|
Online Journal - October, 2007 Archive
October 31, 2007 -
Tuesday -
As
Americans we all know what Halloween means: carving a
pumpkin and going trick or treating! Here in Romania they do
not participate in this holiday, but we had the craving to
carve a pumpkin this year.
So we went
searching for the orange pumpkins but could not find them
anywhere. When dad went to Sighişoara he found some type of
vegetable that was green on the outside and orange in the
middle. Yes, you guessed it, it’s a pumpkin! We didn’t have
time to go to the local market but thankfully a friend in
town brought one over for us!
In the States we
would normally carve our pumpkins in our garage but this
year, lacking a garage, we moved to the kitchen floor. Mom
laid out the trash bag on the floor and we started designing
and cutting the face. After a few seconds of carving we
learned that the pumpkin had very thick walls and was
extremely hard to carve. But we pressed on to make our
pumpkin smile.
Finally, after
an hour and a half, we had an almost-toothless smiling
pumpkin. I am so glad that we found the green pumpkins! Mady
also enjoyed our company on the floor with her. :-) Click on
our picture to see the full album of our carving progress.
Lydia and Stephen
Click to send us a comment
October 29, 2007 -
Monday -
Just
a quick note (okay, my notes are never quick!) and prayer
request… Tomorrow (Tuesday, October 30) our Oaza
after-school community clubs officially begin. We are all
very excited. Parents have been telling Laura how happy they
are that we are doing this service for them. We have 34
children registered as of this moment. Our first club,
Puppets, begins tomorrow afternoon. My club, English, begins
Wednesday… I’m not READY! (Freaking out as I write…) The two
most popular choices were English and Art/Drawing but the
other clubs have children as well. Some visitors stopped by
last week and miraculously donated two guitars so we may
give guitar lessons as well. We are so excited to see our
plans come to fruition.
Please pray for
our club leaders:
-
Puppets –
Laura and Marci on Tuesdays
-
English –
Paula on Wednesdays
-
Crafts –
Carmen on Thursdays and Fridays
-
Art –
Adriana on Saturdays
-
Music –
Lucian on Saturdays
Our desire is to
provide a place for children to be creative, learn and grow
in a safe environment allowing for relationship building.
Please pray for all aspects of the clubs but especially that
we may show Christ in all that we do and say!
One other
note…we desire to also have other clubs such as Sports
(ping-pong in winter and outside sports in spring/fall) and
a computer club. (One parent commented that it will be
impossible for their child to ever learn computers because
the cost is prohibitive. And to think that our elementary
school in Hilliard had at least 5 computers in EVERY
classroom and many children had them at home as well.) So,
here are our requests for provisions…please pray that the
Lord will provide us with
-
a ping-pong
table
-
hand-chimes
for a chime choir
-
computers
(5-10) so we may set-up a computer club
-
And finally,
Laura and I desire to have a larger location in the
Bujac neighborhood where we can meet freely and open
maybe a community center for programs for children and
possibly the elderly.
I am reminded
daily how the Lord provides for our family to come to live
in Romania and serve Him here. He has provided miraculously
for Oaza this summer when things were very, very tight…and
still are currently. More than once we have prayed and asked
God to sell a few of His cattle on the hills. :-) He has
used you to accomplish His plans here in Romania and other
parts of the world. I believe He desires to use His people
again to further the spread of His influence in peoples
lives.
Let’s pray for a
cattle sale! Paula
Click to send us a comment
October 28, 2007 -
Sunday -
 We
have enjoyed having Pastor Keith Simpson, from the
Holland Free Methodist Church, with us for the
past few days. Pastor Keith preached at our Emmanuel church
here in Arad today. He has spent the last ten days visiting
Free Methodist mission work both in
Budapest, Hungary and
here in Romania. This past Thursday-Saturday Keith
accompanied me (Scott) to
Sighisoara to visit our
VISA
colleagues,
Maurice and Karen Hopkins,
Melanie Roorda, and
the Hopkins' two boys Nolan and Liam.
Sighisoara is a
very picturesque place with its' medieval citadel, so I
snapped a few pictures along the way. I'll share them with
you via the following web album. Scott
Click to send us a comment
October 21, 2007 -
Sunday -
 October
is grape
 harvest
season in Romania. Literally everyone who has a piece of
land, yard, or garden has one or more grape vines growing.
