A Blessed Time in Onești

This Christmas I was blessed to spend time with my friend Simon and his family. On Christmas Eve we went caroling all day from house to house and on Christmas Day I gave the Christmas message. I had a great time with the Costisanu family and thank them so much for their hospitality and friendship. Merry Christmas everyone!

Craciun Fericit!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around Bucuresti and Romania. The lights are on, the parks are full of carolers, treats, and the snow is falling daily. This Christmas I will be with my friend and his family in Onesti. I wish all of you a very blessed Christmas.
May Jesus be the reason for our rejoicing!

In Parcul Titan near my apartment

Caroling Away!

I have been busy caroling away with my church choir and youth group. On Sunday after church, we drove in the snow and slush to Pucioasa to sing carols at a special program at the cultural palace. They even made a special banner over the main street announcing our choir "Bunavestire din Bucuresti"! After the concert, we all went to a friend's family to sing carols at their door and they served us with pork, pickled peppers, and warm drinks. It is tradition in Romania to go from house to house caroling. Usually families will give you treats or a warm drink.

With our youth group, we visited several adult homes and went caroling in several blocs. We had a ton of fun. At the end of the long day, we treated ourselves to Pizza Hut and played duck, duck goose outside in the snow as we waited for tables. Us Romanians are never bored :)

Christmas Program at Baicoi

Many Saturdays I have been helping out in an evangelistic outreach to kids in Baicoi, by teaching Bible lessons, making crafts, singing songs, creating dramas, and playing games. This past Saturday we put on a Christmas play for their parents. It was a great day and a real treat for the kids. We would have liked to have seen more parents attend, but it was still a blessed time.

First Snowfall of the Season

On Tuesday morning we woke up to the first snowfall in Bucharest, and that means one big mess. Why? The city doesn't really plow snow. So streets remain full of slush, the city parking spots (already few and far between) decrease in half, and sidewalks don't get cleared until everything melts. Being from Minnesota, which probably has the most efficient snow plowing and removal system in the world, it's difficult to watch how utterly INefficient the city of Bucharest is, and unprepared for even a dusting of snow. It's actually quite ridiculous. If they would just for a couple hours say you can't park on one side of the street so it can be plowed, it would save a lot of headaches. But, this city is not known for it's organizational skills--that's for sure. Thus, you make sure you carry a shovel. You park your car, burry the car next to you, and so on. I just don't understand why no one (in a city where nearly two million people go by foot daily) bothers to shovel the sidewalk. Instead, it looks like little ski-tracks through the snow. And the streets? A lot of cars skidding, sliding, and very slow traffic. The curb? An unplowed mess of slush. The snow removal is really the best evidence of the utter ineptitude of city officials. On the Bucharest mayor's page a few years ago, it litterly said, "we don't plow snow--it's a waste of money." Yeah! Today I saw a few kids sledding down the middle of my four-lane bulevard near my bloc tied to a mercedes. Quite the sight. This IS Romania---as I say, never boring.

Christmas Choir Concert

This past weekend we had our annual Christmas concert with our choir at church. After a lot of rehearsals and long nights, I think the effort was worth it. Many people said they were blessed by coming to the concerts. I hope to be able to post some of the songs soon.

My Church: Bunavestire

Just a few photos of my church. We meet in a theatre in the center of Bucharest. It has been a challenge to move to a big theatre, but we have seen our church grow a lot over the past year--praise be to God. We pray that we would see even more new believers come and participate in a true, authentic Christian community.

Băsescu re-elected Romanian President!

It's official: President Trăian Băsescu was re-elected to another 5-year term in a nail-biter election. The votes of Romanians abroad tilted the election in Băsescu's favor over his ultra-socialist rival Mircea Geoană (and heavily tied to former communist elites who dominated Romanian politics for much of Romania's history coming out of the revolution). When we went to bed, we heard that Geoană had won, but we awakened to the good news that Băsescu was re-elected.

