its crazy, we've been home 3 full days and already it seems like we've been away from our brothers and sisters for wayyy too long :(
Tuesday Doug came over the house to drop off his photos from the trip for me to put together with everyone else's on a dvd and he ended up being here a couple hours, most of that time being spent talking about the trip and the friends we made and ppl we met...it was so sweet to catch each other up on the communication we've been able to have with Flavius, Dorian and Alina :) we could have continued to talk for hours about what God had done in and through us and the incredible relationships that were built which will remain with us as we continue to readjust to life here. It's so sweet to be able to talk to our friends via facebook, it makes it a lil easier to be back and im so0o glad that we can continue to encourage and build our relationships even from afar :)
Then, last night we had prayer time at the Schuman's and we prayed for many things going on in our church and community and lives and those from the team who were there prayed alot for people who were put on our heart from Romania and then it was so sweet to hear others who hadnt been there with us, but have already heard stories and read blogs, praying for ppl they dont personally know but are still brothers and sisters :)
oh man, whenever mela or i talk to Flavius or Dorian we have to give each other updates about what they say and how they are :)
yesterday mela had the smart thought to ask whether any of the kids who came to the vbs in ciacova were at church again this past sunday...and they were :) Flavius also said that whenever the kids see him around in the village they say hi to him and ask him about us...man, we miss those kids, that church family, the great food and the incredibly amazing ppl :)
We will continue to be praying for them and hope you will too...this blog will remain open and hopefully as we move forward, others will update with how their lives and hearts are different and how God has been at work and whatnot
Ciao,
Michele
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
final thoughts :(
so it's back to life as we've known it here in the US but i think and hope our vision of life here will always be different thanks to the new lens of Romania we have. i know that my heart is still there and i almost hope that it doesn't come back here with me but that i can return to it! i still am blown away by the amazing hospitality and love that we were shown while we were there and am still surprised by how close we got in such a short time to Dori and Flavius and some of the other teens and people we were with. God is at work in some really sweet ways in the ministries of Marius and Tabita and those who work along side them, it was a pleasure and blessing to get to join them for a week and work together for the Kingdom. Continue to keep them in your prayers as i know all of us from the team will and they already have been and hopefully will continue to pray for us here also. I am sad that this trip has ended but i am excited to see how God will use this experience and our friendship, love and support between churches to further His Kingdom :)
Ciao
Michele
Ciao
Michele
We are back in the states
So this will probably be my last entry on the Romania 2010 blog, because we are back in the states. I wanted to say we are home but our host families and the church welcomed us to Romania so well, it felt like home. This entry is late because I was just to tired last night to write anything, plus I had to unpack, sort souvenirs, do wash and adjust to the time.
Sunday morning we meet at 7:30am at Marius & Tabita’s home to load up the mini bus for the airport in Budapest. It was a little tough for me to sleep, I keep thinking about “did I remember to pack everything, will my luggage be over the 50lb requirement…”. I was up at about 5:00am. The mini bus arrived and we loaded up all the luggage said our goodbyes, with long hugs, to Marius & Tabita. Then the four hour ride to Budapest, Hungary (it was a three hour ride, but there is an hour difference from Romania to Hungary). We all napped a lot on this trip; some I think sleep most of the ride. This short trip was pretty uneventful, even when we crossed the Romanian-Hungary boarder (thank goodness).
We got to the airport in the required time and got through check in quickly. Then it was a wait to board the plan. We did use a little of this time to discuss some Romania presentation service stuff. By the way, we will be making a trip presentation on Sunday, July 25th, if you are interested. Other than that people were reading, writing in their journal or stretching so the muscles would not hurt when jammed into the tight seating. Although the time of the flight was the same as go to Romania, the return trip did not seem as long to me. It might have been that I got into watching all four movies that Delta showed. Or it could have been that I sat with a guy that was a bit smaller than me, which gave me a little extra shoulder/arm room. It was interesting because it turned out his sister attended PBU, were I work, for a year and I remembered the name. So even though we only talked for a short time, he sleep most of the time, it was a good conversation.
