Romania Day 2: Let's Make a Deal!

Today was indeed the day of many doors. I wish I could be really poetic and write a neat sentence regarding doors, but my poetic muse is apparently on vacation. So, I'm just going to do my best to make a seemingly dull day more entertaining.

Breakfast was "interesting" to say the least. We went through the cafeteria line and received our plates of 3 HOT DOGS for BREAKFAST!!! Interesting, to say the least. I was not really sure how big of a hit that truly was with us, but, nonetheless, that was breakfast. So, I had toast. It was an, well, an experience. :-)

Ok, so after breakfast we came back to our apartment and enjoyed a time of prayer with our entire team. It was a refreshing time of prayer, praise, and encouragement. At the final AMEN, there was a knock on the door. It was Doru, giving us instructions for the day and for the weekend. After a time of prayer with him, it was off to work on DOORS. We had a supervisor and detailed instructions on how to scrape, scrape, scrape and sand doors. We were to prepare them for new caulking and paint. All in all, after a long day of scraping, sanding, blisters, sore hands,etc., we completed 35 doors. Productive day.

I have to mention a special little event, well, a FUNNY event at Ivonne's expense. She knows I'm posting this, so I have cleared it with her first. We were split into two separate rooms today to work. Randy, Ed and I had one room and Kelsie, Dustin and Ivonne were in another room. They were also blessed to have two of the students with them in their room helping them work. "Mona" and Chobi. Again, I'm not sure on the spelling, but this is the way they sound in my broken Romanian English. 

Chobi and Dustin

So, both teams are working away. After lunch break, Chobi came to Ivonne and said in his best, broken English, "You not scrape, ANYMORE"!  Apparently, Ivonne had scraped too hard and was taking out too much of the wood to please our Romanian supervisors. Choby was in trouble, so he asked Ivonne to not scrape any more wood, ONLY SAND. She's a little bit OCD about things, and was just trying to scrape away the splintering wood, but it was too much, too much!!! It was funny!

The team enjoyed the day with their Romanian friends and found out much about the culture here. Daniel enjoyed playing with two Romanian boys, ages 11 and 12, while we worked all morning. He played soccer and ping pong and climbed up on dorm mattresses.  Anything else he did -well, I don't know. I don't really think I want to know!

Supper is served at 6:30, so we ended our work day around 5 for showers and clean-up. Can I just ask if there is ANYONE reading this blog today that actually PRAYED for hot water during their shower? Well, I know of at least 2 members of our team that did. Unfortunately, my water was a little too hot. It was scalding hot or freezing cold. Not a happy medium today, just uncomfortable. Kelsie, however, said she began praying at 3:30, Lord, please let me have some hot water tonight for my shower. Their rooms are on the 4th floor, so they are warmer,and tend to not have the water pressure or temperature like the lower floors. Well, long story short, Kelsie got her prayer answered and had a pleasant shower. Dustin and Daniel were blessed as well and had warm showers. What a blessing!!!

Dinner was, well, interesting again. We should have had a camera to take a picture. We decided it was the American equivalent to a "mustgo" meal. They needed to clean out the refrigerator. :) We had "pizza". It was very thick dough with a ketcup sauce and, of course, cut-up hot dogs as the topping. There was bread, a sweet bread called cozonac, leftover rice, soup, and sheep cheese. All-in-all, most of us didn't care for the Romanian pizza. Thankfully we had salami, cheese and fruit in our apartment. :)

Big highlight came at the end of the day. Randy, Kelsie and I went upstairs and found a wonderful practice room with a piano. Beautiful acoustics again, and fun to sing!!! We looked out our window and saw a pick-up soccer game going on with the university boys. Guess who joined them??? Daniel couldn't resist. It was the highlight of his day, playing soccer IN ROMANIA with the big boys. He scored 5 goals and loved bragging to us....trust me.

Pictures to come and Randy says he plans to upload a video before we retire for the night.

