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)

Spring- New Beginings

Spring is coming here! Today was in the 60's and sunny. After winter we all look forward to spring. Just like after difficult phases in our life we look forward to less difficult ones. We have been in Romanian for over 6 months now! And what does that mean? We are almost finished with language lessons! We have one more, on Friday, and we are going to tour some of downtown and talk about the architecture and history. Does this mean we can speak Romanian fluently? No! But it does mean we understand a lot and can speak Romanian, we just have a lot more work ahead of us. As we took a walk today through the park- Tineretului Park is just down the street- I was thinking about the new life springing forth and how a lot of things are just a matter of perspective. The following two pictures are our view from our apartment.

We could think about how much less space we have, how we don't have a garden or a yard for that matter, how many people are around, OR we can be thankful for a nice place to stay, being close to a metro (subway) stop, having a little market just outside our building, and the opportunity to impact all the people around us. And have our eyes open for the gems amidst the concrete jungle. Like the school below for example, way cooler than my high school!

Below are some picture of the lake in the park. Which side do you prefer to look at?

And I had to include a picture of Mark's favorite friends, some of them are actually very pretty, just not the ones that poop on our window sill :)

Part of moving to a different culture is finding ways to join in the new culture while keeping part of who you are. Eating gogosi is an easy way to be a little Romanian! We are thankful to be here, to be learning the language, the culture, and getting to know the babies and our kids at the orphanage. It hasn't always been easy, but we know God has a great purpose here and we keep looking for the signs of new life...and sometimes the smell of gogosi.

Rolling Right Along

How refreshing! The weather has been wonderful this last week, even getting into the mid 60's today! We've seen more sunshine than we did the rest of the winter (it seems that way) in the last couple weeks and it is so nice. Now that it is nice out and we will be done with lessons in a week we will probably start more exploring around the city because there is lots to see here if you look past the block buildings. During a homework break last weekend I took a walk to a famous cemetery. I know, not the coolest sounding, but there is lots of really nice architecture there and many famous people buried there.

Some of the tombs are very interesting and there are lots of statues like this around.

We'll have to go back there sometime because I only saw a small part, it is a huge place, and it is not very far from our apartment.

We went to the baby hospital Monday with Corni, praise God that we will be able to go there regularly again! We so enjoy the babies, it is such a blessing to be able to hold them and love them, they are so much fun!

We also made it out to the orphanage again after not being there for a few weeks due to scheduling issues. The kids enjoyed making lion puppets to go along with the story of Daniel and the lions den. The team that is here now did a skit and I got to stand in for one of the evil guys who gets eaten by lions in the end, how fun!

Some of the kids are learning a dance to Leeland's "Tears of the Saints" and they are really enjoying it. I was really impressed by how into it Bebe was, as you can see in the picture of him getting ready for the beginning of the song where they start off as if they are praying.

Today we had a play day with the kids in the beautiful weather, everyone had a lot of fun.

Lorenzo is a really nice boy though unfortunately he is on heavy medication for some issues he has. Despite that he always runs to me and loves to spend time together. This week he told me that he is praying for us every night! How sweet is that? Let's pray for him that God will heal him so he can be free from the medication that really hinders him.

Vali was in heaven today because he got to play with the basketball. Every single time we go to the orphanage he asks if we brought the basketball, he just loves playing.

Thanks so much for your continued prayers and encouragement!

Major Answered Prayer Requests

We have recently had the joy of some answered prayer requests! Rebecca is healthy again after battling a cough for over a month, it was a frustrating cough but now it is gone and we are really happy about that. Being healthy again also means that we can go to the baby hospital together again, which we did today. Our babies are growing so big and there are new ones coming in. Rebecca's little boy, Eric, was just placed into foster care which is wonderful, we pray that more will be placed so they don't have to grow up in the orphanage system.

We brought our friend Kristie to the hospital with us, she is a new missionary here who we met at our bible study. She is working with kids in churches so she wanted to help us care for the kids at the hospital. She really enjoyed it and will probably be back with us again.

Last week we made our first video of our time here so far. The kids at FairHaven Ministries, our home church, had a Romania night so we made the video to go along with that. The kids made gift bags for the orphans here and colored cards that say "Jesus loves all the children of the world" and the Romanian "Isus ii iubeste pe toti copiii din lume" We heard that the kids really enjoyed the night and that many of them recognized us since we worked with them for 2 years before we came here. As you watch the video, keep in mind that we made it for kids to understand what we're doing here in Romania and to see that these kids aren't that much different from them.

Link To Video Here

The other major answered prayer request is that the director of the orphanage that has been giving us so many problems has been removed and replaced! He crossed the line with lots of things he did but the final straw was beating up a kid badly. The teachers finally took action and notified the higher ups and he was immediately removed. The new director is very eager to work with us and is already trying to improve things at the orphanage. Praise God that the old director is finally gone and pray for our relationship with the new director. Also it would still be good to pray for the old director as he really needs Jesus in his life.

Thanks so much for your prayers and faithfulness! We know that prayer is important and it is great to see God's answers. The next big one is our language learning, we have just over 2 weeks left of lessons so we are getting excited to be done. Today our teacher told us she is going to cry when we are done because she enjoys teaching us so much. Coming from her this is a huge compliment. God has definitely been guiding us through this and we are so thankful for that.

Romanian

This past week I (Rebecca) was really frustrated with my lack of Romanian speaking ability. I can understand a lot (usually), but I struggle to be able to say what I want. I kind of freeze and my mind goes blank, forgetting the 100's (maybe 1,000's) of words I know. So, I am going to write the rest of this post in Romanian and translate it for you.

Sper ca toti cititori se bucur! I hope all the readers enjoy!

Este lectie de gatit. This is cooking class. Ei pregatit prajituri pentru o receptie pentru invatatori de la scoala lor. They made cakes for a reception for their teachers.

Delicios. Delicious.

Acest caine este Mila, si ea vrea sa intre in casa sa incerce prajiturii! This is Mila (the dog), and she wants to enter the house and try the cakes.

Mercuri a fost ziua lui Krista si Jen. Wednesday was Krista and Jen's birthday. Mark a pregatit mancarea chinezeasca. Mark made chinese food. A fost foarte bun. It was very good. Petrecere a fost foarte distractiv. The party was a lot of fun. Ii iubesc pe toti membri de la H2H familia! I love all the members (staff) of the H2H family!

In lectie de limba romana, noi vorbim despre apologetics. In Romanian class we are talking about apologetics. Este foarte dificile, dar dupa aceea, o sa avem o limba foarte buna! It is very hard, but afterwards, we will have a very good language.

Va rog, continuati sa va rugati pentru noi si limba romana. Please continue to pray for us and our romanian.