Musical Lions

This week we worked at the baby hospital and the orphanage and stayed with the girls at the transition house two nights. Friday Princessa, the baby girl with the big smile from the last post, was gone from the hospital and the nurse that I asked didn't know where she'd gone. I missed her smile and playfulness, hopefully she went to a good home, I am hoping that someone knows.

At the orphanage we helped with the music class that Kirsteen leads. The lesson was about making music that sounds like certain animals. After listening to music we helped the kids color pictures of lions. Vic asked me what colors to use so his would look like real.

Alina just had fun coloring her imaginary lion.

The older kids learned about a famous general so they made shoulder boards that they decorated with felt, string, and beads.

The orphanage threw a birthday party for all of the kids that had a birthday this month. The new director has started this and will be doing one every month so all of the kids will have a birthday party. This is something that most of them have never had before so it is a big excitement for them.

We spent the weekend with the staff at the team house and enjoyed spending time with them. We went to the musical "Seusical" that the Bucuresti Christian Academy put on. It was really good and we got to see several kids from church sing in it. Rebecca came down with pinkeye toward the end of the week which she got from some of the babies. Thankfully it is going away already. Please continue to pray for health for us and the staff.

Ministry Time...

This week we were able to be involved in almost all of Heart 2 Heart's areas of ministry.  Monday we went to the orphanage to help with the programs there.  Not all of the kids had returned from spring break though so we mainly played games with those that were there.  We spent Monday night at the girls transition house and then worked with them in the yard on Tuesday morning.  That afternoon we went back to the orphanage and helped with the music class.  The rest of the week we went to the baby hospitals to love the babies there.  We were able to help at the old hospital again which was nice even though there are only a handful of kids there.  Saturday was the civil ceremony of marriage for two of the transition house graduates in Rosiori, so most of the staff went there to share in this special time.  The wedding will be in a few weeks but in Romania people need to have the civil ceremony in the town that they are from for their marriage to be official.  

Walking from the maxi-taxi stop to the metro station we had a chance to see some more sights.  This is Arcul de Triumf, a war monument similar to the one in France but not quite as big.  We drive past it on the way to church from the team house but this was one of the first times we were near it on foot.

There are lots of flowers going in all over town.  We enjoy seeing them as they give nice contrast to the tons and tons of concrete that make up the block buildings all around us.  We really enjoy seeing the tulips, we will miss seeing them in Holland this year.   

At the orphanage we let some of the kids try on our glasses, they always want to so we finally gave in.

We are getting to know the babies really well since we've been able to be there so often lately.  This is my girl, since she doesn't have a name and she's so cute we call her Princessa or Pebbles.  She has the biggest smile...

... which I finally caught on camera!  If only adoption were open here!

Rebecca is holding Ryan and Daniella, whom we named after our Canadian interns.

This is Bam Bam, we call him that because he flails around in his crib a lot and is very strong for his age.

This is Ramona...

... and her twin sister Ana-Maria.  They were at the hospital when we started and have stayed in our room the whole time.  

This is Kirsteen, a fellow missionary, with a boy from the other room.  You can see that we really enjoy the baby hospital ministry, what a blessing it is to help these kids in their early development, this time period will have lasting impact on their entire lives.

At the end of the week Rebecca came down with a cold and is still fighting the sore throat and congestion.  Please pray that this goes away quickly.  Please also pray for the planning of summer and fall ministry.  Summer is a busy time with camps and orphanage programs and in the fall we will have a specific ministry focus.

Isus A Inviat...

...Adevarat A Inviat! This is the traditional Easter time greeting here in Romania. It is the same as He is risen... He is risen indeed. Instead of saying hello or good day you say Isus a inviat and the other person answers with adevarat a inviat. We spent Easter weekend at the Girls Transition House and had a lot of fun with them. Our staff rotates weekends and since we finished language lessons we had a turn to stay there. We prepared a scavenger hunt with things that represented events of the Easter story, starting with the triumphant entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem and going until Jesus ascended into heaven after he was resurrected. After the girls found all the parts in the house we had them put them in order and then we read the story from the verses that went along with each part. It was a fun way to tell the story interactively.

The elements of the Easter scavenger hunt: a picture of a donkey - Jesus' triumphant entry, perfume - the anointing of Jesus' feet, 30 silver coins - the amount the priests paid for Judas' betrayal, a bowl and towel - Jesus washing the disciples' feet, bread - the last supper, praying hands - Jesus' prayer in the garden, sword - Jesus' arrest, rooster - Peter's denial, cross - the crucifixion of Jesus, guarded tomb - Jesus' burial, empty tomb - Jesus' resurrection, and a pierced hand - Jesus' appearance to the disciples and ascension into Heaven.

We also dyed eggs, around 60 in all, it was the first time for the girls to do this.

We also made and decorated lots of sugar cookies, watched "The Incredibles" and "Mr. Bean", cooked together, played games, and got our hair cut by the two girls who are going to haircutting school. It was a really fun time staying with the girls and getting to know them.

After church on Easter we had a get together at the team house with the transition program graduates. We had a great meal and then had a big easter egg hunt with the eggs we dyed and plastic ones with candy. The graduates were really excited and had a lot of fun.

During the week we had a small team here and the kids at the orphanage were on spring break, so we did things a little different than normal. We brought small groups of kids to the GTH for special classes. The atmosphere for classes is so much nicer out of the orphanage because the distractions are gone and it is comfortable at the house. The music classes were very fun, we were each partnered with one of the kids and helped them compose their own music.

There was also an art class where the kids made stamps, stuffed monsters, yarn flowers, and watercolor paintings.

