Copii ("children" in Romanian)

Today was our last Sunday at proDEO. We got to serve in Children's Ministry for the first and last time. We love the kiddos here! They are sweet and so fun to play with. It's pretty hilarious trying to communicate with kids that don't realize that we don't really speak their language. One of the funniest memories we have is with Luca, the pastor's son. He's about 5 years old. One day we were at the park and ran into him there. This was a while back, so at this point, he really didn't comprehend that we didn't understand all of what he said. He knows we don't speak much Romanian now. At the park, he basically started lecturing us about how we...

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Christmas Event

In our last few weeks, we have been helping OSCEC plan their annual Christmas event. This event will take place on December 11th at 6:30pm. In the two weeks prior to the event, OSCEC, along with students from another church, will be going into the dorms for the first time this year. They plan on caroling to the students on various floors, handing out a survey, talking to the students, and giving them a small gift. Hopefully we will get to go with them on the first night - this coming Wednesday.The event itself will consist of games: cardboard tree decorating contest, white elephant gift exchange, carol singing contest, various scenes woven throughout the evening about how we often hide the meaning of Christmas with all the hussle and bussle of the season, and finally a message about "unpacking...

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Lasagna with Radu & Andreea

Last night we got the joy of hosting two of our close friends for dinner. Radu and Andreea came over for some lasagna (Paul's favorite, and I would dare to say it's Radu's favorite too!). We love these two crazy kids that got married last month. We met them in 2006 at our first English Camp and despite our lack of Romanian and their lack of English, the Lord blessed this relationship and we really do consider them two of our closest friends here. We love them and if you have met them, I am sure you understand why! They are often kind to and considerate of others. Just the other night, after an OSCEC event, they offered to take us to the grocery...

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We're moving back home

I believe that most of you who would be reading our blog already have heard this, but I wanted to let everyone know that Cris and I will be moving home on December 6th, and will live in Knoxville for the immediate future. This was a hard decision to make, but we really feel that the Lord is calling us to go back to America at this time. We love all of our friends here in Romania, and are going to miss them very mu...

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A Beautiful Day in Craiova!

Last Sunday was a beautiful day here in Craiova. It didn't even seem like autumn, it was too warm! Paul and I wanted to enjoy the beautiful day the Lord provided, so we grabbed our books and headed to the park. Paul spent some time filling his head with theology (Vos, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments), while I spent some time starting a new book (Knowing God by J.I. Packer). Let's just say that Paul hasn't been able to put Vos down since he started reading it! :) Hopefully I will follow him in his determination to finish books! Lately (the last year or so...) I have seemingly gotten distracted as I try to finish books. I know this isn't...

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Home Sweet Home

Alas, we are back in Craiova!!!! Celebrations are seriously needed. We were basically in and out of town for 2 weeks working on all of the visa paperwork and following laws (leaving the country). We went to Serbia, like I already mentioned. All that we can do up until this point is already done. We went to Bucharest and gave our paperwork to the Baptist Union as a step in the visa process. Now we are in "waiting mode" as I like to think of it. The lady from the Baptist Union called Paul today about a minor detail, which gives us hope that our applications are actually being processed! Woohoo. From the Baptist Union, our information goes to another office (we'll refer to it as the M.C. for now) and after receiving a letter of recomendation, we can turn all of our forms into the police...

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Visa Process

Hello! Sorry it has been a while since any updates. Most people are wondering what country we are in! Currently, we are still in Romania. Today we went to Serbia for the same reason we went to Bulgaria (long story).The visa is in process. We are going before a Baptist Union Board tomorrow to attempt to get a letter of recommendation from them which is needed in this whole visa thing. On Wednesday, we are going to Bucharest again (we went last week and ran around in circles for about 4 hours). We plan on turning in all of our paperwork after a month or so, we'll hopefully have an approval for our visas. There is still a chance we won't get a visa, but it is likely that it will be approved. Still, we want to trust the Lord and believe "The preparations of the heart belong to man, but the answer...

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Bulgaria

Cris and I went on an adventure on Tuesday. We went to Bulgaria! We got four pretty new stamps in each of our passports, and spent an afternoon in Oryahovo, Bulgaria. From our short time there, it seemed similar to Romania, except the signs used letters that we didn't understand. Bulgaria uses a Slavic alphabet, and they have symbols that look like a backwards N and a 3 as part of their alphabet, along with many other characters I can't make with me keyboard.Anyways, we didn't know how to say any of it. It was interesting. We also got to ride a ferry across the Danube, which is a really big river. Razvan was our guide and driver and friend through...

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A Taste of China in Romania

Yesterday was my birthday and I got to spend the day with my wonderful husband! That in itself was great and I loved it! In the afternoon we went to look for some form of art that we could hang on our lovely white walls. Then, we went to one of our favorite places in town, the big park. It is the most peaceful place in Craiova. We spent time reading our Bibles, praying, and enjoying fellowship together!As the evening came, we ventured onto a restaurant that Paul has tried to take me to on our past two date nights: The Golden Dragon. Yes, it is indeed a Chinese restaurant smack dab in the middle of Craiova. You can imagine the experience...We walk in, typical Americans eating at 6pm - no one else in the restaurant. We asked if they were open, they were. This place was nice --- they even brought...

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Two of Our Friends Got Baptized!!!!!

These are our friends, Razvan & Ale who were baptized last week on Saturday the 6th. It was so encouraging being there to celebrate with these two dear friends as they proclaimed their faith in Christ and commitment to follow Him. Razvan was saved after camp in 2006 and has matured in the Lord ever since. He is one of the top 5 joyful people we know. He loves his Savior, Jesus Christ! We knew Razvan before he was a Christian and have seen a genuinely transformed life. Razvan's decision to be baptized caused him to incur a significant sacrifice. Yet, knowing there would be a sacrifice and opposition, Razvan esteemed Christ as more valuable...