Our back yard is no exception. Last year we enjoyed a small
but tasty harvest as we put all of the juice towards
homemade jelly. Since this farm-boy knows very little about
raising grapes, I decided to learn from my neighbors, a very
nice elderly couple who obviously have been
 doing
it quite well for many years. Mostly I learned when and how
to prune our vines. Whenever I noticed them pruning,
 I
did the same to my vines, leaving approximately the same
number of leaves per bunch of grapes as they did. The
result? Would you believe me if I said we have harvested
about TRIPLE the number of grapes as we had last year. Wow!
Jesus knew what He was talking about in John 15 when He
spoke of pruning (our lives) to make us more fruitful for
Him.
 We're
not quite finished turning all the grapes into juice, but so
far we have 14 liters (almost 4 gallons) of juice. The
remaining grapes should give us 4-6 more liters. We've
decided to use some of it for our breakfast juice over the
next few days, and the rest will make some fine jelly. Come
on over and we'll share a jar with you! Scott
Click to send us a comment
  October
20, 2007 - Saturday
-
This past week friends from our former church in Columbus,
Ohio, Greg & Christie, paid us a visit. I have been friends
with Christie since the third grade. We had a great time
showing them a bit of our world here.
This weekend we
are hosting some college students who are working with a
Nazarene church and a
foundation in
Sighisoara, Romania. They will be spending their time
assisting the house parents at
Oaza. The
middle of next week, Scott and a pastor from Ohio will be
making a trip to Sighisoara to visit with our
VISA
colleagues who are working there.
Scott’s
leadership group went well today. Please be in prayer for
these leaders (some from our Emmanuel Church and others who
work in other ministries) that God will strengthen and gift
them for the ministry opportunities given to them.
Pastor Nelu has
had good medical reports recently in regard to his liver
disease. Another medical need for Pastor is cataract
surgery. This is a costly and new procedure here in Romania.
Please continue to pray for Pastor Nelu and his health
needs.
Scott has
invited several Romanian leaders (from Emmanuel and other
churches with whom we are in contact) to attend a Church
Leaders Conference in Budapest in November. Please pray
that these leaders will be able to make this conference a
priority in their schedules and for their hearts to be
prepared.
I met a young
mother and her child in a local park this week. We struck up
an interesting conversation. I invited her to attend Oaza's
new mom’s playgroup and encouraged her to bring others with
her. My thoughts have continued to return to this
conversation and I’m kicking myself for not getting her
phone number. So, please be in prayer that this young
mother will come to playgroup so we can continue this
acquaintance.
The kids and I
resume language classes this week so we ask that you pray
for our brains to be open to learning and for safety in
travels.
The Lord has
provided enough funds that we may complete the outside of
the new Shalom house (with Oaza). PTL! Scott will resume
oversight of this project. Please pray for God to grant
him wisdom as he secures some new contracts this week to
begin work again.
Stephen and
Lydia are working diligently on school. Continue to pray
for them as self-discipline is very important.
This coming
week, Laura (director of Oaza) will be visiting a local
school with invitations for our after-school clubs. These
clubs will include an Art Club, Craft Club, Music Club,
Puppet Club, and an English Club. We would eventually like
to have a Sport Club and others as well. Please pray for
the Lord to grant her favor with the school master and that
we will have many children and parents who wish to attend.
Laura and I continue to look for a space to rent more
central to the community where we can locate these clubs and
open a café/youth-center type environment and possibly other
ministries. Please ask the Lord to provide this place as
He sees fit.
Thank you once
again for partnering with us in the Lord’s ministry. We see
ourselves as your hands and feet. Paula
Click to send us a comment
October 15, 2007 -
Monday -
The
Wedding (part 3) Now for the party…and Romanians love to
party! Following the usual picture taking routine, we formed
our line again and walked from the park outside the church
through town to a restaurant for the reception. Upon
arriving at the front door, the bride and groom ate pieces
of bread dipped into salt followed by a glass of champaign.
 (One
resource says the bread symbolizes hope that the couple will
never go hungry, the salt symbolizes that life will have its
difficulties, and the champaign is a blessing for health and
happiness.) Before they entered the reception, the glasses
were intentionally broken by throwing them on the ground and
the wedding candles (that the bride and groom carried from
the church) were extinguished. Scott and I had the privilege
of sitting at the head table with the bride, groom and other
Naşi.
Dinner was
served in several courses with drinks and dancing in between
each course. The first course was a plate of cold sliced
meats and cheeses.
