Hello Everyone

Hello I am doing monthly posts for Romania because I can't seem to keep up by week

Life Update

When we got new teams we also got new team leads and ours was Lucas. He was not allowed to stay in the same house as the rest of our team in Alba Iulia, so he had to walk 20 min in winter weather every day to our house. We were working with Harmony Church bringing youths into the church from the surrounding areas by building relationships and going with them to church events or events we make. It was not easy to find people who wanted to go to the events, but the ones that came we were quickly able to build relationships with. Our Ministry Host was named Marcel and He was a very kind man, and he along with his youth group coordinator were our main contacts while we were there. We had a helpful and sweet personal connection person for a couple weeks whose name is Raluca. She was a gigantic help with understanding the ministry and culture and was the sweetest woman ever.

What's God doing in Romania?

We had a more flexible schedule while in Alba Iulia so we were able to take lots of time to pray and draw near to God.

Our typical day started with a team breakfast then went one of two ways, either a 9 am getting a ride to the high-schools or a 10am team Bible study.

On high-school days we would hand out fliers for the next upcoming event (that was usually the English practice on Friday evenings) and try to makes connections with them and invite them to do something fun with you or do a coffee hang out. We would do this on their two breaks they had in the beginning of their day.

On Bible study days we would go through the chapter we were on for whatever book of the Bible we were in (we started in John) and we would read it together then read it through again on our own and use our study Bibles and them come back together and discuss the chapter peice by peice. We would do this at home usually, but on 3 occations we did it at a coffe shop called Meron.

We would then go back home for lunch. And in the afternoons we did meet ups, worked on fence fixing, yard work, planning evengs or hosting events, and we would occationally do team time early if it was going to be a very late night.

Friday and Sunday we had to be at the church at 5pm. Friday was our English practice and Sunday was church.

English practice consisted of us buying snacks, going to the church and setting up, then having meaningful conversations in English with the people who showed up, then we would clean up, lock up and go home to make and eat dinner if we didn't eat before

Church was just church as usual and we would usually leave after to eat, if we didnt eat, and go to sleep after.

I usually had a hard time sleeping because I was sick the whole month, so I stayed up late very often.

Some notable days/events/meetups/people we met were as follows:

The first days I was in Romania were spent in Craiova. And we had a cultural orientation and got to know the church there because the second half of my time in Romania would be spent there. We handed out fliers for an event the next night. That night I mutually parted ways with a friend back home and I was sad about it so it did affect the way I experienced the time there.

The next Day was Saturday and I spent the first half buying winter clothes and the last half we preped for the youth event at 6. I helped set up for it at 4:30 and it was singing, games, food, a message and dancing. Then I helped take after down the event. It happens every Saturday there. The lights set up there were gorgeous

The third day was Sunday and we traveled like 4 hours to see a Monastery and walked around the citadel in Alba and then our team split to meet our host Marcel and his church Harmony Church. Next we learned where we were staying and left our bags and slept there. I was able to talk to the driver for the driver for the 4 hours and we talked about Romania and what the county is like and it was an answer to prayer to talk to someone about the country so soon after entering the country.

Monday the 13th was visiting Corvins Castle. Our squad me up with us there and I was with Jessie for most of it making up fun stories and being silly as we ran around and then ended with silly pictures with Emma. We said our goodbyes and they went back to Criova and we went back to the Harmony house and settled in. And we started testimonies. Lucas started.

Tuesday was a 10am meeting to introduce us to ministry in Alba Iulia. Raluca had tea with us showed us around the church and area. We made a prayer wall right away and in team time it was Libby sharing her testimony.

Wednesday the 15th we did the normal Bible study morning then asked the Lord to direct us as we went to hand out fliers at the mall and I had a decent conversation with a girl and was super hyped about it. And I got the coolest cotton candy that way.

Thursday was the typical fliers day and and we got to meet Ralucas 20 bunnies and hold the babies right after we handed out fliers.

Friday was same set up but we did our English practice and 5 Ukrainians and 7 Romanians came to that night and we were able to talk and share and start making connections. Lucas shared his testimony. A friend group of 4 volunteered to drive us home and we accepted. It was very sweet.

Saturday the 18th was a Bible Study at Merons, then the High Schools and then Raluca invited us over to see her 20 bunnies and hold the babies again. We met her parents and tried homemade berry syrups in sparkling water as a "soda" and it was really nice to get to know her better and experience Romanian hospitality. They are very friendly and giving once you make friends. Then we had a game night at the church and the 4 friends we made came and we all played games together. It was so much fun and a good relationship builder.

Sunday was a Bible study day and we did an exercise of thankfulness of all Gkd has done in our lives called 10,000 reason and it was wonderful to write out so many things God has blessed me with that I was thankful for. At 6pm was church and it was a special service with a small orchestra playing in the front and they gave us headsets to translate the sermon to us in. It was a cool night.

Monday the 20th was adventure day! And I went to the new mall with everyone to do a double feature movie watching thing. We watched The Balad of Snakes and Songbirds then I got a small peanutbutter gelato then watched the movie The Marvels. We ended trying the chicken Shwarma wrap from KFC, braiding Lucas' hair and watching 2 episodes of a TV show with a couple people.

Tuesday was my Sabbath. I woke up late, ate pancakes then went to the mall. I sat in the food court, ate specialty cotton candy and watched an hour of a lecture about paleontology and the flood, walked home and finished the last hour on the couch then ate pizza, watched the Hunger games movie with my team and went to bed.