We landed on time at JFK and disembarked. We went through Passport check and luggage claim. Then it was going through customs. I did get pulled to the side because of some ham & cheese sandwiches and Salami sandwiches which our Romania host gave us for the trip. But all I had to do was give them to the official who through them out. The Errickson’s had to do the same with some sandwiches they were given. Not a big deal though.
Our flight schedule had us with a 4-5 hour layover at JFK and arriving in Philly around 10:30pm. Thankfully, Amy’s parents had agreed, before we left for our trip, to drive to JFK and pick us up. They were there already as we came out of luggage claim. They had the mini bus from their church, Faith Community Church. Then it was a 2-2 1/2 hour ride to WFC. It seemed long to probably because we were so closed to being home. We are so grateful for the Bergvall’s for doing this for us; we were not looking forward to a long layover.
Well, this ends the 2010 Romania Missions trip. The only things left to do are:
1).Present the trip to the church. As I mentioned earlier, this will happen on Sunday July 25th. It will be during the normal service time, 10:00am. This presentation will only be a small amount of information on the trip, because to me a forty to fifty minute time frame is not enough. So do not hesitate to talk to any of us about the trip.
2).Continue to Pray for the Ianc’s and their ministry. God is doing amazing things in Romania, but there is much more to do. The economy is not good and they are just making it financially.
3).Look for and think of opportunity for you to go on a short term mission’s trip. Also, look for and decide how you can be involved, even if it is not going on a trip. Maybe it is praying more for our missionaries, keeping up to date on their ministries by being on their email/mailing lists or start/increase your financial support for missions.
Thank you for reading this blog and my ramblings. And thank you for all your support for this trip through prayer, donations of items & finances.
In HIS Service,
Doug
Sunday morning we meet at 7:30am at Marius & Tabita’s home to load up the mini bus for the airport in Budapest. It was a little tough for me to sleep, I keep thinking about “did I remember to pack everything, will my luggage be over the 50lb requirement…”. I was up at about 5:00am. The mini bus arrived and we loaded up all the luggage said our goodbyes, with long hugs, to Marius & Tabita. Then the four hour ride to Budapest, Hungary (it was a three hour ride, but there is an hour difference from Romania to Hungary). We all napped a lot on this trip; some I think sleep most of the ride. This short trip was pretty uneventful, even when we crossed the Romanian-Hungary boarder (thank goodness).
We got to the airport in the required time and got through check in quickly. Then it was a wait to board the plan. We did use a little of this time to discuss some Romania presentation service stuff. By the way, we will be making a trip presentation on Sunday, July 25th, if you are interested. Other than that people were reading, writing in their journal or stretching so the muscles would not hurt when jammed into the tight seating. Although the time of the flight was the same as go to Romania, the return trip did not seem as long to me. It might have been that I got into watching all four movies that Delta showed. Or it could have been that I sat with a guy that was a bit smaller than me, which gave me a little extra shoulder/arm room. It was interesting because it turned out his sister attended PBU, were I work, for a year and I remembered the name. So even though we only talked for a short time, he sleep most of the time, it was a good conversation.
We landed on time at JFK and disembarked. We went through Passport check and luggage claim. Then it was going through customs. I did get pulled to the side because of some ham & cheese sandwiches and Salami sandwiches which our Romania host gave us for the trip. But all I had to do was give them to the official who through them out. The Errickson’s had to do the same with some sandwiches they were given. Not a big deal though.
Our flight schedule had us with a 4-5 hour layover at JFK and arriving in Philly around 10:30pm. Thankfully, Amy’s parents had agreed, before we left for our trip, to drive to JFK and pick us up. They were there already as we came out of luggage claim. They had the mini bus from their church, Faith Community Church. Then it was a 2-2 1/2 hour ride to WFC. It seemed long to probably because we were so closed to being home. We are so grateful for the Bergvall’s for doing this for us; we were not looking forward to a long layover.
Well, this ends the 2010 Romania Missions trip. The only things left to do are:
1).Present the trip to the church. As I mentioned earlier, this will happen on Sunday July 25th. It will be during the normal service time, 10:00am. This presentation will only be a small amount of information on the trip, because to me a forty to fifty minute time frame is not enough. So do not hesitate to talk to any of us about the trip.
