Back Home

(Neighbors watching the river rise and the road dissapear)

So I successfully made it back home :-) There were a few points when I was switching planes when I was pretty sure I'd be stranded. Little things like the airlines forgetting to display which gate my flight was, or not giving me a boarding pass in Budapest which complicated things in Amsterdam, or new customs and checkpoints that weren't there last year. Yippee! But Praise God I made it fine, and am safely back home.

So I promised I'd put up pictures of the flood, so will do that now :-) Funny thing is the computer I used in Romania was faster at loading pictures than the one I use in the States. Now does anyone else see anything wrong with that??? lol

Anyway, it started as we were getting ready to go to Church in Sacuieu, and for the next hour or two we watched the water rise at an alarmingly fast rate. At one point the river was flowing about two feet away from the house. I really wished we had some sandbags, but we had something better: prayer! :-) The interesting thing was that the water made a circle around the garden and the house, making two little islands. Further down the road, a house that was higher than ours had the garden completely washed out and water in the basement. And the neighbors had their garden washed out as well. So after the flood Silvana and I went inside and each took a nap. I had been stressed and was going to have a full night traveling by bus over the mountains and across the Panonian plain to Budapest for my flight that left at 7 am in the morning. After waking up we sang Praise and Worship songs to Nicu's playing the guitar, and then Silvana and Nicu showed me some goofy songs from Christian bands who took secular songs and put Christian lyrics to them. It was fun!

(Silvana surveys the rising flood)

(Leo watches the road dissapear to the waters)


Naomi and I decided to snitch some cherries while we were outside. We kept 'accidently' pulling branches down which let loose a shower of water that had caught on the leaves when it rained)

(The house and the rising flood. Woot)


Silvana told Tanti Marioala that I was sad because we couldn't go to Sacuieau. I was going to buy a Gypsy outfit from Dita while we were there. Tanti Marioala asked if I wanted to see what was in her attic and we found this costume which I bought from her. :-) Pretty Gypsy. Apparently her daughter in law wore it for a high school play or something.

My family and me back home!!

(Sorry that this ends rather abruptly, I figured if I was going to get this posted I should while I had the computer, and its late at night. If I waited until I could give the story a nice ending, you might be waiting for a while. Since this has sat in my drafts box for over a week, I figured it was time to just finish putting up pictures and post it as-is. Sorry again!)

The rains came down and the floods came up...

Last day in Romania. We were going to go to Sacuieu for church, but just as we were getting ready a neighbor ran over and yelled on the porch,

"Nicu quick! Move your car, the river is starting to flood!"

It has been raining for the last few days, and had been raining hard on and off all day. My first experience with a flash-flood, and the adrenaline spike left Silvana and I in desperate need of an hour long nap after it was all done.

Feri and Danot(s) came over afterwards to see how we were doing and tell Nicu how Church was without him.

The amazing thing was the Priest from the Orthodox church came to see how some of our neighbors were doing, and they all came over to see how we were doing, so the Priest came with them and drank coffee with us. Silvana was amazed because they've been here for three years and have invited the Priest over many times to have coffee or just to get to know him and he's always refused. The Reformation is still in many ways being fought, just not violently. The Priest didn't want to associate with 'the heretics' but the flood waters brought him in. :-D

Anywayz, I will post pictures when I get home, but am going to enjoy the next few hours with the Hagiu's before we leave at 11 pm to meet my bus in Huedin. It will arrive in Budapest around 4:30, providing we don't meet any flooded-out roads on our way. :-) My plane leaves Budapest for Amsterdam at 7 am, and will get there about 9:30. Then from Amsterdam I leave for Minneanapolis at 11:30, and after eight hours in the air arrive in Minneanapolsis. After ANOTHER two hour layover will fly to Omaha, where Mom and company will pick me up, and then the two hour drive north to the farm.

Yeah... me and Jetlag will be BUDS by the end of it!!!

So please pray for safe travels and clear minded thinking on my part :-)

In Christ,

Princess Ouch.