La revedere!

Kim

Update by Randy:


Ok, so not to brag (well, yes a little I guess), but your's truly is having a better time with the food than anyone else in the Gardner clan.  The pizza?  It was fine.  I even spread a little sheep's cheese on top.  Very nice.


We discussed Ivonne's "re-direction" over supper and she was laughing so hard at herself that she was crying - what a sweet spirit she has.


I enjoyed watching the pick-up game of soccer this evening and took a few pictures.  The university boys have some good skills.  They treated Daniel very well and Daniel had the good sense to stay away from the 50/50 balls.  One defender (Cornelius) took him out once - actually fell on top of him - and the guys harassed the defender mercilessly.  It's the same in any language.  Pictures are in the gallery and I posted a couple below.

Finally, I just posted a short video from our service at Emanuel Baptist Church of Oradea that was taken last night.  Note the blend in the second song.  My mic wasn't even working.


Here is the video.  You can also browse to it through the youtube bar on the right once it updates.


Randy

Romania Day 1 - Of Windows and Choir Lofts

Umm, we had a little problem.
The post disappeared, got eaten by Romanian gremlins or something.
and it's late.
Fix tomorrow.
We have some pictures for you.  Yes, look at pictures instead.  Blog tomorrow.
La revedere

Ok, it's technically a new day, but I'm going to try this again regarding YESTERDAY.

We officially began our service here in Oradea on Thursday.  A "work" day of sorts.  If you have looked at our picture gallery any, you may have seen the picture of Kelsie and Ivonne standing in the windows.  Yes, those are windows, about 3 feet off the floor with a wide sill (obviously wide enough to stand)!  These windows in several different dorm rooms on the first level were our first assignment.  Apparently when these rooms were freshly painted, due to water damage, they didn't know about painters tape.  The windows suffered greatly by getting the fresh brownish gray paint on them.  So, scrapers, rags and a neat ajax paste in hand, we were scrubbing paint from window frames for the better part of the day on Thursday.  They were careful to split the boys from the girls and keep us busy in separate rooms.  It was a fun day.

Kelsie, Ivonne and I also had the extreme pleasure of going to the local grocery-club.  It was much like our Sams at home.  Our polite, non-English speaking driver took us across the road to get some "Cola-Light" and water.  The biggest highlight of that trip was trying to explain to a Romanian, knowing very little English, what a "pop-tart" is.  Dustin and Daniel literally SURVIVE on pop-tarts at home.  At least 2 a day is the norm and Dustin asked that we try to find some yesterday for him.  Well, after 2 phone calls, talking with 2 different customers/workers at the local store, we came home with no pop-tarts.  They don't have them here is what we finally surmised.  An English speaking student at the University told us he had never heard or seen them before.Needless to say, I think our wonderfully polite driver and guide thought we were crazy and we Americans suffered greatly in the translation.

A big highlight of the day yesterday was our getting to move rooms.  When we first arrived, there was a little misunderstanding as to the composition of our team.  We were moved into two joining apartments, each with 4 twin beds.  Randy said he slept GREAT in the twin bed....probably had something to do with JETLAG!!!  Nonetheless, as 2 married couples, we gently, politely asked our host Doru about getting us some different accommodations   They were eager and willing to please us.  We now have 2 adjoining apartments again, but this time we have a sitting room, kitchen, and a bedroom with a "matrimonial" bed as they say in Romania.  The boys have their own room on the 4th floor, and Kelsie was extremely pleased to be given her very own room next to the boys.  Everyone seems much happier with these arrangements.  I'm very pleased that the shower WORKS in this apartment, and the water is even warm!  :)  I had a very cold, drippy shower yesterday morning, but the Lord gave me a trickle of warm water at the end so I was happy.  :)  The phrase "spoiled Americans" came to mind and was uttered SEVERAL times during the day yesterday (by the team). We are so grateful to the faculty, staff and students of Emanuel University.  They are so kind and patient with us and we are blessed beyond words.