2).Continue to Pray for the Ianc’s and their ministry. God is doing amazing things in Romania, but there is much more to do. The economy is not good and they are just making it financially.
3).Look for and think of opportunity for you to go on a short term mission’s trip. Also, look for and decide how you can be involved, even if it is not going on a trip. Maybe it is praying more for our missionaries, keeping up to date on their ministries by being on their email/mailing lists or start/increase your financial support for missions.
Thank you for reading this blog and my ramblings. And thank you for all your support for this trip through prayer, donations of items & finances.
In HIS Service,
Doug
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Last full day in Romania
Today was our final full day in Romania. It is sad because we have made or renewed some many friendships in such a short time. Everyone is asking that we come back. I think it will be the hardest on the girls (Amy, Melissa & Michele) because they have really bonded with the youth/college age kids here in Ciacova. For the third night in a row, they are now (after 10:00pm) at the Ciacova Fellowship Hall for a game night. They threatened to stay up all night because “we can always sleep on the plane”.
Today started out late. All we were doing was a church service in Sag. So we were able to sleep in. Marius did take Ruth and I to a fantastic restaurant in a town call Girag, just next to Timisoara. The owner has built a fabulous place with a pizza shop, restaurant, wedding reception hall (seats up to 500 people), a lounge, a fitness center with a spa and massages and a Soccer field that can have a roof in the winter. All of this across from his butcher shop, so you can imagine the nice fresh meat they serve. But you probably don't really want hear about this.
We meet at 3:00 to do some tourist things. We went to the historic woods. Here they have replica homes from Romania over the years with vintage clothing and house layouts. We then had a small dinner/snack of Mattei (a spicy piece of meat similar to scrapal). We then got changed and headed to the Church in Sag.
In Sag, we sang a song (Mighty is our God), Ruth gave her testimony then we preformed the Heart skit. Then we sang a song (Lord I lift your name on high) followed by Michele and Amy doing the little man routine. We sang a third song (Blessed Assurance) and then I gave my testimony. It was all well received. The sort of tough part, emotionally, was that Marius and Tabita gave each of us a gift to say thank you for coming.
It was hard knowing that we would be leaving tomorrow. We planned, scheduled, raise support and work for months to be ready, then boom it is over. A couple of us even got emotional yesterday thinking about leaving. But I guess if you do not get emotional at the end of a missions trip, it was not a good trip. As Marius said to the Sag church, and to most of the churches, we are not only in their prayers but in their hearts also. I know that these people here in Romania are in my heart also.
If I can say one last thing it would be this. If you have an opportunity to go on a short term missions trip, you must do it. You have to get past the fear or another country/setting, fear of flying, fear of another culture's food because when you get done your trip you can not be anything but changed. You will change how you see missionaries, how you will see other cultures, how you see how you live at home and how you will pray for your missionaries and their ministries.
If you want to talk about any of this, the trip or what I have written, please contact me or one of the others on this trip. We would be glad to talk with you.
Well, we leave tomorrow morning at 7:30am, Romanian time (12:30am US time), for the Budapest Airport. So this will be my final log from Romania. I hope you have enjoyed what I have written.
In HIS Service,
Doug
Today started out late. All we were doing was a church service in Sag. So we were able to sleep in. Marius did take Ruth and I to a fantastic restaurant in a town call Girag, just next to Timisoara. The owner has built a fabulous place with a pizza shop, restaurant, wedding reception hall (seats up to 500 people), a lounge, a fitness center with a spa and massages and a Soccer field that can have a roof in the winter. All of this across from his butcher shop, so you can imagine the nice fresh meat they serve. But you probably don't really want hear about this.
We meet at 3:00 to do some tourist things. We went to the historic woods. Here they have replica homes from Romania over the years with vintage clothing and house layouts. We then had a small dinner/snack of Mattei (a spicy piece of meat similar to scrapal). We then got changed and headed to the Church in Sag.
In Sag, we sang a song (Mighty is our God), Ruth gave her testimony then we preformed the Heart skit. Then we sang a song (Lord I lift your name on high) followed by Michele and Amy doing the little man routine. We sang a third song (Blessed Assurance) and then I gave my testimony. It was all well received. The sort of tough part, emotionally, was that Marius and Tabita gave each of us a gift to say thank you for coming.
