DAY FOUR [ringing in a NEW year!]

Yesterday. Wow. Let's just say that Romanians are MUCH better at ringing in the New Year than Americans are! :) So yesterday morning we all worked around the house to get ready for the party. I peeled potatoes for a good couple hours. We then went to Parish in the afternoon and had a small little celebration for the orphans there. We watched Kung Fu Panda (in Romanian with English subtitles), then handed out little goody bags. Bad idea considering the bags had every kind of noise maker imaginable and the rest of the afternoon consisted of all the kids coming up to your ear and blowing as hard as possible. :) We spent the rest of the time just playing with the kids. Yesterday was the first day any of the kids told me they loved me... which I realize they say to everyone but it's so adorable and I can say it back to them and really mean it! During the movie a girl who's probably about 10(?) named Catalina came up to me and we "cuddled" the whole movie while we joked around and taught each other words. She also thought it was a hoot to tell us that the only guy team member was her and she was him and all that silliness. So that was really fun. I played "Go Fish" with a 13 year old boy who would read the sea animals names off the cards which was very impressive but also very hilarious how he would pronounce things! I also interacted with an older (maybe highschool age?? It's so hard to tell!) boy named Berkey (sp?) who knew a lot of english- one of the first orphans there that I was really able to communicate with, so it was fun. He has a really big heart and I've never seen him be mean or beat up on any of the other kids which really can't be said about most of the other orphans. I left the orphanage with a huge smile on my face yesterday, just absolutely beaming because the kids are just so great, despite the fact they can be mean to each other at times. I guess it's just like brothers and sisters!

After Parish, we came back to the house to find some guests had already arrived for the New Year's Eve party. It was a party for all the graduates of the Transition Houses, so there were about 30 that were able to come (out of the about 100 that have graduated). Most of them were in their twenties. At first it was kind of awkward because our team speaks only English and everyone else speaks only Romanian except our few translators. However, as the night went on it got very comfortable. We had dinner, then got into teams and played "Minute to Win It" where there are a bunch of challenges to have to complete in one minute to get a point. My team won, which was VERY exciting for everyone. We then had dessert and just played cards and talked. At midnight we went outside to witness the huge city fireworks that were being fired off in the street and at surrounding neighbor houses. And teenage guys are the same here in Romania, they were lighting fire crackers and throwing them at us, just loving watching us American girls scream. It was frightening and I thought of mom just being very unappoving of it all. :) Haha! But it was so great because we literally just ran through the streets tooting little party horns, screaming and running away from fire crackers, and yelling "La Mutzan!" (Happy New Year!) During the evening, a guy named Costel had a translator come over and a few of the girls on the team talked with him for a good portion of the night. He shared with us his great love of singing and sang a few songs. I have noticed that a lot of the people we meet will want a translator to come over just so they can tell us random things about their life like how they like to play soccer, sing, or eat sweets. I wondered aloud if it was a Romanian thing, but then someone on my team suggested that it could be an orphan thing, since everyone who has done that has been an orphan and they don't have parents or family to tell those kind of things to. Which made me really sad because it reminded me of how whenever I have something exciting like I ace a test, a lot of the time the only people that really care are my family. I've especially noticed this since my parents have moved oversees that a lot of what I would talk about on the phone daily is stuff that noone else really wants to hear. But it's awesome because H2H and the staff have really become these ophans family. That's where they come for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, etc. That's who they tell their exciting news to and who they share life with. So this New Year I am SO thankful for H2H and the opportunity I have to join their family for a short time!

DAY THREE

We finally got to distribute presents today! In the moring we went to a different orphanage called Voluntar. When we first got there the kids put on a little show for us and sang some Christmas songs both in Romanian and in English... their accents were adorable when they sang in English! We then presented the kids with gift bags filled with goodies. It was so adorable to see them all opening their bags. A lot of the younger boys were just thrilled with their toothpaste and toothbrushes! Later in the morning when we were taking a tour of the place we saw them all brushing their teeth with toothpaste all over their faces. :) This orphanage is different than the main one H2H works with, Parish, for a couple of different reasons. First, the kids are generally younger than 12. Also, the kids at Voluntar go to a Romanian school with other kids, whereas the Parish kids have school in the orphanage. These kids are considered "special needs," but most of them are not. They are either there because one sibling is special needs, or just because that's where their parents left them, or mostly just behavioral problems. So going to Voluntar was very different because the kids were much more "normal" and well-behaved. A lot of it has to do with the director as well. The director at Voluntar is a very strong woman who runs a tight ship, whereas at Parish it was for a long time a mean man, but is now just a more layed back man.

