Spiritual Life in Bucovina

Everywhere you look in Bucovina you will find a church. Bucovina is in northern Romania, near the Ukranian border. It is a region known for its monastaries, churches, and rich, authentic, Romanian lifestyle of days passed. Daniil Sihastrul Cell - this is the cell of a monk. it was carved in stone through 11 years by this man. And it looks like this. One man's hard work, turning a rock into his house.
Dragos Voda Monastery - the oldest in Romania, this church was made in wood in the 14'th century. It's really something to see 700 years old oak.

Network of Youth Leaders

Tonight was a breakthrough in many regards in my work with the youth leadership network in Bucureşti. After much prayer, many meetings, and a lot of brainstorming, my co-leaders and I decided that it was time to expand our network to include "youth ministry teams." We recently started a course about "Work, communication, conflict, and problem solving in a leadership team." Each leader was asked to bring his team with him, which for some was a challenge (some youth leaders have no help or team). We looked at the biblical basis for forming a team and the difference between "working in a team" and "leading with a team." The idea behind the course is to promote and encourage healthier youth ministries within a church. Tonight each church's leadership team gathered around separate tables and went through a study of spiritual gifts and personality traits in order to better understand similarities and differences within the team. Each church has homework for our next meeting: to create charts with each member's gifts and to discuss these gifts within the team. In addition, each member of the team was asked to write good qualities and strengths of others in the group, as well as areas where people need to improve. We had an awesome turnout tonight. The biggest yet! Over 60 people came! Praise the Lord, we are seeing seeds and a lot of time and effort finally bearing some fruit. Please pray that this course on team leadership will lead to healthier youth ministries in our city.

Hristos a Înviat!

Happy Easter everybody! Yes, that's right. Romania, being a predominanently Eastern Orthodox country, follows the Eastern Orthodox Calendar. As such, Easter falls on a different week than in the West. Sunday was our Easter Sunday. Some of the traditions in Romania are to decorate eggs (like those above) and everyone greets eachother (and I do mean everyone, even at stores and restaurants) with Christ is risen, to which you respond by saying, He is risen indeed! Just think, in today's America, you would probably lose your job for greeting someone in such a way, but not here in Romania :) Other traditions are to eat cozonac, a jelly, sweet roll pictured below and in the evening before the resurrection, people stand with candles at night outside the church to symbolize that even though there was darkness, darkness could not extinguish the light. At Easter we also eat lots of lamb! So Happy Easter. Rejoice, He is Risen!

Parking in Bucureşti: survival of the fittest

I love this one!

This is right at the Metro stop by my apartment

First prize (above) and runner-up below

Protests in the Republic of Moldova

Perhaps some of you have heard, but the often forgotten country of the Republic of Moldova has been in disarray lately admidst rioting over the results of the parliamentary elections. Moldova shares a border with Romania and up until WWII was part of Romania in the region known as Bassarabia. The Moldovan flag is similar to the Romanian flag, only difference being that the Moldovan flag also features their coat of arms. In addition, the main language is Moldovan (basically a dialect of the Romanian language). Thus, there has always been a desire by many Romanians to see Moldova one day reunite with Romania. Following WWII, Moldova became one of the most isolated republics of the former USSR, and thus, Russian was introduced to the populace. To this day, Moldova remains Europe's only remaining "communist" country (though you could make the argument that many of the former Eastern bloc countries are still to a degree communist). It is a land-locked country of 5 million people and Europe's poorest. To many Romanians, it will always be a part of Romania--for some Moldovans, they have no interest in ever reunifying with Romania.
When the results came back that the communists had won over a 50 percent majority, riots erupted and cries of corruption were shouted. The truth? I agree with those who say that the results are true. I think the communists did win. Why? Because there is still a hefty majority of Moldovans who have lived their whole lives under communism, have never traveled out of Moldova and they actually like the security that communism offers (a job, a home, everyone the same, etc.). It is the younger generations, who have been exposed to the freedoms of the West and anti-communist sentiments who simply cannot understand how the older generations would ever want a communist state. It is sad, but you have to understand the sentiments--communism is all they have ever known. And to a degree, they have seen their Romanian brothers and sisters on their pensions, lose a whole life's savings overnight in the switch to capitalism---their thinking is that "at least communism will protect me--I am used to it and it doesn't bother me....I don't know what capitalism would bring." That is the mentality. For the youth, they want the opportunity to travel, to earn a decent living, and to integrate with the EU. Here lies a classic example of the clash between the two generations---one that has known nothing but communism and one that wants nothing to do with it. Thus, the youth have resorted to protesting, and unfortunately it has gotten quite violent.

The blame? Already the Rep. of Moldova and the Russians blame patriotic sentiments in Romania for the protests. Already the Romanian Ambassador has been asked to leave and the Rep. of Moldova is once again requiring all Romanians to have a visa to cross the Prut River. Sad! This affects my team because we are starting to do a lot more work in Moldova. Please pray for an end to the violence and for the relations between the two countries to improve.