Face paints, mud, and cool scenery

The other day I took some Face Paints I bought in the States to Calatele. The kids LOVED IT. Since it was rainy I was wearing a hat, so the pictures of me actually painting the kids' faces didn't come out exactly how I had hoped, but that's okay.I had painted different things - like a flower, heart, apple, lion, rainbow - on a piece of paper so the kids could point to what they wanted me to paint. One girl held the piece of paper, another girl held the mirror I brought, and another girl would grab the kids who wanted their faces painted and hold their arms behind them (sort of in a position that I would imagine communist interrogators imposing onto prisoners) and scolded them when they wiggled while I painted their cheeks. Maaaaan.... I was suprised first by how well the kids held still for me while I painted. You see these hyperactive kids zipping around here, there, and everywhere, and you think it's nigh on impossible for them to hold still for longer than a second. But when they decide they want something, or they want to learn something, or it's in their best interest, they cooperate like no one else.As I painted, the kids let loose "Ooooh's" and "aaah's" and "yaiii, how beautiful!" as I painted flowers and hearts and lions and apples and tree's on kids' cheeks. At first I was nervous, because at first I only had about 10 girls who had come for Nicu's Bible Study. But when I pulled out the paints, one or two kids left and found their friends, and before I knew it I was surrounded by a large crowd of rambunctious Gypsy kids."Okay, who is the smallest here?" I asked. A little girl about two years old was shoved forward.

"This is how we're gonna do it: The smallest goes first, and we go from smallest to biggest, okay?'' I said. They all nodded and things went pretty well. Although there was one or two boys who did NOT understand why I didn't paint Feri's son's face first, but the Gypsy girls explained for me in Gypsy what the plan was.

There were a few points where all the kids were shouting and squealing with glee and a few minor disputes at the edge of the crowd, and I got quite an earful of the Roma language. I loved it but couldn't understand a thing, let alone hear myself think!!

One of the older girls who was about 13 watched me from behind for a few minutes and then quietly took a paintbrush and started painting kid's faces with me. THAT was awesome. Silvana said this girl would listen to her children's stories and pay attention to the programs, and then when Nicu and Silvana left she would gather the kids the next day and retell the stories for the kids. Its so cool to see how God is working amongst these Gypsies.

I hope this girl can continue to learn how to share and teach children, but the problem is she is 13 and will probably be married in the next two years. If that's the case, it will be a lot harder for her to continue learning and teaching as she takes over the care of her household.

So it was fun. Yesterday we weren't able to go to Sacuieu for the Bible study as Nicu had to get ready to go to his parent's house. They live way up in the mountains and need help butchering or building or something very farm-ish, and then once he was ready to go the river flooded from all the rain we have been getting (and it's supposed to rain for the next two days. Woot woot!) So Feri called and said that he was going to lead the prayer meeting. Afterwards he came with Danot(s) and another Gypsy man who has been coming to study and both Danot(s) and Feri brought their sons with them. Feri retold how the meeting went and all the guys were really excited about how well it went.

I tried to listen for a while but decided to grab the face paints and 'be productive' while I listened. The two little boys LOVED the opportunity to get painted once again, and insisted that they have BOTH their cheeks painted AND their hands. We only had time for one hand and one cheek, but it was fun.

Today I went for a loooong walk outside of Sancriau, and got some awesome pictures. At one point I actually started singing Roger's and Hammersteins "The Hills are Alive" as I snapped pictures of the GORGEOUS countryside. Here's some of my masterpieces. Hope you enjoy.

~PrincessOuch~

Sancraiu and Sacuieu

Well, it's my last week in Romania before heading home. Its a little wierd, 'cause it feels both like I've been here forever and also like I just got here.

Thought I would put some pictures of Sancraiu (which apparently I have been misspelling my entire time here ;-D) and a few pictures from last night. We had an awesome praise and worship time in Sacuieu with the Gypsies. They didn't 'sing', per se, they actually yelled on-key. The trouble was that i was trying to match their volume and help keep the girls near me on-beat, and so at the end was hoarse. :-D But it was fun.

