Tabăra, Tabăra, Tabăra!

Well I returned from a successful few weeks at camp, full of Bible lessons, application, prayer, games, excursions, singing, campfires, and lots and lots of good, deep conversations. I am extremely honored to have prayed with several young adolescent boys to receive Christ in their hearts. And since we are all from Bucharest, I will be following up with them to walk them through the next steps (I've decided to surrender my life to Christ, now what??). One of the things I will be doing is talking to their pastors about the potential of starting a men's Bible Study with these boys and seeing when they can be baptized---exciting times! I always have a lot of fun at camp, but have to admit that it's exhausting. A lot of very long days and very little sleep. But the privilege of sharing Christ with kids at such a deep and intimate level is so rewarding. Based on the number of messages and phone calls I have been getting from the boys, I would say that we definitely made a lasting impression. Lives were touched for Christ and for that, eternity will never be the same. Praise be to God our Father who gives us all good things! Here are some pictures from the hoopla: It's always fun working with my buddy Cornelia. She leads the youth at a Baptist church in Bucuresti and we team up often to work in youth missions projects around Bucharest

Opening up the Word of God together with the kids, in addition to Raluca blowing her nose (hehe)

One of the girls' groups after re-inacting the story of the woman at the well

Everyone in the phone booth

One of our recreation activities was a video scavenger hunt between teams. This is my team's (the Nerds) attempt to take a picture with everyone in the air at the same time.

Me driving the bus in a drama

Off to Camp!

It's the summer time, so for me, that means it is summer camp season. It is always a privilege to work with youth, orphans, and young adults in Christian camps in Romania. My favorite times are simply the conversations I get to have with youth around a campfire or at meal times. Please pray that God will work through us to touch lives for Christ this camp season. I will be working at several different camps this summer. Please pray that God would also give me super-natural strength for the day to day activities. I'm already wiped out, so I will definitely have to really on the Lord's strength. Thanks for your prayers!

Unbearable Heat!

For the past several weeks, Bucharest has been nothing short of an oven and there have been numerous incidents of heat stroke. Just take a look at the weather map up above and look closely at Bucharest....106!!!!! And we are told this is nothing compared to what temperatures are likely to be in July. I think I'll move my desk to the sea side :)...And just to let you know an update on the heat, it actually reached 112 degrees! Wow!

Viaţa la Maximum

This week I will be working in a city-wide youth evangelism event called "Life at the Maximum" with several churches throughout Bucuresti. There will be a Vacation Bible School for kids in the parks every morning, teams who will be sitting down and talking to the elderly in the parks, sports evangelism events/tournaments, dramas,in addition to testimony sharing and concerts. I was a part of this event last year and was blown away by the ability of Romanian youth to sit and share Christ with those around them so openly and authentically. I cannot wait to see what God has in store this time around. I will be working on the teams who will be sitting down and sharing Christ with people in the park. In addition, I am volleyball captain :) As many of you know, you can never have enough time to play volleyball in your life :) Please pray that lives would be impacted eternally for Christ in this week and that through these activities, churches will be motivated to work together for God's kingdom more often in Bucuresti. Our theme for the event is quite simple: Jesus loves you and wants to have fellowship with you. A life lived to the maximum is a life in communion with Christ shared with those around you, your friends, colleagues and family.

Romania - Simply Surprising

One of the recent Romania tourism videos. Take a look!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Happy Birthday Grandma, or as we say in the land of the Romans, La Mulţi Ani! Hope you have a great day. Love ya!

Only in Bucharest!!! :)

About a month ago, Bucharest hosted a car race and watch this video to see what happened. I laughed pretty hard at this one. Even if you don't know Romanian, the analyists were trying to help the dog out. Just click on the arrow in the picture to watch.

Bucharest Evangelical Choir

Here is a video of the Bucharest Evangelical Choir that I was talking about. Just click on the arrow in the picture to listen.

A Random T-shirt I like

My favorite shirt being sold on amazon! (notice how it is in maroon and gold, Gopher fans!)

