Thursday was a day of transitions, a day of saying goodbye to new friends, and hello to a new country, currency, and experience.
We had a wonderful fellowship time with the students on Wednesday evening with the chapel service as well as following the service. Even though the service lasted until 10PM, we all stayed around to fellowship, take pictures, exchange e-mail addresses and just enjoy being together. I can't tell you how strong the bond between us came in such a short time. The bonds of Christ are indeed the strongest, and I felt like I was leaving new-found family. What a wonderful time we all had.
So, on to Thursday morning. Doru came to have breakfast with us and say goodbye. The goodbyes were hard. I definitely feel that Ivonne and I impacted some of the girls. We were able to share our life with them and they with us. Goodbye for now, until we meet again dear Romanian family! We loved our time with you and can't wait until the day God returns us to you or when we are able to share eternity in heaven together. What an amazing thought, that we will all be able to understand each other, regardless of language. Isn't that a remarkable thought??? God truly blows my mind sometimes and I'm so blessed to be HIS!!!
We left Emmanuel University around 9:30 after Kelsie finally finished goodbyes, and Daniel also. I think Daniel really hated saying goodbye. He's asked a couple of times since we left if we could just please go back and spend about 4 more days there. How wonderful for him to feel so accepted, loved and the experience he was able to have.
The drive to Budapest is not very exciting, other than the driving!! Hugging center lines, driving fast, passing on curves, you get the picture. The scenery is rather boring and mundane, so not much to report there. Once we arrived in Budapest, we met a young man from Melba tours to get our rental van. Ok, I think it's a mini-bus, but it is indeed a very nice, roomy van for our family and we were blessed to be able to find such a bargain and large vehicle in Europe. Oh, and did I mention it's a standard, so yours truly can't drive after all? I suppose I could in a pinch, but I've never driven a standard for any length of time. Too bad for me, but worse for Randy. He quickly adjusted to a stick shift and I think he mistakenly took it for his Mach I a couple of times, but said by the end of the night, he and the van were ONE.
We decided to take a bathroom break and grab a burger at BURGER KING in Budapest before heading out on our next adventure. Yes, it was Burger King, but the menu was in HUNGARIAN which surprised Kelsie for some reason, and the cashiers didn't speak much English. Adventure #1 in Budapest....ordering in a Hungarian restaurant and speaking NO HUNGARIAN. A nice, well, nice is a stretch, but a man decided to help us out with our order. He spoke very good English and we were able to get our hamburgers with cheese only and Dustin some chicken nuggets. Thank you kind sir for the help. He was not friendly, but the fact that he was willing to help foreigners makes him "nice" in my mind. Thank you LORD for sending someone just in our moment of need.
The drive from the meeting spot through Budapest was....well....scary, frightening, exhilarating, and relieving when we were through the city. Once we crossed the Danube, we were both breathing a little easier. We didn't have a great map, and the streets were named differently than our google directions (OF COURSE!). We only made a couple of wrong turns and missed an exit, but all in all, we were safe and out of Budapest in 20 minutes or so. Randy instantly relaxed and we were well on our way at this point.
Hungary was not very pretty, the terrain around Budapest is flat. They raise corn by the truckloads and all you can see for miles is corn. However, the closer we came to the Croatian border, the prettier the scenery. The rolling hills appeared, we could see mountain foothills in the distance and every village we came upon was so picturesque. Just a lovely drive through Southwest Hungary and on to Croatia. We crossed the Hungarian border with no problems, Randy thought we were finished and a police man came out quickly and said STOP, PASSPORT CONTROL!!! Oh boy, we're in trouble. I could hear one of Doru's stories coming up only this time, I was the main character. We were just entering Croatia and had to have our passports checked and stamped AGAIN, just 2 feet (meters) from where we just stopped at the Hungarian border. Oh well, the police man was nice, took our passports, stamped them as entering Croatia and we were again on our way. Off to the AUTOBAHN!!! What fun it would have been for Randy if he would have been driving anything else. The van topped out at 125 kph, so he wasn't really able to experience the true European driving experience.
The Autobahn was a partial toll road, so our next tense moment came when it was time to pay the toll. Unfortunately, we had NO Croatian money yet as we hadn't seen a place to exchange. The toll booth credit card machine was broken in the lane we chose, so the man angrily told Randy to back up FAST and go to another line. WOW!!! Reverse quickly, choose another line and this machine worked. PRAISE the Lord. I was afraid we were going to have to put the kids out on the side of the highway to beg for KUNA.
On the road again.....off to Nova Gradiska! The rest of the journey was fairly quiet and non-descriptive. Randy and I enjoyed the scenery and the church steeples that projected high above the quaint villages. The scenery here in Croatia reminds me of the many movies I've watched set in European villages. Sweet, serene, terra-cotta colored roofs with window boxes full of beautiful flowers. Just very nice and enjoyable scenery.
