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 and then they will be the ones to issue us a visa, Lord willing.

This past weekend we went to a leadership conference put on by Willow Creek and in conjunction with an organization called BIG. Overall, it was alright and we were glad we went. We had some good conversations with a few others from our church that went to the conference and will hopefully have more continued conversations. With every message, there were some good things and some not-so-good things, but we just tried to be discerning. All in all, we are glad we went and hope to apply some things we learned.

Finally, Paul and I are in process of trying to start our conversational English classes: "The English Lounge." Creative, huh? Totally Paul. I am definitely not known for being creative! Anyway, we passed out fliers and talked to students today at the University. It seemed that some were geninuely interested. We are planning on going to campus again tomorrow.
There will be a general information meeting for the English Lounge this Thursday evening. Please pray that God would sovereingly direct us to who we should talk to and invite on campus and that students would come to the meeting on Thursday evening.

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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 of the tongue is from the Lord."

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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 the whole trip. He really served us. He espically served us with his language skills in Bulgaria when he started speaking English to buy a ferry ticket on the Bulgarian side.

Here are some pictures. Enjoy!

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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 us a warm washcloth to the table to wash our hands before our meal. Paul ordered some lamb dish (lamb is one of his favorites!) and I ordered Pui Shanghai. Thankfully the menu was both in Romanian and English...very very simple English. My dish was translated "fried chicken." Haha, that is exactly what I got! We thought by chance it might be like Empress Chicken or something, but it wasn't. It was worth a try. It came with some sauces on the side, so I had fun creating a delicious "shanghai" flavor! We learned a few things:
1. Rice is not included
2. The tea is authentic Chinese tea - also Paul's favorite!
3. We're going to have to experiment a little with the menu, but we do think we'll find some things we like.
4. Fried ice cream literally means fried ice cream. It does not include vanilla ice cream with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled all over it. It is actually a rare delicacy...think: CORNDOG. Ice cream pop (on a stick), fried in batter, served on a plate with a spoon and two little orange slices. I couldn't stop laughing and desired so badly to take a picture so I could show you all! Paul thought it would be disrespectful, so I didn't. I will let you use your imaginations.

Overall, it was quite an enjoyable experience and we will definitely be going back sometime in the future. I don't think we will be getting fried ice cream again.

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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 and proceeded with his decision to follow Christ at the cost of losing all else.

Ale grew up in the church, and doesn't know exactly when she was converted, but has grown much in the Lord the last couple years since being at proDEO. Her dad died a week before she was baptized. This loss, although significant, did not have any effect on her commitment to Christ and desire to be baptized. It is a joy to be her friend and get to know this girl!

Here are a few photos of the event.

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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 room for another. Another missionary family in the city are offering to let us borrow an extra couch they have for the duration of our stay. What a huge blessing! Once we get that down their 4 flights of stairs, across town, and up our 4 flights of stairs, we can have more people over! I vote for Dutch Blitz (a popular card game here) and some hot chocolate! Enjoy the photos!


Kitchen
Balcony Living room: photo 1
Living room: photo 2
My husband, drinking cappuccino from our pretend mugs
Bedroom

Our overstuffed bookshelf :)Bathroom

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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 Craiova.

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