Associated Press:

Votes cast by Romanians living abroad tilted the electoral balance in favour of the current president. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Băsescu obtained 115,831 of these votes, while his opponent, Mircea Geoană, garnered only 31,045 votes.According to final BEC data, the presence at voting stations in the second round of elections was of 58 percent. The difference between this result and the one presented Sunday evening, which announced a presence of 56.99 percent was explained for Business Standard by BEC’s spokesman, Marian Muhuleţ. “The Sunday evening results were estimates based on a sample. The final results are the ones verified at voting stations, and include the votes from abroad,” added Muhuleţ.

The coordinator of Geoană’s campaign, Viorel Hrebenciuc, said there is a possibility that the election will be “legally” contested, as irregularities were registered in several counties. The Social Democratic Party (PSD), the National Liberal Party (PNL), and the Democratic Union of Hungarians requested that BEC recount the votes cast by Romanians abroad, based suspicion of fraud. The Sunday evening exit-polls gave birth to a new concept: President for a day, as the results of polling institutes led Mircea Geoană to declare an “undoubted” victory, and President Traian Băsescu to say that obscure interests are lurking behind his victory.The PSD leader avoided the press yesterday, leaving the party’s Secretary General Liviu Dragnea to announce the strategy of the social-democrats. “We are convinced that Romanians elected Mircea Geoană as President of Romania, but Traian Băsescu’s state apparatus is trying, fraudulently, to make him the President of Romania for a second mandate,” said Dragnea. “I assure you that now, as in 2004, you can have full trust in what I am telling you: I won! I assure you that at 7 p.m. the fair surveys showed that I surpassed Mircea Geoană. My plea is that, from 9 p.m. until the count of votes is finalized, my voters remain peaceful and confident that the vote count cannot be fraudulent,” said Băsescu a few minutes before the results of the survey institutes were presented.

The heads of the survey institutes told Business Standard that the results posted Sunday were within the error margin of any exit poll. They also indicated that any such study offers a 95 percent accuracy of votes, with a maximum margin of +/-3 percent.

Decean - Maini catre cer

Here is one of my favorite songs by the group Decean. The title is "Hands towards the sky."

Worship with Decean

This weekend we enjoyed having the Christian group, "Decean", with us at our youth meeting and Sunday morning at church. Decean is probably my favorite Christian group in Romania. They did a great job in leading us in collective worship and the lead singer, Nick, had a great message that really resonated with those in the theater: on being an authentic Christian who loves unconditionally. It was a great weekend!

1 Decembrie: Romanian National Day!

Today we celebrated Romanian National Day with all the pomp and circumstance. Parades, tanks, music, free-food, fireworks, etc. La Multi Ani Romania (Happy Birthday Romania!).

I hope you celebrated!

Working with Adolescents in Iasi

This past weekend I spoke at at Brethren Church in Iasi, Romania (Northeast Romania near the Moldovan border). This is the group leading worship through music. I had a great time working with this group that I had also worked with this past summer in camp. I spoke on the topic of "Stop pretending and be yourself". The idea being that many teens are trying to be someone they are not in order to garner attention and popularity. I love working with this group who has such a passion for the Lord. Enjoy the singing.

Busy weekends!

To give you an idea of just how busy I can be on the weekends. Here is an idea:

Saturday morning, up and out the door by 6.30 in the morning in order to be at a small village about 1 1/2 hours north of Bucharest in Baicoi to help in a children's evangelistic outreach with friends. Even though we arrived one hour early to prepare games and crafts, the kids were already at the door of the church when we got there.

We sang songs, played games, memorized Bible verses, and held dramas.

Kids working on a Bible memorization activity

After finishing up with the kids at 12, it is off to youth group at my church. This past Saturday we started making Christmas cards and crafts that we will be selling as a fundraiser for our winter retreat.

Some of the cards

I made the one with the moose! Isn't it nice? After youth group got done at close to 9 pm--I was off to board-game night with friends.

Then Sunday came: church in the morning and then we had a special baptism service last Sunday night where 14 people publicly professed their faith through the waters of baptism, including Elena from our small group.

By the time Sunday evening came to a close, I was wiped out!

Romanian Presidential Elections: Round 2

On Sunday, Romanians went to the polls to elect a president and vote on a referendam on whether or not to reduce the number of members in the Parliament from 471 to 300 and have, essentially a unicameral government. Under Romanian law, the president must achieve at least 50 percent of the vote. After Sunday's vote, current President Trăian Băsescu (above left) led the very socialist Mircea Geoană (former Romanian Ambassador to the US) by about 3 percentage points, meaning there will be a run-off on December 6th. This is a very important election for Romania. Please see the article below from the Associated Press.

