Youth Activities

Currently I have been active in my church here in Bucharest with music and youth activities. A few weeks ago we had our first youth meeting and I'm pleased to report that we had a great turnout. We spent most of the evening in worship and then gathered in small groups to pray for one another and to brainstorm ideas for what we would like the youth group to do and accomplish together. They had a lot of great ideas, which included: volunteering in the community (music to my ears since I am adamant that Romanian churches need to be more of a presence in the community), games, small group prayer time, and studying a book together. Of course, everyone was in favor of simply getting together to hang-out, build relationships, and simply have fun together.

Please pray for me as I hope to be working more with the adolescent boys (who have not had someone working with them in quite some time) and as I challenge the youth to be a blessing for others. For instance, I really want to show the youth that it is much more enjoyable to give than to receive. Hence, I am hoping to build ministry leadership and responsibility among the youth by getting the church involved in orphan outreach, ministering to the elderly, etc.

And of course, there is music. My best friend Cat and I are working on creating various pieces for Christmas caroling this year. Caroling is a huge deal in Romania! I will be singing with several groups and can't wait for the Advent season. I'll keep you updated.

One of my favorite times at church is when we get together for fellowship.

And the food doesn't hurt either :)

Sommet de la Francophonie

A few weeks ago, Bucharest hosted the 11th annual festival of the Francophonie--countries whose languages have a French base or influence. The city spent over 10 million Euros hosting the event. The idea was that the event would give the city exposure and prove to the western world that the city of Bucharest is more than capable of hosting festivals and conferences on the grandest of scales. Moreover, the festival, according to Romanian officials, would further lead to more foreign investment in the Romanian economy. I am no economist, but can surely say that 10 million Euros is a lot of money. The entire center of the city was shut down, creating massive traffic jams and over-crowded public transportation. The city of Bucharest, being the most crowded city in Europe, also has over a million "registered" cars. Well, this creates quite the problem, because the city's road infrastructure was never built to handle even half that many "registered" cars. Thus, not many Romanians were too happy to hear about the Francophonie Festival. Most people on the streets thought it was nothing more than an attempt for the Romanian officials to further impress the likes of
Jacques Chirac and highlight Romania's efforts to ascend to the European Union in 2007. As you can see by the picture, Bucharest traffic can be a nightmare. Unfortunately, when the police get involved and direct traffic, it seems to only get worse. On an average day, it may take an hour to go 5 kilometers in Bucharest, and I'm not kidding. And there's a reason a lot of Europeaners consider Romanian drivers crazy--very few ever follow the rules. Hence, it makes for quite the adventure on Bucharest's streets. And to add to the ambiance: hundreds of honking horns, car alarms, and squeaky trams. That's just another glimpse into life here in Bucharest.

A Special Church Visit

Last Sunday I was invited by one of my friends, Raluca (pictured below), to come to her church about one hour north of Bucharest to help lead a special worship service in honor of God's blessings for providing the harvest. About 12 of us made the trek, having planned the program for the service together. I enjoyed the time of fellowship with members of this small congregation and am glad that we were able to be an encouragement to them. I was asked to share my testimony, and spoke for about 15 minutes in Romanian at the service--God was with me!!! We were blessed, had lots of fun, laughed much, and ate even more. Thanks Raluca for a great Sunday!

Sharing my testimony in Romanian

This is Raluca, who is studying theology at one of Bucharest's Christian Seminaries

The church

People filing into the small, village church

The Church was celebrating the fruits of the harvest, so in honor of that, the sanctuary was decorated with fruits and vegetables

Our crew

We had fun spending time with the kids