It was hard knowing that we would be leaving tomorrow. We planned, scheduled, raise support and work for months to be ready, then boom it is over. A couple of us even got emotional yesterday thinking about leaving. But I guess if you do not get emotional at the end of a missions trip, it was not a good trip. As Marius said to the Sag church, and to most of the churches, we are not only in their prayers but in their hearts also. I know that these people here in Romania are in my heart also.
If I can say one last thing it would be this. If you have an opportunity to go on a short term missions trip, you must do it. You have to get past the fear or another country/setting, fear of flying, fear of another culture's food because when you get done your trip you can not be anything but changed. You will change how you see missionaries, how you will see other cultures, how you see how you live at home and how you will pray for your missionaries and their ministries.
If you want to talk about any of this, the trip or what I have written, please contact me or one of the others on this trip. We would be glad to talk with you.
Well, we leave tomorrow morning at 7:30am, Romanian time (12:30am US time), for the Budapest Airport. So this will be my final log from Romania. I hope you have enjoyed what I have written.
In HIS Service,
Doug
Friday, July 9, 2010
2nd and final VBS at Padureni
Today was the second and final day of VBS at Padureni. Because we were going to have a church service in the evening and there were not as many kids in Padureni as in Ciacova, the decision was made to start at 4:00pm and do the whole VBS program together instead of part in the morning and part in the afternoon. Then we would go right into the church program. This way the kids did not have to go home and come back two times. So we sleep late, which the girls loved especially since they were up most of the night at Ciacova church playing games with some of the Ciacova teens. We meet for “lunch” at 2:00pm at Padureni.
The actual events of the VBS program did not change, we had some songs but this was a little different because Tabita was not felling well and stayed home. Lavinia stayed at home also to care for her mom, she was felling better when we returned but please pray for her health. Flavius and Dorian lead the singing and hand motions to the songs. Amy and Michele did the little man skit, which is always funny to watch. Next was the memory verse, 1 John 3:9. The kids did well in reciting and memorizing the verses. Then it was outside to play the memory verse game. This is the one were they were in two teams, ran to a pile of zip lock bags with a card which had a word of the verse on it and candy. They had to take this bag to a teammate who would assemble the cards in order of the verse. It was fun to watch them do this game, and even funnier when Marius and his brother Stephen raced each other. They are pretty similar size wise, it was fun to have them participate.
Next was game time. The games today were a little different because it was good weather, and we had not done this yet although we brought a lot of them, we had water balloon/water games. The first game divided the kids up into a hold age and younger age. The younger age group used the parachute to throw water balloons in the air. The older group, which I went with, played Baby in the air. For those who don't know what this game is, as I did not prior to today, is were the group stands in a circle and are assigned a number. One person, which was me, stands in the middle and throws a water balloon in the air. Another person, Flavius, called out a number and that person attempts to catch the water balloon without it breaking. Well needless to say there were very few times the balloon did not break. Ultimately, you want the person to catch the balloon over their head and it break to shower them with water, this is just what happened to one girl. The kids, include the girl, laughed for about five minutes. They next played the standard water balloon throw. When we got down to the winners, I held up their hands in victory and popped their water balloon to splash them. We then had a relay race were the kids filled plastic drinking cups full of cold water, ran down to Ed and myself to fill a 2 liter bottle of water sitting on our chests. We both got extremely wet and man was this water cold, it did feel good because it was sunny and hot. Again when the game was finished we got up and sprayed the water from the bottles at the kids. A couple of the kids picked up the buckets with the remaining water and chased Ed and through the water at him. He was so wet he had to change before continuing VBS.
Next was crafts. They made the little man. They all did a good job at it. When they were done their crafts they went and sat in the pews.
Next was story time. Ed did his story of the paralyzed man. At the end of the story, he did a prayer for confessing their sins with the kids. He had games that related to the story after this. Again they did well with this. The kids then recited their memory verse to get prizes.
