wanted to update everyone on the silence of the blogspot.

Casa Alba

So, we just finished Day 3 of VBS with the Casa Alba kids. They learned about telling the truth and the sword of the Spirit. And, Jon has been going crazy each day with playing different songs and us making up words to them. Today's big hit was the intro to 'Eye of the Tiger.' Think I'm kidding? I'm not. It was awesome!
Tomorrow us and the kids will move up to camp to finish off the last 3 days of VBS and then have 2 "fun days" before the kids come back to Marghita.
Camp usually ends up being more stress than fun, and most of the paid staff who goes wishes camp didn't exist. Kids with attachment disorder, for the most part, don't deal well with new situations. Camp always is a new situation - new beds, new people sleeping in their room, different foods, different schedule, different sounds etc... It's just hard on everyone. But, this is the first year that we aren't toting up huge garbage bags full of diapers meaning, that the kids are getting older. I'm praying that the kids will grab onto the "familiar" of the program that we've been doing since Friday morning with them and that it will help make a smoother transition to camp!
It was interesting actually. Sorry, shifting gears here. Yesterday we learned about how Satan can use his flaming arrows as mean words from our friends or other people. As we were getting ready to start the puppet show the worker for the toddler room walked in with one of the kids from that room, his pants soaking wet. He had told her he didn't have to pee and then proceeded to pee his pants. Her way of handling the situation was to bring him into the room where our kids were sitting quietly waiting for the puppet show to start, and then tell all the kids to start laughing at him. And, they did. And, the child bawled their eyes out. I was in such shock over how humiliating and awful the situation was that I was frozen. Well, I snapped out of it and then told the kids the puppet show was starting which distracted them from their mean, yet instructed, laughing enough to stop it. But, you know what the puppet show was about? How this monkey loved to dance and his friend, a bear, couldn't stop laughing at his dancing. The monkey's feelings were so badly hurt....you get where it went. Well, this staff person just sat there - the same one with the wetting the pants incident - and was totally into the puppet show. She helped explain and really was trying to get the kids to understand how wrong it was. All I could think of was - this is exactly what you just did with that child earlier!
Okay, so all of this to say that I think what we are doing with the kids is just as important for the paid staff who come. I know they hate camp, I know they hate how hard it is to be there...but I know God could change that. So, pray for that this week please!
I'll be out of e-mail contact until a week from Tuesday. You'll hear from me then!

Borumlaca Last Day - Yesterday

Hey, it's Kelsey again. We've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to update you all on our last morning at Borumlaca. Man, what an awesome group of kids are there! There is such a HUGE ministry potential with the kids there. It seems everywhere I turn in this country there's something like that. I'm still not sure how you deal with it because more times than not I lose it in stress over the fact that there aren't enough hands and feet for the needs in this country. Or at least, it seems that way. Anyway, back to Borumlaca.

These kids were incredible, they really were. Sometimes they acted like gypsy kids are expected to with lots of begging and whining and making their voice change into a "woe is me" kind of sound. We dealt with that by mimicking them back and then everyone, including those doing it, would start laughing! Another way to combat this was by our rule of "If you aren't sitting down then you aren't getting anything!" The "anything" ranged from stickers for their craft project to bags of tortilla chips for snack.

What most amazed me though was how hungry they were to learn and how quickly they learned. What would be most difficult for Casa Alba kids was a breeze for the Borumlaca children. I mean, these kids are considered the lowest of the low in this country. Their future is hopeless, to most. They proved this mistaken viewpoint of their potential wrong time after time with us. Bible verse to learn and memorize : NO PROBLEM. Difficult to pronounce Spiritual Armor to learn : NO PROBLEM. Applying the puppet show concepts to spiritual life : NO PROBLEM. Learning an English song about God : NO PROBLEM. Understanding the battle between good and evil with Jesus and Satan : NO PROBLEM.
Anything we brought before these kids they soaked it up and it stayed. I think what kept going through my head was "Why didn't I think this was possible before?" Oh me of little faith, honestly.