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Apartment #2

Well, as many of you know, we moved recently. There was a situation that came up that required our past owner to move back to Craiova for a while, and she needed her apartment back. We understood and began to look for a new place. This apartment is still near the center of town, but about a 10 minute walk, which is great for us because we generally meet students in the Center or the big park. The location is wonderful and a bit more peaceful that where we were previously. Also, this apartment is a little bit bigger, which will allow us to be more hospitable, something we are both very excited about! Right now, we have one couch and enough...

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By the way...

I jsut saw two well-dressed men in their 60's here in downtown Craiova. I only mentioned their dress, because to the best of my knowledge they weren't beggars. Anyways, one of them was playing "Yesterday" by the Beatles on his flute, while the other was laughing and doing interpretative dance. Also, they had been at it for more than an hour. The songs changed, but the dancing really didn't. Just a simple observation from Craio...

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New Apartment

Hey everybody!As of today we found a new apartment in Craiova. It is a little further from downtown, (but still really close,) and in a newer building. It is a bit larger, and we will have the ability to host more people in our home now. That is exciting for Cris. We really want to thank the Lord for this place, because it was a good price for what we found. It should have been more expensive, but we are only going to pay slightly more than we are at our current place, and it is larger like I said before. It is also the Lord's providence because now we have a rental contract in our name, which is a requirement to get a visa to stay here in Romania. Our current apartment contract is in Razvan's name because they signed it before we arrived in Romania to help us out. We were going to...

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Honoring My Husband :)

I meant to do this before we went away to the mountains for the weekend, but I don't want to pass up the opportunity to honor my husband, Paul. I am overwhelmed with thankfulness to the Lord for the gift Paul is to me. There are many things I could say, but I will try to be concise. 1. One of the biggest areas Paul has served me in is dealing with my sin. There seem to be ceaseless ways in which I sin against Paul and as I go to him repeatedly, often with the same sins, he is eager to forgive. Paul is truly aware of the grace and forgiveness he has received through Jesus Christ and loves to extend that forgiveness to me! The Lord has used Paul...

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Babysitting!!!!

YAY! We got to babysit last night for another missionary couple in Craiova that has four kids ranging in age from 5 months to 5 years old. They have been here since July 15, so we have actually lived here longer than them! They actually plan on staying longer than us though. They are a couple from Ohio, I think....and have come to work with a church here. We've only been able to interact with them three times total. The first was their "Welcome to Craiova" dinner, the second was at an American missionary prayer meeting last week, and the third was last night when we watched their kiddos! It was a blast! We were so excited to be able to interact with kids and actually communicate with them again. It's been too long! We would love to watch some of the Romanian kids in our church, but...

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La Multi Ani, Paul!

Hey everybody, I wanted to tell you all how I celebrated my birthday this year. On August 28th, two days before my birthday, my very sweet wife planned a surprise for me with many of my friends in the park. We had fun there, and I thought that was the end of my celebration. I thought this because we spent my 23rd birthday, August 30th, in the mountains celebrating our good friends Radu and Andreea. They are getting married on October 11th, and they invited us to the mountains for the weekend with some other friends of theirs. We totaled 24 people. The weekend was a blast, and we will post more about it later.Anyways, on Saturday evening we were...

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We're Moving!

Well, we just got word that we need to move out! The owner of our apartment is moving back to Craiova and needs her place. One thing that is encouraging is that there really are evidences of the Lord in this situation. The first is that in order to apply for our visa, we need an apartment contract in our name. Because Razvan and Oana were so kind to find a place for us before we got here, our current contract is in their name, so we would have to get that changed anyway. The second is that we will probably get a bit of money refunded and the owner is going to help us pay for the agency fee, (which we had to pay to get our apartment) since she is the one who is breaking the contract. The third is that Paul and I would really like to live closer to the big park. Currently it is about a 25 minute...

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Pillowcase: The Return

Around five minutes ago, a man came and knocked on our door. He told me in Romanian quite a few things, but the only things I understood were the words for "downstairs" and "balcony." He handed me a pillowcase. He handed me THE pillowcase. This pillowcase has been outside hanging on his balcony since July 18th. It has been through sun, and wind, and rain, and thunderstorms. It withstood engineered attempts at its retrieval. (Read our post about that if you missed it, it can be found here: http://steeleromania.blogspot.com/2008/07/adventure-of-pillowcase.html) I'm not sure if the owner has been on vacation or what, but after 41 days outside,...

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Only Christ Crucified

Chris Moore encouraged Cris and I recently with this scripture. “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” - 1 Corinthians 2:1-5I have been meditating on the passage off and on since Chris Moore shared it with us yesterday. I think it was the Lord that encouraged Chris to share this passage with us, because I believe it needs to be the motivation for all...

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Craiova vs. Oţelul Galaţi

I was able to go to my first European soccer game yesterday with my friends Stefan, Ovi and Emi. It was the hometown team Univeristatea Craiova vs. Oţelul Galaţi. Oţelul was in first place when the match started. They are not the best team, my Romanian friends tell me, it is just early in the season and they have played a few good games. It made for an interesting game to watch, and was a new and fun experience for me. Here is Stefan as he eagerly yearns for the game to start. Ovi and Emi are here also before the start of the game. Craiova's stadium can hold around 40,000 people, but it is under repair. As a result, this game was played in...

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