It begins...

This is my first time blogging, so you will have to excuse any errors my make.

The time arrived, June 30th we were off to Romania. May months, or my I say years, of thinking, praying & planning have now come to reality. For me the planning start back in 2006 when we returned from the first trip, but God had a different plan.

The team of 7 (Amy Bergvall, Cheri Errickson, Ed Errickson, Melissa Errickson, Michele Errickson, Ruth Feiler & myself (Doug Simon)) meet at Warrington Fellowship Church to leave for the Philly airport to start of long journey of flying to Romania. Thanks to Matt Morrison for driving us to the airport and Matt, Bob Feiler, Pastor Schuman, Kevin Cain & Rebecca Lyford for being at church to pray with us before we left.

Our flight take off time was 12:30pm, but of course being an international flight you had to be there 2 hours early. And we were. Nothing to uneventful happened before the flight, even all our bags were under the required 50lbs, although we still had to pay extra for the second bag. We were unsure about a few of them. We took a smaller plane (1 person isle on the left and a 2 person isle on the right, a tight squeeze for a guy my size) to JFK. Once there, we had a approximate 5 hour layover. What to do? Well, we walked around, study or read material for the trip, read magazines and played some Fast Uno. We also had food.

Then we boarded the flight from JFK to Budapest, Hungary (spelled it correct this time). Once again, it was a tight squeeze for me which made it a little uncomfortable. Other then some turbulence, it was a smooth flight. We landed in Budapest and had no problems with customs or passports.

Marius had set up a van service for us, to pick us up at the Budapest airport. I really didn't think about this as to how we would know who the driver was, but when we came out of baggage claims/customs, the driver was there with a sign with my name on it (forgot to take a picture of that). We loaded up the "van" and off we went from Budapest, Hungary to Timisoara, Romania. It was a 2 1/1-3 hour ride in an non-airconditioned van, but I think I got more sleep on that ride then the flight over.

Once in Timisoara, we arrived at the Ianc's apartment. Tabita & Lavinia had prepared a wonderful lunch for us. We were all more thirst then hungry because we were not allow to take water bottles onto the plane. I don't think any of us had had anything to drink for about 4 hours. But we did get a bunch and drank a lot of water, fresh apple juice, Coke & Orange soda. It was a delightful meal.

We then backed up most of our suitcases and left for the Ciacova church. First, we stopped at Marius and Tabita's house in Ciacova that is being restored. WHAT a change from 4 years ago, you will have to see the pictures. They hope to be moved in by the fall 2010, but it may take a bit more funds. The guys working on it are doing a great job. And Tabita has developed an amazing flower garden in the front and an outstanding vegetable garden in the back. Once again you will need to see the pictures. We then proceeded to the church, meet old acquaintances (at least for Cheri, Ed and myself) and toured the church. Marius showed off the floor that had been installed, the additional rooms added to the back of the church, the renovated water closets (bathrooms) and the Tabita Ministries building. You will have to ask us about this ministry when we return. Marius then "delivered" us to the homes we would all be staying in. Because Ruth and I were staying with Marius, Tabita & Lavinia, we rode around quite a bit, but it was enjoyable (even though I fell asleep a few times...OK quite a few times).

Well that is about it for today. I hope to be able to update this blog each night. If not, see you after the 11th of July.

Doug