Being about His Love

and He said to them, 'Why did you seek me? Did you knot know that I must be about my Father's business?" Luke 2:49

Other loves are like a summer flower

They blossom for awhile, then they are not there

But His love lingers as the ages roll on

His love continues long after the others are gone

Upon arriving in Oradea, there was so much to see and do. Lots to figure out and get situated. As a team we explored the city together. Even just simple explorations brought us closer in relationship with people, allowing us to shine love and light wherever we go... 

                        This is the view of our backyard from my window. God blessed us with such a beautiful place to stay! And our neighbors are great too, although we can hardly talk, we still attempt to have conversations. 

I already have spotted out a few coffee and tea shops that I like the best. Number one is Kakoon. Namely because of the owner, Adrina, she is so open. Her heart is prepared soil. Whenever we go into that part of town, we stop by her shop and give her a call. She comes almost every time to chat. I know God has a beautiful plan for His redemption to be experienced.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Here is our first day doing yard work! This is us plowing ground.  Every friday we attend to our yard. Today we dug up a huge square to start our garden! Yum veggies!

This is my romanian VW!!                                                        Isn't the paint the coolest?! It's actually ours, but anyways, we bought this car from Norbi and Mihaela. A very sweet couple who we get to see quite often. Mihae is our language teacher; we just started this week. I feel like I've learned so much already. Also, buying their car gave them the money to fix their roof. It's amazing how perfectly God plans things out!             

                                                                                                                                                                      The Opel, our second ministry car. We bought it from Dani, a guy Impact worked with last year, who recently moved State-side.  Thankfully we were able to purchase cars from friends, saving us and them a lot of hassle.      

                                                                                                   Prayer walks have become habitual, even if that just means in the fields surrounding our house. God has definitely been putting me in awe of the landscape and nature in a whole new way.  I also love walking around the city, seeking to Holy Spirit to lead our prayers for the people and places we are around. 

                                              

And then there is Sabolciu [pronounced sub-olch]

Sabolchiu is the name of the gypsy village we    spend most of our time at. The children are cute and crazy, usually at the same time. The parents can be very aggressive towards them, raising them in confusion and bad habits. You can't blame them, that's how they were taught. Even in the midst of all the darkness that lingers here, I know God is faithful. His power is mightier than the grip that Satan has on the hearts here. Nothing is hopeless, and I get conformation as I look in their eyes, behind all the pain and suffering, there is a master plan. A plan that God is working in them now, and has been working for generations. Our team is still in prayer on our roles here and how we can have the most impact. We go on Sundays and run a small church service for the village. We will be starting up a children's program for during the service s well. Pray that God grants us wisdom and patience as we begin and throughout the process.  Also please pray our Romanian lessons have divine help, and we take to the language supernaturally so we can further relationships. "To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified." Isaiah 61:3

 

Upon the Winds

The clouds are always in motion,  not of their own will or in their own power, an unseen force guides them. God isn't visible to our eyes, but shown present by His movement. Just like the wind, one can see the effect it has on everything. I wish to be like the clouds and let God lead wherever I go so I can provide shade and rain to the seeds waiting to be watered. 

Well, I've officially been blown to Oradea safely, since not timely. Our flight leaving LAX was behind schedule, so we missed our connection in Istanbul. Turned out be be a blessing, the airline paid for  each of us to stay at a hotel, its was beautiful and had delicious food. Although I couldn't figure out how to open my door, a passer-by stopped to end my struggles. I was so happy to get inside and take off my backpack. [if you could still call it that; it was really two backpacks, latched together, both stuffed full of everything I couldn't fit in my suitcases] I felt like a 18 wheeler truck. Then sleep, which was wonderful. I truly believe in divine naps and the power they give. When I woke up, it was still dark out, but there was no clock anywhere in the room, so I didn't know what time it was. Our tram back to the airport wasn't till six, I figured it was alright, but I called the front desk anyways to see [looking back now, I wonder why I didn't dig out my watch?]. The airport security was fairly simple, but they were concerned about how to handle my backpack. Since I couldn't understand them, I settled on answering their confused looks by laughing, which seemed to deepen their confusion. [Oh, side note, don't buy an international calling card from the states and try to use it in another country, it wont work. You have to buy a card there, something with the phones I guess] The flight to Budapest was only an hour and a half, but they still managed to serve a meal and make two rounds of coffee. It took some time to finagle all of our bags onto carts at baggage claim, but we managed. The drive down from there was about three hours. Border patrol I think forgot about us; we stopped, they took our passports and motioned to pull off to the side. After watching cars stop and fly by moments later for thirty minutes, we had to ask about them.

Oradea is maybe twenty minutes from the border, if that. The country side is much different than I pictured. Perhaps I just had mountains engrained in my mind when Eastern Europe is mentioned. But it is very flat; very green and very flat. I hear that 40km away are mountains, but maybe my eyes can't see that far, or I am not staring in the correct direction. The house we are staying at is very unique, maybe not around here, but compared to everything we are used to. The kitchen looks like a craftsman toolbox and I feel like there are secret Target cameras hidden everywhere. The tile work in the house is very intricate and gaudy, but still manages elegance an beauty at the same time. The upstairs has four rooms, all different colors. Mine is yellow. We are settling in right now, figuring out how to live. Who makes the food, when can we do laundry, how to get places, can we get bikes, what food vendors make you sick, etc. Along those lines... we have a car. A red Opal, its like a station wagon without the seats in the back, but that doesn't stop us from sitting there anyways. As always, God had His hand in all of it. I can't wait to see more of the people, they fascinate me so much. I have got to start learning Romanian.  Soon we will go to a near by gypsy village, even though it is my first time and they don't know me, I'm probably just as excited as the people who fell in love with Romania through the faces awaiting us.