By ALISON MUTLER
Associated Press Writer

BUCHAREST, Romania - Romania's centrist president will face a socialist former foreign minister in a Dec. 6 runoff election, partial results showed Monday, in a race key to helping the country emerge from a political and economic crisis.
President Traian Basescu received 32.8 percent of the vote, while Mircea Geoana won 29.8 percent, election authorities said in first official results based on around 74 percent of the vote counted. Conservative opposition leader Crin Antonescu polled 20.3 percent, finishing third in a field of 12 candidates.
Romania's government collapsed last month amid squabbling between the two-party coalition, and the International Monetary Fund has delayed access to a euro1.5 billion ($2 billion) IMF bailout loan while the country struggles to set up a new government.
The president is key to reviving the government because he nominates a prime minister, who Parliament must then approve and who would be responsible for forming a new coalition.
Reports of possible fraud in Sunday's election emerged as far more people than normal cast ballots at 3,500 special voting centers that were set up for Romanians who need to vote outside their area of residence because they are traveling.
The Electoral Committee said more than 430,000 people voted at such locations, and witnesses claimed some were being bused there after already having cast ballots elsewhere.
Authorities said two people were arrested in the southern city of Giurgiu for trying to buy votes. There were widespread reports throughout Romania about people being offered incentives — from sugar and oil to blankets and flowers in exchange for votes.
Basescu and Geoana called the election one of the most important votes in Romania since 1989 and the fall of communism.
Basescu, who no longer belongs to a political party because of constitutional requirements, has lost some public support because of his stormy relationship with Parliament and the country's deep economic crisis. Geoana, who heads the left-leaning Social Democrats and is the leader of the Senate, favors a broad coalition government, while Basescu wants to form a government from the Democratic Liberal party he used to lead.
Romania's economy, already in a deep recession, is expected to shrink about 8.5 percent this year. The country needs the IMF loan to pay state salaries and pensions, but is unlikely to get it this year. That would force 1.3 million state workers to take eight days of unpaid leave in 2009. Unemployment in Romania, one of Europe's poorest countries, already stands at 7.1 percent, up 3 percent in the last year.
Voters also took part in a binding referendum Sunday asking if they want to reduce the number of lawmakers in Parliament and abolish one of its two houses. Basescu, who called the referendum, wants a one-chamber Parliament with a maximum of 300 lawmakers, down from the current 471.
Critics say a smaller parliament would lead to the president having too much power. Partial results showed Romanians overwhelmingly voting to reduce the number of lawmakers and remove one chamber. Parliament and the president now share power equally.

Birthday celebration at Small Group

Every Sunday night I lead a small-group Bible Study through the Gospel of Luke. We have 13 people in our small-group. It is a time to learn from one another, pray together, laugh together, and encourage one another. This past Sunday was a special day because we celebrated Elena's birthday with cake and appetizers. It was a great day!

Bucharest metro goes on strike!

Tomorrow the Bucharest Metro will go on strike. Bottom line? One big, ugly headache in the city. Everyday close to one million people use the metrou to get around this big, growing metropolis. It is not rare to hear people say that the best thing the communists did in the city was build the metrou. (I utterly affirm this acclomation!). It is BY FAR the easiest, fastest, and most eficient way to get around the city. But with drivers and metrou workers unsatisfied with wages and hours, they have announced that they will go on strike indefinitely. The above ground traffic will be a nightmare. Please pray for all of us "Bucharesteniens'" patience and nerves. We will need it! And pray for a quick end to the strike. One of my best friends works at a foundation where kids go for daycare and kindergarten education. Because of the strike, they will have no way of getting to the foundation because of overcrowded and limited transportation. As we say in Romanian: CE NASHPA!

Dracula is Dead

Here is an interview with the former US Ambassador to Romania about his new book "Dracula is Dead." Please take a look at this interview to get a little slice of where Romania is at today.

You see everything in Romania ;)

I just love life in Romania! Never boring :)