After handing out gifts at Voluntar in the morning, we went to Parish for the afternoon. It was really fun to see all the kids for the second time, because we recognized each other and sort of knew names and whatnot. However, today I hung out with some of the older kids which was fun. First I played Rummikub (rumi in Romanian) with a highschool age(?) guy and girl, however it was not how we play it AT ALL! The orphans usually make up rules for their games so even Uno and Chinese Checkers is way different. Anyway, I liked some of their adjustments, but some just didn't make sense to me!

Another great memory (and painful) memory of the day was getting my hair braided by a girl named Ana. She is a senior in highschool this year. I talked to her through a translator and it was so fun to get to hear about her life. She has to leave the orphanage once she graduates, so she wants to do the girl's transition program and then go to University for social work. She wants to help orphans since she is an orphan and knows what they are going through. However, as a female orphan it will be really hard for her to get to go to University because she will need to get a job to be able to pay for it. So the girl's transition house is a HUGE help because it trains and equips her to be able to get a job and live on her own. I really hope she will be able to achieve her goals and be able to help orphans!

It was a great day! And I am SOOO looking forward to tomorrow because it is New Year's Eve! So in the morning we will be planning for the day and night, then heading off to Parish in the afternoon to do a movie and popcorn (interested to see if the kids sit still for that!). Then at 7pm til 1am we are having a party in the house for the graduates of the transition homes! There will be dinner, games, dancing, and talking. And at midnight, all the neighbors shoot off city-sized fireworks, since there's no laws against that here! Should be exciting!

P.S. I asked how many adults to how many kids and they said there are 3-5 adults for 50-80 kids. CRAZY! :P

Mother's Questions

I just got an e-mail from mom asking some questions... so I have posted her questions and the corresponding quick answers for your enjoyment! :)

1. How many adults take care of how many children?

2. What do you eat?

3. What do the children eat?

4. Do you help with food prep or laundry?

5. Can any of the people (adults or orphans) speak English?

 

1. i dont really know... i think i saw maybe one other adult besides the h2h staff so they must be hiding there somewhere! there were maybe 30 kids? i dont know.... really bad at estimation!
2. normal food- we eat at the house. lots of yummy big meals... breakfast- cereal, pastries, fruit, bread, yogurt, etc. lunch and dinner- soup, soup, soup! yum! and normal side things like chips and corn bread and dessert.
3. i dont know what the kids eat... something to ask!
4. i dont help with food prep because there are so many staff women that just do it either while we are gone or are resting, and we havent done any laundry yet.
5. a lot of the transition home orphans and adults speak anywhere from a few words of english to being fluent. i think ive met one or two kids who can say some words in english. a few of them are actually pretty fluent in spanish because they watch spanish soap operas in the orphanages!

DAY TWO

Today was amazing! We again had breakfast at 9 followed by worship and a devo. We then learned that our plan of distributing Christmas presents will be postponed til tomorrow. Apparently Romanian culture is very flexible and "go with the flow." So instead we went over to the girl's transition house to take showers. The water has been out in the house since the night we got here so a couple of the girls hadn't showered since before we traveled. The transition house normally would have a few old orphans- 18 years or older. This year they didn't have any girls, so some of the staff live there. But the boy's house has 7 guys. At the transition house they learn life skills- cooking, cleaning, sewing, etc. and are prepared to live by themselves. Three girls that hung out with us today were in the very first girls to graduate the program about 5 years back. They now all live in an apartment and have jobs- one works for H2H. When one of the girls, Sunny (LOVE her- will write more about her later) told me about it she was so proud; it is a really big deal for an orphan to have accomplished what they have.

After we showered at the house and had lunch, we went to the orphange. It was SOOO fun and great! The kids were so loving and VERY touchy... which I was thrilled about obviously! :) It was so touching how right when we got there, they had never even met us, yet they ran out and gave us all hugs and kisses and held our hands and just generally loved on us. And it was such a blessing to get to love on them back! One girl, Adrianna, was so adorable and kept by me a lot of the time. She played with my hair and always had her arm around me. So adorable! We played soccer out in the snow, musical chairs, cards, a dancing group game, and listened to some of the students play instruments. It was so great! I was really suprised by the amount of old orphans there were- there was a group of about 6 or 7 guys that appeared to be between 18 and early twenties. It was awesome to see everyone come out of their shells as the time progressed. Especially one older boy, Marion. He wasn't really participating in the beginning, but at the end of the afternoon he was dancing around and being so goofy!