Here is everyone with their stuffed monsters. There was also a cooking class and a dance class. This morning we went to the orphanage for play time and had a good time, thankfully no more injuries either.

We also took a group to the zoo, talk about excited kids! This is something very special for them and they just had a blast.

We also were able to go with the team to the baby hospital nearly every day so it was a full week. It was very nice to be involved with the team without having to worry about homework or classes, and we were able to get to know the team members. It was nice to help the team and practice our Romanian language skills too. It was a very good week and we're looking forward to many more like it.

February - March 2010 Newsletter

Hello all from Romania!  We hope that everyone is doing well and we would like to thank you for your prayers and support!  We have now been in Romania for 7 months, which is hard to believe because it has flown by so fast.  These last couple months were really busy so let's run through some of the highlights of what happened and how we were able to minister. 

We started off February welcoming Danielle and Ryan, our interns for 5 weeks.  We stayed at the team house with them and also JT and we helped them settle in and get into ministry with us and the rest of the H2H staff.  We really enjoyed spending time with them and it was fun working with them.

We went to the orphanage as often as we could, continuing to deepen relationships that we have with the kids there.  Rebecca picked up some unwanted pests (lice), and this picture is the photographic evidence of exactly when we think it happened.  We spent a week and a half combing through her hair and shampooing before they were all gone.  There was an outbreak at the orphanage which happens from time to time and we didn't know about it until it was too late.  It was a nice bonding time for us though in our busy schedules, and we learned a lot about lice, so I guess it wasn't all bad.

Here is a special boy who really loves to hang out with me, when we arrive at the orphanage he runs right to me every time.  He is on medications which keep him "out of it", so I was surprised when he told me that he prays for us every day.  I think this says volumes about the impact that the ministry with these kids has, and it is a thrilling reminder of how God works in their hearts.  The more that we are at the orphanage the more we get to know the kids and the more we can impact their lives.  They continue to have an impact on us as well.

We were finally able to get back into the baby hospital after nearly 4 months of the quarantine.  It was wonderful to see the babies again, we love loving them so much!  They grew a lot and cut their first teeth when we were gone, and they all stayed healthy, besides the standard colds.  Rebecca's little boy Eric was placed in foster care which is great, we hope more have that opportunity.

Me with my twins, now they're big enough to be in the toddler room and are just about walking!

At the end of March we finished up our language lessons!  The last two months were very hard, with lots to remember and lots of homework.  Many times we spent whole days on homework, writing papers on bible stories, Christian apologetics, and imagined conversations with kids. We would then discuss them in class, correct them, and learn new words and grammar that had to do with what we wrote.  We aren't fluent yet, that takes a lot longer than 6 months, but we can have conversations and get our point across.  We have much practice to do and there are many more words to learn, but we are looking forward to when we think in Romanian.  It feels great to be able to understand the language now, to be able to communicate with people and not feel so in the dark everywhere.  For our last class we went on a tour of the city with our teacher because she is so interested in history, she showed us some of the beautiful architecture that wasn't destroyed by the communists.  

Now that we are done with language lessons we will be working in all the areas of ministry, we will have many teams here until after the summer so we will be able to work on our translating skills a lot.  We are excited to be able to focus on ministry now and are looking forward to how God will use us in the following months.  Please pray for us as we go forward.  Thanks again for staying involved with us and for keeping up with what God is doing through is here in Romanina!

- Pray for my (Mark) arm to heal well after I fell hard at the orphanage the day after language lessons ended.

- Thank God that he helped us finish language lessons well and helped us make it through admittedly one of the hardest times we've faced together.

- Pray for our language skills to continue to grow.

- Pray for God to reveal his will to us and the other staff of H2H so we will find areas to minister.

- Pray against the evil one's attacks and for safety and health

- Pray for the kids to know Jesus and for God to use us to minister to them

- Pray for the kid's situations at the orphanages to improve

- Pray for continued adjustment to life here in Romania.

Until next time, remember to keep checking the blog for the latest happenings and pictures, we try to write every week:www.weloveorphans.blogspot.com

In Christ,

Mark & Rebecca

An Interesting Week

Since the last post many different things have happened. Some good, some not so good. But in the end, all things have turned out good and we know that is because God is in control.

On Thursday Mark's glasses broke in half, the nose piece broke right in the middle. The good thing is that the optical places here are fast (1 day) and cheaper than America! On Friday we had our last language lesson, our six months are up! Doamna is pleased with our grammar and we just need to practice more and continue to learn more words, etc. For our last lesson we went downtown and had a historical tour, showing the influence of different cultures on the architecture and seeing what is left of the once very beautiful city (most of it was destroyed during communism). If you click on the pictures they will open in a new window and will be bigger- to see the details better. The following two pictures show French influence.

This orthodox church shows Greek influence.

Here we are with "the doamna" :)

On Saturday we went to the orphanage to hang out and play with the kids. Below is Ana, isn't she sweet? So sweet that Mark would chase after the little boy who stole her ball, even jump over a little fence, up the bleachers, back down, and then to that little fence again, didn't quite clear it the second time....

And these would be the x-rays on his elbow.

After we finally saw the appropriate doctor (another story there) we found out that it is not broken, just is stiff because the blood clots and fibers can form, which cause the lack of mobility. Mark has not been in much pain, practically none right now, but can not fully extend his arm. So Mark got a sling and has to do arm stretching exercises 2-3 times a day and come back to the doctor in 2 weeks to make sure it is healing correctly.

And a picture of me, just because :) This weekend we are going to the girls transition house. It should be a good time celebrating Easter with them, and maybe we will get our hair cut too! (two of them are attending school so they can work in a salon)