For more details, please read the following article: http://images.google.ro/imgres?imgurl=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00518/moldova_smoke_518352a.jpg&imgrefurl=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6052601.ece&usg=__Nlh8ZbkskjR7LQC1zh_Las7ug-M=&h=350&w=585&sz=64&hl=ro&start=4&tbnid=FfnFnulpJT4dIM:&tbnh=81&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dprotesting%2Bin%2Bmoldova%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Dro

Missions Movement

I frequently interact with a group of over 30 Romanian youth from various evangelical churches who are interested in either serving as missionaries, or at least mobilizing churches and support for missions. I serve as a mentor to several of the youth in this group. Tonight I brought my pastor to the weekly meeting to share about some of his experiences working with the Romanian Church after the fall of communism, as well as his connections with the persecuted Church in India. He reminded the group of how important Christian community is, especially for someone working in an environment where it may take years to see some of the seeds bear any fruit. My pastor talked about the necessity to guard our hearts by making sure part of our mission is also to direct our own hearts towards God. In addition, he reminded us of how important it is to plant the Word of God in people's ears and hearts! Please continue to pray for this group. About six of them will be heading on a short-term trip to India this May and another girl is headed for a longer stint, starting in July.

LA MULTI ANI CIPRI

Today we celebrated my good friend Cipri's birthday with some of the youth from church. We made a lot of food (see the tort above), sang worship songs, prayed together, laughed together, and played games together. We all assembled at his place before he got back from work. I think he was genuinely surprised! Cipri is a blessing to all of us at church--and he loves volleyball too :)

And of course, it wouldn't be a party in Romania without chirades :) They don't say Romanians have Latin passion for nothing--chirades is a hoot in Romanian :)

Aren't they cute? Brother and sister

Reaching College Students

There are currently over 300,000 college students in Bucureşti. The percentage of evangelical Christians? Probably only around 1 percent. This past Saturday I participated in a seminar with some youth from my church in learning ways in which we can reach out to the college students in our city. As a church, we will be working specifically with the law school. On Saturday, I already had some good conversations with several young men at the dorms. We swapped telephone numbers. Hopefully some of them will be interested in joining our youth at volleyball, a film, or better yet, at church. First and foremost, we want to be establishing relationships with these students and a level of trust. Many have heard the Gospel, but have yet to understand they they too can have a relationship with Christ. Please pray for us as we work more closely with the law students in our city.

Profides - De jos Te strig

This is Cat's band profides playing one of my favorite songs. The title of the song is "from below I cry out to you"

Refrain: from below I cry out to you, knowing that I am nothing. But through faith, I want to touch the heavens.

Psalm 139 is also recited in Romanian. Enjoy!

And the Angels sang!

They say that the angels sing in heaven when one soul returns to the Lord. Today there was great rejoicing and singing in the heavens, as two girls form our church small group, Teodora (2nd photo) and Simona (bottom photo) professed their faith in Christ publicly through the waters of baptism. In total we had 10 people get baptized today at our church. It was a great encouragement for all of us to hear their testimonies and to witness the ways in which God has worked in their lives. There was even a woman in her 90s who finally dedicated her life to the Lord. Yes, indeed, there was great rejoicing!

Cu tine

This is one of my favorite Romanian Christian groups, "CristoCentric" that performed at my church in Bucharest recently. The title of this song is "With You"

Translation:
Who could ever seperate me from you Father
There is no one
Not heights, nor depths, nor death, nor mastery can wrestle me from your hand
Through blue, velvety clouds you smile at me
Every step I make, you uphold me

Ref:
With you, I only look ahead
Though any wave may come, I know that you are here
When my whole being is weak and I can no longer hope
With your hand of a Father, you comfort my heart

Lord you remain eternally, my love

Casa Agar

Several of us in our youth group have been volunteering at a home for mothers in Bucureşti wih newborns. These are young girls who, for various reasons, may have been abandoned by their family, are unable to hold a job because they have to take care of their babies, etc. The center, called "Casa Agar" provides shelter for these young women and their babies, as well as counseling, spirtual formation, and vocational training. They are also actively involved in hospital outreach to abandoned and unwanted children. Each week, various youth from our church go and visit the hospitals, spend time with the children, lead Bible studies with the mothers, cook meals for the center, and help with special projects around the center. I usually cook dinner for the mothers and participate in Bible discussions with them.

Bucureşti Pastor's Meeting

About once a month, pastors in Bucureşti get together to pray, strategize, fellowship and encourage one another. Sometimes it seems that Christians are some of the worst collaborators. There are times we have a good turnout, and other times where you can count the number of pastors who show up on one finger. As in any city, we have pastors who are passionate about collaborating together as Christians to do Kingdom work and who have a heart that aches for the lost, and then we have pastors who want to do their own thing. My colleagues and I are often responsible for motivating this group, distributing announcements, communication issues, etc.

Please pray for unity among pastor's in our city: that they would be united in working together to reach the lost, that their churches would have welcoming arms and open doors. And please pray for the joint projects coming up, including the Global Day of Prayer, Bucureşti Days, and several leadership training seminars.