 Second
course
 was
a delicious Gordon Bleu followed by the third course of a
tasty soup. Next came a cold cabbage salad followed by the
main course of a pork steak, potatoes and vegetables. A must
at every Romanian occasion is the sarmale…which came next
(fifth course). The cake (called a tort when it is for a
party) came out in grand style with sparkling torches.
 It
was really helpful to have the break for dancing and
socializing in between each course of the meal…it helped us
work off the food for the next course. :-) The dancing was
fun as I (Paula) was able to learn some traditional ways of
dance from the Romanians. At one point, I was the target of
a joke (or game)… The gentlemen showed me how to dance
traditionally…but for over 5 minutes…spinning me around and
around…faster and faster. Everyone had a good
laugh…including me.
Another fun
tradition is the stealing of the bride…and in this case the
Naşa (Paula) was stolen as well. On this night, the bride
was “kidnapped” by the kitchen staff who held her for a
ransom from the groom. At the same time, without my
foreknowledge, I was led away and kidnapped as well. Scott
and the groom also had to pay a ransom for my return. I kept
telling the men who kidnapped me that Scott might not pay
any ransom and they would be stuck with me…they didn’t get
it! :-) And yes…I was ransomed…whew!
Because of
responsibilities at church (I was to lead worship the next
day) we had to leave the wedding reception earlier than we
desired. At 11pm we headed back to Arad and arrived home at
about 4am on Sunday morning. The Lord blessed us with safe
travels, a great experience we will never forget, the
opportunity to make new friends, enjoy some relaxation, and
also be a witness. The father of the groom repeatedly
thanked us for being willing to come to his church
(Orthodox) and participate even though we are of a different
church. One of our friends who stayed said that conversation
with the family on Sunday revealed good feelings for the
Americans (all of us being born-again Christians also known
here as “pocaiţ”
meaning repenters). Unfortunately, these good feelings are
not always the case between Orthodox and Protestant
believers here.
Again, we are so
thankful for this opportunity to laugh and relax but also to
learn and make new friends! Hope you’ve enjoyed the story,
pics and videos as well. Paula
Click to send us a comment
October 10, 2007 -
Wednesday -
 The
wedding procession began outside the house on the street.
Everyone walked behind the bride and groom. Neighbors were
leaning out windows shouting best wishes to the couple.
Children ran down the sides of the streets beside us taking
in the celebration. It truly was fascinating to be a part of
this event! The musicians walked behind accompanying us all
the way to the church doors.
 Once
inside, the
 beauty
of the church was so evident. The walls and ceilings are
covered in beautiful paintings (icons)
of Jesus, the disciples, and other Biblical images. The
floors are covered in colorful, hand-woven carpets. This
particular Orthodox church has pews whereas most other
Orthodox churches do not. (We were told they were purchased
from the Catholic church down the street. :-) At the front,
is a wall with doors which separated the congregation and
the altar. I (Paula) had a difficult time keeping to my task
as Naşa because I just wanted to stand and look around. An
Orthodox priest once told us that each picture tells a story
or some truth about Christ and is filled with Biblical
symbolism. The concern is that most in the church do not
understand their meanings and teaching them is not a
priority for many of the Orthodox churches.
 As
we entered, the choir began singing (without instruments).
The service began with a sermon about Christ and the Church.
We understood some parts of it but not all (the priest spoke
very fast).
 There
were scripture readings, incense and a cantor which was
beautiful to hear.
 The
service included various aspects such as placing crowns on
the head of the bride and groom, the priest placing the
wedding
rings on the bride and groom, being served honey and
biscuits (not like Bob Evans, however), and marching around
the altar three times. The meanings of these are still a
somewhat illusive to us. One resource suggests that the
crowns stand for the role of the husband and wife as King
and Queen of their home but another resource says the crowns
stand for martyrdom, meaning that marriage is a
self-sacrificial offering. The honey and biscuits may
represent a bountiful life and the marching around the alter
three times has to do with the Holy Trinity.
 A
funny thing about the honey…Scott is allergic to honey…it
makes his esophagus close up! (Okay…that’s not the funny
part…) The groom spoke with the priest before the wedding
about the honey situation. Apparently, the priest went to
his book of official procedures and discovered that they
should have been using wine instead of honey all along. When
it came time for this part of the ceremony, the priest still
served honey and biscuits to all of us except Scott…Scott
got his biscuit dipped in white wine.
The service
closed with the group singing a traditional Romanian
blessing…La Mulţi
Ani…which literally means “To Many Years.”