They were so sad that we weren't coming back today. They kept asking "Aren't you coming tomorrow? You coming tomorrow?" over and over again. We started the Casa Alba VBS today but I am positive had we not, we would have just gone back to Borumlaca again this morning.

They don't have a church building, the congregation meets on the road each Sunday. We did too. One of our volunteers here is supposed to start a Sunday School program with the kids in 2 weeks. She came with us each day this week and I hope she was able to see the potential these kids have and what works/not works with them. But winter will be so hard...those kids are going to be crushed when church stops meeting because it's too cold to be outside anymore.

I haven't driven so much in one week in a long time. The ROADS ARE AWFUL HERE. Let me tell you, this has always been a reality but having driven or been in a car more than I ever have in 1 week - every part of my body is feeling it tonight.

Oh, and you should have seen their faces at seeing a puppet show for the first time....priceless.

Borumlaca Day 2 - Through Kristen's Eyes

So today, I went to the gypsy village, so here it is... through the eyes of me. =)

It was quite a bit bigger than what I expected, and man, IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! I absoultely love the country, but this was way more beautiful than what I've ever seen...it just seemed more, I dunno, real or something because people LIVE there. There were chickens and geese running about everywhere, and of course horses and carriages (which is what they use to travel).

Yesterday, we did a skit in which Jon had to squirt hershey's syrup all over me, so you can probably imagine how sticky I was afterwards (oh, and it was pretty toasty out, which didn't help the ickiness I felt as it was drying on my skin!) One of the women there pitied me and invited me to wash off at her house...the little wet wipes just weren't doing the trick. I followed her, and she brought me to her simple, little shack-like house. That's another thing I love- life is just so simple there it seems. Maybe it's really not, but at least it's more slow-paced. Anyway, she led me to this huge bail of water and then she went inside...and well, I assumed I could just stick my hands in the bail and wash them, but when I saw the look on her face when she came back out w/a cup as I had half my body in it, scrubbin away, she looked quite alarmed...apparently, I was in their drinking water! WOOPS! I felt pretty bad, and pretty dumb too...but you live you learn, right? =)

So about the kids...I just loved them! They were so excited to see us and anticipated all that we had planned for them. Though I couldn't respond very well to most of what they were saying to me (I know so little Romanian), that didn't stop them from talking away and asking me questions...luckily, I had this guy Raymon w/me today, who translated everything for me. Today, we talked about the "helmet of salvation" and why we need it. Jon and Kelsey did the puppet show, and Raymon and I did the craft, which was a helmet. Both crafts, today's and yesterdays, and our snacks have been so simple, yet the kids just loved them and acted so excited to do/eat them! Maybe crayons and soda are kind of a treat for them I imagine.

I was thinking earlier about how little they have and how much God has blessed me back home...but then I thought, maybe THEY are the ones that are blessed! They don't have all the "stuff" that we have back home to distract them from what's important in life, ya know? I remember when I was here last year, I actually felt sorry for the teenagers living here in Marghita because it seemed that there was so little to do...I mean, they mostly hung out and talked it appeared to me...but isn't that so much better than "doing doing doing" all the time? It just seems that friends "do" a lot of things together back home more than we talk, like really really talk, ya know? Okay, so I could go on and on about this, but I won't. =)

Anway, today was GREAT. We "booed" to satan and his tactics to take over our mind and lead us to making bad decisions (hence why we need the helmet of salvation...we decided not to go too deep with them for many reasons)...and we enthusiastically screamed the name of "Isus", which is Jesus! I'm excited about going back tomorrow...we're doing the "shield of faith."

Okay, so now that I took of 8 hours of your life as you read this...=)
That's it for now... Jesus is AWESOME!!! Praise be to God!!!