We did not have much turn around time after the story games and went right into the closing program. Not a lot of parents or church members showed up, but some did. The kids sang their songs and recited their verses as a group. One girl did both verses from memory by herself. We then sang a song as a group. Ed & Cheri did a wordless skit about giving your heart to God. Ruth did her testimony. We sang another song, which we had not really practiced so it did not sound terrific. Cheri gave her testimony, then we ended with a third song. Again, it was one we had not really practiced. We were then instructed to go to the back of the church and greet parents, church members and kids as they left. At this time, we handed out the gift bags for the kids which we did at most of the churches we visited. This bag included a beany baby, a pencil, pencil sharpener and candy.
We finally had dinner, I will not go in to detail about it but it was good. We all seemed tired and let down because it was our last VBS for the the trip. We have one more church to visit, Sag on Saturday, and then we fly home. This will be tough for some of us as good friendships and renewed friendships have been formed. But even though we will not be physically close after Sunday, our hearts will always be close.
It tomorrow,
Doug
The actual events of the VBS program did not change, we had some songs but this was a little different because Tabita was not felling well and stayed home. Lavinia stayed at home also to care for her mom, she was felling better when we returned but please pray for her health. Flavius and Dorian lead the singing and hand motions to the songs. Amy and Michele did the little man skit, which is always funny to watch. Next was the memory verse, 1 John 3:9. The kids did well in reciting and memorizing the verses. Then it was outside to play the memory verse game. This is the one were they were in two teams, ran to a pile of zip lock bags with a card which had a word of the verse on it and candy. They had to take this bag to a teammate who would assemble the cards in order of the verse. It was fun to watch them do this game, and even funnier when Marius and his brother Stephen raced each other. They are pretty similar size wise, it was fun to have them participate.
Next was game time. The games today were a little different because it was good weather, and we had not done this yet although we brought a lot of them, we had water balloon/water games. The first game divided the kids up into a hold age and younger age. The younger age group used the parachute to throw water balloons in the air. The older group, which I went with, played Baby in the air. For those who don't know what this game is, as I did not prior to today, is were the group stands in a circle and are assigned a number. One person, which was me, stands in the middle and throws a water balloon in the air. Another person, Flavius, called out a number and that person attempts to catch the water balloon without it breaking. Well needless to say there were very few times the balloon did not break. Ultimately, you want the person to catch the balloon over their head and it break to shower them with water, this is just what happened to one girl. The kids, include the girl, laughed for about five minutes. They next played the standard water balloon throw. When we got down to the winners, I held up their hands in victory and popped their water balloon to splash them. We then had a relay race were the kids filled plastic drinking cups full of cold water, ran down to Ed and myself to fill a 2 liter bottle of water sitting on our chests. We both got extremely wet and man was this water cold, it did feel good because it was sunny and hot. Again when the game was finished we got up and sprayed the water from the bottles at the kids. A couple of the kids picked up the buckets with the remaining water and chased Ed and through the water at him. He was so wet he had to change before continuing VBS.
Next was crafts. They made the little man. They all did a good job at it. When they were done their crafts they went and sat in the pews.
Next was story time. Ed did his story of the paralyzed man. At the end of the story, he did a prayer for confessing their sins with the kids. He had games that related to the story after this. Again they did well with this. The kids then recited their memory verse to get prizes.
We did not have much turn around time after the story games and went right into the closing program. Not a lot of parents or church members showed up, but some did. The kids sang their songs and recited their verses as a group. One girl did both verses from memory by herself. We then sang a song as a group. Ed & Cheri did a wordless skit about giving your heart to God. Ruth did her testimony. We sang another song, which we had not really practiced so it did not sound terrific. Cheri gave her testimony, then we ended with a third song. Again, it was one we had not really practiced. We were then instructed to go to the back of the church and greet parents, church members and kids as they left. At this time, we handed out the gift bags for the kids which we did at most of the churches we visited. This bag included a beany baby, a pencil, pencil sharpener and candy.
We finally had dinner, I will not go in to detail about it but it was good. We all seemed tired and let down because it was our last VBS for the the trip. We have one more church to visit, Sag on Saturday, and then we fly home. This will be tough for some of us as good friendships and renewed friendships have been formed. But even though we will not be physically close after Sunday, our hearts will always be close.