I love how there are area's that just open up for awesome views of the valley and village.

Transylvanian Farmhouse.

(on the way to Sacuieu. It was rainy, and we were IN the clouds a lot)

Before Church I went to Lemoia's home where her mom, husband, and sister were all visiting. At first they were quiet, watching me, so I played 'peekaboo' with Isabella, Lemoia's daughter. That sort of 'broke the ice' and they all started asking me about my trip here: how many hours on the plane, how many hours was the trip total, how much it cost, how many kids, if I was married, if I was married before, if I knew any Gypsies in the States and how often I saw Gypsy beggars in the States. There were a few points where Lemoia had to translate my broken Romanian

intoGypsy, but it was fun.

(another view on the way to Sacuieu. Gorgeous at all times of year, but I shudder

when I think of this in the wintertime!!!)

After about a half hour of chatting, Marioala - another Gypsy woman I knew from last year - poked her head in and announced that I was to go to the Church NOW, because Silvana was asking for me. It seemed to me to be one of those situations like when my younger sister says to my younger brother, "MOM SAID you have to _____". But the nice thing was that both Lemoia and Marioala came to church, as Lemoia has only come once while I've been here, and Marioala hasn't come at all.

(a flock of sheep/goats in Sacuieu)

Silvana and I had a nice talk when I got back about previous American teams who have come before and what they did, and how we would want it to look if I brought a team here. I've wanted to put together a mission trip for youth since I stopped working at the Orphanage three years ago, but haven't really had the resources or expertise etc. to do it. But I THINK things may be coming together where that has changed. So anyway, Silvana and I talked about stuff we would have to go over with the youth before they came, and while they were here, and what we would do. She was able to share some of her and Nicu's vision for Calatele and Sacuieu.

(Dana and Zorka, two girls I played with a lot last year)

Its really cool how God has moved in the Gypsies lives and in the Hagiu's lives. Silvana also shared some more about what she and Nicu has learned about Gypsy culture and law etc. A lot of it sounds like stuff I've read about from cultures in like Tribal South America or the Middle East. Which is wierd 'cause we're in EUROPE, which is a completely, totally different culture. From one perspective, it's NO WONDER the Gypsies and Europeans have been butting heads since the Gypsies arrived from India/Pakistan a thousand years ago.

(Danot(s) in the background and left to right is is wife and

two daughters in the foreground)

One thing that has really made me think is how the Gypsies approach certain aspects of life. For example, a lot of them have teeny tiny houses that are often the size of my bedroom. A large house is the size of two small bedrooms. The families usually have from 5 to 10 kids in them. Now granted, they marry off the girls when they are 12 to 15 and the guys are usually out working or... something... so the percentage of that size family that lives consistantly in the house. But the houses are still teeny. However, they spend hundreds (or thousands) of dollars/Euro's on their clothes or electronics and take excellent care of their gorgeous yet expensive horses. It's just very interesting to see where their priorities lie.

(a girl looking at my Bible at Church. I LOVE her hair!!!)

Anywayz. Its always interesting to see what kind of paradigm shifts or observations I'm going to experiance when I come to this part of the world. I am SOOO interested to see how God is going to use all of this in the future. :-) Tomorrow is market day again, so that will be interesting! Am hoping to get some stuff like a noodle maker and some stuff for my family. Last time I was there I found an old Hungarian guy who was selling antique clothing he bought from around the countryside. It was fuuuun. I might buy a blouse or something from him... the thing is those clothes are HEAVY. It's like, canvas from a ship's sail or something with embroidery on it!!

Okay well that is all for now. Hope you enjoyed the pictures and my observations. Please pray that this last week goes really well, and that uses me and the Hagiu's mightely to accomplish His work.

Thanks for all your prayers, support and encouragements so far!! In Christ,

~Princess Ouch~

(you see, Mom? I AM TALL!!!!)