Kristen

(Borumlaca Day 1 - Through Jon's eyes)

Hello. You're about to read from the what VBS in a Romanian Gypsy Village is like from the eyes of a Chicagoan. I was born in Hong Kong and moved to Chicago when I was 7. I also studied abroad in Barcelona for 4 months. As you can see, I'm accustomed to large metropolitan cities.



As we drove into the village in the morning, we went through several towns on an extremely rugged road. When we arrived, we were greeted by several Gypsy kids with their parents. A woman and a man who attend the village church made us feel comfortable and told us they'd get the kids down to where we were hosting the VBS. Within minutes, a waterfall of kids, parents and even their dogs came down the hill to see the strangers than arrived in the white van. At first, I was a bit surprised at how many kids were attending; Ages ranging from newborn to teenager. Kelsey introduced the idea of Jesus and what he did for us. We had the kids repeat a "JESUS!" chant after us. The theme of today was "The Breast Plate of Righteousness." In order to fight for Jesus - the one who saved us by dying and rising from the dead - Christians need to be equipped with the Armor of Christ (from Ephesians). The kids seemed to have responded well to our lesson and acknowledged the fact that Jesus is the one who saved us and we should fight for him!



When it came to snack time, we were all overwhelmed when we realized how many kids there actually were; 110 was the estimate. Luckily, the man who greeted us helped organize the kids in lines of two and we were able to hand out snacks a bit more efficient than we could have done on our own. This reminded me of the very lesson Paul taught us in Ephesians 4:4 - "There is one body, and one Spirit." If we are one in Christ and work together as a body we will succeed whether we are feeding fish to 5,000 people or tortilla chips to 110 kids.

On a side note, driving in Romania was a riot.

It's been an awesome few days so far with Jon and Kristen, who are here for about 3 weeks, to put on programs for the kids in Borumlaca gypsy village and with Casa Alba kids at their upcoming camp week. There's a lot of work to do before tomorrow morning at 8am, which is when our morning will begin, for Day 1 at Borumlaca. A church was recently planted in this village but we have no idea if the kids coming tomorrow have been attending or not. We could have 200 kids or 20 kids - no idea whatsoever! I still need to write a few puppet shows and Jon, Kristen and I need to run through all of the skits. And, we are trying to find a way to present Jesus to kids who may never have heard of Him - all while trying to guess at the approximate age group we may or may not have. We decided to add a snack time in so that means guessing at how many salami sandwiches to make - 20 or 200? I'm actually enjoying the "we'll see when we get there" circumstances because it is making us trust God more to provide in every way and area of our time there. And Hope, baby Hope (not so baby anymore still...) she will be there. Courtney or I will personally go and get her there if we have to : ) Just God providing "Jesus time" with her there is fulfilling a lot of what He spoke over her when she lived with Courtney and I as a baby. I think I had given up a lot on Him bringing Himself to her because I saw her village as stuck in the middle of nowhere with no resources etc... Well, almost 3 years later and a church just started and God provided the opportunity for us to work with the kids this week. We have planned to do 2 days there but if all goes well tomorrow we're going to try and extend that to 3 days. My brain is everywhere though, can you pray for me about this? Today we cooked for the volunteer team and with all the to-do lists running through my head, puppet shows to write and translate, a little son of mine going through a more-than-usual defiant time, team worship prep for tonight - I'm forgetting things. Like making sure I had made a non-onion lunch option for one of our team members who can't eat onions. Seems like a little thing but not for them : )

Please pray for us though - these days at this village are going to be an incredible time of seed planting. Pray that Jon and Kristen get full nights sleep tonight. Pray that we are attentive to what Jesus wants us to do tomorrow, and how to adapt what we've planned to the ages and amount of children that may actually show up. Pray that the JOY of the Lord would spread all through this gypsy village because of what these children soak in these days! Pray that the church there would be able to take the growth that happens this week and build on that. That these children wouldn't be 'forgotten' admist the 'adult church' but looked at as much of a priority as their parents.

