A Great Day!

Saturday was an extremely special day, as I was privileged to participate in the wedding of my Romanian brother, Florin, and the love of his life, Ana. It was a beautiful ceremony, held at a Christian camp a few hours northeast of Bucureşti, with the lush, green rolling Romanian hills in the background. Despite the heatwave (was literally about 110 degrees outside), the ceremony was very nice and the reception too, because my best friend Cat and his band provided the music. I also sang some special dedication songs at the reception. By the end of the night, my very near and dear Romanian family and I were exhausted, having been involved in all the set-up, decorating, and tear-down. Please pray that Florin and Ana would have a marriage full of love, faith, and happiness, with Christ at the center. Here are some pics from the big day: Mr. and Mrs. Florin Tamaş

Best friends

With my Romanian family

The altar with the rolling Romanian hills in the backdrop

The chairs

Sharing their vows

In Romania, we don't mess around with wimpy candles!

I sang a few songs at the reception

We're Having a Heat Wave, Tropical Heat Wave...

Well, got back from the hills around camp back to the flaming furnace that is Bucureşti! We have had nothing but 100 degree weather for days now and next week will be even hotter--some are estimating over 115 degrees by Sunday. Yup, 115 degrees!!!!! About every 5 seconds I dump a water bottle over my head. This is quite the oven. It's hot, very, very hot! Even 90 degrees would feel like a cool down! I'm headed to the pool tonight! Everyone and their brother is either at the pool or headed to the seaside!

A map of the counties in Romania. The areas in orange are under the severest of heat index warnings--which happens to include where I live. Translation: don't even attempt to go outside!

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.