Pictures

I have a cold, so between that and the language, my creativity levels have plummeted. So just going to post some pictures. Sorry for lame-ing out this time, but I hope you enjoy! Cheers, ~R

Feri's wife blowing a bubble with some gum. :-) When I took this picture she was standing at an angle that really showed off her style of clothes, but she moved and the flash went off wrong, so the picture didn't come out quite how I wanted. But anyway, you can kind of see them. And the picture shows 1/4 of the house we were staying in. Its one of the bigger ones I've been in.

The girls were braiding my hair when we heard a Gypsy man yelling at a horse and some odd creaking crashing noises from a cart. So we all looked to see what was up when this picture was snapped. I thought it was soo cute that they all wanted to braid my hair, they kept doing it and undoing it. The funniest part though was when I washed my hair the water I rinsed it with had turned black. ;-) But our water was off for a week, so that may have been part of it too. :-)

We found a wild rose bush and I put flowers in their hair. Since they did my hair, I did theirs. ;-)

It's interesting because when the Gypsies wash their hair, they put a wax in it instead of hair spray or gel to keep it in place. I don't know what kind of wax it is but it smells interesting. So what I had previously had thought was them having really greasy, dirty hair is actually wax to keep it in place.

Skin comparison. :-) The Gypsies know where to find delicious, edible mushrooms up in the mountains. They can sell them for a lot of money to Romanian and Italian companies who use them in Spagetti sauces etc. One of the ladies in the village gave Silvana a small bag of mushrooms for us to eat at home. :-)

Dita washing clothes. She and her daughters have a bath every day and Dita washes clothes and cleans the house every day, even in the wintertime. She said she loves being clean and wants to only have as many children as she can take care of, so she just has her two daughters. She's a very friendly, lovely lady and it's been a pleasure getting to know her better.

Bapu and Feri during wednesday night Church service. A lady, Argentina, (Lemoia's sister) brought her little son to Church, and we all took turns holding him. Feri wanted to have a turn, and you can see how teeny tiny the baby looks in our friendly gentle giant's arms!

Don't know why, but I've been facinated with the people's hands and feet here. They are rough and calloused from hard work, and sometimes even shaped differently due to different lifestyles of walking long distances and carrying heavy loads.

On the road from Sacueiu to Sancrieu. Church ended at 10, and we thought it was like 9. Woops. :-)

Thanks for all your prayers! I can't believe I only have about 9 days left before its time to head back home.

In Christ,

~Princess Ouch~

Sacrifice and Grammar

"A sacrifice to be real must cost, must hurt, must empty ourselves. The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, the fruit of service is peace."

~Mother Teresa~

Its interesting for me, to come from a Bible College setting, where we are learning how to be missionaries, pastors, ministers of some kind or another, and spending hours and hours learning theory and techniques - and then to come here and see how it is actually lived out.

I've tried asking some of the pastors and missionaries here what they think of certain doctrinal disputes that are always debated back at college.

"Do you think this is more correct or that?"

The usual answer is,

"Vaii, you Americans have too much time to think! This high doctrine is not important. What is important is your relationship with Christ, and how you are living it out. Yes, doctrine helps. It is important to avoid heresy. But what truly matters, Rachel, is how are you living out what the Bible says? Are you spreading the Gospel? Are you loving God's people? What are you DOING with these disputes?"

Lots of different paradigms. Not only from a structured Bible College to front-line field work, but from America to Hungarian, Hungarian to Romanian, Romanian to Gypsy. And the thing is they are all different but all have their good points and all have their bad points. I learn a lot from each one, and pray that I can also be a Light for Christ in each one.

Talking with Silvana a lot about the different things one goes through as a missionary. I know of many missionaries who, when they go overseas, live more extravagently than when they live in the States because the dollar is worth more or whatever. I know of "Missionaries" who go with the mindset of changing the culture to fit theirs, to make 'their converts' to become cleaner, more educated, 'happier'. Then they go home and recieve recognition and praise for being on the field and 'sacrificing' so much.