It tomorrow,
Doug
hello again :)
sorry you've just been getting posts from dougie the last couple days...i have been otherwise occupied...playing games of course!
we taught the teens who have been helping us with the vbs some of hours games and for the last two nights and any other free minutes we have we've been playing ninja or jungle jam!! we also have done some human knot untangling and they taught us a sweet game i cant wait to play at youthgroup!
today we got to sleep in and in an hour we head out for our last vbs and church programs :(
i am NOT looking forward to leaving...ive come to feel at home here and love everyone i'm meeting...Flavius and I talked for a couple hours last night after we got home from playing games...just about life, Jesus, ministry and whatnot and i think its encouraging for both of us know that although we live worlds apart it seems sometimes, our struggles in following Christ are essentially pretty similar.
i look forward to more talks with him and hopefully some of the other teens in the next couple of days before we leave!
please keep us in your prayers as we finish these last couple days and have to say goodbye to the amazing ppl we have come to love
Pace,
Chele
we taught the teens who have been helping us with the vbs some of hours games and for the last two nights and any other free minutes we have we've been playing ninja or jungle jam!! we also have done some human knot untangling and they taught us a sweet game i cant wait to play at youthgroup!
today we got to sleep in and in an hour we head out for our last vbs and church programs :(
i am NOT looking forward to leaving...ive come to feel at home here and love everyone i'm meeting...Flavius and I talked for a couple hours last night after we got home from playing games...just about life, Jesus, ministry and whatnot and i think its encouraging for both of us know that although we live worlds apart it seems sometimes, our struggles in following Christ are essentially pretty similar.
i look forward to more talks with him and hopefully some of the other teens in the next couple of days before we leave!
please keep us in your prayers as we finish these last couple days and have to say goodbye to the amazing ppl we have come to love
Pace,
Chele
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Day one of VBS at Pandureni
Today, July 8th, we opened VBS at Padureni. Padureni is the newest of Marius' churches and is about a year old, at least the building is. Padureni is the village were Marius' parent and a lot of his family live. It is not a huge church about 15-20 members, but it is just starting out. They will be ordaining a minister on Sunday the 18th. This gentleman will be the main pastor and Marius will be his adviser, mentor & guest speaker on occasion. This will give the people of Padureni a pastoral presents on a daily basis and not be to taxing on Marius have to drive back and forth to all the churches.
OK, back to VBS. The schedule was the same as when we were in Ciacova; play time, songs, memory verse, memory verse games, crafts. Play time we taught the older kids four square. As usual with four square the rules of the game or picked up easily and the participates have fun. Even the pastor got into the game. Tabita sang a few songs with them, I think they were I am in Abraham's Army and This little light of Mine, but I can't be positive. We were using lesson two from Ciacova, the 10 Leapers, so the memory verse was 1 John 3:18. The kids did extremely well with the memorizing the verse. The memory verse game was a little different. If you remember reading, in Ciacova there were two teams and they raced to a clothing line and hung the hearts with the word of the verse on the line with clothing pins. Well we did not have clothing line, but there was a fence that worked just as well. Lavinia and Tabita were the designated people to but the words in order. The craft was the wrapped pen with the wordless beads. They left for the morning and were instructed to return at 3:00.
The was a small number of kids compared to Ciacova, but we know that going in, we ended up with about 20. It was interesting because there was not much space to work with for games and play time. There is a concrete slab that will eventually become the Fellowship Hall for the church, this is were we set up four square. You had to be careful not to chase a ball to far or you fall off the slab, about a foot drop. And our relays during any of the game time had to be in only two groups, first because the smaller number of kids and second because there was just the alley way to run in.
We broke for lunch, and just hung out at the church. Some napped, some just laid down and few played Jungle Jam. After a while, Marius and Tabita returned after a visit to the dentist for Tabita and asked a group of us to help assemble song books for the children/teens in the church. Tabita will be working with them on songs through the year.
