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