Bucharest Today

The National Library

The Bucharest Atheneum: said to have arguably the best acoustics of any concert hall in Europe

Casa Poporului (House of the People): the second largest building in the world to the U.S. Pentagon that communist dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu built for his "offices," but is now used largely as an international conference center. It is bigger underground than above ground

The fountains in Piaţa Unirii (unity square) with the People's Palace in background

The Romanian People

Some cool photos of the Romanian people in the 1930s: Selling fruit

Traditional gypsy woman

Smoking his pipe

An old-fashioned lemonade stand

Peasant selling utensils made of wood (all photos used with permission)

Times Gone By: Old Bucharest

Back in the day, Bucureşti was known as Micul Paris (Little Paris) for its wide boulevards, aristocracy, rich culture, architecture, arts, and restaurants. Here is a glimpse of old Bucureşti: Entrance to Parcul Carol

Bulevardul Elisabeta

The old national theatre

Palace

Much of the architecture had a Parisian style

Street cars

A central market selling furniture

Old fashioned sled rides

National Military Museum

Old Center

The Hub of activity: Calea Victoriei

Presenting: Jared & Elena Nehrer

Jared and I met through Christian Student Fellowship at the University of Minnesota. And he too was eternally impacted by the country and beautiful people of Romania. He roomed with me for a while here in Bucharest and last Saturday married the love of his life, Elena, who he met through a local Christian organization he works with here. It was a beautiful wedding with extremely heart-felt vows. It was conducted in Romanian with English translation. Currently they are working through the paperwork for Elena to get her Visa so they can move back to the States. Well, here are some pictures from the wedding: Jared saying his vows
The sharing of the rings

Elena is concentrating hard...but Jared has that look of "what did I just do? :) Just kidding!

Bucharest Evangelical Choir

Last Sunday, a lot of my time was spent hauling around musical equipment in my car for the Bucharest Evangelical Choir, directed by a good friend of mine. The choir is comprised of youth from various churches within the city (Baptist, Penticostal, Brethren, etc.) and really does a professional job. I remember seeing the choir assembled last fall out of a desire from the director, Emi, to construct a choir of youth that was capable of making high quality choral music. Well, I can say that they have come a long way since the fall--it's been neat to see. And they are making music for the Lord's glory--using music as an evangelistic outreach. I know many people within the city who have already been touched by their music and passion for the Gospel. Plus I love a good choir. Emi has been recruiting me to sing with them, but have been too busy, but might guest solo in the future...we'll see!

This is My Romania!

No comment!

Whatever works! And by the way, it's about $5.30 a gallon, so no complaining Americans!

Alright all of you who think you're the world's best driver--Please explain this one to me :)

Băsescu Re-instated

For those of you who have inquired, yes, President Trăian Băsescu has been re-instated as the Romanian President after being impeached by the Romanian Parliament. The process is complicated and involved a lot of politics, bickering, and jockeying for power. Romania held a national election on May 19th and Băsescu one back his position with 78 percent of the vote, having received a million more votes than the last time he ran for re-election. Talk about a mandate. He is well-liked for his demeanor and comes across as just your "average joe". It is not rare for people to see him driving his car down the streets of Bucharest with the window down, talking to people or shopping with his wife at Selgros (the Romanian Sam's Club or Costco). Recently, he has called for another election to re-figure the Romanian Parliament. Whatever the case, the political parties are certainly not getting along at the moment, and it's not helping Romania's image in the EU community. Please pray that Romania wouldn't shoot itself in the foot by letting political battles get in the way of true reforms.

Catching Up With Old Friends

I had a fun time catching up with my good friend Callie Weed, pictured above, while she was here with her team from Florida. Callie and I worked together in the city of Târgu Mureş , Romania in the summer of 2002. We have remained close friends ever since. She has a great heart for Romania and has since shared that with her church in the Tampa Bay area. We explored the sites together, with some of my dear Romanian friends, including Cat (pictured above), and laughed so hard that our stomachs hurt! Callie will be in her final year of law school at Stetson University in Tampa, FL. Her desire is to impact adoption law and ultimately be an advocate for international adoptions and the needs of orphans around the world. Pray that God will continue to use Callie for His glory and for helping to give children around the world a better future. And for those of you who know Callie personally, tell her to get singing again--she has a BEAUTIFUL voice! Cat and I hope she will come back and record some songs with us on one of our new CDs.

The view from the People's Palace (the second largest building in the world) that we visited