So the plan for tomorrow (who knows!) is to take presents to the younger orphanage for preschoolers. So I'm bummed we won't get to see the same kids again tomorrow, but we will the next day then. And it will be so fun to hand out gifts! Well, we have a team meeting now! Bye!

Travel and DAY ONE

Right now I am sitting at the computer in the Heart to Heart home in Bucharest, Romania! And I can definitely tell I am in Romania... just to sign in to my blog I had to choose from a Romanian menu... good thing I blog often enough to know which button to choose! Har har. Anyway, that's right, I made it safe and sound! We got here around 1am this morning Romanian time... so I have slept and enjoyed my first full day here! All our travel went great and according to plan... we didn't even lose any luggage which apparently is strange for coming to Romania! The house here is BEAUTIFUL! It's basically a mansion with lots of marble and classiness.. very fun and nice. The 8 hour flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam was alright... watched Inception then wrestled with finding a comfy position to sleep in for the rest of the trip. Needless to say, I am not a huge fan of the seats they put on those big planes! During our 9 hour layover in Amsterdam we basically just slept and ate the whole time... college students, ya know? :) The 2 1/2 hour flight from Amsterdam to Romania was kinda interesting... I was sitting in a window seat next to a little girl and her mother when I realized the dad kept coming over and seemed like he wanted to switch. So I switched so that the family could be together and ended up in between two guys who didnt speak english- one listened to his ipod the whole time and hogged the arm rest, the other smelled like cigarrettes. Yum! But it was fine because I just read and slept (the chairs on this smaller aircraft were much more conducive to sleeping- either that or I was more tired!).

This morning we woke up and had breakfast at 9. The main level of the house has a huge area that on one little level has a couple big tables and enough chairs to seat 30 people and then on a lower level a bunch of couches for a living room area. So there are probably about 20 people in the house now, and only one guy! Brave soul. The rest are either H2H staff, interns, or team members- our six and three others from California. After breakfast we had some training with stuff about the culture, the orphanages, etc. 

After lunch, around 2:30 we headed out for the day. I got to go to the baby hospital with two other team members and two staff... the rest of the group went to the orphanage. I was so excited to get to go the first day! The babies there were sooo adorable! There were 12 babies split up in two rooms, a room of 8 toddlers, and then a room of infants that we weren't allowed into. I spent most of my time (about 3 1/2 hours) in the baby rooms holding, playing with, feeding, and changing the babies. Near the end I went to the toddler room and they were precious! It was much more sad for me to see them because they were in these really tall cribs with metal bars and they would stand in the crib holding the bars like a little prisoner. But they were so much fun and very smiley and giggly. All the babies were just so beautiful and it really was an amazing time to just play and take care of them. One of the staff told us that many of the babies aren't really abandoned, it's just that their parents may not have enough money to raise them, or to pay for the heat, or to have a house, so they drop off their babies at the baby hospital kind of to take care of them until they do have enough money. So sometimes parents will come visit their children or come and take them back. It was very interesting.

Jet lag was pretty rough this morning during training and before the hospital, but since mid afternoon I have been pretty awake, especially now when it's 10:30pm our time. I really wish I would have taken time to learn more Romanian- words such as yes, no, hello, goodbye, etc and phrases such as thank you, you're welcome, how are you, etc. would have been helpful to learn BEFORE the day I arrive! :) But I am slowly catching on to some of the words. Especially gata- "enough." Apparently it's a word you have to use with the orphans frequently when they want to keep doing something! 

Tomorrow I will be going to the orphanage to distribute Christmas gifts! We will probably go to the younger orphanage (most under age 12) to do that in the morning, and then on to the main orphanage (ages 5-20) for the afternoon.

Prayer: Team unity, servant attitude, and that I can be well rested throughout the week!

I'll blog more later! Thanks for reading! :)

Departing

Crăciun fericit şi un an nou fericit! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 


Today is the big day! I'll be headed to the airport in about 6 1/2 hours and actually in the air in about 10 hours. So great! I am very excited, and not as nervous as I thought I would be. Maybe once we actually get in the throngs of travel... but still then I think it will be an excited nervous, because I really am feeling very peaceful about the trip. Tomorrow I will be in the Amsterdam airport for a nine hour layover. So please be praying for opportunities to talk to people and for God to use us on every leg of this journey, not just in Romania. Starting at 7:45pm today we will be traveling for a little under 24 hours, so prayers for safety during that time are much appreciated! Thank you all for your support and prayers, and hopefully I will be able to update the blog sometime while in Romania!