Wednesday was a Bible study day. It was also a major planning, shopping, reaching out and starting to prep for Thanksgiving the next day day. We decompressed watching the Hunger Games 2nd movie together before bed. We started backing today to prep.

Thursday was Thanksgiving and all the friends we made, all the people from English practice and and some members from the church were invited so we had to make A LOT of food and prayed for multiplication of food and God sure did multiply our food. We did Bible Study then I made 4 Turkey breasts and the mashed potatoes. A lot of the invited people made it, including a dude Lucas had made friends with just the day before who was driving his Bolt. Some people played some games after food. And a couple couldn't people couldnt find the house and had to raincheck us. We had a great time overall and had food left over for the next few days.

Friday the 24th was a High School day. That was the day I met M and A! We invited them to the English practice night. We had a group meet up with some of our past connections for luch then it was English practice. M and A both came and I got to talk to A and Kiley, Libby and Emily talked to M. It was such wonderful and intriguing conversations. Me and Kelsey got their contact info so we could meet up more!

Saturday was a Bible study day then we helped make a bit of a fence and do some yard work at the house. I accidentally joined a coffee hangout with Kiley, Kelsey, Lucas, and 2 of the Romanians and they took us to their favorite pizza shop to buy team dinner. At team time I did my testimony for the team.

Sunday the 26th was a late Bible study day for the team and we did it at a coffee shop in town. (They had great hot chocolate!) And as always we had a great discussion. And I left contemplating in what ways I had been relying on my own strength. That night was a very late night because all of us sensed spiritual warfare and we stayed up praying. We all got on our spiritual armor and prayed. I started in the living room with everyone and prayed against any evil spirits I saw in my visions as I prayed, and all were wearing masks so I prayed against deception. One was wearing colorful jewel encrusted gold armor that got cut (probably by an angel) to reveal bones and it connected the next moring to the reports from our team in Craiova fighting a spiritual attack that night because they accepted "magic" colorful jewel bracelets from a woman and then had horrible sleep paralysis that night. They got rid of the bracelets the next day. Most my team was up until 4am praying for the other teams and Romania as a whole. Our house was so saturated in prayer, anointed, and protected by God that we were fine the whole time.

Monday the 27th we talked to the team in Criova that afternoon after we slept in late because the late night. Me and Kelsey had our first hangout with M and A at the restaurant above the mall at 6pm. So lunch and Bible study we preped and planned to go. M and A gave us presents when we met up and we were able to talk about family and spirtially background over hot chocolate for about 2 hours

Tuesday the 28th was adventure day! We went to a salt mine! It was crazy cool and had a little lake in it, some old mechanics, and an echo chamber. It was so fun to spend the day with everyone exploring the place. Then we stopped at a Hungarian village and met an adorable dog.

Wednesday the 29th was a High school day. We had a fun team time that day and got even closer as a team. And we saw a dope church that day too. The second pick is of our yard 😁

Thursday the 30th Shared testimonies with our Hosts and reevaluated what we were doing there to make sure we would be affective for the last weeks. We took a team picture. Then me and Kelsey met up with a girl we met with named Anda and we went out to get hot chocolate and we were able to talk about our stories and encourage her. She was so sweet and invited us to the church event she had the next day and we were hoping to go (though it did not work out). English Practice was moved to that night because Friday was a holiday. No one showed but we were not surprised. We were there when a woman setting up the church had a HUGE migraine and we were able to give her Tylenol and we prayed for her a couple times too. She did improve after a while and we went home.

Friday the 1st was their national unification of the country day. They had a military parade that we attended with people, military vehicles and military aircrafts. There were vendors and food and performances and it was a super cool time. We tried to meet up with people but struggled with scheduling.

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Saturday the 2nd we went to the High schools that day and that was the day of the big youth church event. M and the driver C and his friend came to it and listened to the message on Jesus' love and both really enjoyed it.

Sunday the 3rd Libbys birthday! We had made desserts and M, A and another friend of ours came over to try them and share their own homemade bread treats with us. It was so fun and M and A played Catan for a couple hours with us after eating. We went out to dinner with Raluca to a cool sushi spot and then I Bolted home. I was able to make a quick chocolate cake and get it in the fridge to cool a bit as everyone got home for team time. Then we ate cake together.

Monday the 4th Sabbath and it was another day of rest, cotton candy and lectures at the mall. It was really nice to just rest and spend time delighting in the amazing ways God has worked over all the time since creation.

Tuesday the 5th Emily's birthday we ate lunch at Marcels and were able to hear his and his wifes testimonies and be encouraged. And they had two cute dogs they let us play with for a while as well. Then for Emily's birthday dinner we did pasta and drinks at a nice restaurant and chatted about what we accomplished in our time and what we were looking forward too in our transitioning.

Wednesday the 6th was a Bible study day. Amanda had dream based spiritual warfare that day and we were able to pray extra with and for her.

Thursday the 7th was a Bible study day. We prayed for the new church building being built with a host (Z). My team had bough Bibles to two people and took time today to highlight and write notes for them in them. One for one of the four: B. The other for M. We went out to two coffee dhangouts that day, one with N and P who were Christians living in Alba and we were able to encourage them in their faith. They were very sweet girls and we decided to ice skate with them the next day. And then the other hangout was with M and A and As boyfriend. Kiley came too to that one and brought the Bible. M loved her gift! Then A and her bf came and we talked and then discussed Christianity and their beliefs and had a great conversation. We gave M some extra resources to work with and then we said goodbye. I love those girls very much and I am going to miss them 💕 I am happy they can keep in touch. I will be praying for them.