Seara de Tineret!

At our youth meeting on Saturday, we celebrated the 8th of March, which is also women's day in Romania, by giving all the girls flowers. We had a good turnout and were challenged to look at the necessity to confess our sins to God, for HE is gracious and just. Being that it was also women's day, our pastor didn't spare any opportunities to give all the guys a hard-time to get married :)

One of my favorite parts of our youth meetings is listening to people share testimonies. On Saturday we got to hear a girl at our church share about some of her struggles with her family when she came to accept Christ. It was the encouragement of friends that really helped her to give her life to Jesus. Talking to some of the youth after the meeting, it was obvious that her testimony had a major impact in challenging even some non-Christians who came to our youth group for the first time.

Please pray for us as we work with the youth of our church, to grow in knowledge and understanding, and to ultimately grow in repentance and love each and every day.

Jessy Dixon Concert

On Friday, youth from several evangelical churches in Bucharest joined together to form a choir to sing with Jessy Dixon, a multi-grammy award winning Gospel singer who recorded with the likes of David Phelps, and the Gaither Vocal Band. It was a 'rockin' concert, and truly a one-of -a-kind experience in Romania. It is not everyday that a Romanian Church hosts a black gospel concert. Some of Jessy Dixon's pieses include "Moses Take your Shoes Off," and "Destined to Win." It was a great time!

Marţisor

Mărţişor is the traditional celebration of the beginning of spring in Romania on the first of March. The day's name is the diminutive of March (in Romanian Martie), and thus means something like "little" or "dear March". Nowadays, men offer women a talisman object also called Mărţişor, consisting of a jewel or a small decoration like a flower, an animal or a heart, tied to a red and white string. However, giving a little nickel tied to a red and white string is an old custom and was originally designated for both men and women. It was believed that the one who wears the red and white string will be powerful and healthy for the year to come. The decoration is a symbol of the coming spring. A woman wears it pinned to her blouse on this day and up to two weeks after. Occasionally, women also give such gifts to men. In some parts of Romania such as Moldova or Bukovina, the symbol of spring was a gold or silver medal which was worn around the neck. After wearing the coin for twelve days, they bought sweet cheese with the medal, because it was believed that their faces would remain beautiful and white the entire year.

Spotlight on Braşov, România

One of my favorite cities in Romania is Braşov, only a 2-and-a-half to three hour drive north of Bucharest in the Carpathian mountains. the city has a strong Saxon influence and includes both an old, medieval center surrounded by a fortress, and a newer, more modern, commercial district. Braşov is a city in the Transylvanian region of Romania and the capital of Braşov County, with a population of 294,596, according to the 2006 census, it is the 7th largest Romanian city. The first attested mention of Braşov is Terra Saxonum de Barasu ("Saxon Land of Baras"), in a 1252 document. The German name Kronstadt means "Crown City", and is reflected in the city's coat of arms, as well as in its Medieval Latin name, Corona. The three names of the city (Braşov/Brassó, Kronstadt, and Corona) were used simultaneously in the Middle Ages. From 1950 to 1960, during part of the Communist period in Romania, the city was called Oraşul Stalin (Stalin City), after the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

The famous Black Church with one of the largest pipe organs in Europe

Industrial development in Braşov started in the inter-war period, with one of the largest factories being the airplane-manufacturing plant (IAR Braşov), which produced the first Romanian fighter planes, which were used in World War II against the Soviets. After Communist rule was imposed, this plant was converted to manufacture of agricultural equipment, being renamed «Uzina Tractorul Braşov» (internationally known as Universal Tractor Braşov). Industrialization was accelerated in the Communist era, with special emphasis being placed on heavy industry, attracting many workers from other parts of the country. Heavy industry is still abundant, including Roman, which manufactures MAN AG trucks under licence, as well as native-designed trucks and coaches. Although the industrial base has been in decline in recent years, Braşov is still a site for manufacturing agricultural tractors and machinery, hydraulic transmissions, auto parts, ball-bearings, helicopters (at the nearby IAR site in Ghimbav), building materials, tools, furniture, textiles, shoes and cosmetics. There are also chocolate factories and a large brewery. In particular, the pharmaceutical industry has undergone further development lately, with GlaxoSmithKline establishing a production site in Braşov.

Centrally located Braşov is a good starting point for trips around Romania. The city is situated at fairly equal distances from several tourism destinations in the country: the Black Sea resorts, the monasteries in northern Moldavia, and the well-preserved wooden churches of Maramureş. It is also the largest city in a mountain resorts area. The old city itself is very well preserved, and is best seen by taking the cable-car to the top of Tâmpa Mountain (995 m), a beautiful lookout.

St. Nicolas Church
The main Piaţa at night
Braşov is home to a new indoor waterpark

Like most major cities in Romania, Braşov has a vast tram and bus network

Temperatures from May to September fluctuate around 23°C / 75°F. Braşov benefits from a winter tourism season centered on winter sports and other activities