The kids started to return around 2:45 and we got out some balls and balloons. A group of about 5-6 boys started playing four square on their on. I ended up blowing up several balloons for the rest, and it was interesting in the ally way because being a smaller alley it made a wind tunnel and the kids had to chase down the balloons. I then started to bounce a playground ball back and forth with a few of the kids. After about 20 minutes, all the kids had returned and we moved them into the church to start the program. We reviewed the verse a time or two, then Tabita lead them in songs. After the songs, Cheri was on with her monolog. She changed it up a bit by mixing the memory verse into the story and having a few of the kids come up front to hold the hearts. She then asked if any of them could recite the verse from memory, there were 5 or 6 of them who did and did a great job. They were divided into three groups so that they could recite the verse individually to one of the three teens helping us. If they could recite it, they received a ticket for a prize. Ruth of course had her apron full at the start and basically empty by the end of this time.
Then it was game time. Again there was not much space but we made due. The ran quite a few relays. First was the Dizzy Izzy (I called it Dizzy Lizzy before because that is how I know it, but I was corrected today) and pick up a balloon. Next was the relay were they had to blow up their balloon, tie it off, run to the end with the balloon between their knees and then sit on the balloon till it popped. A lot of laughter and fun. Then they did the Dizzy Izzy again, but this time they had to run backwards to the bat/stick and then run backwards to their teammates. I proved to be pretty funny watching someone who was dizzy and running backwards. No one was injured. The final relay was a three legged race. We moved out to the stone driveway for this one. It was your basic three legged relay, but not all the kids got the concept that the two of them had to work together to be able to more well as one. Again, laughter abounded..
We then went back into the church to do another craft. This was a new one (we did not get to do this craft at Ciacova) and related to tomorrows story. The craft was a foam house with a slid screen of the Paralyzed man story. The kids had to color the story slid then drawl or color the house. Some of the kids were very detailed in their coloring others were not. But the group was very quite as they concentrated on the coloring. It was funny, because this group spans quite a few ages yet they all were very into the project. I guess coloring, balloons and bubbles transcend age differences. When they were done with the project they were free to leave, although it did not seem like they were real eager to leave, and return tomorrow at 4:00.
We cleaned up and then got ready to go to the church in Petroman. This is a very small church in a town near Ciacova. The building is not quite as modern as Ciacova or Padureni in that they still had a Water closet outside (an outhouse). This did not go over well with a few of the girls, just ask Amy and Melissa. I thought we were suppose to start around 7:30, but it was not till 8 before we started and at first it seemed that our team (the 7 of us, the 3 Iancs and two teens that came with us) out numbered the church members. But more folks showed up. We did two songs, Michele gave her testimony, we preformed the Heart skit, Melissa gave her testimony, then Michele and Melissa did the little man skit and Ed gave his testimony. We ended by singing Amazing Grace. It was a small crowd but I thought was a good night. We had taken the remaining clothes to give out so we laid them out for the church people to go through, but we left before they did because they would not take them with us there. I am not sure way this was but we did not bring the extra clothes to watch them be given out, they were brought so that they could help families.
On the way back, the teens and girls (Michele, Melissa, Amy and Lavinia) were dropped off at the Ciacova church to play games. Other teens from Ciacova were called to come to the church also. The rest of us went back to our host homes. I don't know what Ed & Cheri did but at the Ianc's were were up for a few hours talking about many different things and had some good fellowship.
Well tomorrow we end the shortened VBS program, then visit the church in Sag on Saturday and believe it or not we fly home Sunday.
See you tomorrow,
Doug
OK, back to VBS. The schedule was the same as when we were in Ciacova; play time, songs, memory verse, memory verse games, crafts. Play time we taught the older kids four square. As usual with four square the rules of the game or picked up easily and the participates have fun. Even the pastor got into the game. Tabita sang a few songs with them, I think they were I am in Abraham's Army and This little light of Mine, but I can't be positive. We were using lesson two from Ciacova, the 10 Leapers, so the memory verse was 1 John 3:18. The kids did extremely well with the memorizing the verse. The memory verse game was a little different. If you remember reading, in Ciacova there were two teams and they raced to a clothing line and hung the hearts with the word of the verse on the line with clothing pins. Well we did not have clothing line, but there was a fence that worked just as well. Lavinia and Tabita were the designated people to but the words in order. The craft was the wrapped pen with the wordless beads. They left for the morning and were instructed to return at 3:00.