The only other thing of note was when we were all busting to find a bathroom. We finally found a stop with a gas station, restaurant and roadside park. We quickly parked, and walked to the "water closet". However, this water closet had a GUARD!!! An older lady wouldn't let us go in unless we paid her first. OH NO!!! Here we go again, no KUNA still and this woman was demanding money for us to relieve our full bladders. NOT a position I particularly enjoy! Again, God provided a stranger to help us. She handed me the 30 cent coins needed for 1 person to go into the bathroom. I chose for Kelsie to go, she was in the worst state at this point. Boys, well....you know they don't HAVE TO have a toilet. :) Randy offered her Forints (Hungarian currency coins), but she refused and finally, probably just to get rid of us, motioned ALL of us to go to the closets. PRAISE the Lord again for HIS mercy. He is faithful, even in the little things.
We finally arrived in Nova Gradiska around 7 PM. We met Kim at the Center park and she led us to the police station and ATM. Apparently since we are FOREIGN to this city (and we're Christians), we had to register with the police in order to hold our outdoor concert in the city. Americans....you truly have NO IDEA how blessed you are to live in a free country. We waited around for around 40 minutes to get the right policeman, and jump through the proper hoops and receive our registration papers. Now we're legal and allowed to sing in this great town! Another praise!!!
Off to meet Kim's team who is conducting a baseball camp this week with some of the children of the city! Nice people, worn out, finished for the day, but great guys. We look forward to serving with them this weekend.
Kim took us to a delightful restaurant for dinner to feed our very hungry tummies, and then we settled into our new quarters. How kind of Kim to let all 5 of us squeeze into her apartment with one bathroom. So gracious and we slept like babies!!!
Kim
Comments from Randy:
Before leaving Doru explained that they would be doing some outreach in the mountains over the next couple of weeks and, knowing that Daniel had brought soccer balls for the children of Romania, asked if they could use some for their outreach work. Daniel obviously agreed and was happy to do it. Doru said they would send an email later and hopefully pictures as well about how the balls were used.
Daniel also donated a soccer ball to the university for the students to use. The one they were using was in terrible condition. The guys were very excited about it.
Thoughts on Budapest driving - Not bad. Most major U.S. cities have traffic that is worse, Knoxville for instance. We weren't in central Budapest but we were able to see the downtown area and Castle Hill as we crossed the Danube River.
Driving the main highways through Hungary and Croatia was nice. Get this - people actually stay in the right lane except to pass. There's a thought.
The main exit for Nova Gradiska was closed so we had to use a small side road for the last 30 km or so. This was a very pleasant drive through the countryside and small villages. Every small village/town has either a small catholic or orthodox church, sometimes in excellent condition but often neglected and in need of repair. They have a form of religion but don't know God.
Randy
We had a wonderful fellowship time with the students on Wednesday evening with the chapel service as well as following the service. Even though the service lasted until 10PM, we all stayed around to fellowship, take pictures, exchange e-mail addresses and just enjoy being together. I can't tell you how strong the bond between us came in such a short time. The bonds of Christ are indeed the strongest, and I felt like I was leaving new-found family. What a wonderful time we all had.
So, on to Thursday morning. Doru came to have breakfast with us and say goodbye. The goodbyes were hard. I definitely feel that Ivonne and I impacted some of the girls. We were able to share our life with them and they with us. Goodbye for now, until we meet again dear Romanian family! We loved our time with you and can't wait until the day God returns us to you or when we are able to share eternity in heaven together. What an amazing thought, that we will all be able to understand each other, regardless of language. Isn't that a remarkable thought??? God truly blows my mind sometimes and I'm so blessed to be HIS!!!
We left Emmanuel University around 9:30 after Kelsie finally finished goodbyes, and Daniel also. I think Daniel really hated saying goodbye. He's asked a couple of times since we left if we could just please go back and spend about 4 more days there. How wonderful for him to feel so accepted, loved and the experience he was able to have.
The drive to Budapest is not very exciting, other than the driving!! Hugging center lines, driving fast, passing on curves, you get the picture. The scenery is rather boring and mundane, so not much to report there. Once we arrived in Budapest, we met a young man from Melba tours to get our rental van. Ok, I think it's a mini-bus, but it is indeed a very nice, roomy van for our family and we were blessed to be able to find such a bargain and large vehicle in Europe. Oh, and did I mention it's a standard, so yours truly can't drive after all? I suppose I could in a pinch, but I've never driven a standard for any length of time. Too bad for me, but worse for Randy. He quickly adjusted to a stick shift and I think he mistakenly took it for his Mach I a couple of times, but said by the end of the night, he and the van were ONE.