Ed speaking at Emanuel Baptist

Last night was the biggest and most incredible blessing of the day, however.  I know this post is turning into a novel, but it was truly an amazing experience.  We were honored and blessed beyond words to be invited to sing and worship at Emanuel Baptist Church last night.  Thursday evening is their prayer service.  What a unique and awesome time of worship.  Is it not cool that our God is so big he knows every language!!!  I don't know why that struck me last night, but I was just in awe of the fact that God hears the prayers of HIS children, regardless of language!  Even though we could not understand what they were praying, we definitely understood their passion, their belief, and their faith.  It was evident in the resounding "Ahh-mens" we constantly heard throughout the congregation.  Ed gave a short devotion on Jeremiah with the help of a translator.  He did a great job, even though he had to stop mid-thought for translation.  I think that would be very difficult, but I know that God used him and his words.

The congregation was gracious and smiled and "Ah-men" after we sang.  We had no translation, but many told us afterward, "God bless you"  and "beautiful voices".  We were humbled by the experience and may I just add that the acoustics in Emanuel Baptist Church are the best that the Gardner trio has EVER had the privilege to experience.  WOW!!!!  The building is round and I KNOW pastor Marcos would be envious.  It was phenomenal!!!!  We didn't need microphones or monitors, the sound just reverberated through the sanctuary.  So cool!

Ok, I'm going to wrap this up before I lose all my readers.  After service we were treated to a truly Romanian meal by Doru and his wife Orica.  (I am probably not spelling this correctly, but I am spelling them the way they sound to me in English)  We had salad, chicken, pork, fried potatoes.  If that wasn't enough, they then brought out a traditional Romanian dessert that we would call crepes.  OH MY it was delightful.  Even Dustin couldn't eat everything!!!  Daniel was beyond stuffed and told our host, I'm sorry, I'm just so full!!!!

We were then driven back to the University and greeted by an English speaking student.  He had worked with the boys earlier in the day and asked them what they thought of Romanian church.  Daniel's response was...."IT WAS LONG"!!!  By American standards, it was indeed a little long.  It began at 6 and ended at 8, so yes,it was a bit.

One last thing, thanks for the prayers specifically about our allergy issues.  We have had very little mold to deal with so far, and I'm so grateful.  Please continue to pray for us.  We are enjoying our time, but honestly, it's not home.  There are frustrations and we are totally human.  Dustin is upset this morning because there shower would NOT produce hot water, so his world is a little tilted today.   Just remember us and our total humanness in your prayers today.  WE love you and are so grateful for your partnership in prayers.  We simply can't tell you all that enough.

Kim

Thoughts from Randy:


Things that made an indelible mark yesterday:

• Doru - He's an amazing man.  His hospitality, humor, and storytelling ability are all exceptional.  He began telling us his background over breakfast and finished it over supper last night (quite a memorable meal also).  The story of God's hand in his life and in the life of the Romanian church was a moving experience and a true blessing to hear.



The choir loft

• Emanuel Baptist Church - Many thoughts here.  Yes, it is a fabulous building and an amazing choir loft. The acoustics cannot be described.  (Case in point - on our second acapella song my mic was not working for the entire song, but I just thought they had turned my big mouth down in the monitors because I could still hear myself well enough from the sanctuary sound.  In fact, Ed later said that he could hear me just fine).  More than the edifice, though, will be my memory of the prayers lifted up in the service.  Without knowing the language, the passion and desires of God's people could be felt in a very visceral way and I was moved greatly.
• Giving hearts - These people want to bless us as much as we want to bless them and I think they are succeeding.  Shouldn't this be how it always is with God's people?  Must we travel to another continent to display and receive such grace as this?  Oh, that God will move in our hearts to always give abundantly above measure wherever we are just as Christ gave himself for the Church.

Soli deo gloria

Randy