Final Countdown!

Well, I think I can officially say that we're at the final countdown now! Only 2ish more days until I am in the Minneapolis airport preparing to fly to Amsterdam, then on to Bucharest, Romania. It's unbelievable, really, how fast time has gone. All my luggage is packed- half of it filled with goodies for the kiddos! I am so excited for this journey to actually begin! So, please be praying for health, safety, and good weather for travel. Also be praying that God will continue to work in all the team members hearts to make us more like Christ- loving, patient, and flexible. Pray for the people we come in contact with in Romania- that they would be open and that satan would have no place in our work there. Your prayers WILL have an eternal impact on what happens in Romania. Thank you in advance, and have a very merry Christmas Eve!

What is Shaping You?

WOW. In just one week I will be boarding the plane to Romania. There's so much to do before then! I have compiled quite a lengthy list of all the stuff I still need to buy and pack. So I think there will be many more little Wal-mart runs and whatnot before the 26th arrives.

As I have been preparing for this big trip, there has been some anxiety over all the little details. However, as the date has been drawing nearer, I have already begun to see how God is working out not only the little details, but also how He is working on my heart to completely trust in Him. There are still many details I won't be sure about, possibly until we are actually in Romania! But knowing that our God is not only a God that created the expanses of the universe and set the planets in motion, but also a God that cares about the tiniest details of our lives is such a comforting thought. It takes away any anxious thoughts I am tempted to think, and replaces them with ultimate trust in YAHWEH.

So, what is shaping you today? How you feel, or the truth that you know?



P.S. Here's our lovely team. Eeee!

Items needed in Romania

I can hardly believe I'll be in a plane to Romania in just 11 short days! Finals are wrapping up, the semester is winding down, and Christmas spirit is growing each day! As I think ahead to my time spent in Romania, I can't help but think of all the children who will be spending Christmas in an orphanage. I am so excited to bless those precious kids with Christmas presents and festivities! We will be going around to a number of orphanages handing out gifts and putting on a small Christmas program. If any of you would like to be a part of this specifically by donating items we need, I have included a list. Whatever we bring over to Romania will be used either this year, or depending on if there is an excess, then in other programs at another time. If you would like to help in this way, I would need the items by the time I leave. I will be in Eau Claire through the 18th. Then I will be in Rochester the 18th until I leave for Nebraska on the morning of the 19th. And the 23rd-26th I will be in St. Paul! So catch me if you can! ;) And the items need to be compact, lightweight, and similar in value (cheaper).

180  small tote bags

Toy, puzzle etc.  for:

20 boys (0-8 yrs. old)

31 boys (9-13)

42 boys (14 and older)

170 sm. tubes toothpaste

32 items for older girls (journals, jewelry, hair accessories )

Coffee

Flavored coffee creamer

hot chocolate packets

hot apple cider packets

spice packages  ( any kind - used for cooking classes)

New Year celebration party supplies:
Streamers

balloons
glow sticks

hats

Across the Hall

In just two and a half short weeks I will be leaving for Romania! BAH! I can hardly believe it! I would never have guessed I would be preparing for a trip to Eastern Europe over Christmas break at this time. But I am SO thankful that I am. Because in doing so I have been learning more about our father's heart for the nations... and boy is it a BIG heart! Jesus called us to preach his love to all the nations. And one of the ways that we can be a part of that calling as college students is just simply by walking across the hall. Here's just a couple quick statistics for all you number-minded people out there...

• There are over 630,000 international students who study in the US each year
• 60% of international students come from the 10/40 window
• 80% of international students will never be invited into an American home
• Of the 220 Heads of State in the world, 40% once studied in the US

These are crazy numbers! These students have given us such a huge opportunity to reach the nations right where we are. Most students go back to their home countries, and take back what they have learned. And what an incredible impact we could have on the world's governments, as the last statistic points to. So I just want to encourage you to be intentional with any international students living on your wing. Invite them to dinner, stop by their room to chat, learn about their culture, and just simply LOVE them. It doesn't have to be anything big. Just showing them a bit of hospitality could go a long way in reaching the nations for Christ.

Depraved Indifference

Caution: Watching this movie may make you never want to be the same again. You can't say I didn't warn you! But seriously, I wish I was more eloquent with words because this video just makes me feel so many things!