We decided to take a bathroom break and grab a burger at BURGER KING in Budapest before heading out on our next adventure. Yes, it was Burger King, but the menu was in HUNGARIAN which surprised Kelsie for some reason, and the cashiers didn't speak much English. Adventure #1 in Budapest....ordering in a Hungarian restaurant and speaking NO HUNGARIAN. A nice, well, nice is a stretch, but a man decided to help us out with our order. He spoke very good English and we were able to get our hamburgers with cheese only and Dustin some chicken nuggets. Thank you kind sir for the help. He was not friendly, but the fact that he was willing to help foreigners makes him "nice" in my mind. Thank you LORD for sending someone just in our moment of need.
The drive from the meeting spot through Budapest was....well....scary, frightening, exhilarating, and relieving when we were through the city. Once we crossed the Danube, we were both breathing a little easier. We didn't have a great map, and the streets were named differently than our google directions (OF COURSE!). We only made a couple of wrong turns and missed an exit, but all in all, we were safe and out of Budapest in 20 minutes or so. Randy instantly relaxed and we were well on our way at this point.
Hungary was not very pretty, the terrain around Budapest is flat. They raise corn by the truckloads and all you can see for miles is corn. However, the closer we came to the Croatian border, the prettier the scenery. The rolling hills appeared, we could see mountain foothills in the distance and every village we came upon was so picturesque. Just a lovely drive through Southwest Hungary and on to Croatia. We crossed the Hungarian border with no problems, Randy thought we were finished and a police man came out quickly and said STOP, PASSPORT CONTROL!!! Oh boy, we're in trouble. I could hear one of Doru's stories coming up only this time, I was the main character. We were just entering Croatia and had to have our passports checked and stamped AGAIN, just 2 feet (meters) from where we just stopped at the Hungarian border. Oh well, the police man was nice, took our passports, stamped them as entering Croatia and we were again on our way. Off to the AUTOBAHN!!! What fun it would have been for Randy if he would have been driving anything else. The van topped out at 125 kph, so he wasn't really able to experience the true European driving experience.
The Autobahn was a partial toll road, so our next tense moment came when it was time to pay the toll. Unfortunately, we had NO Croatian money yet as we hadn't seen a place to exchange. The toll booth credit card machine was broken in the lane we chose, so the man angrily told Randy to back up FAST and go to another line. WOW!!! Reverse quickly, choose another line and this machine worked. PRAISE the Lord. I was afraid we were going to have to put the kids out on the side of the highway to beg for KUNA.
On the road again.....off to Nova Gradiska! The rest of the journey was fairly quiet and non-descriptive. Randy and I enjoyed the scenery and the church steeples that projected high above the quaint villages. The scenery here in Croatia reminds me of the many movies I've watched set in European villages. Sweet, serene, terra-cotta colored roofs with window boxes full of beautiful flowers. Just very nice and enjoyable scenery.
The only other thing of note was when we were all busting to find a bathroom. We finally found a stop with a gas station, restaurant and roadside park. We quickly parked, and walked to the "water closet". However, this water closet had a GUARD!!! An older lady wouldn't let us go in unless we paid her first. OH NO!!! Here we go again, no KUNA still and this woman was demanding money for us to relieve our full bladders. NOT a position I particularly enjoy! Again, God provided a stranger to help us. She handed me the 30 cent coins needed for 1 person to go into the bathroom. I chose for Kelsie to go, she was in the worst state at this point. Boys, well....you know they don't HAVE TO have a toilet. :) Randy offered her Forints (Hungarian currency coins), but she refused and finally, probably just to get rid of us, motioned ALL of us to go to the closets. PRAISE the Lord again for HIS mercy. He is faithful, even in the little things.
We finally arrived in Nova Gradiska around 7 PM. We met Kim at the Center park and she led us to the police station and ATM. Apparently since we are FOREIGN to this city (and we're Christians), we had to register with the police in order to hold our outdoor concert in the city. Americans....you truly have NO IDEA how blessed you are to live in a free country. We waited around for around 40 minutes to get the right policeman, and jump through the proper hoops and receive our registration papers. Now we're legal and allowed to sing in this great town! Another praise!!!
Off to meet Kim's team who is conducting a baseball camp this week with some of the children of the city! Nice people, worn out, finished for the day, but great guys. We look forward to serving with them this weekend.
Kim took us to a delightful restaurant for dinner to feed our very hungry tummies, and then we settled into our new quarters. How kind of Kim to let all 5 of us squeeze into her apartment with one bathroom. So gracious and we slept like babies!!!
Kim
Comments from Randy:
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| Daniel & Doru with 8 balls |
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| Daniel donates a ball to the students |
Thoughts on Budapest driving - Not bad. Most major U.S. cities have traffic that is worse, Knoxville for instance. We weren't in central Budapest but we were able to see the downtown area and Castle Hill as we crossed the Danube River.
Driving the main highways through Hungary and Croatia was nice. Get this - people actually stay in the right lane except to pass. There's a thought.
Randy
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