Following the
service, we walked outside to the park across the street
from the church to take the ever important pictures. It had
turned from a rainy day to a beautiful day of sunshine.
More wedding
stories…part 3…still to come…
Click to send us a comment
October 9, 2007 -
Tuesday -
The
Wedding (part 1)
We had an
exciting weekend that we want to share with you…a highlight
of Romanian life and one event we will definitely never
forget. Several weeks ago we were asked to serve as Naşi
(nosh), or godparents, for an American missionary
 friend
(Cassandra) here in Arad who was to marry a Romanian (Ionuţ).
Here the bride and groom do not choose a "best man" and
"maid of honor" as couples do in the U.S. Rather, each one
chooses an older married couple to serve as spiritual
godparents. Being that it would be an Orthodox wedding, we
had no idea what to expect, but we were more than
happy to stand beside our friends. Ionuţ
grew up traditional Orthodox and has now found a personal
saving relationship with Jesus.
The first
difficulty for me (Paula) was to decide what to wear to a
Romanian wedding,
 especially
since we were to serve in such an important role. I found
out that in the cities weddings are generally very formal
affairs and long evening gowns would be appropriate.
However, in the countryside, weddings are not as formal.
This may not seem like an important decision but being the
“Americans” means we leave an impression wherever we go…and
this was one event I did not desire to mess up. Thankfully
God completely directed this task…yes, I do believe God even
directs our shopping! :-)
 On
Friday, we left Arad
 with
several other American friends (Kerri, Walter, Sarah) and
our Romanian friend (Dani) who served as our driver, for a
7-hour drive to the north-central part of Romania to the
village of Nǎsǎud (nasa—ood). We are always thankful
when we arrive safely at our destination…you would
understand if you saw Romanian roads and drivers.
Saturday
morning, we drove from the small town where we spent the
night,
Bistriţa
(bee-streets-a), to the village to meet the family and make
preparations. We were greeted with warm, Romanian
hospitality by Ionuţ’s
family. Family and friends gathered at the home and shared
masa (food at the table) and some traditional Romanian
drinks. One traditional Romanian drink called
Ţuica (tsweek-a) is basically moonshine…when cherries
are soaked in it, it takes on a sweet cherry flavor and is
called vişinata (veesh-ee-nat-a). Strong stuff (over 100
proof) but very popular. Soon, a violinist and accordion
player arrived to accompany us with music as we walked from
the house to the church for the ceremony.
The Wedding
(part 2) tomorrow…
Click to send us a comment
October 1, 2007 -
Monday -
As
Paula wrote in our last entry, I (Scott) traveled to
Bucuresti this past weekend to visit a house church there
that has contacted us with interest to have relationship
with other Methodists in Romania. I found a plane ticket for
this trip that was actually the same cost as a train ticket,
so a quick one-hour drive to the Timisoara airport and an
equally quick one-hour flight to Bucuresti made this trip
much more enjoyable than our overnight train
trip in June (it is a 10-hour train or car ride to get
there).
After my arrival
Saturday evening I enjoyed a KFC dinner with the guys in
downtown Bucuresti. Then on Sunday morning I went to Pastor
Daniel's
 apartment where they hold their Sunday worship
service.
 It is a very relaxed, family atmosphere and reminds
me of our home cell groups in Columbus, Ohio (where we
served before Romania). Pastor Daniel's wife, Andrea, plays
the keyboard and accompanied the singing of several worship
songs and hymns. I preached a message about the two
different opportunities the Israelites had to enter their
Promised Land (Numbers 13 and Joshua 1).
After worship,
we transformed the living room (which also doubles as the
pastor's bedroom and office) into a dining room. The ladies
had prepared a wonderful traditional Romanian dinner with a
beef/vegetable "sour" soup,
sarmale (cabbage rolls, only
better), mamaligua (made from cornmeal) and a variety of
cakes for dessert.
Following lunch,
we drove out to a "suburb" area of Bucuresti to see the
house that one of the church members has been building
(literally, he's doing all the work). After this, the group
took me to "Muzeul
Satului," which is an outdoor collection of the various
styles of village houses that have characterized rural life
in Romania over the last 300 years or so. If you're
interested, I have put together a web album here:
Do pray for this
group of Methodist believers. The apartment they meet in is
too small to invite and involve new people, but rents are
too expensive in Bucuresti for them to acquire a larger
space. Pray that God would show them a strategy to reach out
in spite of this obstacle. And pray for our relationship
with them to develop and grow. Scott
Click to send us a comment
|