However, what I see here is different. I see small changes in the Gypsies - one old woman started a Bible study and holds prayer for her friends and the Hagiu's. A few have started gardens or to raise chickens and care for their children better. One Gypsy lady even came over to the house when Silvana was gone to her home village to take care of some paperwork and bought groceries, cleaned the house and cooked for Nicu and the kids because she knew that they were too busy.

However, these changes are small and take a long time to sink in. And in the meanwhile, the family gets repeatedly sick from the Gypsies, who struggle with resperatory problems and other ailments due to lack of cleanliness, health education or diligence.

There is a peace and joy that comes from serving such people, but also it gets discouraging when they revert to old tribal predjudices or superstitions.

I have a few more years to make up my mind, but already the thought has been buzzing in my head; to go with a more formalized Mission Board and have the security, accountability, and care they offer - but also the regulations and restrictions. OR to step out in a more free yet 'risky' approach of missions. Not sure, still praying. Its not that one is more better than the other, because they both have huge benifits and huge drawbacks. They are just different approaches.

Anyway. I have been trying to study more diligently in the Romanian language book I bought in the States. I have officially decided that the American school system has GOT to drastically change their approach towards Grammar education!!!

Fortunately I studied some grammar, so it's not a HUUUUGE stretch for me to get the grammatical concepts the book gives, but still. VAAAAIII Capul meu!! (Oh my head!!)

I introduced Naomi to the German Futhark (old runes) and we found the Dwarfish and Elvish runes in their copy of Lord of the Rings, so while I study Romanian she studies LOTR alphabets, and she helps me with pronounciation and I help her figure out what exactly Tolkien meant. I think she has the easier job. :-) Just kidding.

Okay I'm off. Nicu and Silvana are going to Cluj to celebrate their anniversary, and Naomi and Leo and I are looking forward to having the house to ourselves. We are planning on making Chocolate Chip Cookies!!!

Please pray for Leo, because he is sick with Pnemonia, and he is on antibiotics. He doesn't feel sick, and apparently they caught it the day after he came down with it. But pray that it doesn't spread because we don't know how contagious he is/was, and the rest of us obviously don't want to get sick.

Also Silvana has had some problems with her kidneys and headaches the last few days.

Other than that, we are all doing good. The rain from over the mountains found us and the last few days have been rainy and chilly. *sigh* Mentally I'm used to extreme weather changes (it's jumped 30 degrees back and forth) since I lived on the High Plains, but physically... puh! And some allergy problems.

But I learned some words in Gypsy the other day, and I'm praying I can learn more. Although this whole 'learning two languages at once' thing is challenging. I did it before when I studied Hungarian and Romanian symultaniously, but my brain is beginning to feel like a blister. :-)

Pace Domnului cu voi. Peace of God with you!

~Princess Ouch~

Sacueau

Yesterday Nicu and I piled into Feri's old Dacia and drove at about 20 to 30 miles per hour up and down bumpy roads into the little village of Sacueau. We had a fun day but it ended with a husband and wife fighting and the two families engaging in a full-blown Gypsy brawl.

Feri asked Nicu what could we do, as enough people were trying to separate those fighting and just getting beaten or fighting themselves, so Nicu called those who went to Church to leave the fighting alone. My friend Lemon came up and asked if I was scared, and I said no, and she laughed and gave me a big hug. An old man walked up to me and assured me that Sacueau was a peaceful village and this was the first time this had ever happened. HA! The first time I went to Sacueau they had all just finished a fight. But they didn't want me to be scared to return to the village.

An old man who only has silver teeth. :-) The car is Feri's Dacia.

In another village, Calatele, with Marinella and her friend. The girl I'm holding, Marinella, is about 13. She stepped on a nail a few days before so couldn't walk very well. She wanted to see Silvana so I carried her to the campfire. That kid was SOOO light! I think my six year old sister weighs more.

Not sure if this was a snake, train, or just kids who liked my clothes begging for attention.

Me with Feri's second son :-)

Some Romanian shepherds shearing their sheep.

Beautiful Romanian Countryside.