We finally Started a blog

Project In Da' Projects

Fri, 4 Apr 2008 18:41:39 +0300

This week we had a really cool guy from Bakersfield, David Inlow, to help us do some construction projects with the poor families that we work with in our counseling program. We worked on two projects: 1) putting in a new door and a porch and 2) Installing a new window and renovating a bathroom/kitchen.

Nelu and David worked on the 1st project. The family that received a new door and porch are Christians and were so thankful for the blessing of the project. I was so encouraged by them because they helped out the whole time and did all they could to help!

Ionut, Victor and I worked mainly on the #2 project and for sure that apartment was in the projects! The live in a 10’ x 10’ apartment that is too graphic to describe. I’ll just say that half the city’s cockroaches live with them and they hadn’t cleaned the apartment in 10 years. Renovation the kitchen/bathroom was humbling. We literally scraped off layers of paint and feces from every square millimeter of the room. Next week we will finish up and paint the room. As we were working on the room we would here random things hitting the ground outside.... People’s trash! Pictures below.

Their apartment is in a heavily populated gypsy area that is extremely poor. Here are some captivating pictures.

The Prodigal Ring

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 11:49:19 +0200

So, my wedding ring is not prodigal in the true sense of the word, but my ring did leave me. Right after we picked up the BIOLA team from the airport and brought them back to the ministry office one of my colleagues, Bogdan, threw a huge snowball in my face. Immediately the snowball fight / wrestling match started. After I destroyed him and threw him into the snow (in a loving way) I walked inside the ministry center and took off my jacket. It was then that I noticed that both my rings were missing from my hands. So the team and our staff spent the next 2 hours trenching and searching through the snow for my rings. We only found one of my rings but not the most important one, my wedding ring. We even tried boiling water and throwing it on the snow to melt it faster. It felt like one of the worst days of my life and I thought my ring was a goner. But praise God after about one week and a half one of the BIOLA team members found my ring! I couldn’t believe it. It was so excited that I wanted to give the team member that found my ring a great reward..... A chocolate McSundae from McDonalds.

Revelion: New Years 2007

Wed, 2 Jan 2008 04:03:15 +0200

La Multi Ani! Happy New Year! Edena and I spent New Year’s with some friends from Church. There was about 20 people in all. We had a great time sharing about our lives in 2007, singing karaoke and much more. We went downtown to see the fireworks which was awfully dangerous! Last year Romania made all the cool fireworks like roman candles and firecrackers illegal. Illegal just means harder to find here. People all over had them and were launching them off right in front of the police. The police didn’t care. I spent more time afraid for my life trying to dodge everything exploding around me than the fireworks show.

One thing that is different in Romania than in the States is that the New Year’s party last untill 7am the next day. So that means it’s two days later and we are still trying to recover. Romanians sure know how to do New Years!