The was a small number of kids compared to Ciacova, but we know that going in, we ended up with about 20. It was interesting because there was not much space to work with for games and play time. There is a concrete slab that will eventually become the Fellowship Hall for the church, this is were we set up four square. You had to be careful not to chase a ball to far or you fall off the slab, about a foot drop. And our relays during any of the game time had to be in only two groups, first because the smaller number of kids and second because there was just the alley way to run in.
We broke for lunch, and just hung out at the church. Some napped, some just laid down and few played Jungle Jam. After a while, Marius and Tabita returned after a visit to the dentist for Tabita and asked a group of us to help assemble song books for the children/teens in the church. Tabita will be working with them on songs through the year.
The kids started to return around 2:45 and we got out some balls and balloons. A group of about 5-6 boys started playing four square on their on. I ended up blowing up several balloons for the rest, and it was interesting in the ally way because being a smaller alley it made a wind tunnel and the kids had to chase down the balloons. I then started to bounce a playground ball back and forth with a few of the kids. After about 20 minutes, all the kids had returned and we moved them into the church to start the program. We reviewed the verse a time or two, then Tabita lead them in songs. After the songs, Cheri was on with her monolog. She changed it up a bit by mixing the memory verse into the story and having a few of the kids come up front to hold the hearts. She then asked if any of them could recite the verse from memory, there were 5 or 6 of them who did and did a great job. They were divided into three groups so that they could recite the verse individually to one of the three teens helping us. If they could recite it, they received a ticket for a prize. Ruth of course had her apron full at the start and basically empty by the end of this time.
Then it was game time. Again there was not much space but we made due. The ran quite a few relays. First was the Dizzy Izzy (I called it Dizzy Lizzy before because that is how I know it, but I was corrected today) and pick up a balloon. Next was the relay were they had to blow up their balloon, tie it off, run to the end with the balloon between their knees and then sit on the balloon till it popped. A lot of laughter and fun. Then they did the Dizzy Izzy again, but this time they had to run backwards to the bat/stick and then run backwards to their teammates. I proved to be pretty funny watching someone who was dizzy and running backwards. No one was injured. The final relay was a three legged race. We moved out to the stone driveway for this one. It was your basic three legged relay, but not all the kids got the concept that the two of them had to work together to be able to more well as one. Again, laughter abounded..
We then went back into the church to do another craft. This was a new one (we did not get to do this craft at Ciacova) and related to tomorrows story. The craft was a foam house with a slid screen of the Paralyzed man story. The kids had to color the story slid then drawl or color the house. Some of the kids were very detailed in their coloring others were not. But the group was very quite as they concentrated on the coloring. It was funny, because this group spans quite a few ages yet they all were very into the project. I guess coloring, balloons and bubbles transcend age differences. When they were done with the project they were free to leave, although it did not seem like they were real eager to leave, and return tomorrow at 4:00.
We cleaned up and then got ready to go to the church in Petroman. This is a very small church in a town near Ciacova. The building is not quite as modern as Ciacova or Padureni in that they still had a Water closet outside (an outhouse). This did not go over well with a few of the girls, just ask Amy and Melissa. I thought we were suppose to start around 7:30, but it was not till 8 before we started and at first it seemed that our team (the 7 of us, the 3 Iancs and two teens that came with us) out numbered the church members. But more folks showed up. We did two songs, Michele gave her testimony, we preformed the Heart skit, Melissa gave her testimony, then Michele and Melissa did the little man skit and Ed gave his testimony. We ended by singing Amazing Grace. It was a small crowd but I thought was a good night. We had taken the remaining clothes to give out so we laid them out for the church people to go through, but we left before they did because they would not take them with us there. I am not sure way this was but we did not bring the extra clothes to watch them be given out, they were brought so that they could help families.
On the way back, the teens and girls (Michele, Melissa, Amy and Lavinia) were dropped off at the Ciacova church to play games. Other teens from Ciacova were called to come to the church also. The rest of us went back to our host homes. I don't know what Ed & Cheri did but at the Ianc's were were up for a few hours talking about many different things and had some good fellowship.
Well tomorrow we end the shortened VBS program, then visit the church in Sag on Saturday and believe it or not we fly home Sunday.
See you tomorrow,
Doug
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