A Really Cool Story

While working with the short-term team from Florida the other week, I had the pleasure of meeting Monica Wall, pictured above. Monica had just returned to Romania to work as a summer intern with a children's foundation in Bucureşti that ministers to orphan children. Monica knows what life is like as an orphan in Romania, because she used to be one. She was born in a Romanian prison, and later moved to a babies orphanage under the Ceauşescu regime, because the government deemed her mother incapable of raising her from a prison. At age 3, she was later transferred to Casa de Copii #7 . It was there that her life changed forever. Monica grew up having a problem with her ears, and a missionary named Annette took her to a hospital when she was around 10 -years -old to have her ears checked out. What was supposed to take about two weeks in the hospital, ended up taking two months. The day that she was supposed to be taken out of the hospital and returned to the orphanage, a team from Washington state came to Bucureşti to do missions work. The very night that Monica was supposed to return to the orphanage, a family from Washington had her stay with them, which was just fine with her, because the last thing she wanted to do was return to Casa de Copii #7. This family she stayed with, later adopted her in 1996 at 11-years-old. Her new mom is a special-education teacher and helped her immediately grasp the English language. In addition, she had a personal tutor in her third-grade class the instant she got to Washington. Monica says that she was immediately mainstreamed with the other students, and moved quickly from only knowing Romanian at the beginning of the school year, to being one of the top students in her class by Christmas. In only 6 months, she was speaking English fluently. While in Romania, Monica was in a regular school, but put in a room with other orphans, which she described as a system where orphans are considered "altfel", or simply regarded as "other". Monica is now 21-years-old and has two brothers and one sister. Despite growing up in a loving home, Monica has never forgotten her roots and plans to be quite active in helping the orphan situation in Romania. Monica can remember quite vividly what conditions were like and being lectured by orphanage workers to say only nice things about Ceauşescu and the Communist system. Monica is by all means a success story and a blessing for other orphans. She doesn't remember any Romanian now, but wants to learn and attends Fresno Pacific University in California to be a special education director. Praise God for Monica and pray that she will be able to impact the lives of more orphans through her life and testimony

The Florida Dream Team

I am pleased to present my first short-term missions team to Bucharest, First Baptist Church from St. Petersburg, Florida. A good friend of mine, Callie Weed (with the Carolina t-shirt), and I have worked together in Romania before, and she was excited to bring members of her church to Romania to assist in orphan care and outreach. The team has been working with a Christian foundation here in Bucureşti called Inimii Deschise (Open Hearts), also known as the Children to Love Foundation in the States. One of the strengths of my OC International team here in Romania is networking with Christian organizations in Romania to help build awareness and work together in HIS kingdom for the greater cause. We have a wonderful partnership with Inimii Deschise and are honored to send them teams. The team has been a great help and really have servant-hearts. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each unique member--while picking on their Florida accents :) They have had a workout, visiting orphanages and group-homes in the mornings and afternoons all on foot, mastering the Bucureşti public transport network (trams, buses, subway, and trains). We also spent an evening with my OC International team, so they could get a feel of what life is like for a full-time missionary on the field, as well as get a flavor of how OC International is working to equip and mobilize the local church in Romania. It has been my pleasure to work with this team and I hope that they will be just the first of many short-term teams that I will be welcoming here to my little slice of heaven: Bucureşti that is. I will be contacting many of you in the near future with some short-term opportunities. Thank you First Baptist!

My Romanian Brother Florin

This is my Romanian brother, Florin, preaching at a local seminary's chapel service in Bucureşti. Florin, or Cica (chee-kah) as we call him, is a missionary/youth minister of a church 30 kilometers to the east of Bucureşti, called Fundulea. The church is largely made up of ethnic gypsies, and has really grown to have a wonderful outreach in the community. Florin is involved in working with the boys of the church in Bible study, young-men's discipleship, and helps to coordinate weekly soccer (fotbal for Europeans) matches for people in the community. He is a third-year pastoral student with a great heart for the Lord and a passion to preach the Gospel. I love his lively, straight-forward and challenging style to preaching. Moreover, he is engaged and will be getting married this July. I know that I have already learned a lot from "Cica" and am privileged to have him as one of my Romanian brothers. Please join me in praying for God to use Florin for HIS kingdom and for Florin and Ana (his fiancee) to have a long, Christ-filled life together.

Special Baptism service at Harul Church

On Sunday my colleague, Donna, invited my friend Cat and I to assist with music for a special baptism service at her church. The choir sang a piece by Ken Tucker that was too difficult for many piano players to play, but Cat (the amazing player that he is) had little problem playing the piece. I also sang a song with Cat during special music time. It was a great time of worship, especially having the privilege of watching six people profess their faith in Christ through baptism. The choir did a great job! This is a young church plant called "Harul" in Romanian (Grace Church) that spent many years in construction, but the congregation remained faithful. Today they have a beautiful facility in a largely unreached section of Bucureşti. The pastor is open and has a great heart and vision for outreach. Here are some picture from the day. My colleague Donna directing the choir

The baptized

One of the adolescents who was baptized

Cat concentrating at the piano

Scenes of Bucureşti

Rows and rows of apartment blocks

Aerial view of old-town Bucureşti

Mid-day hub of a busy city

At dusk