I'm pumped...so glad that all of you are on board with us this week....

Buying a Car : The Saga Continues

Okay, so good news in "Kelsey's Car Buying Land." God has provided a contact in Germany, who also has other contacts, who is willing to help me find a car to buy!
You may remember my post from awhile back describing my frustrations over finding a car to buy. I started praying that God would provide someone in Germany to be "my eyes" in order to check out the cars I was interested in to make sure they were the real deal. Then, I could fly out, buy the car and drive it back to Romania. I didn't know where, how or when God would provide this person but I knew that buying a car from Germany would be almost impossible without someone. Then, on the train from Bucuresti to Constanta last week God answered the prayer. Some American businessmen who live in Germany were sitting across from us and I have since e-mailed them after coming back. They are willing to help in whichever way needed for me to find a car. And, in the words of one of them "my friend is married to a German and she is known for her haggling skills!" Heck yeah for haggling skills! Those will definitely be a blessing since I don't have a large budget to work with. I have a 2-3 week window in between the ECC'ers coming to do VBS with the Casa Alba kids and my parents arriving. I would like to buy the car during that time period. Could you please pray with me that a car would be found in the "66849" (Landstuhl) area of Germany during that time? You can look with me actually, if you want for fun by going to www.mobile.de Click on "English" and then under options scroll down to the bottom and under "Postalcode" write in just "66."

Trams and Getting to Church on Time....

Money is a little tight right now. Over the past year a pop has gone from being less than a dollar to over a dollar. The dollar is losing value by the day and while Romanians are pumped about this, my bank account says otherwise : ) So, to save money we decided to catch the tram to church this morning. It's 1/8th of the price of a taxi.
We first have to take a taxi from Marghita to the train station in Oradea (about 40 min.). That trip costs (for a full car) about $16 each way. With 2 kids and 2 adults it's a full car. Once you get to Oradea you have to take either the tram or another taxi to get to church. That taxi costs about $5 each way. The tram only costs .50 Cents per way. Big savings! Okay, so we get out of the taxi at the train station and I see the tram we need come around the corner at that exact moment. So I grabbed Caleb's hand and told my friend and her son to run and we were able to catch it before it left. The thing is, we weren't able to buy tickets and get on the tram before it left. Trams can sometimes be 30 minutes before the next one you need comes by, so I didn't want to let this one pass and chance being late for church. I told my friend that at the next stop I would get off, while she stood in the door making sure the tram couldn't leave, buy tickets for us and then we'd be set (there are tram "police" who go around fining you if you don't have a ticket.) The first tram stop we come to has no place to buy tickets. The 2nd stop on our journey had a place to buy tickets but it was closed. So, I took out the money for the ticket and held it in my hand so that if the ticket police came around they would see that I had the money ready and I wasn't trying to steal the trip to church. We were 1 stop away from church when the ticket patrollers boarded out car. They made us get off and the guy and I embarked on a long arguing coversation of why I didn't have a ticket. I explained to him, "Dude, I didn't want to be late for church and I knew if we missed that tram we would have to wait another 30 minutes and we'd be late for church. So, I tried to buy a ticket at the next 2 stops - no luck. I resorted to holding the money in my hand up high, even before you got on, to show that I wasn't stealing the trip."
He and I went back and forth, back and forth...then his patroller friend arrived.
He liked us.
I think he attends the same church actually. We were laughing and still trying to talk our way out of the $16 dollar fine...the friend helped because he believed our story (which was true so he should believe it : ) and after all was said and done we were able to get the fine down to only $8 total. Whew. The funny part is on the way back to the train station after church the tram was SO CROWDED and not once during the trip did the ticket people show up. Yet, in the morning when there were only a few on the tram of course then they had to show up : )
Thankfully even with all of the hassle we were able to get to church just as it started! YAY!
So, a fun little story of life today in Romania!